HEBRIDES

hebrides, the, or western isles, a group of islands off the west coast of scotland. they are situated between 55 deg. 35' and 58 deg. 30' n. and 5 deg. 26' and 8 deg. 40' w. formerly the term was held to embrace not only all the islands off the scottish western coast, including the islands in the firth of clyde, but also the peninsula of kintyre, the isle of man and the isle of rathlin, off the coast of antrim. they have been broadly classified into the outer hebrides and the inner hebrides, the minch and little minch dividing the one group from the other. geologically, they have also been differentiated as the gneiss islands and the trap islands. the outer hebrides being almost entirely composed of gneiss the epithet suitably serves them, but, strictly speaking, only the more northerly of the inner hebrides may be distinguished as trap islands. the chief islands of the outer hebrides are lewis-with-harris (or long island), north uist, benbecula, south uist, barra, the shiants, st kilda and the flannan isles, or seven hunters, an uninhabited group, about 20 m. n.w. of gallon head in lewis. of these the lewis portion of long island, the shiants and the flannan belong to the county of ross and cromarty, and the remainder to inverness-shire. the total length of this group, from barra head to the butt of lewis, is 130 m., the breadth varying from less than 1 m. to 30 m. the inner hebrides are much more scattered and principally include skye, small isles (canna, sanday, rum, eigg and muck), coll, tyree, lismore, mull, ulva, staffa, iona, kerrera, the slate islands (seil, easdale, luing, shuna, torsay), colonsay, oronsay, scarba, jura, islay and gigha. of these skye and small isles belong to inverness-shire, and the rest to argyllshire. the hebridean islands exceed 500 in number, of which one-fifth are inhabited. of the inhabited islands 11 belong to ross and cromarty, 47 to inverness-shire, and 44 to argyllshire, but of this total of 102 islands, one-third have a population of only 10 souls, or fewer, each. the population of the hebrides in 1901 numbered 78,947 (or 28 to the sq. m.), of whom 41,031 were females, who thus exceeded the males by 10%, and 22,733 spoke gaelic only and 47,666 gaelic and english. the most populous island is lewis-with-harris (32,160), and next to it are skye (13,883), islay (6857) and mull (4334). of the total area of 1,800,000 acres, or 2812 sq. m., only one-ninth is cultivated, most of the surface being moorland and mountain. the annual rainfall, particularly in the inner hebrides, is heavy (42.6 in. at stornoway) but the temperature is high, averaging for the year 47 deg. f. potatoes and turnips are the only root crops that succeed, and barley and oats are grown in some of the islands. sheep-farming and cattle-raising are carried on very generally, and, with the fisheries, provide the main occupation of the inhabitants, though they profit not a little from the tourists who flock to many of the islands throughout the summer. the principal industries include distilling, slate-quarrying and the manufacture of tweeds, tartans and other woollens. there are extensive deer forests in lewis-with-harris, skye, mull and jura. on many of the islands there are prehistoric remains and antiquities within the christian period. the more populous islands are in regular communication with certain points of the mainland by means of steamers from glasgow, oban and mallaig. the united free church has a strong hold on the people, but in a few of the islands the roman catholics have a great following. in the larger inhabited islands board schools have been established. the islands unite with the counties to which they belong in returning members to parliament (one for each shire). _history._--the hebrides are mentioned by ptolemy under the name of [greek: eboudai] and by pliny under that of _hebudes_, the modern spelling having, it is said, originated in a misprint. by the norwegians they were called _sudreyjar_ or southern islands. the latinized form was _sodorenses_, preserved to modern times in the title of the bishop of sodor and man. the original inhabitants seem to have been of the same celtic race as those settled on the mainland. in the 6th century scandinavian hordes poured in with their northern idolatry and lust of plunder, but in time they adopted the language and faith of the islanders. mention is made of incursions of the vikings as early as 793, but the principal immigration took place towards the end of the 9th century in the early part of the reign of harald fairhair, king of norway, and consisted of persons driven to the hebrides, as well as to orkney and shetland, to escape from his tyrannous rule. soon afterwards they began to make incursions against their mother-country, and on this account harald fitted out an expedition against them, and placed orkney, shetland, the hebrides and the isle of man under norwegian government. the chief seat of the norwegian sovereignty was colonsay. about the year 1095 godred crovan, king of dublin, man and the hebrides, died in islay. his third son, olaf, succeeded to the government about 1103, and the daughter of olaf was married to somerled, who became the founder of the dynasty known as lords of the isles. many efforts were made by the scottish monarchs to displace the norwegians. alexander ii. led a fleet and army to the shores of argyllshire in 1249, but he died on the island of kerrera. on the other hand, haakon