H I S 
20j 
H I S 
•eluding with the following ext raft from Mr. RainsfortTs 
work.—•" No defcription that we have yet met with is 
adequate to the appearance, even at the prefent day, of a 
country, which requires all the aid of romance to imagine, 
much lei's to defcribe : of fertility, which it requires but 
'the foftering hand of man to gfiide to all the pUrpofes of 
•Hie, and of a climate the molt falubrtous amofig the An¬ 
tilles, and in which longevity is general.” “ In theft; de¬ 
lightful countries too,” obferves Robertfon, “ Nature 
feemed to alfume another form ; every tree, and plant, and 
animal, was different from thofe Of the ancient liemif- 
phere ; Columbus boalted of having difcovered the origi¬ 
nal Jeat of Paradife .” “ In thefe delightful vales,” exclaims 
the abbe Raynal, “ all the l'weets of 1 ’pring are enjoyed, 
•wdthout either winter or fumnier. There are but two fea- 
fons in the year, and they are equally fine. The ground, 
always laden with fruit, and covered with flowers, rea¬ 
lizes the delights and riches of poetical defcription. Wher¬ 
ever we turn our eyes, we are enchanted with a variety 
of objefts coloured and reflected by the cleared light. 
The air is temperate in the day-time, and the nights are 
conllantly cool.” “ In a country of fitch magnitude,” 
fays Bryan Edwards, “ diverfified with plains of valt ex¬ 
tent, and mountains of prodigious height, is probably to 
be found every fpecies of foil which nature has affigned 
to all the tropical parts of the earth. In general it is fer¬ 
tile in the higheft degree, every where well watered, and 
producing almoft every variety of vegetable nature and 
beauty, for ufe, for food, and luxury, which the lavilh 
hand of a bountiful providence has be/to wed on the richeft 
portion of the globe.” “ The poffeffions of France in this 
noble ifland,” he continues, “ were conlidered as the gar¬ 
den of the Weft Indies, and for beautiful fcenery, rich- 
nefs of foil, falubrity, and variety of climate, mightjuftly 
be deemed the paradife of the new world.”—See Edwards’s 
Hiftory of the Weft Indies, vol. iii. p. 151, See. 
HISPEL'LUM, in ancient geography, a town of 
Umbria. 
HIS'PID, adj. {lifpidus, Lat. rough.] Rough; briftly; 
fhaggy. 
to HISS, v. n. fiifj'cn, Dut.] To utter a noife like that 
of a ferpent. It is remarkable that this word cannot be 
pronounced without making the noife which it fignifies.— 
The merchants fltall hifs at thee. Ezek. xxvii. 36. 
Againft the fteed he threw 
His forceful (pear, which, hiffing as it flew, 
Pierc’d through the yielding planks. Drydcn. . 
To condemn at a public exhibition; which is fometimes 
•done by hiffing : 
Men fhall purfue with merited difgrace ; 
Hifs, clap their hands, and from his country chace. Sandys. 
To HISS, v. a. [hipcean, Sax.] To condemn by biffing; 
to explode.—Every one will hifs him out to his difgrace. 
Ecclf. xxii. 1.—To procure liiffes or difgrace : 
Thy mother plays, and I 
Play too; but lb dilgrac’d a part, whofe iflue 
Will hifs me to my grave. Shakefpcar(. 
HISS, / The voice of a ferpent, and of fome other 
animals.—He hifs for hifs return’d, with forked tongue. 
Milton. —Cenfure; expreffion of contempt ufed in theatres: 
Fierce champion fortitude, that knows no fears 
Of liiffes, blows, or want, or lofs, of ears. Pope. 
HISS'AR, a town of Hindooftan, and capital of a difi- 
trift, to which it gives name, in the province of Delhi, 
near the river Surfooty: 112 miles weft-north-weft of 
Delhi. Lat. 22. 5. N. ion. 75. 40. E. Greenwich. 
HISS’ING, /. The aft of making a noife like a ferpent; 
an expreffion of contempt by hifles. 
HIST, inter] . [of doubtful original: fome thought it a 
corruption of hufh, hvjh it, hufit, hijl-, others call it an Irifli 
verb commanding filence.] An exclamation commanding 
filence: ° 
Yom X. No. 654. 
Mute filence hijl along! 
