ras, or Shuder, and comprehends the artisans and laborers. Besides these four castes, with their subdivisions, there are numerous mixed castes, or spurious classes, called Burrun Shunker, which have sprung from the unauthorized unions of individuals of different castes. These mixed races form a transition to the degraded outcasts, the Parias, (q. v.), Chaclys and Peleya, that is, contemptible, vile, unclean men. These consist of those unhappy wretches who are obliged to do whatever no one else can do without pollution. They are not only considered unclean themselves, but they render unclean every thing they touch. They are deprived of all civil privileges, and stigmatized by particular laws, regulating their mode of life, their houses and their furniture; they are not allowed to visit the pagodas, or temples, of the other castes, but have their own pagodas and religious exercises; they are not suffered to enter the houses of the other castes (if it is done incautiously, or from necessity, such a place is purified by religious ceremonies); they must not appear in public markets, are confined to the use of particular wells, which they are obliged to surround with bones of animals, to warn others against using them; they dwell in miserable hovels, distant from cities and villages, and are under no restrictions in regard to food. To the Hindoos belong the Seiks, Jats, Rajapoots, Mahrattas, the Singalese, &c., of whom some have gone over to the Mohammedan religion; others, like the Seiks, have a religion of their own. (See Bengal, Hindoostan, India, Indian Literature, Indian Mythology and Religion, and Indian Languages.) The abbé Dubois, who lived in the East Indies for thirty years, has described the Hindoos, in a faithful, complete and lively manner, in his work Maurs, Institutions et Cérémonies des Peuples d'Inde (Paris, 1825, 2 vols.).

HINDOOSTAN, or HINDOSTAN, or INDIA THIS SIDE THE GANGES; an extensive region in the south of Asia, between lat. 7° 56′ and 35° N., and lon. 67° and 92° 50 E. It is bounded on the north by the Himalaya mountains, on the east by the Birman empire and the bay of Bengal, on the south and southwest by the Indian ocean, and on the west by Beloochistan and Afghanistan. Its greatest length, from north to south, is about 1800 miles; its greatest breadth, 1500 miles. Its superficial area is estimated by Mr. Hamilton at 1,280,000 square miles. Some writers divide it into four great divisions, Northern Hindoostan, Hindoostan Proper, the Deccan, and the

country south of the Krishna; others comprise the two last under the Deccan, and call the two first Hindoostan. The mountains are the Himalaya (q. v.) in the north, and the Ghauts in the Deccan. The latter are divided into two ridges, the Eastern and Western. The Western Ghauts, the longest ridge, extend from cape Comorin to the Taptee or Surat river, including about 13 degrees of latitude, with a single opening of 16 miles, which admits the Paniany. Their distance from the coast is usually about 40 miles-seldom more than 70; their height computed from 3000 to 4000 feet. The Eastern Ghauts extend from the north of the Cauvery, lat. 11° 20′ N., to the banks of the Krishna, lat. 16° N.-The word ghaut signifies a pass through the mountains, and the high land is called balaghaut (that is, above the passes), and the low land payeen-ghaut (that is, below the passes). The country between the ridges is generally table land, and some of it very fertile. These mountains are generally composed of granite, and on the western side are extensive forests of teak timber. The principal rivers are the Indus (q. v.), the Ganges (q. v.), and the Burrampooter. (q. v.) Beside these are the Nerbudda, the Godavery, the Krishna, and other considerable streams. In a country of such extent and diversity of surface, the climate must of course be very various. In the north it is mild; in Sind and the neighboring provinces, and on the coasts, the heat is excessive. The prevailing winds are the monsoons. (q. v.) The soil of the country is, in general, remarkably fertile, and the vegetation is extremely rapid. There are two crops a year, one in September and October, and the other in March and April. Among the vegetable productions may be mentioned corn, rice, maize, sugar-cane, betel, ginger, cocoa, coffee, mulberries, cotton, indigo, saffron, the different fruit trees of Europe, palms, bananas, teak, benzoin, camphor, bamboo, &c. The mineral kingdom is also extremely rich. silver, copper, iron, and other metals, porcelain earth, porphyry, saltpetre, borax, diamonds, &c., are among its productions. Among the animals are found the gibbon, the ourang-outang, and a great variety of monkeys, bears, tigers, buffaloes, gazelles, wild boars, elephants, rhinoceroses, jackals, &c. The immense serpents sometimes reach the size of 20 feet. Among the birds are pelicans, cassowaries, parrots, swans, &c. The mass of the Hindoo and Mohammedan population is at about

