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HIERRO, or FERRO

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 454 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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HIERRO, or FERRO

HIERRO, or FERRO , an See also:

ISLAND (O.E. ieg =isle, +land')

island in the See also:

ATLANTIC

Atlantic Ocean, forming See also:

PART

part of the See also:

SPANISH

Spanish See also:

ARCHIPELAGO

archipelago of the See also:

Canary Islands (q.v.). Pop. (1900) 65o8; See also:

AREA

area 107 sq. m. Hierro, the most See also:

WESTERLY

westerly and the smallest island of the See also:

GROUP

group, is somewhat See also:

CRESCENT (Lat. crescens, growing)

crescent-shaped. Its length is about 18 m., its greatest breadth about 15 m., and its circumference 50 M. It lies 92 M. W.S.W. of See also:

TENERIFFE [Tenerife]

Teneriffe. Its See also:

COAST (from Lat. costa, a rib, side)

coast is See also:

BOUND, or BOUNDARY (from O. Fr. bonde, Med. Lat. bodena or butina, a frontier line)

bound by high, steep rocks, which only admit of one See also:

HARBOUR (from M.E. hereberge, here, an army; cf. Ger. Heer and -beorg, protection or shelter. Other early forms in English were herberwe and haiborow, as seen in various place names, such as Market Harborough.. The French auberge, an inn, derived through

harbour, but the interior is tolerably level. Its See also:

hill-tops in See also:

winter are sometimes wrapped in See also:

SNOW (in O. Eng. sndw; a common Indo-European word; cf. in Teutonic languages, Ger. Schnee, Du. sneeuw; in Slavonic snieg', Lith. snegas; Gr. vi4a, Lat. nix, nivis, whence the Romanic forms, Ital. neve, Fr. neige, &c.; Ir. and Gael. sneachd; the original

snow. Better and more abundant grass grows here than on any of the other islands. Hierro is exposed to westerly See also:

GALES (mod. Calvi)

gales which frequently inflict See also:

GREAT

great damage. Fresh See also:

WATER

water is scarce, but there is a sulphurous See also:

SPRING (from " to spring," " to leap or jump up," " burst out," O. Eng., springau, a common Teut. word, cf. Ger. springer, possibly allied to Gr. QnrFpxecOac, to move rapidly)

spring, with a temperature of 102° Fahr.

The once celebrated and almost sacred Til See also:

tree, which was reputed to be always distilling water in great abundance from its leaves, no longer exists. Only a small part of the cultivable See also:

LAND

land is under tillage, the inhabitants being principally employed in pasturage. Valverde (pop. about 3000) is the See also:

PRINCIPAL

principal See also:

TOWN

town. Geographers were formerly in the See also:

HABIT (through the French from Lat. habitus, from habere, to have, hold, or, in a reflective sense, to be in a certain condition; in many of the English senses the French use habitude, not habit)

habit of measuring all longitudes from Ferro, the most westerly land known to them. The See also:

LONGITUDE (from Lat. longitudo, " length ")

longitude assigned at first has, however, turned out to be erroneous; and the so-called " Longitude of Ferro " does not coincide with the actual longitude of the island.

End of Article: HIERRO, or FERRO

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HIGDON (or HIGDEN), RANULF (c. 1299—c. 1363)