Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/620

 606 11EDJAZ night in search of worms, insects, snails, roots, and fruits ; though possessing very limited in- telligence, it has been so far domesticated as to be brought up in gardens, where it proves of great service in destroying noxious insects ; the flesh is said to be good eating. The young are born in May, covered with prickles, with yes and ears closed, and about two inches long. When at rest, the hedgehog has the power of lowering the prickles, and of retain- ing them smooth on a level with the body. This species occurs throughout temperate Europe, and was well known to the ancients. The popular name urchin and the French herisson are evidently derived from the Latin ericius, of which erinaceus is a synonynie ; it is the m>? of the Greeks. The prickles were for- merly used to hatchel hemp. A second species, the long-eared hedgehog (E. auritus, Pall.), is found in the eastern regions of the Russian empire ; the ears are nearly as long as the head ; the body and limbs are more slender, and the under hair finer, than in the preceding species. Like the other hedgehog, it hibernates in winter in holes a few inches below the sur- face of the ground ; it can eat cantharides and other vesicating insects with impunity ; it grows very fat in autumn, preparatory to hibernating. Other species are described. There is no prop- er hedgehog in America ; the rodent porcupine, similarly armed with quills, is erroneously so called in some parts of the United States. HEDJAZ, a dependency of the Turkish empire in Arabia, on the coast of the Red sea, bounded N. by the desert, E. by the desert, Shomer, and Nedjed, S. by Yemen, and W. by the Red sea, and its arm the gulf of Akabah. The coast is generally low and sandy, and lined with coral reefs and islets, which afford shelter for small vessels in all weather. Large vessels find good anchorage in roadsteads, but there are few safe harbors. The principal seaports are Jiddah and Yembo, the former the port of Mecca, the latter of Medina. A range of mountains which attain in some places an ele- vation of 8,000 ft., often covered with snow, traverses Hedjaz from N. to S. and extends into Yemen. West of this chain, which is general- ly visible from the coast, and sometimes ap- proaches near to it, is a tract of sandy low- land (el-Tehama), once the bed of the sea ; east of it is a highland (nejed which recedes gradually into the desert, excepting near lat. 24, where an offshoot from the range extends N. E. to Jebel Shomer. These mountains are of granitic formation, but porphyritic rocks, supporting sandstone and limestone, occur in many places. Traces of volcanic fires are nu- merous throughout the Tehama, and porous lavas are found, particularly around Medina. The lowlands are scored by wadies or beds of torrents, which are rarely filled, as but little rain falls during the year. There are no rivers, but a few small streams find their way down from the mountains, where there are more co- pious rains and consequently well watered val- HEER In the Tehama the wild plants are few and offer little sustenance for animal life. In the uplands, various cereals, many fruits, and the vegetables peculiar to Arabia are raised. Wild goats abound in the mountains, and hyaenas and foxes are numerous along the coasts, where they subsist on fish which they find on the coral reefs. A few gazelles, hares, jerboas, and lizards are found on the plains. Falcons are the principal birds. Fish are very plentiful, and constitute a large part of the food of the inhabitants; great quantities are salted and sold in the markets of Mecca. Three species of dolphin are taken along the coast, and tor- toise shell and mother of pearl are abundant. The climate of Hedjaz is generally unhealthy. Fevers are prevalent on the coast, owing to the foulness of the water; and in the interior the humidity and rank vegetation of the irri- gated valleys render them almost equally in- salubrious. The heat is excessive, and is tem- pered only by the sea breeze. The N. part of Hedjaz has few towns or villages, and is in- habited chiefly by wandering Bedouins. The pilgrim route from the norttyto the holy cities is guarded by isolated castles. At the N. ex- tremity of the gulf of Akabah is the fortified village of the same name. In the S. part Medina and Mecca are the chief inland places. Tayf, about 60 m. S. E. of Mecca, is on high ground, and is defended by several forts; it supplies Jiddah and Mecca with fruits, which grow abundantly in its vicinity. Gnnfudah is a coast town S. of Jiddah, opposite a group of islands of the same name. Kali, another small coast town further S., in lat. 18 35' N., is on the borders of Yemen. Besides these places there are only a few scattering villages, mostly in the highlands. The country imme- diately around Mecca is under the jurisdiction of the sherif of Mecca, an officer elected by the sherifs, or nobles who claim descent from the family of the prophet; but he is subordinate to the representative of the sultan, who resides at Jiddah. When the Wahabees cut off the communication between Constantinople and the sacred cities, the sherif of Mecca revolted, attacked the Turkish pasha in Jiddah, and re- moved him by poison. The Wahabees soon checked his increasing power, and they in turn were driven east in 1818 by the troops of Mehemet Ali, who made himself master of Hedjaz and assumed the protectorate of the holy cities. At the close of the war between Turkey and Egypt in 1840, the sultan recovered his rights, and Hedjaz now constitutes a vilayet of the Turkish empire. The great caravans of pilgrims, which were frequently intercepted and despoiled when the country was in an un- settled state, are now comparatively protected, although still subject to numerous extortions. BEEMBKQUt. See HEMSKERK. HERK, Oswald, a Swiss naturalist, born at Glarus, Aug. 31, 1819. He went to Zurich in 1832, and has been engaged there for more than 30 years as professor of botany and en-