HILL S.r John, a voluminous writer, born in 1716. Having attended the botanical lectures of the Apothecary's Company, he soon made himself acquainted with the theoretical as well as practical parts of botany; and was employed by the duke of Richmond and lord Petre in the arrangement of their botanic gardens. Assisted by the liberality of these noblemen, he executed a scheme of travelling over the kingdom, to collect the most rare plants; which he afterwards published by subscription: but the profits of this undertaking did not answer his expectation. He next resorted to the stage, but, after a few unsuccessful attempts, it was found he had no pretensions to the sock or buskin; so he returned to his botanical pursuits, and his business as an apothecary. At length, about 1746, he translated from the Greek, Theophrastus's Tract on Gems, which he published by subscription; and which, being well executed, procured him friends, reputation, and money. Encouraged by this, he engaged in works of greater extent and importance. The first was A general Natural History, in 3 vols. folio. He next engaged with George Lewis Scott, esq., in furnishing a Supplement to Chambers's Dictionary. He at the same time started the British Magazine; and while he was engaged in a great number of these and other works, some of which seemed to require the continued attention of a whole life, he carried on a daily essay, under the title of the Inspector. Amidst this hurry of business, Mr. Hill was so laborious and ready in all his undertakings, and was withal so exact an economist of his time, that he scarcely ever missed a public amusement for many years: where, while he relaxed from the severer pursuits of study, he gleaned up articles for his periodical works. It would not be easy to trace Dr. Hill (for he had now procured a diploma from the university of St. Andrew's) through all his various pursuits. Being refused admission as a member of the Royal Society, he ridiculed that learned body in A Review of the Works of the Royal Society of London, 4to. 1751. This, together with his over-writing himself upon all subjects without reserve, made him sink in the estimation of the public. He found, as usual, however, resources in his own invention. He applied himself to the preparation of certain simple medicines; such as the essence of water-dock, tincture of valerian, balsam of honey, &c. The well-known simplicity of these medicines made the public judge favorably of their effects, so that they had a rapid sale. Soon after the publication of the first of these medicines he obtained the patronage of the earl of Bute, through whose interest he acquired the management of the royal gardens at Kew, with a handsome salary: and to wind up the whole of an extraordinary life, having, a little before his death, seized an opportunity to introduce himself to the knowledge of the king of Sweden, that monarch invested him with one of the orders of his court. Garrick thus characterised Hill:

For physic and farces his rival there scarce is; His farces are physic, his physic a farce is.

He died in 1775

HILLAH, or HELLAH, a considerable town of Asiatic Turkey, in the province of Irak-Arabi, or pachalic of Bagdad. It is about sixty miles to the south of Bagdad, on the western bank of the Euphrates, on the borders of the great Syrian desert; and is remarkable as standing in the vicin ty of the ruins of BABYLON, which see.

The town has an extensive and well-regulated bazaar, several excellent caravanseras built of Babylonian brick, and is in general well-built. It is governed by a hakeem, appointed by the pasha of Bagdad. A quarter of the town, situ ated on the eastern bank, is connected with the other by a bridge of boats. The soil in the vicinity is fertile, but much neglected. The Euphrates widens as it approaches this place, where it is about 200 paces wide, and in spring about forty feet deep. The tides of the Persian Gulph are felt twenty or twenty-five miles above Korna; and flat-bottomed boats, not exceeding fifty tons burden, can pass up to Hillah about six months in the year. During the other six months the marshes of Lemioon entirely obstruct the passage.

HILLEL (senior), of Babylon, president of the sanhedrim of Jerusalem. He formed a celebrated school there, in which he maintained the oral traditions of the Jews against Shammai, his colleague, whose disciples adhered only to the written law; and this controversy gave rise to the sects of Pharisees and Sadducees. He was likewise one of the compilers of the Talmud. He also labored much to give a correct edition of the sacred text; and there is attributed to Lim an ancient MS. Bible, which bears his name. He flourished about A. A. C. 30, and died in a very advanced age.

HILLEL, the nasi, or prince, another learned Jew, the grandson of Judas Hakkadosh, or the Saint, the author of the Mishna, lived in the fourth century. He composed a cycle; and was one of the principal doctors of the Gemara. The greatest number of the Jewish writers attribute to him the correct edition of the Hebrew text which bears the name of Hillel, mentioned above. There have been several other Jewish writers of the same name.

HILLIA, in botany, a genus of the monogynia order, and hexandria class of plants: CAL hexaphyllous: cor. cleft in six parts, and very long; the berry inferior, bilocular, and polyspermous.

HILLSBOROUGH, a borough, fair, and posttown of Ireland, in the county of Down, Ulster, sixty-nine miles from Dublin. The earl of Hillsborough has a fine seat here. The town is pleasantly situated and well-built, in view of Lisburn, Belfast, and Carrickfergus Bay; the church is magnificent, having an elegant spire, as lofty as that of St. Patrick's in Dublin, and seven painted windows. There is an excellent inn here, and a thriving manufacture of muslins. It has three fairs, and sent two members to the Irish parliament before the Union.

