HUC

huc, evariste regis (1813-1860), french missionary-traveller, was born at toulouse, on the 1st of august 1813. in his twenty-fourth year he entered the congregation of the lazarists at paris, and shortly after receiving holy orders in 1839 went out to china. at macao he spent some eighteen months in the lazarist seminary, preparing himself for the regular work of a missionary. having acquired some command of the chinese tongue, and modified his personal appearance and dress in accordance with chinese taste, he started from canton. he at first superintended a christian mission in the southern provinces, and then passing to peking, where he perfected his knowledge of the language, eventually settled in the valley of black waters or he shuy, a little to the north of the capital, and just within the borders of mongolia. there, beyond the great wall, a large but scattered population of native christians had found a refuge from the persecutions of kia-king, to be united half a century later in a vast but vague apostolic vicariate. the assiduity with which huc devoted himself to the study of the dialects and customs of the tatars, for whom at the cost of much labour he translated various religious works, was an admirable preparation for undertaking in 1844, at the instigation of the vicar apostolic of mongolia, an expedition whose object was to dissipate the obscurity which hung over the country and habits of the tibetans. september of that year found the missionary at dolon nor occupied with the final arrangements for his journey, and shortly afterwards, accompanied by his fellow-lazarist, joseph gabet, and a young tibetan priest who had embraced christianity, he set out. to escape attention the little party assumed the dress of lamas or priests. crossing the hwang-ho, they advanced into the terrible sandy tract known as the ordos desert. after suffering dreadfully from want of water and fuel they entered kansu, having recrossed the flooded hwang-ho, but it was not till january 1845 that they reached tang-kiul on the boundary. rather than encounter alone the horrors of a four months' journey to lhasa they resolved to wait for eight months till the arrival of a tibetan embassy on its return from peking. under an intelligent teacher they meanwhile studied the tibetan language and buddhist literature, and during three months of their stay they resided in the famous kunbum lamasery, which was reported to accommodate 4000 persons. towards the end of september they joined the returning embassy, which comprised 2000 men and 3700 animals. crossing the deserts of koko nor, they passed the great lake of that name, with its island of contemplative lamas, and, following a difficult and tortuous track across snow-covered mountains, they at last entered lhasa on the 29th of january 1846. favourably received by the regent, they opened a little chapel, and were in a fair way to establish an important mission, when the chinese ambassador interfered and had the two missionaries conveyed back to canton, where they arrived in october of the same year. for nearly three years huc remained at canton, but gabet, returning to europe, proceeded thence to rio de janeiro, and died there shortly afterwards. huc returned to europe in shattered health in 1852, visiting india, egypt and palestine on his way, and, after a prolonged residence in paris, died on the 31st of march 1860. his writings comprise, besides numerous letters and memoirs in the _annales de la propagation de la foi_, the famous _souvenirs d'un voyage dans la tartarie, le thibet, et la chine pendant les annees 1844-1846_ (2 vols., paris, 1850; eng. trans. by w. hazlitt, 1851, abbreviated by m. jones, london, 1867); its supplement, crowned by the academy, entitled _l'empire chinois_ (2 vols., paris, 1854; eng. trans., london, 1859); and an elaborate historical work, _le christianisme en chine, &c._ (4 vols., paris, 1857-1858; eng. trans., london, 1857-1858). these works are written in a lucid, racy, picturesque style, which secured for them an unusual degree of popularity. the _souvenirs_ is a narrative of a remarkable feat of travel, and contains passages of so singular a character as in the absence of corroborative testimony to stir up a feeling of incredulity. that huc was suspected unjustly was amply proved by later research. but he was by no means a practical geographer, and the record of his travels loses greatly in value from the want of precise scientific data. see, for information specially relating to the whole subject, the abbe desgodin's _mission du thibet de 1855 a 1870_ (verdun, 1872); and "account of the pundit's journey in great tibet," in the _royal geographical society's journal_ for 1877. hucbald (hugbaldus, hubaldus), benedictine monk, and writer on music, was born at the monastery of saint amand near tournai, in or about 840, if we may believe the statement of his biographers to the effect that he died in 930, aged 90. he studied at the monastery, where his uncle milo occupied an important position. hucbald made rapid progress in the acquirement of various sciences and arts, including that of music, and at an early age composed a hymn in honour of st andrew, which met with such success as to excite the jealousy of his uncle. it is said that hucbald in consequence was compelled to leave st amand, and started an independent school of music and other arts at nevers. in 860, however, he was at st germain d'auxerre, bent upon completing his studies, and in 872 he was back again at st amand as the successor in the headmastership of the convent school of his uncle, to whom he had been reconciled in the meantime. between 883 and 900 hucbald went on several missions of reforming and reconstructing various schools of music, including that of rheims, but in the latter year he returned to st amand, where he remained to the day of his death on the 25th of june 930, or, according to other chroniclers, on the 20th of june 932. the only work which can positively be ascribed to him is his _harmonica institutio_. the _musica enchiriadis_, published with other writings of minor importance in gerbert's _scriptores de musica_, and containing a complete system of musical science as well as instructions regarding notation, has now been proved to have originated about half a century later than the death of the monk hucbald, and to have been the work of an unknown writer belonging to the close of the 10th century and possibly also bearing the name of hucbald. this work is celebrated chiefly for an essay on a new form of notation described in the present day as _dasia notation_. the author of the _harmonica institutio_ wrote numerous lives of the saints and a curious poem on bald men, dedicated to charles the bald. authorities.--sir john hawkins, _general history of the science and practice of music_ (i. 153); _histoire litteraire de la france_ (vi. 216 et seq.); coussemaker, _memoire sur hucbald_ (paris, 1841); hans muller, _hucbald's echte und unechte schriften uber musik_ (leipzig, 1884); spitta, _die musica enchiriadis und seine zeitalter_ (_vierteljahresschrift fur musikwissenschaft_, 1889, 5th year).