Heligoland. 
—_——— 
Physical 
revolutions. 
Soil and 
produc- 
tions, 
Harbours. 
Battefies. 
Lighthouse. 
Buildings. 
‘Natives, 
HEL 
volutions in the years 800, 1300, and 1500. TheDowns, 
or the Sandy Island, was not only connected with the 
low ground of Heligoland, but even a part of the reefs 
was covered with earth. Other revolutions took place 
in 1649 and 1720. Before the first of these epochs, the 
low land of Heligoland contained the isle called the 
Downs ; and even before 1720, there existed between 
the two islands a narrow isthmus, which was seldom 
covered with water, except during very extraordinary ° 
tides, Since 1720, the two islands have been separated 
by a strait called Waal, which is from 18 to 20 feet 
deep. 
The soil which covers the rock is from 33 to 4 feet 
deep, and is rather fat than sandy. It produces annu- 
ally about 300 tons of barley, and a little oats. The 
uplands afford good pasture for about 60 cows, and 400 
or 500 sheep. In the north-west part of the island 
there are three ponds of rain water, called sapskulen by 
the inhabitants. The water of the two springs in the 
low ground is fit only for cattle, and is scarcely of use for 
washing. The principal revenue of the island is de- 
rived from the fish which are caught. About 120,000 
Lubeck mare of fish, amounting to about 230,000 
francs, are exported annually. 
There are two good harbours in the island, which 
could be improved at a trifling expence. The northern 
harbour, where the larger vessels of the islanders lie, 
varies in depth from 7 to 42 feet at half-tide, and the 
southern harbour, which receives the chaloupes, has a 
depth of from 10 to 24 feet. To the east of the Downs 
is a road, which has 48 feet of water. The tides ordi- 
narily rise 9 feet, but with a north-west wind they rise 
to a great height. 
The island was'defended in 1800 by four batteries, 
that of the south-east, that of the south, and the high 
and low battery on the north. | The two first were di- 
rected to the landing place for large vessels, and the 
other two against the current between the islands. 
They mounted 19 cannon, and 4 howitzers, with 56 re- 
gular troops. The light-house serves to direct all ves- 
sels that wish to enter the Hever, the Eyder, the Elbe, 
the Weser, and the Jade. j 
There are no fewer than 342 houses in the high 
ground, and 78 on the low ground, making in all 420. 
The church, the magazine, and the public buildings, 
are erected on the high gronnd. Those on the low 
ground are merely the huts of the fishermen. | A build- 
ing has been erected on the sandy island for the ac- 
commodation of those who may be shipwrecked upon 
it. The population was 2200 in the year 1800. , In 
the same year there were 11 sniggs (small vessels) on 
the island, 97 chaloupes, and 80 yoles, 
The natives of Heligoland are descended from the 
Frisians, and have preserved their language and their 
principal customs. They are chiefly employed in 
fishing and piloting vessels up the Elbe, the Weser, and 
the Eyder. They five in huts, and lie«pon planks pla- 
ced one above another, though some of the houses in 
_ the high ground are clean and well furnished. The 
History. 
women plough and sow the ground, thrash the grain, 
and grind it for food. They have neither carts: nor 
horses. They obtain from Nordhovet in Eyderstedt, 
forage for their cattle in winter, and their fuel is got 
from the ports on the Elbe.” 
This island is supposed by Malthe Brun to be the Alo- 
kiai islands of Ptolemy. It appears also to have been the 
Fosetisland, Fosteland, or Phosteland; which appears in 
the history of the 7th, 8th, and 9th centuries to have been 
the seat of a peculiar worship paid to the idol Foseies, 
704 
Ae ie | ae 
who is su i by some to be the Vesta, or Festa of H 
the Romans, and the Hertha of the Scandinavians. The 
altars of this deity were, however, overturned in A.D, Hello 
866, and his temple changed into a monastery. In. 
1408 and 1417, two famous pirates endeavoured to 
establish themselves on this island,’ in consequence of 
which it was put into a state of defence in.1539. The 
town of Hamburg was afterwards anxious to obtain 
possession of it, but the Dukes of Holstein and Got- 
torp, claimed with ‘success this ancient dependency of 
Denmark, and it passed with the Duchy of Sleswick 
into the possession of the Danes in 1714. The Danish 
government, however, neglected the great advantag 
of this position, and did not put it into a state of des 
fence till the canal of Holstein was opened. : 
In September 1807, a small English squadron un« 
der Admiral Russel blockaded the island, which sur 
rendered a few days afterwards, for the want of provi« 
sions. Thirty-two pieces of cannon, besides field-pieces 
and mortars, and a large stock of: ammunition, were 
found on the island. By the arran ts in the trea- 
ties of Paris in 1814 and 1815, Heligoland has been 
transferred to Great Britain. East . of the light- 
house 7° 53’ 13’, North Lat. 54° 11’ 39”. See 
Brun’s Annales des Voyages 
ithe 
3 Carr’s Northern Summer ; 
and the Geological Transactions, vol. i. p. 322. 
- HELIOCENTRIC. See Asrronomy, vol. ii, p.. 
54 
HELIOGABULUS. See Rome. 
HELIOMETER from a0; the sun, and nergew to 
measure, is the name given by M. Bouguer in 1747, to 
an instrument for measuring the diameters of the sun 
and moon. It differs in no respects from the divided 
object — micrometer, which had been previously 
invented by Mr Savary, excepting that in the helio- 
meter, two whole object glasses were used instead of 
two semilenses, The object glasses are separated by 
a screw, as in Savary’s instrument. See the Memoirs 
of the Academy of Sciences 1748, and our article Astro- 
nomy, vol. ii. p. 734. A new heliometer, in which the 
semilenses are fixed at a certain distance, and the va~ 
riation of the angle produced optically, is described in 
Brewster's Treatise on New Philosophical Instruments, 
p. 31. and 173. See also Micrnomerer. 
HELIOPOLIS, from wavs, and wort, the city of the 
sun, is one of the most ancient cities in the world of 
which any vestiges can now be traced. The most en- 
lightened philosophers of Greece and Rome were at- 
tracted to this celebrated seat of learning. It was here 
‘that Herodotus became acquainted’ with the sciences 
and mysteries of Egypt. Plato was here taught philo- 
sophy, and about 30 years before Christ its ruins were. 
visited and described by Strabo. 
Strabo describes Heliopolis as built upon an artificial 
mount of earth, so as to be out of the reach of the in- 
undation of the Nile ; but owing to the accretion of soil 
from the annual inundations of that river, the place 
where it stood is: now a perfect plane. In this city was 
erected a temple to the sun, where a particular part was 
appropriated for the feeding of the sacred ox, which was 
here worshipped under the name of Mnevis. There was 
also another splendid temple, with avenues of sphinxes 
and superb obelisks before the principal entrance. Out 
of the four obelisks which were erected here by-Sochis, 
two were carried to Rome, one was destroyed by the 
Arabs, and the fourth still remains. 
When Pococke visited Heliopolis, he observed the 
fragments of sphinxes still remaining in the ancient way 
leading to the eminence on which the temple of the sun. 
1 