Gold,

the same degree of civilization, but there are some tribes which are in a state of barbarism. Besides the Hindoos (q. v.), the inhabitants are Afghans (q. v.), dispersed about the country under a feudal government; Parsees or Guebres (q. v.), (infidels), who are found principally on the western coast, and speak a Persian dialect; Arabians, also on the western coast, descendants of merchants formerly established in Hindoostan, who differ from the other inhabitants in language, complexion, features and manners; Moguls or Monguls (q. v.), who established themselves in the 8th century, and founded the Mogul empire in the 16th century; Belootches in the north-west. Among so many nations, there is a great variety of religious systems, but the principal religion is Bramanism (see Indian Mythology), much modified in some parts of the country (see Seiks); that of the Nepalese is Buddhism (see Buddha); that of the Afghans, Belootches, Arabs, and some Hindoo natives, is Islamism. The number of the inhabitants is very uncertain. Hamilton estimated that of the continental part at 132,000,000; others have carried the estimate to 180,000,000, and some have reckoned it at 110,000,000. The Sanscrit (q. v.), the original language of the country, is so ancient that neither history nor tradition makes mention of it as a spoken language. The oldest languages derived from it are the Pracrit, the Bali, and the Zend, which are the sacred languages of different sects. The modern dialects have nine tenths of the words in common, but, except the Hindoostanee, which is spoken every where, and the Gujerattee, which is the general language of the markets, they are all local. (See Indian Languages.) The privileged castes (q. v.) alone are permitted to cultivate the sciences. The lower castes, however, are allowed to study rhetoric, moral philosophy and poetry, but literature and science are no longer encouraged as formerly. The English language is becoming more general, and the dialects of Hindoostan seem destined to become

aid in war, and are forbidden to admit European officers into their armies, or to receive foreign ambassadors. The Mahratta prince Sindia, the rajah of Nepaul, and the Seiks, are allies of the English East India company, but, excepting the Seiks, have only a precarious independence. In all parts of the country, the form of government is a pure despotism. Hindoostan was divided by Aurengzebe into numerous provinces, which continue to form political divisions in the English possessions, but they have been discontinued in the Indian states. The following table contains a view of these provinces, with the corresponding presidencies or states of the present day :

Provinces.

Agimere,

Agra,

Allahabad,

Oude,
Aurungabad,
Bahar,
Balagat,
Bengal,
Berar,
Bider,
Bejapoor,
Cashmere,
Coimbetore,
Cochin,
Delhi,
Gondwana,
Gorval,
Guzerat,
Hyderabad,
Canara,
Carnatic,
Candeish,
Cutch,
Lahore or

