HOXTER

hoxter, a town of germany, in the prussian province of westphalia, prettily situated on the left bank of the weser, and on the prussian state railways borssum-soest and scherfede-holzminden, 32 m. n. of cassel. pop. (1905) 7699. it has a medieval town hall, and interesting houses with high gables and wood-carved facades of the 15th and 16th centuries. the most interesting of the churches is the protestant church of st kilian, with a pulpit dating from 1595 and a font dating from 1631. there are a gymnasium, a school of architecture and a monument to hoffmann von fallersleben in the town. the weser is crossed here by a stone bridge about 500 ft. in length, erected in 1833. on the brunsberg adjoining the town there is an old watch-tower, said to be the remains of a fortress built by bruno, brother of widukind. near hoxter is the castle, formerly the benedictine monastery, of corvey. the principal manufactures of the town are linen, cotton, cement and gutta-percha, and there is also a considerable shipping trade. hoxter (lat. _huxaria_) in the time of charlemagne was a _villa regia_, and was the scene of a battle between him and the saxons. under the protection of the monastery of corvey it gradually increased in prosperity, and became the chief town of the principality of corvey. later it asserted its independence and joined the hanseatic league. it suffered severely during the thirty years' war. after the peace of westphalia in 1648 it was united to brunswick; in 1802 it was transferred to nassau; and in 1807 to the kingdom of westphalia, after the dismemberment of which, in 1814, it came into the possession of prussia. see kampschulte, _chronik der stadt hoxter_ (hoxter, 1872). hoy (norse _haey_, "high island"), the second largest island of the orkneys, county of orkney, scotland. pop. (1901) 1216. it has an extreme length from n.w. to s.e. of 13(1/3) m., its greatest breadth from e. to w. is 8 m., and its area occupies 53 sq. m. it is situated 2 m. s.w. of pomona, from which it is separated by hoy sound. as seen from the west it rises abruptly from the sea, presenting in this respect a marked contrast to the rest of the isles of the orcadian group, which as a whole are low-lying. its eastern and southern shores are indented by numerous bays, one of which, long hope, forms a natural harbour 4 m. long, with a breadth varying from 1/4 m. to more than 1 m., affording to any number of vessels a haven of refuge from the roughest weather of the pentland firth. off the eastern coast lie the islands of graemsay, cava, risa, fara, flotta and switha, while the peninsula of south walls, forming the southern side of the harbour of long hope, is an island in all but name. red and yellow sandstone cliffs, sometimes over 1000 ft. in height, stretch for 10 to 12 m. on the atlantic front. the detached pillar or stack called the old man of hoy (450 ft.) is a well-known landmark to sailors. the only break in this remarkable run of rocky coast is at rackwick in the bight below the head of rora. in the interior, ward hill (1564 ft.) is the loftiest summit in either the orkneys or shetlands. in the valley between ward hill and the ridge of the hamars to the south-east is situated the famous dwarfie stone, an enormous block of sandstone measuring 28 ft. long, from 11 ft. to 14(1/2) ft. broad, and 6(1/2) ft. high at one end and 2 ft. high at the other, in which two rooms have been artificially hollowed out, traditionally believed to be the bed-chambers of trolld, the dwarf of the sagas, and his wife. a boulder lying at the narrow end was supposed to be used to close the entrance. the generally accepted theory is that it was a pagan altar which some hermit afterwards converted into a cell. other hills in the island are the cuilags (1420 ft.) and the knap of trewieglen (1308 ft.), besides several peaks exceeding 1000 ft. in height. hoy is commonly approached from stromness, there being piers at linksness, the nearest point to graemsay, and at hackness, south ness and north bay, the last three all on the harbour of long hope.