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'HALSTED

829

HAMBURG

elated with these plants are certain spurges, sedges, grasses etc. Certain well-known families are never represented in halophyte conditions, as nettles, roses, heaths, mosses and lichens. Halophytes are mostly succulent plants, with thick and often translucent leaves. Prominent among halophyte societies are the mangrove swamps, which occur along flat, tropical seacoasts where the waters are quiet, the mangrove being a curious tree which advances slowly out into the water; beech marshes and meadows, with their growth of coarse grasses and sedges and occurring in large areas beyond the reach of ordinary flood tide; salt steppes, often occurring in large areas in the interior of continents, as in the Great Salt Lake basin, where the races of greasewoods etc. largely flourish; and salt and alkaline deserts, where the sc anty water is sat-urated with salts and vegetation reaches its lowest ebb, as in the region of the Dead Sea and in Death Valley in southern California. Hal'sted,Mu-rat, an American editor and author, born in Butler County, O., Sept. 2, 1829. He was educated at Farmer's College. College Hill, O. In 1853 he became a reporter for the Cincinnati Commercia I, and in the following year became part owner. In 1856 he became editor-in-chief, and in 1867 was proprietor. The Commercial and the Gazette were later consolidated, and he became chief editor of the Commercial-Gazette in 1882. A Republican in politics, he was a strong and independent editorial writer. In 1890 he became editor of the Standard-Union, Brooklyn, and in 189 5-9 6 wrote letters for the press from Cuba. These were later the chief material for The Story of Cuba. He died on July 2d, 1908.

Ham'adan'. See ECBATANA.

Hamath (ha'math) or Hamah, a very ancient city of Syria on the Orontes, no miles north of Damascus. The population is about 42,000, and the people make coarse woolen mantles and yarn, trading chiefly with the Bedouins. Hamath was taken by the Assyrians in 854 B. C. and again in

743 B. C. In 639 A. D. it came into the power of the Moslems. In 1812 four stones were discovered there by Burckhardt, bearing inscriptions in an unknown language now believed to be Hittite

Hamburg (hdm'bdrg), a free city of Germany, is situated on the Elbe, about 75 miles from the German Ocean. It was founded by Charlemagne in 808. In 1189 Emperor Henry VI granted it a separate judicial system and freedom from customs-dues, and its commercial prosperity began. In 1241 it joined with Lubeck and Bremen in steps which resulted in the Hanseatic League. From that time it increased rapidly in wealth and population, and by purchase increased its territory, including the present harbor of Cuxhaven. It prospered specially during the Thirty Years' War (1618-48).

VIEW IN  HAMBURG LOWER  HARBOR

In 1806 Hamburg was occupied by the French, and this was the beginning of serious reverses. In 1810 it was annexed to the French Empire, and in 1814, when the French occupation ceased, it had lost its commerce and half its population. The next year it joined the German Confederation as one of the four free cities, and its prosperity rapidly revived. In 1842 one third of the city was destroyed by fire, but it was rapidly rebuilt in modern style. Hamburg is the busiest commercial city in Europe and the principal commercial seaport of Germany. Next to London, it has the largest money-exchange transactions in Europe. Hamburg is one of the greatest ports of embarkation for emigrants in Germany. In 1892 it was visited by the cholera, which destroyed thousands of lives and