HYALITE HYDER ALLY. 



13 



HYALITE. See Opal. 



HYBLA; a mountain in Sicily, where thyme and 

 Odoriferous flowers of all sorts grew in abundance. 

 [t is famous for its honey. There is, at the foot of 

 the mountain, a town of the same name. There is 

 also another near mount /Etna, and u third near 

 Catana (Pans., v. c. 23; Strab., vi. c. 2; Mela, ii. c. 

 7; Stat., xiv. v. 201). A city of Attica bears also 

 the name of Hybla. 



HYCSOS or HYK-SHOS (that \s, shepherd-kings), 

 a nomadic people from Arabia, which conquered the 

 greater part of Egypt, and held it from about 1700 

 to 1500 B. C. Their invasions were begun long 

 before their final conquest of Lower and Middle 

 Egypt. They destroyed the temples and cities, 

 carried away women and children into captivity, 

 and, as the Egyptian historians assert, committed the 

 most brutal cruelties. On the eastern frontier of 

 the country, near Pelusium, they built the fortress of 

 Avaris, and founded a kingdom, the capital of which 

 was Memphis. Thebes, however, and some other 

 states, remained distinct governments, but became 

 tributary. The Hyk-shos are supposed to have en- 

 tered Egypt during the residence of the Israelites in 

 that country, on account of which, the two nations 

 have been confounded with each other. The Pha- 

 raoh who was drowned in the Red sea, when pursu- 

 ing the Israelites, is thought, by some, to have been 

 a Hyk-sho. Manetho (q. v.) mentions a series of 

 their kings, whom he reckons among the Egyptian 

 dynasties. They were probably the builders of the 

 pyramids, who are called in the annals of the priests, 

 oppressors of the people and enemies of religion. 

 They were finally conquered by Tethmosis, king of 

 Thebes. Avaris was besieged, and they were ob- 

 liged to leave the country. On the magnificent ruins 

 of Karnac (q. v.;, the events of this war are repre- 

 sented. The Egyptians detested them as the enemies 

 of every thing holy or noble. They are always re- 

 presented in the bass-reliefs as captives, often lying 

 bound on the ground, serving as footstools, and their 

 images were often painted under the sandals of the 

 Egyptians. If, as is very probable, on the block of 

 black granite in the museum at Turin, which repre- 

 sents three different nations, the Israelites, Negroes, 

 and Hyk-shos are intended, the latter appear in a 

 state of barbarism, wearing a rough skin over their 

 shoulders, with their legs and arms tattooed. This 

 stone is described in one of Champollion's letters to 

 the duke of Blacas. See Spineto's Lectures on the 

 Elements of Hieroglyphics, London, 1829. 



HYDASPES; a river of Asia, flowing by Susa. 

 Another in India, the boundary of Alexander's con- 

 quests in the East. It falls into the Indus. 



HYDE, EDWARD, earl of Clarendon. SeeClarendon. 



HYDE, THOMAS, a celebrated Orientalist, was 

 born in 163G, and went to King's college, Cambridge, 

 at the age of sixteen. There he was recommended 

 to Walton, as capable of assisting him in his great 

 polyglot Bible. Such were his attainments at that 

 time, as to enable him to make a Latin translation of 

 the Persian Pentateuch for that work. In 1 658, he 

 went to Oxford, where he was admitted a student of 

 Queen's college, and soon after appointed Hebrew 

 reader to that society. In 1697, he was appointed 

 regius professor of Hebrew, and canon of Christ 

 church, Oxford. He died in 1703. His Veterum 

 Persarum et Mcdorum Historia (third edit., Oxford, 

 1760) is a valuable work. The Syntagma Dissert. 

 (2 vols. 4to, 1767) was edited by doctor Sharpe. 



HYDE PARK is situated at the west extremity 

 of London. This park derived its name from having 

 been the manor of the Hyde, belonging to the abbey 

 of Westminster. It contains nearly 400 acres, and 

 abounds with fine trees and pleasing scenery. At 



the south-east corner of Hyde park, near the entrance 

 from Piccadilly, is a colossal statue of Achilles, ex- 

 ecuted by Mr Westmacott, and dedicated to the duke 

 of Wellington and his companions in arms. This 

 statue was cast from cannon taken in the battles of 

 Salamanca, Vittoria, Toulouse, and Waterloo, is 

 about eighteen feet high, and stands on a basement 

 of granite, making the whole thirty-six feet above 

 the level of the ground. It was cast from twelve 

 twenty-four pounders, and weighs upwards of thirty 

 tons. The sheet of water called the Serpentine river, 

 although in the form of a parallelogram, was made 

 between 1730 and 1733, by order of queen Caroline. 

 It is much frequented in summer for bathing, and 

 during frosts for skating. At the eastern end of it 

 is an artificial waterfall, constructed in 1817. On 

 the south side are the barracks of the life-guards. 

 The park is much frequented as a promenade. 



HYDERABAD, as a province (subaK) of the 

 Mogul empire containing forty-two districts (circars), 

 and upwards of 400 townships (perganahs), compre- 

 hending nearly the whole territory between the (iod- 

 avery and the Krishna, has been much reduced 

 by the diminution of the Mussulman power in 

 India, but still comprehends the terrritories of the 

 most poweriul Mohammedan prince, the nizair. of the 

 Deccan. It is now divided into sixteen districts. 

 Nearly the whole country is parcelled out into feudal 

 lordships, the possessors of which are bound to main- 

 tain an armed force. The soil is fertile, but agricul- 

 ture and commerce are equally discouraged by the 

 badness of the government. A small quantity of 

 muslins, salt, and opium are almost the only articles 

 of commerce. On the death of Aureng-Zebe, this 

 country, which had formed a province ot his empire, 

 was taken possession of (1717) by his viceroy, who 

 still preserved the title of nizam or minister. His 

 successors, alarmed by the growing power of the 

 Mahrattas, who had already seized a valuable part of 

 their territory, formed treaties with the British (1798 

 and 1800), by which it was agreed that a British 

 force should be stationed ia the country, and that all 

 the foreign affairs of the nizam should be managed by 

 the English government. 



HYDERABAD, the capital, is in 17 15' N. lat. ; 78 

 35' E. Ion. It is about four miles long and three 

 broad, and is surrounded by a stone wall. Its streets 

 are narrow, crooked, ill-paved, formed by rows of 

 houses of one story. The palace and some of the 

 mosques are the only remarkable buildings, but the 

 tank is worthy of notice; it is nearly seventeen miles 

 in circumference, and covers about 10,000 acres. 

 It is filled by a canal from the river, and is formed by 

 an imbankment, consisting chiefly of granite, 3350 

 feet long and fifty feet high, which closes the open 

 end of a valley, surrounded on the other three sides 

 by mountains. It was finished in 1812. The popu- 

 lation is 200,000. 



HYDER ALLY KHAN; an Asiatic prince, who 

 rose by his talents to sovereign power, and was a 

 formidable enemy to the English in Hindostan, in 

 the latter part of the last century. He was born at 

 Dinavelli, in the Mysore, and after some military 

 service under his father, a petty chief of the couutry, 

 he joined his brother in an alliance with France, and 

 introduced European discipline among his troops. 

 He became general-in-chief of the forces of Cinoas, 

 who then reigned at Seringapatam as a vassal of the 

 Great Mogul; and having quarrelled with the grand 

 vizier of his master, he marched against the capital, 

 and obliged Cinoas not only to deliver the vizier into 

 his power, but also to appoint him regent. He 

 subsequently assumed the sovereignty himself; and 

 having deposed the royal family, he founded the 

 Mohammedan kingdom of Mysore, in 1760. tie so 



