HEBREWS 



Hebrews, GOSPEL ACCORDING TO 

 THE. One of the more important of 

 the N.T. Apocrypha (q.v.), which 

 has survived only in fragments 

 found in the writings of the ancient 

 fathers of the Church. It seems to 

 have been written originally in 

 Aramaic, and to have been intended 

 for the Jewish Christian congrega- 

 tions of Palestine. According to 

 Harnack, it was composed between 

 A.D. 65 and 100. As one of the 

 sources for a life of Jesus, it is 

 ranked by Oscar Holtzmann (Life 

 of Jesus, 1904) with the gospel of 

 S. John. 



Hebrides. Large group of 

 islands lying off the W. coast of 

 Scotland. They are usually divided 

 into the Inner and Outer Hebrides, 

 which is descriptive of their posi- 

 tion in regard to the mainland. 

 The two groups are separated from 

 each other by the Little Minch, 

 which is about 12 m. across in the 

 narrowest part. The Inner Heb- 

 rides include Skye, Mull, Islay, 

 Jura, Colonsay, Tiree, Coll, and 

 some smaller ones, Eigg, Rum, 

 Conna, Staffa, and lona ; also 

 Rona, Raasay, and Oronsay. These 

 are known to geologists as the 

 trap islands, as they are composed 

 of basaltic or trap rocks. On Mull 

 is Ben More, the highest point in 

 the group. The Outer Hebrides 

 form a continuous series of islands 

 extending for about 120 m. The 

 largest is Lewis, with Harris; 

 others are N. and S. Uist, Benbe- 

 cula, Barra, Scarpa, and Taransay. 

 These are gneiss islands. The outer- 

 most member of the group is St. 

 Kilda, 40 m. west of N. Uist ; the 

 Flannan Islands are an isolated 

 group to the west of Harris. 



The islands number in all over 

 500, but only about 100 are in- 

 habited, and many are simply islets 

 of bare rock. They fall within the 

 counties of Ross and Cromarty, 

 Inverness and Argyll. Rainfall 

 averages high throughout the He- 

 brides, but on the whole the climate 

 is mild and pleasant. In most 

 parts the soil is sparse and agri- 

 culture is difficult, but fair quanti- 

 ties of oats, barley, and potatoes 

 are grown on the crofts. Sheep- 

 rearing and fisheries are the staple 

 industry of most of the islands. 



Stornoway, on Lewis, is an im- 

 portant herring centre ; whisky is 

 distilled in Skye, Mull, and Islay ; 

 tweeds are made in Harris ; and 

 slate is quarried in Luing, Easdale, 

 and Seil. There are no rly. lines, 

 but communication with the main- 

 land at various points is generally 

 frequent enough for practical pur- 

 poses. The total ara is about 

 2,800 sq. m. ; pop. about 100,000. 



The Hebrides, known to Pto- 

 lemy as the Eboudai, were invaded 



3910 



by successive | 

 Scandinavian E 

 bands between I 

 the 6th and 9th | 

 centuries, and, 

 together with the 

 Orkneys, S h e t- 

 land, and the Isle 

 of Man, fell under 

 the dominion of 

 Harold I of Nor- 

 way c. 890. Nor- 

 wegian rule main- 

 tained itself 

 against several 

 attacks by the 

 Scottish kings, 

 but in 1266, after 

 his victory at 

 Largs in 1263, 

 Alexander III se- 

 cured their cession to the Scottish 

 crown for a payment of 4,000 merks. 



In the 14th century the island 

 dynasty known as the Lords of the 

 Isles (q.v.) first appeared in John 

 Macdonald of Islay, and the next 

 two centuries were filled with the 

 feuds of rival chieftains and clans, 

 on the islands and mainland 

 Campbells, McNeills, Macleans, 

 Macleods, and others. 



The Jacobite risings of 1715 and 

 1745 found strong support in the 

 Hebrides, but the chiefs paid for 

 their participation by the abolition 

 of their old hereditary j urisdictions 

 in 1748. This was the first step 

 towards pacification, and by the 

 time of Johnson's visit to the 

 Hebrides, 1773, considerable pro- 

 gress had been made. 



As in many parts of the High- 

 lands, the introduction of large- 

 scale sheep-grazing brought many 

 evictions and much distress among 

 the crofting class towards the 

 middle of the 19th century, 

 although Canada and Australia re- 

 ceived large numbers of Hebridean 

 emigrants. The result was fre- 

 quent " land -grabbing." In 1918 

 Lord Leverhulme (q.v.) purchased 

 the island of Lewis and part of 

 Harris to develop the fishing and 

 weaving industries. 



The Hebrideans retain many dis- 

 tinctive characteristics. Gaelic is 

 spoken in most parts, and there 

 are a large number of Roman 

 Catholics. A great body of Celtic 

 tradition in story and song has 

 been preserved, and recent collec- 

 tions of Hebridean songs, many of 

 unknown antiquity, have made 

 their subtle beauty widely known. 

 See Scotland, Map of ; consult also 

 In the Hebrides, C. F. Gordon 

 Cumming, 1883, new ed. 1901 ; 

 History of the Outer Hebrides, 

 W. C. Mackenzie, 1903. 



Hebron (anc. Kirjath-Arba ; 

 Arab. El Khalil). Town of Pales- 

 tine. It stands in the valley of 



HE'BUTERNE 



Hebron. View o! the town of Palestine containing the 



mosque of Machpelah, where the patriarchs, Abraham, 



Isaac, and Jacob, are believed to have been buried 



Mamre, and partly on the slopes 

 of two low hills, 16 m. S.S.W. of 

 Jerusalem. A sacred city, it is one 

 of the oldest in Palestine, and is 

 many times mentioned in the 

 Bible. It was the abode of Abra- 

 ham, Isaac, and Jacob, besides 

 other patriarchs, and its old walled 

 mosque of Machpelah is supposed 

 to cover the tomb of Abraham. 

 When Moses sent spies to view the 

 Promised Land, they went to Heb- 

 ron. Joshua gave it to Caleb, and 

 it was afterwards made a city of 

 refuge (Joshua xx, 7). Here David 

 was anointed king (2 Sam. v, 1-3), 

 and he chose it for his first capital. 

 The seat of a bishop in A.D. 1167, 

 twenty years later it fell into the 

 hands of the Saracens, and it re- 

 mained in Mahomedan hands until 

 the termination of the Great War. 

 Always regarded with reverence, 

 it was one of the four sacred cities, 

 Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem 

 being the other three. The modern 

 town is surrounded by vineyards, 

 and there are manufactures of 

 glassware and goatskin water-bags. 

 It is the terminus of the road S. 

 from Jerusalem through Bethle- 

 hem. In the vicinity, at Mamre, 

 is Abraham's oak. It was occu- 

 pied by the British under Allenby, 

 Dec. 7, 1917. Pop. 22,000. 



Hebuterne. Village of France, 

 in the dept. of Pas-de-Calais. It 

 lies slightly S. of Gommecourt 

 on the Albert-Arras road, about 

 half-way between those towns. 

 It was prominent in the Great 

 War, being until July 1, 1916, in 

 the British front line. It was 

 an assembly point for the battle 

 of the Somme, and from here a 

 strong British force made a turning 

 movement around the high plateau 

 of Serre, in conjunction with an- 

 other attacking force that set out 

 from Auchonvillers towards Beau- 

 mont-Hamel. After the Great War 

 the village was " adopted " by 

 Evesham. /SeeSomme,Battlesof the. 