Punjah,
Mysore,
Malabar,

Orissa,

Salem and

Baramal, Northern

Circars, Sindy, Travancore,

We have already mentioned the states

of Hindostan which preserve an appearance of independence. The rest of the country belongs to the English, except the territories in the possession of European powers. These are Goa, Damaun and Diu, belonging to Portugal (see India, Portuguese); Pondicherry, Karikal, Mahe, Chandernagore, and the factories of Calicut, Surat and Masulipatam, belonging to France (see India, French), and Tranquebar and Serampore, belonging to Denmark. (See India, Danish; see also the articles East India Companies, Bengal, Bombay, Madras, &c.) The name of Hindoostan, as before stated, is of foreign origin, the Bramins having no general name for the country over which their doctrines have been disseminated. When they spoke of it as a whole, they designated it by the epithets Medhyama, or central; Ponyabhoumi, or land of righteousness; or Bharat-Khande, country of Bharat, one of nine brothers, whose father governed the whole world. The early annals of the Hindoos are so fabulous, that it is difficult to separate the truth from fiction. Their own opinion of their antiquity is wholly chimerical; yet the astronomical knowledge of the Bramins, and the monuments of Hindoo architecture and sculpture, prove the great antiquity of this people, whose country was little known to the Greeks previous to the conquests of Alexander. That conqueror carried his arms beyond the Indus, and Seleucus Nicator, one of his successors, advanced as far as the Ganges. Arsaces, king of the Parthians, and some of the Bactrian kings, also made extensive conquests. About two centuries before the Christian era, the Parthians and Scythians overran all Northern India, or Indo-Scythia, as Ptolemy calls it. In the middle of the 7th century, the Chinese penetrated to the countries on the Ganges. At the beginning of the next century, the followers of Mohammed invaded Hindoostan, subjected nearly the whole of the Moultan, and established themselves in Northern India. One of the governors of the conquered provinces, Mahmoud (q. v.), becoming independent master of Ghiznih (Gazna), was the first modern conqueror of Hindoostan, and founded the Mussulman dynasty of the Ghaznevides, which lasted from 797 to the middle of the 12th century; he is said to have pushed his conquests as far as Goa. The last prince of this dynasty was deposed in 1152, by Kassim Ghauri, founder of the Ghauride dynasty, which derived its name from the country of Ghaur, and resided in

Lahore; the Ghaurides subdued Kanara and the kingdom of Bisnagor, the Moultan, Delhi, and the country as far as Benares. In the beginning of the 13th century, the empire of the Ghaurides was divided, and Kutub, who received, for his share, the conquests in India, founded the Patan dynasty (or, as some call it, the Iletmishi dynasty), and made Delhi the seat of his empire. The reigns of the Patan emperors were disturbed by the invasions of Gengis Khan (q. v.) and Tamerlane. (q.v.) . In 1525, the Mogul dynasty was placed on the throne of Hindoostan by the successes of Babur. (See Moguls.) Akbar (q. v.), his grandson, confirmed and extended his power in the northern part of Hindoostan, and reduced Bengal. The history of this part of the country is very confused and uncertain, till the 13th century. Towards the end of the 14th century, Tamerlane had taken possession of it, and it had subsequently been subject to native princes or to the Mohammedan emperors of Delhi. Akbar (died 1604) also reduced Cabul and Cashmere. He divided his empire into 16 subalis (governments), which were subdivided into provinces; the latter were administered by governors, called nabobs. One of his descendants, Aureng-Zebe (q. v.), ascended the throne, after having poisoned his father and put to death his two brothers. He carried the Mogul empire to its highest pitch of power and glory. The Mahrattas (q. v.), a warlike people from the Ghauts, were joined by several of the Hindoo princes, and, under the command of Sevajee, conquered an extensive territory. Aureng-Zebe was obliged to treat with them, and to yield them one quarter of the revenue of the provinces in the Deccan, which they had overrun. After the death of Aureng-Zebe, his empire continually declined, and became the prey to revolt and anarchy. The power of the Mahrattas, in the mean time, was rapidly extending, and, in the middle of the 18th century, the possessions of the Mogul emperors, although their persons continued to be respected, were reduced to the city of Delhi and its territory. The last Mogul emperor received a pension from the English, who (1803) took possession of Delhi and Agra.

HINDOSTAN. (See Hindoostan.)

