VOLUME XIII SLICE VII Horticulture to Hudson Bay (continued 11)

HUCKSTER, a dealer or retailer of goods in a small way. The word, in various forms, is common to many Teutonic languages. In Early English it is found as howkester, hokester, huxter; in early modern Dutch as heuker, and Medieval Low German as hoker; but the ultimate origin is unknown. Huckster apparently belongs to that series of words formed from a verb,—as brew, brewer; but the noun “huckster” is found in use before the verb to huck. Hawker and pedlar are nearly synonymous in meaning, but “huckster” may include a person in a small way of trade in a settled habitation, while a hawker or pedlar invariably travels from place to place offering his wares. In a contemptuous sense, huckster is used of any one who barters, or makes gain or profit in underhand or mean ways, or who over-reaches another, to get advantage for himself.

HUDDERSFIELD, a municipal, county and parliamentary borough in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, 190 m. N.N.W. from London. Pop. (1901) 95,047. It is served by the Lancashire & Yorkshire and London & North Western railways, and has connexion with all the important railway systems of the West Riding, and with the extensive canal system of Lancashire and Yorkshire. It is well situated on a slope above the river Colne, a tributary of the Calder. It is built principally of stone, and contains several handsome streets with numerous great warehouses and business premises, many of which are of high architectural merit. Of the numerous churches and chapels all are modern, and some of considerable beauty. The parish church of St Peter, however, though rebuilt in 1837, occupies a site which is believed to have carried a church since the 11th century. The town hall (1880) and the corporation offices (1877) are handsome classic buildings; the Ramsden Estate buildings are a very fine block of the mixed Italian order. The market hall (1880) surmounted by a clock-tower is in geometrical Decorated style. The cloth-hall dates from 1784, when it was erected as a clothiers’ emporium. It is no longer used for any such purpose, but serves as an exchange news-room. The Armoury, erected as a riding-school, was the headquarters of a volunteer corps, and is also used for concerts and public meetings. The chief educational establishments are the Huddersfield College (1838), a higher-grade school, the technical school and several grammar-schools, of which Longwood school was founded in 1731. The Literary and Scientific Society possesses a museum. Of the numerous charitable institutions, the Infirmary, erected in 1831, is housed in a building of the Doric order. The chief open spaces are Greenhead and Beaumont parks, the last named presented to the town by Mr H. F. Beaumont in 1880. There is a sulphurous spa in the district of Lockwood.

Huddersfield is the principal seat of the fancy woollen trade in England, and fancy goods in silk and cotton are also produced in great variety. Plain cloth and worsteds are also manufactured. There are silk and cotton spinning-mills, iron foundries and engineering works. Coal is abundant in the vicinity. The parliamentary borough returns one member. The county borough was created in 1888. The municipal borough is under a mayor, 15 aldermen and 45 councillors. Area, 11,859 acres.

Huddersfield (Oderesfelte) only rose to importance after the introduction of the woollen trade in the 17th century. After the Conquest William I. granted the manor to Ilbert de Laci, of whom the Saxon tenant Godwin was holding as underlord at the time of the Domesday Survey. In Saxon times it had been worth l00s., but after being laid waste by the Normans was still of no value in 1086. From the Lacys the manor passed to Thomas Plantagenet, duke of Lancaster, through his marriage with Alice de Lacy, and so came to the crown on the accession of Henry IV. In 1599 Queen Elizabeth sold it to William Ramsden, whose descendants still own it. Charles II. in 1670 granted to John Ramsden a market in Huddersfield every Wednesday with the toll and other profits belonging. By the beginning of the 18th century Huddersfield had become a “considerable town,” chiefly owing to the manufacture of woollen kersies, and towards the end of the same century the trade was increased by two events—the opening of navigation on the Calder in 1780, and in 1784 that of the cloth-hall or piece-hall, built and given to the town by Sir John Ramsden, baronet. Since 1832 the burgesses have returned members to parliament. The town possesses no charter before 1868, when it was created a municipal borough.