iv., king of norway, at once to restrain the independence of his jarls and to keep in check the ambition of the scottish kings, set sail in 1263 on a great expedition, which, however, ended disastrously at largs. magnus, son of haakon, concluded in 1266 a peace with the scots, renouncing all claim to the hebrides and other islands except orkney and shetland, and alexander iii. agreed to give him a sum of 4000 merks in four yearly payments. it was also stipulated that margaret, daughter of alexander, should be betrothed to eric, the son of magnus, whom she married in 1281. she died two years later, leaving an only daughter afterwards known as the maid of norway. the race of somerled continued to rule the islands, and from a younger son of the same potentate sprang the lords of lorne, who took the patronymic of macdougall. john macdonald of islay, who died about 1386, was the first to adopt the title of lord of the isles. he was one of the most potent of the island princes, and was married to a daughter of the earl of strathearn, afterwards robert ii. his son, donald of the isles, was memorable for his rebellion in support of his claim to the earldom of ross, in which, however, he was unsuccessful. alexander, son of donald, resumed the hereditary warfare against the scottish crown; and in 1462 a treaty was concluded between alexander's son and successor john and edward iv. of england, by which john, his son john, and his cousin donald balloch, became bound to assist king edward and james, earl of douglas, in subduing the kingdom of scotland. the alliance seems to have led to no active operations. in the reign of james v. another john of islay resumed the title of lord of the isles, but was compelled to surrender the dignity. the glory of the lordship of the isles--the insular sovereignty--had departed. from the time of bruce the campbells had been gaining the ascendancy in argyll. the macleans, macnaughtons, maclachlans, lamonts, and other ancient races had sunk before this favoured family. the lordship of lorne was wrested from the macdougalls by robert bruce, and their extensive possessions, with dunstaffnage castle, bestowed on the king's relative, stewart, and his descendants, afterwards lords of lorne. the macdonalds of sleat, the direct representatives of somerled, though driven from islay and deprived of supreme power by james v., still kept a sort of insular state in skye. there were also the macdonalds of clanranald and glengarry (descendants of somerled), with the powerful houses of macleod of dunvegan and macleod of harris, m'neill of barra and maclean of mull. sanguinary feuds continued throughout the 16th and 17th centuries among these rival clans and their dependent tribes, and the turbulent spirit was not subdued till a comparatively recent period. james vi. made an abortive endeavour to colonize lewis. william iii. and queen anne attempted to subsidize the chiefs in order to preserve tranquillity, but the wars of montrose and dundee, and the jacobite insurrections of 1715 and 1745, showed how futile were all such efforts. it was not till 1748, when a decisive blow was struck at the power of the chiefs by the abolition of heritable jurisdictions, and the appointment of sheriffs in the different districts, that the arts of peace and social improvement made way in these remote regions. the change was great, and at first not unmixed with evil. a new system of management and high rents was imposed, in consequence of which numbers of the tacksmen, or large tenants, emigrated to north america. the exodus continued for many years. sheep-farming on a large scale was next introduced, and the crofters were thrust into villages or barren corners of the land. the result was that, despite the numbers who entered the army or emigrated to canada, the standard of civilization sank lower, and the population multiplied in the islands. the people came to subsist almost entirely on potatoes and herrings; and in 1846, when the potato blight began its ravages, nearly universal destitution ensued--embracing, over the islands generally, 70% of the inhabitants. temporary relief was administered in the shape of employment on roads and other works; and an emigration fund being raised, from 4000 to 5000 of the people in the most crowded districts were removed to australia. matters, however, were not really mended, and in 1884 a royal commission reported upon the condition of the crofters of the islands and mainland. as a result of their inquiry the crofters' holdings act was passed in 1886, and in the course of a few years some improvement was evident and has since been sustained. authorities.