’Lefs Philomel will deign a fong, 
In her fweeteft faddeft plight, 
Smoothing the rugged brow of night Mi lien. 
HIS'TER, f. in entomology, a genus of infefts belong¬ 
ing to the order of coleoptera; the characters of which 
are: antennae clavate, the club folid, the laft joint com- 
prefled, decurved ; head retraftile within the body; mouth 
forcipated; fhells fhorter than the body, truncate; fore- 
flianks toothed, hind-fhanks lpinous. The fpecies at pre- 
len t known are as follow : 
1. Hifter major: black; fhells fubftriate; thorax ciliate 
at the edges, with ferruginous hair. Inhabits Africa. 
2. Hifter unicolor: .'body black; elytra or fhells red; 
body polifhed and very fhining, form almoft fquare; tho¬ 
rax large, and highly polifhed : anteriorly it is made with 
a flope, in the cavity of which'is lodged the head, the 
pofition of which is only difcovered by the projection of 
the maxillse ; for the head is often fo withdrawn under 
the thorax, that the infeft looks as if it had none: it can 
protrude or withdraw its head at pleafure. The elytra 
are as it were cut off towards the extremity, and do not 
cover the whole of the abdomen.; they are extremely 
imooth, and have a few ftriie, fcarcely perceptible, to¬ 
wards their outward fide, (lightly tinged with red. It is. 
found in cow-dung, and often on land. Inhabits Eng¬ 
land, almoft every part of Europe, and America. This 
is delineated on the Engraving, at fig. 7. 
3. Hifter glabratus: black, polifhed; fhells punftured, 
fubftriate, as long as the abdomen; retufe behind. Inha¬ 
bits Germany. 
4. Hifter femipunftatus: braffy-bhek, polifhed; fhells 
obliquely ftriate at the bale, obfoletely punftured at the tip; 
all the (hanks comprefled and ferrate. Inhabits Barbary. 
5. Hifter fcaber: black, rough with elevated dots ; legs 
black. Inhabits Spain. 
6. Hifter cyaneus: thorax braffy; fhells bluifh ; head 
dufky; thorax fubpunftured at the edge; fhells polifhed, 
abbreviated, obliquely ftriate at the bale; legs black. In¬ 
habits New Holland. 
7. Hifter planus: plane, opake, black ; fliells quite na¬ 
ked. Inhabits Helvetia. 
8. Hifter brunneus; ferruginous; fhells fubftriate. In¬ 
habits Sweden. 
9. Hifter pygmseus: black; fliells naked, fmooth. In¬ 
habits Europe. 
10; Hifter depreffus : depreffed, black, polifhed; fliells 
fubftriate. Found under the bark of birch-trees. 
11. Hifter quadridentatus: depreffed, black, polifhed.* 
fliells with a Angle ftripe; jaws exferted, longer than the 
head. Inhabits, North America. 
12. Hifter maxillofus: depreffed, black, polifhed; fliells 
ftriate; jaws large, as long as the thorax, the left one 
dilated at the bale within, and toothed; thorax plane, 
rounded behind; fliells abbreviated. Inhabits America. 
13. Hifter fulcatus : black; thorax with five railed lines, 
fhells with three, the interftices punctured; fore-legs 
toothed. Inhabits Europe. 
14. Hifter oblongus: depreffed, black, polifhed ; fhells 
ftriate; body oblong. Inhabits Sweden, under the bark 
of the roots of the afh-tree. 
15. Hifter abbreviatus : black; fliells with crenate ftrix, 
the inner ones abbreviated. Inhabits America. 
16. Hifter finuatus : black ; fliells with a finuate rufous 
fpot in the middle, ftriate on the inner edge, fmooth at 
the future. Inhabits German}'-. 
17. Hifter cruciatus: black; fliells teftaceous, with a 
common black crofs; fmooth, polifhed, the future and 
fpot croffing it in the middle, hind margin black. Inha¬ 
bits Barbary. 
18. Hifter bimaculatus : black; fliells ftriate, with each 
a red fpot behind. Inhabits Europe; and found plenti¬ 
fully in England: it is a final 1 fpecies, fhown at fig. 8. 
19. Hifter quadrimaculatus : black; fhells with two red 
fpots on each. Inhabits Europe. 
3 G 
20. Hifter 
