Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/330

318 an external remedy for malignant ulcers, inflammations, and burns, and internally for mucous discharges.

1em  HOUSSA,,, or , an important people of the western Soudan, forming a main element in the of the country between 12° and 13°N. , from the Niger in the south-west to Bornu in the east. By Earth they are identified with the Atarantians of Herodotus ; and it is certain that at a comparatively early date they attained great political power. The seven original states of Biram, Daura, Gobir, Kano, Kano, Katsena, and Zegzeg, formed a great confederation or empire, which extended its authority over many of the neighbouring countries, and retained its pre-eminence till the beginning of the 19th century, when the Pullo (Fellata or Fulbe) rose upon its ruins. Physically the Houssa may be considered as the most typical of all the negro peoples : they are strongly and somewhat heavily built, and even where there has been a considerable intermixture of Barber or Pullo blood, their racial persistence is very marked. In intellectual qualities they hold the very foremost rank among the negroes ; they are excellent agriculturists, and, almost unaided by foreign influence, they have developed a variety of industries, such as the making of cloth, mats, leather, and glass, as well as a very extensive trade. In Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast territory the Houssa form the backbone of the military police, and under Captain Glover, who was the first to enrol them under the British flag, they did good service in the Ashantee campaigns. The Houssa or Afnu language ranks as one of the richest and most cultivated in Africa; and it is not only the dominant vernacular throughout a large part of the Soudan, but serves as the means of communication in a great many places throughout the region to the south and west of the Lower Niger. At Idcla, says Bishop Crowther (Proc. Boy. Geog. Soc., ), we found Houssa becoming more generally spoken by the inhabitants, and at Igbegbi it is one of the prevailing languages of the mixed popula tion of that. From Lagos, Badagry, and Porto Novo, and upwards to the Niger, wherever Mahometans are found, Houssa is spoken by them ; through it the Koran is explained in the mosques throughout Yoruba. According to DrBaikie (Observations on the Hausa and Fulfulde, printed for private circulation, Lond. ) there are two master dialects the Daura or eastern, and the Gobir or western. Of these the latter is the more original, the other the more refined. The Katsena form is very pure, and closely resembles the Gobir; that of Kano is extremely corrupt, though not so much so as that of Zariya or Zozari. As an example of the richness of the vocabu lary, DrCrowther mentions that there are eight names for different parts of the day from cockcrow till after sunset.

1em  HOUSTON, a of the, capital of, , and the next  in  to  as regards both  and  enterprise, is situated on the left  of Buffalo  at the head of , and at the junction of several s, 50 s north-west of. The is crossed at Houston by several s. Most of the s are shaded by fine s of, and the principal of them are traversed by tramway cars. The chief are the  and -, completed in, at a cost of 400,000 s, the  of the  of , and the s, the largest of which is the finest in. The is well supplied with s and es, and has two large. It is the principal centre of, and the depôt of an extensive and rich  region, besides being the seat of important and varied. The recent deepening of the so as to make it  for  drawing 9  of  has considerably increased the , which is chiefly in. The possesses  and ,   shops, ,  for s, s, and , - and  works, a large , - establishments, and s of , , , and. In the neighbourhood there are extensive. The  of the  of  is held at Houston. The, which was d after , , was settled in , and in it was for a short time the capital of. In the  was 9382, and in  it had increased to 17,000.  HOUSTON, (–), an American general and statesman, was born near Lexington,, 2d March. On the death of his father, a soldier of the revolution, in, he removed with his mother to the frontier, and settling in Blount county, , was soon on familiar terms with the Cherokee Indians. For a while he acted as clerk to a trader, and then as village school master; but in, after a residence of nearly three among the , he joined the  army. He served with Jackson in the war against Great Britain, and at the peace of had risen from the ranks to a lieutenancy. Although conscious of his success, and proud of having won Jackson’s friendship by his bravery, he then resigned his commission and turned to the study and practice of law at Nashville. In  re turned him to congress, and four  later he was elected governor of the State. He married in January, and in the April following, without assigning any reason, he suddenly abandoned his home and his office, and took up his residence among the Cherokees, by whom he was formally adopted as a member of their nation. Returning to Washington, he successfully pleaded their cause against the Government agents who had wronged them. In he settled in, and was soon after elected a member of the convention called for the purpose of framing a con stitution for that State, then in difficulties with the Mexican Government. On March 2,, declared its independence, and, on the 2d of April following, won it on the field of San Jacinto, where Houston, who had been appointed commander-in-chief of the  forces, with a body of 783 raw troops, defeated  Mexican veterans led by Santa Anna. On the recognition of the independ ence of, Houston was elected president of the new republic, and re-elected in ; and, when was ad mitted to the Union in , he was returned as one of its two representatives to the senate. There he distinguished himself as a zealous friend of the Indians, opposing the Kansas and Nebraska bill in a memorable speech (3d March ), and voting against the Lecompton constitution of Kansas. His decided opposition to secession obliged him in to retire from the office of governor of, which he had held from. He died at Huntersville,, 25th July. The hero of San Jacinto was above all things an able soldier, wary, intrepid, and reso lute ; but he also possessed as a legislator the qualities of rare foresight, cool discrimination, and fearless candour.

1em