HALYS, now known as Kizil Temak or Red river, the largest stream in Asia Minor. It rises in Pontes, and flows s.w. until it reaches the Mons Argmus: thence turning in a northerly direction it traverses Galatia as far as Gangra,f tie frontier town of PaPhla gonta. Its course is then in a me. direction; and separating Galatia and Pontos from Paphlagonia, it discharges itself into the Euxine sea. Its mouth is 50 in. distant from Sinope. The Halys being the largest river of Asia Minor, a common division of the country was Asia cis-Halyn and Asia trans-Halyn. This river is 500 in. in length, but is not adapted for navigation, end iu summer is so shallow as to be easily crossed by wading.
HAM, properly the hind part or angle of the knee; but usually applied to the cured thigh of the ox, sheep, or hog, more especially the last. Ham-curing, or, what is the same thing, bacon-curing, is performed in a variety of methods, each country or district having its own peculiar treatment; these, however, relate to minor points. The essen tial operations are as follows: The meat is first well rubbed with bay-salt, and either left on a bench that the brine may drain away, or covered up in a close vessel; after a few days it is rubbed again, this time with a mixture of salt and saltpeter, to which sumr is sometimes added, or with a mixture of salt and sugar alone. It is then consigned to the bench or tub for at least a week longer, after which it is generally ready for drying. Wet salting requires, on the whole, about three weeks; dry salting, a week longer. Mut ton-hams should not be kept in pickle longer than 12 or 14 days. Some hams are merely hung up to dry without being smoked; others are removed to the smoking-house, which consists of two and sometimes three stories; the fire is kindled in the lowest, and the meat is hung up in the second and third stories, to which the smoke ascends through holes in the flooring. The fire is kept up with supplies of oak or beech chips, though in some districts, as in Westphalia, twigs of juniper, and in many parts of Great Britain peat, are used. Fir, larch, and such kinds of wood, on account of the unpleasant flavor they' impart, are on no account to be used. The fire must be kept, night and day. in a smoldering state for about six weeks, at the end of which time, if the ham be not more than 5 or 6 in. deep, it is perfectly cured. As cold weather is preferable for this operation, it is chiefly carried on during winter. Many of the country-people in those parts of England where wood and peat are used for fuel, smoke hams by hanging them up inside large wide chimneys, a method common in Westmoreland. The curing of beef and mutton hams is carried on chiefly iu the n. of England and Dumfriesshire in
Scotland; that of pork-hams, on the other hand, forms is large and important item in the industry of various countries. Westphalia, iu particular, is celebrated for the delicacy and flavor of its smoked hams. The efficiency of wood-smoke in preserving meat is due to the presence of pyroligueous acid. See PYROLIGNEolIS ACID and CREOSOTE.
HAM, a small t. and fortress of France, in the department of Somme, and situated on the river of that name, is distant 36 m. e.s.e. of Amiens, and about 70 m. n.n.e. of Paris. It is of ancient orgin; coins were struck here in the reign of Charles the bald (840-877). The seigniory or lordship of Ham, erected into a duchy in 1407, was held by the families of Courcy, 01-leans, Luxembourg, and Vendome. The town is chiefly noteworthy on account of its old fortress or castle built by the constable de Saint Pot in 1470, and now used as a state prison. Its walls are 39 ft. thick, and its principal tower is 103 ft. in height, and the same in diameter. It is memorable as the place of confine ment of Marbceuf, Moneey, and others; and subsequently of Polignac, Chantehmze, Peyronnet, and Guernon Ranville from 1831 to 1836; and of Louis Napoleon, the late emperor, from 1840 till 1846. After the coup d'etat of Dec. 2, 1851, the republican gen erals Cavaignac, Lamorieiere, Chaugarnier, and others were kept here for some time. Pop. '76, 3,122.
HAM, according to the writer of Genesis, was one of the three sons of Noah, and the brother of She'll and Japheth. The word is derived by Gesenius from the Neb. Hamm. be hot." His descendants are represented in the biblical narrative as peopling the southern regions of the earth, Arabia. the Persian gulf, Egypt, Ethopia, Libya, etc. Both he and his son Mizraim appear to have given their name to Egypt in particular. The Coptic or native name of Egypt is Kent or Chem, supposed to be the same word as Ham, and signifying both black and hot. In the hieroglyphic language, the name of Egypt is expressed by the two letters K. M. In the Rosetta inscription, the word occurs more than ten times, and is read by Champollion, Chine. It is a curious and somewhat perplexing cirenmstance, that Ilam should have received a name that must have been more appropriate to his descendants than to himself, for we are not told. and there is no reason to believe, that he was more sun-burned or blacker than his brothers. In explana tion of this, it is customarily urged that the names of Noah and his sons had "prophetic significations"—an hypothesis which few feel to be altogether satisfactory.