--martin martin's _description of the western islands of scotland_ (1703); t. pennant's _tour in scotland and voyage to the hebrides_ (1774); james boswell's _tour to the hebrides with samuel johnson, ll.d._ (1898); john macculloch's _geological account of the hebrides_ (1819); hugh miller's _cruise of the "betsy"_ (1858); w. a. smith's _lewisiana, or life in the outer hebrides_ (1874); alexander smith, _a summer in skye_ (1865); robert buchanan, _the hebrid isles_ (1883); c. f. gordon-cumming, _in the hebrides_ (1883); _report of the crofters' commission_ (1884); a. goodrich-freer, _outer isles_ (1902); and w. c. mackenzie, _history of the outer hebrides_ (1903). their history under norwegian rule is given in the _chronica regum manniae et insularum_, edited, with learned notes, from the ms. in the british museum by professor p. a. munch of christiania (1860). hebron (mod. _khulil er-rahman_, i.e. "the friend of the merciful one"--an allusion to abraham), a city of palestine some 20 m. s. by s.w. of jerusalem. the city, which lies 3040 ft. above the sea, is of extreme antiquity (see num. xiii. 22, and josephus, _war_, iv. 9, 7) and until taken by the calebites (josh. xv. 13) bore the name kirjath-arba. biblical traditions connect it closely with the patriarch abraham and make it a "city of refuge." the town figures prominently under david as the headquarters of his early rule, the scene of abner's murder and the centre of absalom's rebellion. in later days the edomites held it for a time, but judas maccabaeus recovered it. it was destroyed in the great war under vespasian. in a.d. 1167 hebron became the see of a latin bishop, and it was taken in 1187 by saladin. in 1834 it joined the rebellion against ibrahim pasha, who took the town and pillaged it. modern hebron rises on the east slope of a shallow valley--a long narrow town of stone houses, the flat roofs having small stone domes. the main quarter is about 700 yds. long, and two smaller groups of houses exist north and south of this. the hill behind is terraced, and luxuriant vineyards and fruit plantations surround the place, which is well watered on the north by three principal springs, including the well sirah, now 'ain sara (2 sam. iii. 26). three conspicuous minarets rise, two from the _haram_, the other in the north quarter. the population (10,000) includes moslems and about 500 jews. the bedouins bring wool and camel's hair to the market; and glass bracelets, lamps and leather water-skins are manufactured in the town. the most conspicuous building is the _haram_ built over the supposed site of the cave of machpelah. it is an enclosure measuring 112 ft. east and west by 198 north and south, surrounded with high rampart walls of masonry similar in size and dressing to that of the jerusalem haram walls. these ramparts are ascribed by architectural authorities to the herodian period. the interior area is partly occupied by a 12th-century gothic church, and contains six modern cenotaphs of abraham, isaac, jacob, sarah, rebecca and leah. the cave beneath the platform has probably not been entered for at least 600 years. the numerous traditional sites now shown round hebron are traceable generally to medieval legendary topography; they include the oak of mamre (gen. xiii. 18 r.v.) which has at various times been shown in different positions from 3/4 to 2 m. from the town. there are a british medical mission, a german protestant mission with church and schools, and, near abraham's oak, a russian mission. since 1880 several notices of the haram, within which are the tombs of the patriarchs, have appeared. see c. r. conder, pal. exp. fund, _memoirs_, iii. 333, &c.; riant, _archives de l'orient latin_, ii. 411, &c.; dalton and chaplin, _p.e.f. quarterly statement_ (1897); goldziher, "das patriarchengrab in hebron," in _zeitschrift d. dn. pal. vereins_, xvii. (r. a. s. m.) hecataeus of abdera (or of teos), greek historian and sceptic philosopher, flourished in the 4th century b.c. he accompanied ptolemy i. soter in an expedition to syria, and sailed up the nile with him as far as thebes (diogenes laertius ix. 61). the result of his travels was set down by him in two works--[greek: aiguptiaka] and [greek: peri uperboreon], which were used by diodorus siculus. according to suidas, he also wrote a treatise on the poetry of hesiod and homer. regarding his authorship of a work on the jews (utilized by josephus in _contra apionem_), it is conjectured that portions of the [greek: aiguptiaka] were revised by a hellenistic jew from his point of view and published as a special work. fragments in c. w. muller's _fragmenta historicorum graecorum_. hecataeus of miletus (6th-5th century b.c.), greek historian, son of hegesander, flourished during the time of the persian invasion. after having travelled extensively, he settled in his native city, where he occupied a high position, and devoted his time to the composition of geographical and historical works. when aristagoras held a council of the leading ionians at miletus, to organize a revolt against the persian rule, hecataeus in vain tried to dissuade his countrymen from the undertaking (herodotus v. 36, 125). in 494, when the defeated ionians were obliged to sue for terms, he was one of the ambassadors to the persian satrap artaphernes, whom he persuaded to restore the constitution of the ionic cities (diod. sic. x. 25). he is by some credited with a work entitled [greek: ges periodos] ("travels round the earth"), in two books, one on europe, the other on asia, in which were described the countries and inhabitants of the known world, the account of egypt being especially comprehensive; the descriptive matter was accompanied by a map, based upon anaximander's map of the earth, which he corrected and enlarged. the authenticity of the work is, however, strongly attacked by j. wells in the _journal of hellenic studies_, xxix. pt. i. 1909. the only certainly genuine work of hecataeus was the [greek: geneelogiai] or [greek: historiai], a systematic account of the traditions and mythology of the greeks. he was probably the first to attempt a serious prose history and to employ critical method to distinguish myth from historical fact, though he accepts homer and the other poets as trustworthy