HUE 



HUE 



grieved, or any other, may resort to the 

 constable of the vill ; and, 1st, give him 

 such reasonable assurance of the fact as 

 the nature of the case will bear: 2. If he 

 know the name of him that did it, he must 

 tell the constable; 3 If he know it not, 

 but can describe him, he must describe 

 him, his person, or his habit, or his house, 

 or such circumstances as he knows, which 

 may conduce to the discovery ; 4. If the 

 thing be done in the night, so that he 

 knows none of these circumstances, he 

 must mention the number of persons, or 

 the way they took : 5. If none of all these 

 can be discovered, as where a robbery, or 

 burglary, or other felony, is committed in 

 the night, yet they are to acquaint the 

 constable with the fact, and desire him to 

 search his town for suspected persons, 

 and to make hue and cry after such as 

 may probably be suspected, as being per- 

 sons vagrant in the same night ; for many 

 circumstances may happen to be useful 

 for discovering a malefactor, which can- 

 not at first be found out. For the levying 

 of hue and cry, although it is a good 

 course to have a justice's warrant, where 

 time will permit, in order to prevent 

 causeless hue and cry, yet it is not neces- 

 sary, nor always convenient ; for the felon 

 imay escape before the warrant be obtain- 

 *ed. And upon hue and cry, levied against 

 tf&ny person, or where any hue and cry 

 ' comes to a constable, whether the person 

 be certain or uncertain, the constable may 

 search suspected places within his vill, 

 for the apprehending of the felon. And 

 if the person, against whom the hue and 

 cry is raised, be not found in the consta- 

 ble wick, then the constable, and also 

 every officer to whom the hue and cry 

 shall afterwards come, ought to give no- 

 tice to every town round about him, and 

 not to one next town only ; and so from 

 one constable to another, until the offen- 

 der be found, or till they come to the sea- 

 side : and this was the law before the con- 

 quest. Hue and cry also is good, and 

 must be pursued, though no person cer- 

 tain can be named or described. 



HUER, or HVER, the Icelandic name 

 for streams of heated water, which are 

 forced with great violence through aper- 

 tures in the earth by internal causes, to a 

 great height, in that wretched Island. 

 Numerous as are the phenomena of na- 

 ture, there is none more capable of excit- 

 ing astonishment and admiration than the 

 huer. These grand fountains far exceed 

 the most celebrated attempts to rival 

 them by many, very many fathoms, ex- 

 elusive of possessing- the property of in- 



creasing their beautiful effect by the dis- 

 charge of steam in vast volumes, almost 

 resembling fleecy clouds. The heat of 

 the water of the different fountains varies 

 considerably, the fluid flowing gently 

 from some, and spouting upwards from 

 others in an actual state of boiling. Those 

 which have the properties of common 

 springs, except in their heat, are called 

 laug, or a bath ; the heat, though un- 

 equal, was never known to be less than 

 188 of Fahrenheit's thermometer, and Dr. 

 Von Troil foifnd the water at Laugarnas 

 188, 191, and 193. At Geyser, Reykum, 

 and Laugarvatn, 212. 



It is not unusual to find the springs 

 closed in some places, with others opened 

 near them; and there are traces of huers 

 without a drop of water in their vicinity. 

 Olafsen asserts, that a huer burst forth 

 at Reikakio, in 1753, forty-two feet in 

 breadth, eighteen in depth, and at three 

 hundred in distance from a spring, which 

 had been overwhelmed by a fall of the 

 adjoining soil. The water, thus impeded 

 in its progress, occasioned convulsive mo- 

 tions in the earth, and loud explosions 

 were heard by the inhabitants before the 

 imprisoned stream obtained a vent. 



The apertures, through which the wa- 

 ter passes, are lined with an incrustation, 

 which is most pure in those that emit it 

 perpendicularly. This substance is said 

 to resemble chased work, is of a very fine 

 grain, and will not effervesce with acids ; 

 unfortunately, the circumstances that ex- 

 cite curiosity to examine these springs 

 prevent its gratification, as it is impossible 

 to explore their depths, or dig round 

 them, without danger; an opportunity 

 occurred, however, at Laugarnas, where 

 Dr. Von Troil had the satisfaction of ob- 

 serving the. course of a spring through a 

 bright gray clay, "the surface of which 

 was covered with a white rind ; but was 

 on the side nearest the clay quite smooth, 

 and crisped on the upper side. The vein 

 flowed a good way under this crust, 

 through a canal, formed of a similar mat- 

 ter, and the whole canal was filled with 

 crystals, which had a very pleasing effect." 

 He was interrupted in his attempts to 

 trace the further progress of the water by 

 its retirement to subterraneous passages, 

 where, compressed by exhalations, and 

 acquiring greater heat, it has forced a new 

 course, and gushes out at an opening 

 some distance from the first mentioned. ' 



The water has a sulphurous taste, in 

 some instances, when hot, but is exactly 

 similar to common boiled water when 

 cold. It is used by the inhabitants for 



