HIMALAYAS ("the abode of snow"), a stupendous mountain chain stretching 1500 m. along the northern frontier of India, and dividing that country from Thibet; forty-five of its peaks attain a greater height than those of any other mountain system in the world; Mount Everest, the loftiest, reaches 29,002 ft.; the best-known pass is the Karakoram Pass (18,550 ft.), leading into Eastern Turkestan; there are few lakes, but amid the snowy heights rise the rivers Ganges, Indus, Brahmaputra, &c.; gold, iron, copper, and lead are wrought.

HINCKLEY (10), a nicely built town of Leicestershire, 13 m.  W. of Leicester; has an interesting old parish church of Edward III.’s time; does a good trade in hosiery, baskets, boots, &c.

HINC`MAR, a famous Frankish churchman; was appointed archbishop of Rheims, in which capacity he maintained an independent attitude towards the Papal See, and distinguished himself as a champion of ecclesiastical liberty (806-882).

HIND, JOHN RUSSELL, an eminent astronomer, born at Nottingham; at 17 he obtained a post in the Greenwich Observatory; subsequently became observer in Mr. Bishop’s private observatory, Regent’s Park, where his untiring assiduity was rewarded by the discovery of several new movable stars and 10 minor planets; he received various honours from societies; was President of the Royal Astronomical Society, and in 1852 was pensioned by Government; his works include “The Comets,” “The Solar System,” &c. (1823-1895).

HINDLEY (19), a busy manufacturing town in Lancashire, 3 m.  SE. of Wigan; the staple industry is the manufacture of cotton; in the vicinity are large coal-mines.

HINDU KUSH, a lofty mountain range stretching 365 m. from the western extremity of the Himalayas, from which it is cut off by the valley of the Indus into Afghanistan, which it divides from Turkestan; it attains an elevation of 23,000 ft.; is crossed by several passes, and is rich in minerals, especially iron; the tribes that inhabit it are chiefly Shins and Dards.

HINDUISM, the name given to certain forms of religion among the Hindus, the characteristics of which are the worship of divinities exalted above the rest, and the highly concrete and intensely personal conception of these, which comes out in sundry accounts respecting them of a biographical nature which divinities are identified either with Civa or Vishnu, and their religions called Civaite or Vishnuite, while their respective followers are styled Caivas or Vishnavas.

HINDUSTAN, a name sometimes loosely applied to the entire Indian peninsula, but which, strictly speaking, embraces only the country of the upper valley of the Ganges, divided into NW.  Provinces, Oude, and Behar; the language spoken is Hindi, a pure Sanskritic tongue, on which Hindustani is based, but with large Persian and Arabic admixtures.

HINDUSTANI, the official and common language of India.

HINTON, JAMES, aurist and metaphysician, born at Reading; after taking his degree was for some time at sea and in Jamaica, but in 1850 established himself in London; specialising in ear-diseases he rose to the top of his profession, becoming lecturer at Guy’s Hospital; his leisure was earnestly devoted to philosophy, and gave fruit in “Man and his Dwelling-Place,” “The Mystery of Pain,” “Philosophy and Religion,” &c. (1822-1875).