authority. herodotus, though he once at least controverts his statements, is indebted to hecataeus not only for facts, but also in regard of method and general scheme, but the extent of the debt depends on the genuineness of the [greek: ges periodos]. see fragments in c. w. muller, _fragmenta historicorum graecorum_, i.; h. berger, _geschichte der wissenschaftlichen erdkunde der griechen_ (1903); e. h. bunbury, _history of ancient geography_, i.; w. mure, _history of greek literature_, iv.; especially j. v. prasek, _hekataios als herodots quelle zur geschichte vorderasiens. beitrage zur alten geschichte (klio)_, iv. 193 seq. (1904), and j. wells in _journ. hell. stud._, as above. hecate (gr. [greek: hekate], "she who works from afar"[1]), a goddess in greek mythology. according to the generally accepted view, she is of hellenic origin, but farnell regards her as a foreign importation from thrace, the home of bendis, with whom hecate has many points in common. she is not mentioned in the _iliad_ or the _odyssey_, but in hesiod (_theogony_, 409) she is the daughter of the titan perses and asterie, in a passage which may be a later interpolation by the orphists (for other genealogies see steuding in roscher's _lexikon_). she is there represented as a mighty goddess, having power over heaven, earth and sea; hence she is the bestower of wealth and all the blessings of daily life. the range of her influence is most varied, extending to war, athletic games, the tending of cattle, hunting, the assembly of the people and the law-courts. hecate is frequently identified with artemis, an identification usually justified by the assumption that both were moon-goddesses. farnell, who regards artemis as originally an earth-goddess, while recognizing a "genuine lunar element" in hecate from the 5th century, considers her a chthonian rather than a lunar divinity (see also warr in _classical review_, ix. 390). he is of opinion that neither borrowed much from, nor exercised much influence on, the cult and character of the other. hecate is the chief goddess who presides over magic arts and spells, and in this connexion she is the mother of the sorceresses circe and medea. she is constantly invoked, in the well-known idyll (ii.) of theocritus, in the incantation to bring back a woman's faithless lover. as a chthonian power, she is worshipped at the samothracian mysteries, and is closely connected with demeter. alone of the gods besides helios, she witnessed the abduction of persephone, and, torch in hand (a natural symbol for the moon's light, but see farnell), assisted demeter in her search for her daughter. on moonlight nights she is seen at the cross-roads (hence her name [greek: trioditis], lat. _trivia_) accompanied by the dogs of the styx and crowds of the dead. here, on the last day of the month, eggs and fish were offered to her. black puppies and she-lambs (black victims being offered to chthonian deities) were also sacrificed (schol. on theocritus ii. 12). pillars like the hermae, called hecataea, stood, especially in athens, at cross-roads and doorways, perhaps to keep away the spirits of evil. like artemis, hecate is also a goddess of fertility, presiding especially over the birth and the youth of wild animals, and over human birth and marriage. she also attends when the soul leaves the body at death, and is found near graves, and on the hearth, where the master of the house was formerly buried. it is to be noted that hecate plays little or no part in mythological legend. her worship seems to have flourished especially in the wilder parts of greece, such as samothrace and thessaly, in caria and on the coasts of asia minor. in greece proper it prevailed on the east coast and especially in aegina, where her aid was invoked against madness. in older times hecate is represented as single-formed, clad in a long robe, holding burning torches; later she becomes _triformis_, "triple-formed," with three bodies standing back to back--corresponding, according to those who regard her as a moon-goddess, to the new, the full and the waning moon. in her six hands are torches, sometimes a snake, a key (as wardress of the lower world), a whip or a dagger; her favourite animal was the dog, which was sacrificed to her--an indication of her non-hellenic origin, since this animal very rarely fills this part in genuine greek ritual. see h. steuding in roscher's _lexikon_, where the functions of hecate are systematically derived from the conception of her as a moon-goddess; l. r. farnell, _cults of the greek states_, ii., where this view is examined; p. paris in daremberg and saglio's _dictionnaire des antiquites_; o. gruppe, _griechische mythologie_, ii. (1906) p. 1288. footnote: [1] j. b. bury, in _classical review_, iii. p. 416, suggests that the name means "dog," against which see j. h. vince, ib. iv. p. 47. g. c. warr, ib. ix. 390, takes the hesiodic hecate to be a moon-goddess, daughter of the sun-god perseus. hecatomb (gr. [greek: hekatombe] from [greek: hekaton], a hundred, and [greek: bous], an ox), originally the sacrifice of a hundred oxen in the religious ceremonies of the greeks and romans; later a large number of any kind of animals devoted for sacrifice. figuratively, "hecatomb" is used to describe the sacrifice or destruction by fire, tempest, disease or the sword of any large number of persons or animals; and also of the wholesale destruction of inanimate objects, and even of mental and moral attributes.