HUDSON, GEORGE (1800-1871), English railway financier, known as the “railway king,” was born in York in March 1800. Apprenticed to a firm of linendrapers in that city, he soon became a successful merchant, and in 1837 was elected lord mayor of York. Having inherited, in 1827, a sum of £30,000, he invested it in North Midland Railway shares, and was shortly afterwards appointed a director. In 1833 he had founded and for some time acted as manager of the York Banking Company. He had for long been impressed with the necessity of getting the railway to York, and he took an active part in securing the passing of the York and North Midland Bill, and was elected chairman of the new company—the line being opened in 1839. From this time he turned his undivided attention to the projection of railways. In 1841 he initiated the Newcastle and Darlington line. With George Stephenson he planned and carried out the extension of the Midland to Newcastle, and by 1844 had over a thousand miles of railway under his control. In this year the mania for railway speculation was at its height, and no man was more courted than the “railway king.” All classes delighted to honour him, and, as if a colossal fortune were an insufficient reward for his public services, the richest men in England presented him with a tribute of £20,000. Deputy-lieutenant for Durham, and thrice lord mayor of York, he was returned in the Conservative interest for Sunderland in 1845, the event being judged of such public interest that the news was conveyed to London by a special train, which travelled part of the way at the rate of 75 m. an hour. Full of rewards and honours, he was suddenly ruined by the disclosure of the Eastern Railway frauds. Sunderland clung to her generous representative till 1859, but on the bursting of the bubble he had lost influence and fortune at a single stroke. His later life was chiefly spent on the continent, where he benefited little by a display of unabated energy and enterprise. Some friends gave him a small annuity a short time before his death, which took place in London, on the 14th of December 1871. His name has long been used to point the moral of vaulting ambition and unstable fortune. The “big swollen gambler,” as Carlyle calls him in one of the Latter-Day Pamphlets, was savagely and excessively reprobated by the world which had blindly believed in his golden prophecies. He certainly ruined scrip-holders, and disturbed the great centres of industry; but he had an honest faith in his own schemes, and, while he beggared himself in their promotion, he succeeded in overcoming the powerful landed interest which delayed the adoption of railways in England long after the date of their regular introduction into America.

HUDSON, HENRY, English navigator and explorer. Nothing is known of his personal history excepting such as falls within the period of the four voyages on which his fame rests. The first of these voyages in quest of new trade and a short route to China by way of the North Pole, in accordance with the suggestion of Robert Thorne (d. 1527), was made for the Muscovy Company with ten men and a boy in 1607. Hudson first coasted the east side of Greenland, and being prevented from proceeding northwards by the great ice barrier which stretches thence to Spitzbergen sailed along it until he reached “Newland,” as Spitzbergen was then called, and followed its northern coast to beyond 80° N. lat. On the homeward voyage he accidentally discovered an island in lat. 71° which he named Hudson’s Touches, and which has since been identified with Jan Mayen Island. Molineux’s chart, published by Hakluyt about 1600, was Hudson’s blind guide in this voyage, and the polar map of 1611 by Pontanus illustrates well what he attempted, and the valuable results both negative and positive which he reached. He investigated the trade prospects at Bear Island, and recommended his patrons to seek higher game in Newland; hence he may be called the father of the English whale-fisheries at Spitzbergen.

Next year Hudson was again sent by the Muscovy Company to open a passage to China, this time by the north-east route between Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya, which had been attempted by his predecessors and especially by the Dutch navigator William Barents. This voyage lasted from the 22nd of April to the 26th of August 1608. He raked the Barents Sea in vain between 75° 30′ N.W. and 71° 15′ S.E. for an opening through the ice, and on the 6th of July, “voide of hope of a north-east passage (except by the Waygats, for which I was not fitted to trie or prove),” he resolved to sail to the north-west, and if time and means permitted to run a hundred leagues up Lumley’s Inlet (Frobisher Strait) or Davis’s “overfall” (Hudson Strait). But his voyage being delayed by contrary winds he was finally compelled to return without accomplishing his wish. The failure of this second attempt satisfied the Muscovy Company, which thenceforward directed all its energies to the profitable Spitzbergen trade.