HING-CHING (Chinese, meaning representation of sound). The Chinese alphabet is composed of ideographic and phonetic signs; these phonetic signs are all syllabic; they are called by the Chinese hing-ching, of which, according to Abel

Hippocrates are, the first and third book on epidemics; aphorisms; the treatise on diet; on air, waters and situations; on prognostics; some surgical treatises; the oath; the law. The most esteemed edition is that of Geneva, of 1657, in 2 vols., folio. Besides this, we may mention that by Van der Linden (Leyden, 1665, 2 vols.), and that by Chartier (Paris, 1639-79, 13 vols., folio, together with Galen). The latest is by Kühn (vol. 1st., Leipsic, 1825). Hippocrates was a zealous, unwearied observer of nature, and considered diseases with a free spirit, unprejudiced by any system; hence we have from him the finest description of their natural course, disturbed neither by medicines nor by any violent or precipitate interference. He was by this means best enabled to become acquainted with the healing power of nature, and with the different ways in which she effects the restoration of the sick, as well as with the exterior means by which she was supported in her operations. He adopted a principle of life as a fundamental power of the living body (Enormon) on which life, health or sickness were dependent; but he did not express himself more distinctly respecting it; nor did he enter into many hypotheses and investigations on the nature of disease in general. He paid great attention to the exterior influences, as the remoter causes of the maladies; in particular to air, food, climate, dwelling-place, and even to the social relations of the sick. He made the observation, that nature followed, in the course of the diseases, certain periods of increase and diminution, and was led by this to his doctrine of the critical days. In his method of curing, the dietetical precepts take the first rank. He advises to adapt the diet to the degree of strength of the sick. At the same time, he makes it his object to observe the operations of nature, to lead them, to imitate them, and, as circumstances require, to augment or to repress them. During the increase of the disease, he did not willingly undertake any thing decisive, lest nature might be disturbed in her wholesome operation on the matter of disease; but, during the crisis of secretion and evacuation of the matter of disease, or shortly before, he assisted nature by means which promoted the discharges. His peculiar merit in medicine consisted chiefly in clearing this science from the useless subtilties of the many philosophical sects of that period, and in making it, instead of the exclusive property of the priests, a common good, open to every one who wished to study it; in ob

serving the course of undisturbed nature with a clear eye and an enlightened mind, and in the faithful communication of his experience. He directed the attention of physicians to the importance of exterior influences, to the healing powers of nature, and to the necessity of an appropriate diet; and enriched the doctrine of the symptoms, and of the prognostics in diseases, with a number of observations, founded in nature, and manifesting his great genius and skill as a physician.

HIPPOCRENE (the horse's fountain); a spring on mount Helicon, a mountain in Boeotia, consecrated to the muses, the waters of which possessed the power of poetic inspiration. It was sacred to the muses and Apollo. It is said to have risen from the ground, when struck by the hoofs of Pegasus.

HIPPODAMIA Was the name of several females of antiquity; for example, of the wife of Pirithous (see Pirithoüs), king of the Lapitha. The most celebrated is the daughter of Enomais, king of Pisa in Elis. On account of a prediction that he was to be murdered by his future son-inlaw, he made a condition that all the suitors for his daughter should contend with him in a chariot-race, and, if he should overtake them before they arrived at the goal, should fall by his hand. He thus succeeded in slaying 13, or, as some say, 17 suitors, when Pelops, by corrupting the charioteer, caused Enomaus to be upset in the middle of the course, by which means he lost his life. Thus Hippodamia became the wife of Pelops, and mother of Atreus and Thyestes. She committed suicide, from grief at the accusation of having misled these sons to fratricide.

HIPPODROME (from anos, horse, and dooμas, course, race) was the name, among the Romans and Greeks, of the public place where the horse and chariot races were held. Of all the hippodromes of Greece, the most remarkable was the one of Olympia, of which a description may be found in Pausanias. After this one, there was none more remarkable than that of Constantinople, which still fills the traveller with astonishment. Severus began the erection of this splendid structure, and Constantine finished it, in imitation of the great circus at Rome. It is surrounded by two ranges of columns, extending farther than the eye can reach, raised one above the other, and resting on a broad foundation, and is adorned by an immense quantity of statues, of marble, porphyry and bronze, of men and beasts, emperors and athletes. Among other remarkable