HALTON 



3801 



HAMADRYAD 



crape are manufactured, and there 

 are brass and iron foundries, 

 breweries, and a tannery. The coun- 

 cil owns the waterworks and public 

 baths, and maintains public gar- 

 dens. Market day, Tues. Pop. 6,264. 



Halton. Village of Bucking- 

 hamshire, England. It is on the 

 Wendover Canal, 4 m. S.E. of 

 Aylesbury. During the Great War 

 a military camp was established 

 here which, in 1917, was taken 

 over from the war office and used 

 as a technical training centre for 

 men and boys of the air service. 

 After the war, in addition to being 

 used as a recruiting depot, training 

 centre, and record office of the 

 R.A.F., it became the headquarters 

 of the Air Force Staff College. 



Haltwhistle. Market town and 

 parish of Northumberland. It 

 stands on the S. Tyne and is a sta- 

 tion on the N.E. Rly., 16 m. W. of 

 Hexham. The Roman wall runs 

 near it, and many antiquities have 

 been found in the neighbourhood. 

 The chief industry is coal-mining. 

 Market day, Thurs. Pop. 4,000. 



Ham. In anatomy, the back 

 part of the leg behind the knee- 

 joint, and, secondarily, the thigh 

 and buttock of any animal. The 

 word is applied particularly to the 

 thigh of a pig, salted, smoked, and 

 cooked. The thigh is pickled in 

 brine made of water, salt, salt- 

 petre, and a little sugar, or simply 

 rubbed with salt. When sufficiently 

 salted it is hung for several days 

 on an upper floor of a smoking 

 house, the smouldering fire of 

 wood or peat being on the lowest 

 floor. It can be boiled, or baked 

 in a crust of flour and water. Wilt- 

 shire and Yorkshire hams are the 

 best. Hams are exported from 

 Westphalia and Chicago. . 



Ham. Urban dist. of Surrey, 

 England. A residential suburb of 

 London, it stands between Twick- 

 enham, N., and Teddington, S., 

 and is bounded on the E. by Rich- 

 mond Park. The manor was given 

 by Athclstan to his chief alderman, 

 Wulgar, 931 ; and, after being in 



Ham House, Surrey. The 17th century house of the 

 earl of Dysart 



the possession of Francis, 1st 

 Viscount Lovcll, Anne of Cleves, 

 Henry prince of Wales, and Charles 

 I, was granted to John Maitland, 

 5th earl of Lauderdale, and his 

 wife, Elizabeth, countess of Dysart. 

 Facing the Thames, in the parish 

 of Petersham, is Ham House, seat 

 of the earl of Dysart, built 1610 on 

 the site of the home of W T ulgar 

 by Sir Thomas Vavasour. It was 

 the scene of the secret meetings of 

 the Cabal (q.v. ) and the birthplace 

 of John Campbell, 2nd duke of 

 Argyll. Notable for its art collec- 

 tion, it inspired the vision of the 

 haunted house in Hood's poem, 

 The Elm Tree. The meadows, 

 known as Ham Walks, extend 

 from Ham House to Twickenham 

 Ferry, are mentioned in Thomson's 

 The Seasons, and were a favourite 

 haunt of Swift, Pope, and Gay. 

 Ham Common, 20 acres, is be- 

 tween Richmond Park and the road 

 from Petersham to Kingston. S. 

 Andrew's Church, on the S. side of 

 the common, dates from 1832. 



Ham is not to be confused with 

 East Ham and West Ham in E. 

 London. There was another Ham 

 House in Portmore 

 Park, Weybridge, f 

 which was given 

 by James II to 

 Catherine Sedley, 

 who married the 

 1st earl of Port- 

 more. Pop. 1,435. 

 Ham. Town of 

 France. It stands 

 on the Somme, in 

 the dept. of the 

 Somme, 36 rn. from 

 Amiens. It is 

 famous for its 

 castle, one of the 

 most formidable of 

 its kind. This was founded in the 

 10th century, but the present build- 

 ing dates mainly from the 13th 

 century, with improvements of the 

 15th. A feature is the donjon, or 

 constable's tower, one of enormous 

 strength, having walls 35 ft. thick. 

 This was long used as a prison. 



The church of 

 Notre Dame is the 

 successor of an old 

 building, most of 

 which was burned 

 in 1760. Erected 

 to serve the abbey 

 of S. Augustin, its 

 12th century crypt 

 survives. The town 

 has a library, a 

 belfry, and a small 

 museum. During 

 the Great War it 

 was in the occupa- 

 tion of the Ger- 

 mans from Sept., 

 1914, until March, 



1917, when they heavily mined it 

 after evacuating it in their retreat 

 to the Hindenburg line. Retaken 

 by the Germans in March, 1918, it 

 was recovered by the French on 

 Sept. 6 of that year. Pop. 3,300. 

 See Somme, Battles of the. 



Ham. One of the sons of Noah 

 (Gen. 9 and 10). He is said to have 

 been the ancestor of the Ethiopians, 

 Egyptians, and the nations of N. 

 Africa generally. The name means 

 hot or black, and is also the ancient 

 name for Egypt, to which country 

 it is applied in Psalms 105 and 106. 



Hamadan. City of Persia and 

 capital of a prov. of the same name. 

 It is about 180 m. S.W. of Teheran, 

 and is built on the site of the 

 ancient Ecbatana. Long a place of 

 importance as a centre of trade on 

 the great road through Kerman- 

 shah to Khanikin and Bagdad, and 

 also with Teheran and the Caspian, 

 it manufactures leather goods, 

 carpets, and silks. It contains the 

 tomb of Avicenna, and, according 

 to tradition, those of Esther and 

 Mordecai. During the Great War 

 it was the scene of operations, of 

 the Russians and the Turks in 



Ham, France. The castle from which Louis Napoleon 

 escaped in 1846 after 6 years' confinement 



Persia, It was occupied by the 

 British in April, 1918, on the 

 march to the Caspian. Pop. 35,000. 

 Pop. of prov. about 350,000. 



Hamadryad OR KINO COBRA. 

 Large species of the cobra, found in 

 India, Malaya, and the Philippines. 

 It is extremely venomous and of 

 fierce and m^^ammmaaass^mn 

 rather aggres- 

 sive dispo- 

 sition. In 

 colour yellow 

 o r yellowish 

 brown, with 

 black bands, 

 it attains a 

 length of 

 about 14 ft. 

 As it feeds to 

 a large ex- 

 tent on other 

 snakes it is in 

 some degree a 



useful reptile. Hamadryad. Haed of 

 See Snake. the poisonous snake 