Towards the end of 1608 Hudson “had a call” to Amsterdam, where he saw the celebrated cosmographer the Rev. Peter Plancius and the cartographer Hondius, and after some delay, due to the rivalry which was exhibited in the attempt to secure his services, he undertook for the Dutch East India Company his important third voyage to find a passage to China either by the north-east or north-west route. With a mixed crew of eighteen or twenty men he left the Texel in the “Half-Moon” on the 6th of April, and by the 5th of May was in the Barents Sea, and soon afterwards among the ice near Novaya Zemlya, where he had been the year before. Some of his men becoming disheartened and mutinous (it is now supposed that he had arrived two or three months too early), he lost hope of effecting anything by that route, and submitted to his men, as alternative proposals, either to go to Lumley’s Inlet and follow up Waymouth’s light, or to make for North Virginia and seek the passage in about 40° lat., according to the letter and map sent him by his friend Captain John Smith. The latter plan was adopted, and on the 14th of May Hudson set his face towards the Chesapeake and China. He touched at Stromo in the Faroe Islands for water, and on the 15th of June off Newfoundland the “Half-Moon” “spent overboard her foremast.” This accident compelled him to put into the Kennebec river, where a mast was procured, and some communication and an unnecessary encounter with the Indians took place. Sailing again on the 26th of July, he began on the 28th of August the survey where Smith left off, at 37° 36′ according to his map, and coasted northwards. On the 3rd of September, in 40° 30′, he entered the fine bay of New York, and after having gone 150 m. up the river which now bears his name to near the position of the present Albany, treating with the Indians, surveying the country, and trying the stream above tide-water, he became satisfied that this course did not lead to the South Sea or China, a conclusion in harmony with that of Champlain, who the same summer had been making his way south through Lake Champlain and Lake St Sacrement (now Lake George). The two explorers by opposite routes approached within 20 leagues of each other. On the 4th of October the “Half-Moon” weighed for the Texel, and on the 7th of November arrived at Dartmouth, where she was seized and detained by the English government, Hudson and the other Englishmen of the ship being commanded not to leave England, but rather to serve their own country. The voyage had fallen short of Hudson’s expectations, but it served many purposes perhaps as important to the world. Among other results it exploded Hakluyt’s myth, which from the publication of Lok’s map in 1582 to the 2nd charter of Virginia in May 1609 he had lost no opportunity of promulgating, that near 40° lat. there was a narrow isthmus, formed by the sea of Verrazano, like that of Tehuantepec or Panama.

Hudson’s confidence in the existence of a North-West Passage had not been diminished by his three failures, and a new company was formed to support him in a fourth attempt, the principal promoters being Sir Thomas Smith (or Smythe), Sir Dudley Digges and John (afterwards Sir John) Wolstenholme. He determined this time to carry out his old plan of searching for a passage up Davis’s “overfall”—so-called in allusion to the overfall of the tide which Davis had observed rushing through the strait. Hudson sailed from London in the little ship “Discovery” of 55 tons, on the 17th of April 1610, and entered the strait which now bears his name about the middle of June. Sailing steadily westward he entered Hudson Bay on the 3rd of August, and passing southward spent the next three months examining the eastern shore of the bay. On the 1st of November the “Discovery” went into winter quarters in the S.W. corner of James Bay, being frozen in a few days later, and during the long winter months which were passed there only a scanty supply of game was secured to eke out the ship’s provisions. Discontent became rife, and on the ship breaking out of the ice in the spring Hudson had a violent quarrel with a dissolute young fellow named Henry Greene, whom he had befriended by taking him on board, and who now retaliated by inciting the discontented part of the crew to put Hudson and eight others (including the sick men) out of the ship. This happened on the 22nd of June 1611. Robert Bylot was elected master and brought the ship back to England. During the voyage home Greene and several others were killed in a fight with the Eskimo, while others again died of starvation, and the feeble remnant which reached England in September were thrown into prison. No more tidings were ever received of the deserted men.