HILLSBOROUGH, CAPE, a cape on the northeast coast of New Holland, in long. 148° 44′ E., lat. 20° 56′ S.

HILLSBOROUGH, a county of New Hampshire, United States, bounded north by Grafton

county, south by the state of Massachusetts, west by Cheshire, and east by Rockingham county. Its population are all free, and follow agriculture as their chief employment. The chief towns are Amherst and Hopkinton.

HILLSBOROUGH, one of the middle districts of North Carolina, bounded north by the state of Virginia, south by Fayetteville district, east by Halifax, and west by Salisbury.

HILT, n. s. Sax. þilt, from þealdan, to hold. The handle of any thing, particularly of a sword. Now sits expectation in the air, And hides a sword from hilt unto the point With crowns imperial; crowns and coronets.

Take thou the hilt,

Shakspeare.

theless presents a barrier perfectly impracticable, except in those places where hollows that become the beds of rivers have in some degree intersected it, and facilitated approach to its more remote Tecesses. Few rivers hold their course wholly through it; indeed, in the upper part, the Sutuleje alone has been traced across this rocky barrier, and there is a path along its stream, from different parts of which roads diverge, that lead in various directions through the mountains. No reasonable doubt can now exist of the very long and extraordinary course which that river takes. The routes given below will trace it particularly, nearly to its origin. Several other passes through the Himalaya exist to the south-eastward; but Europeans are unacquainted with all of them beyond Kumaoon, between which and that of the Sutuleje the passes of Joar, Darma, Nitteemana, Lamanittee, Gurooneettee, and Birjee, are found practicable for the conveyance of goods.

Beside these chief passes, there are others of

His wallet lay before him, in his lappe,

Gen. xli

Chaucer. Prologue to the Cant. Tales. But Juan saw not this: each wreath of smoke Appeared to him but as the magic vapour Of some alchymic furnace, from whence broke The wealth of worlds, a wealth of tax and paper. Byron.

The fifth, who, by a Christian mother nourished, Had been neglected, ill-used, and what not, Because deformed, yet died all game and bottom To save a sire who blushed that he begot him. Id. Him was anciently used for it in a neutral

The HIMALAYA, HIMALEH, or HIMACTAL (literally the Snowy) MOUNTAINS, is the name, sufficiently appropriate, of a vast range of mountains separating India from Thibet, or Lesser Tartary. It is in fact the highest part of the Imaus, or Emodus range of ancient writers, and extends from the defile of the Sutuleje near Cashmere, to that of the Bramapootra, being in length from north-west to south-east nearly 1000 British miles; the western extremity is in lat. 320, and long. 77°; the eastern in lat. 24°, and long. 95°. The length of this stupendous range is various. Every account we receive of a passage through them gives a detail of many days' journey, through deserts of snow and rocks; and it is to be inferred, that on the north-east, as well as the Hindostan side, they advance to, and retreat from the low ground in an equally irregular manner. Some accounts indeed would induce the belief, that long ranges, crowned with snow-clad peaks, project in various places from the great spire, and include habitable and milder districts; for, in all the routes of which we have accounts, hills covered with snow are occasionally mentioned as occurring, even after the great deserts are passed, and the grazing country entered. The breadth, then, of this crest of snow-clad rock itself cannot fairly be estimated at less than from seventy to eighty miles. The great snowy belt, although its loftiest crest is broken into numberless cliffs and ravines, never

snowy range in various directions, finding outlets to the milder countries beyond. Such is the pass near the source of the river J'pannevie, that from Bhurassoo to the neighbouring districts of China; a path also said to exist near Kedarnauth, &c. &c. These are all so dangerous and toilsome, that few but the wildest inhabitants of the most inhospitable regions choose to invade their deserts of eternal rock and snow, where no living thing is seen, and no means are to be obtained for long preserving life. To the westward of the Sutuleje the passes are perhaps more frequent, certainly less difficult. The pass of Cooloo through Stanpore, by Lucktote to Gara and Ludhak, and that through Chumbee by Joocela, Mookhee, and Htoorpore, are among the best and most frequented. With those which may exist farther to the westward between Chambee and Cashmire, we are unacquainted; but it is well known that a comparatively easy and much frequented road is found from the Punjab to Cashmire, and through that valley to Ludhak, and the other states and districts of Thibet. We are also unacquainted, even by information, with the actual course through the bills to Cashmire, but it doubtless leads along the river Jy,thure, which arises in the hills bounding that valley to the north-east and east.

The limit of perpetual congelation in the Himalaya Mountains has been a matter of some controversy. A writer in the Quarterly Review has asserted that this height is below 11,000 feet above the sea, and has maintained that the height of the range itself will be found much inferior to that of the Andes. Captain Webb, from numerous heights taken with the barometer, has drawn a very different conclusion.