Although it is certain that the four great geographical landmarks which to-day serve to keep Hudson’s memory alive, namely the Hudson Bay, Strait, Territory and River, had repeatedly been visited and even drawn on maps and charts before he set out on his voyages, yet he deserves to take a very high rank among northern navigators for the mere extent of his discoveries and the success with which he pushed them beyond the limits of his predecessors. The rich fisheries of Spitzbergen and the fur industry of the Hudson Bay Territory were the immediate fruit of his labours.

See Henry Hudson, the Navigator (Hakluyt Society, 1860); and T. A. Janvier, Henry Hudson (1909). In 1909 a great celebration of the tercentenary was held in the United States.

HUDSON, JOHN (1662-1719), English classical scholar, was born at Wythop in Cumberland. He was educated at Oxford, where the remainder of his life was spent. In 1701 he was appointed Bodley’s librarian, and in 1711 principal of St Mary’s Hall. His political views stood in the way of his preferment in the church and university. He died on the 26th of November 1719. As an editor and commentator he enjoyed a high reputation both at home and abroad. His works, chiefly editions of classical authors, include the following: Velleius Paterculus (1693); Thucydides (1696); Geographiae Veteris Scriptores Graeci minores (1698-1712) containing the works and fragments of 21 authors and the learned, though diffuse, dissertations of H. Dodwell—a rare and valuable work, which in spite of its faulty text was not superseded until the appearance of C. W. Müller’s edition in the Didot series: the editio princeps of Moeris, De Vocibus Atticis et Hellenicis (1712); Josephus (1720, published posthumously by his friend Anthony Hall, the antiquary), a correct and beautifully printed edition, with variorum notes and translation.

See Wood, Athenae Oxonienses, iv.; introduction to the edition of Josephus; W. Hutchinson, History of Cumberland (1794).

HUDSON, a city and the county-seat of Columbia county, New York, U.S.A., on the E. side of the Hudson river, about 114 m. N. of New York City and about 28 m. S. of Albany. Pop. (1890) 9970; (1900) 9528, of whom 1155 were foreign-born; (1910 census) 11,417. It is served by the Boston & Albany, the New York Central & Hudson River and the (electric) Albany & Hudson railways, by river steamboats, and by a steam ferry to Athens and Catskill across the river. The city is picturesquely situated on the slope of Prospect Hill; and Promenade Park, on a bluff above the steamboat landing, commands a fine view of the river and of the Catskill Mountains. Among the public buildings and institutions are a fine city hall, the Columbia County Court House, a public library, a Federal building, a State Training School for Girls, a State Firemen’s Home, an Orphan Asylum, a Home for the Aged and a hospital. The city’s manufactures include hosiery and knit goods, Portland cement (one of the largest manufactories of that product in the United States being here), foundry and machine shop products, car wheels, ice tools and machinery, ale, beer, bricks and tiles and furniture. The value of the factory products in 1905 was $4,115,525, an increase of 58.1% over that in 1900. The municipality owns and operates the water-works. Hudson, which was originally known as Claverack Landing, was for many years merely a landing with two rude wharfs and two small storehouses, to which farmers in the neighbourhood brought their produce for shipment on the river. Late in 1783 the place was settled by an association of merchants and fishermen from Rhode Island, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. The present name was adopted in 1784, and the city was chartered in 1785. For many years Hudson had a considerable foreign commerce and whaling interests, but these were practically destroyed by the war of 1812.

HUDSON BAY (less often, but more correctly, Hudson’s Bay), an inland sea in the N.E. of Canada, extending from 78° to 95° W. and from 51° to 70° N. On the east it is connected with the Atlantic Ocean by Hudson Strait, and on the north with the Arctic Ocean by Fox Channel and Fury and Hecla Strait. Its southern extremity between 55° and 51° N. is known as James Bay. It is 590 m. in width, and 1300 from S. to N., including James Bay (350 m.) and Fox Channel (350 m.). The customary use of the term includes James Bay, but not Fox Channel. The average depth of water is about 70 fathoms, deepening at the entrance of Hudson Strait to 100 fathoms. James Bay is much shallower, and unfit for shipping save for a central channel leading to the mouth of the Moose river. The centre and west of the main bay are absolutely free from shoals, rocks or islands, but down its east coast extend two lines of small islands, one close to shore, the other at 70 to 100 m. distance, and comprising a number of scattered groups (the Ottawa Islands, the Sleepers, the Belchers, &c.).

Into Hudson and James Bays flow numerous important rivers, so much so that the water of the latter is rather brackish than salt. Beginning at the north-west, the chief of these are Churchill, Nelson (draining Lake Winnipeg, and the numerous inland rivers of which it is the basin), Hayes (the old boat route of the voyageurs to Winnipeg), Severn, Albany, Moose, Rupert river (draining Lake Mistassini), Nottaway, East Main, Great Whale and Little Whale.

Save for some high bluffs on the east and north-east, the shores of the bay are low. Around much of James Bay extend marshes and swampy ground. Geologically the greater part of the Hudson Bay district belongs to the Laurentian system, though there are numerous outcrops of later formation; Cambro-Silurian on the south and west, and to the north of Cape Jones (the north-eastern extremity of James Bay) a narrow belt of Cambrian rocks, of which the islands are composed. Coal, plumbago, iron and other minerals have been found in various districts near the coast. The climate is harsh, though vegetables and certain root crops ripen in the open air as far north as Fort Churchill; cattle flourish, and are fed chiefly on the native grasses; spruce, balsam and poplar grow to a fair size as far as the northern limit of James Bay. Caribou, musk ox and other animals are still found in large numbers, and there is an abundance of feathered game—ducks, geese, loons and ptarmigan; hunting and fishing form the chief occupations of the Indians and Eskimo who live in scattered bands near the shore. The bay abounds with fish, of which the chief are cod, salmon, porpoise and whales. The last have long been pursued by American whalers, whose destructive methods have so greatly depleted the supply that the government of Canada is anxious to declare the bay a mare clausum.

Hudson Strait is about 450 m. long with an average breadth of 100 m., narrowing at one point to 45. Its shores are high and bold, rarely less in height than 1000 ft., save on the coast of Ungava Bay, a deep indentation on the south-east. No islands or rocks impede navigation. Its depth is from 100 to 200 fathoms. Owing to the violence of the tides, which rise to a height of 35 ft., it never absolutely freezes over.

After three centuries of exploration, the navigability of Hudson Bay and Strait remains a vexed question. To Canada it is one of great commercial interest, and numerous expeditions have been made and reports issued by the Geological Survey. From Winnipeg to Liverpool via Churchill is over 500 m. less than via Montreal, and from Edmonton to Liverpool almost 1000 m. less. Were navigation open for a sufficient time, such a route for the grain of the Canadian and American west would be of enormous advantage. But the inlet from the Arctic sends down masses of heavy ice, which drift about in the bay and the strait. Past the mouth of the strait flows a stream often over 100 m. wide, of berg and floe ice, carried by the Arctic current. Owing to the proximity of the Magnetic Pole (in Boothia) the compass often refuses to work. For sailing ships, such as the Hudson’s Bay Company has long employed, the season for safe navigation is from the 15th of July to the 1st of October. In over 200 years very few serious accidents have occurred to the company’s ships within these limits. It is claimed that specially built and protected steamers would be safe from the 15th of June till the 1st of November, and the problem may be solved by ice-breaking vessels of great power. The only good harbour available is Fort Churchill, at the mouth of the Churchill river, which is large and easy of access. Moose Factory (at the foot of James Bay) and York Factory (at the mouth of the Nelson) are mere roadsteads. Marble Island, south of Chesterfield Inlet, where the whalers winter, is too far north for regular shipping.

The Cabots entered the strait in 1498, and during the next century a series of Elizabethan mariners; but the bay was not explored until 1610, when Henry Hudson pushed through the ice and explored to the southern limit of James Bay.

See Lieutenant Gordon, R.N., Reports on the Hudson’s Bay Expeditions (1884, 5, 6); William Ogilvie, Exploratory Survey to Hudson’s Bay in 1890 (Ottawa, 1891); R. F. Stupart, The Navigation of Hudson’s Bay and Straits (Toronto, 1904).