'Near the temple of Milum,' says Mr. Fraser, elevated 11,405 feet, there were large fields of oe or rye, and buckwheat; and, at an elevation of about 13,000 feet, he procured some plants of spikenard. On the 21st of June, Captain Webb's camp was 11,680 feet above Calcutta. The surface was covered with rich vegetation as high as the knee, very extensive beds of strawberries in full flower, and plenty of currant-bushes in

blossom all around, in a clear spot of rich black mould soil, surrounded by a noble forest of pine, oak, and rhododendron. On the 22d of June he reached the top of Pilgoenta-Churhaee, 12,642 feet above Calcutta: there was not the smallest patch of snow near him, and the surface was covered with strawberry plants, butter-cups, dandelion, and a profusion of other flowers. The shoulders of the hill above him, about 450 feet more elevated, were covered with the same to the top, and about 500 feet below was a forest of pine, rhododendron, and birch. These facts lead Captain Webb to infer that the inferior limit of perpetual congelation in the Himalaya Mountains, is beyond 13,500 feet, at least, above the level of Calcutta.'

These conclusions of captain Webb receive much support from the following observations of Mr. Fraser.

'On the night of the 16th we slept at Bheemkeudar, near the source of the Coonoo and Bheem streams. There is no wood near this place, even in the very bottom of the valley, and we had left even the stunted birch at a considerable distance below; but there was a profusion of flowers, ferns, thistles, &c., and luxuriant pasturage. Captain Webb's limit of wood is at least as high as 12,000 to 12,300 feet. I would therefore presume the site of Bheemkeudar to be considerably above that level, say 13,000 to 13,300 feet above Calcutta. From thence we ascended at first rather gradually, and then very rapidly, till we left all luxuriant vegetation, and entered the region of striped and scattered, and partially melting snow, for nearly two miles of the perambulator. From calculating the distance passed, and adverting to the elevation we had attained, I would presume that this was at least 1500 feet above Bheemkeudar, or from 14,500 to 15,000 feet above Calcutta.

"We proceeded onwards, ascending very rapidly, while vegetation decreased gradually to a mere green moss, with here and there a few snow-flowers starting through it; snow fast increasing, till at length we entered on what I presume was the perennial and unmelting snow, entirely beyond the line of vegetation, where the rock was bare even of lichens.' p. 327.

From these and other facts, which Mr. Fraser details, he considers the line of perpetual congelation as between 15,000 and 16,000 feet above Calcutta. In the Rol or Shatul pass, the seeds of a species of campanula were gathered at the height of 16,800 feet above the level of the sea, at a spot where the thermometer at noon, in the middle of October, stood at 27° of Fahrenheit. Shrubs were found in a vegetating state at a still greater altitude.

The spot which obtains the name of Jumnotree, or the source of the Jumna, is very little below the place where the various small streams, formed on the mountain's brow by the melting of many masses of snow, unite in one, and fall into

a basin below. To this basin, however, there is no access; for, immediately above this spot, the rocks again close over the stream, and, though not so lofty as those below, they interpose a complete bar to further progress in the bed of the torrent. A mass of snow, too, had fallen from above at the farther extremity of this pass, under which the river runs. Between the two banks the view is closed by the breast of the mountain, which is of vivid green, from perpetual moisture, and is furrowed by time and the torrents inte numberless ravines, and down these ravines are seen trickling the numerous sources of this branch of the Jumna. Above this green bank, rugged, bare, and dark rocky cliffs arise, and the deep calm beds and cliffs of snow, towering above all, finish the picture. Noble rocks of varied hues and forms, crowned with luxuriant dark foliage, and the stream foaming from rock to rock, form a foreground not unworthy of it.

At the place where it is customary to per form ablution,' says Mr. Fraser, the rock on the north-east side of the river is very steep. Between the lamina of this rock, which appears to be quartzose, run several small streams of warm water, forming together a considerable quantity. There are several other sources; and one in particular, from which springs a column of very considerable size, is situated in the bed of the river between two large stones, and over it falls a stream of the river water. This water is hotter than that already noticed; the hand cannot bear to be kept a moment in it, and it emits much vapor. These warm springs are of great sanctity; and the spot for bathing is at that point before mentioned, where one of a considerable size rises 11 a pool of the cold river water, and renders it milk warm. This jet is both heard and seen as it plays under the surface of the pool. Here all the people bathed, while the pundit said prayers, and received his dues; and here also I bathed, was prayed over, and submitted to be marked by the sacred mud of the hot springs on the forehead like the rest, and of course was obliged to make my present to the priest for his ministry.'-Page 429. In this range is also found Gungootree, the source of the GANGES (see that article); the Brahmapootra and the Indus.

The superior altitude of the Himalaya range to the mountains of the Andes has been established beyond a doubt, by the survey of captain Blake. The following are altitudes deduced from his observations, by Mr. Colebrooke :

Peak without name

:

Altitude in feet above the sea. 21,935

Chandragiri, or Mountain of the 23,007

Moon