HUNGER. See DIGESTION.
HiiNINGEN (French, Huningue), a small t. in the a of Alsace, is situated on the left bank of the Rhine, .37 us. s.s.o. of the town of Colmar. Pop. '71. 1456.
This place, still remarkable for its pisciculture, wag formerly the center of the French system. A series of buildings and artificial ponds, covering a space of 70 imperial acres, was erected in 1852-54 for the breeding and acclimatizing of foreign fish. The total cost was £10,007. The expense of carrying on the plan from 1853 to 1862 amounted to £13,887, and the annual cost after the latter year averaged about £2,000. This establishment enabled the French government during the second empire to restock many of the barren rivers of France with valuable fish. See PISCICULTURE.
HUNS (Lat. Muni,. Gr. Ounnot and Chounot), the name of a considerable nation of antiquity, which, from time to time, made incursions upon the Roman dominions, and which eventually, under Attila, the most renowned of its leaders, brought the empires of both the east and the west to the very verge of destruction.
The Huns were of Asiatic origin, and, in all probability, of the Mongolian or Tartar stock; therefore akin to, and perhaps to be identified with, the Scythians and Turks. to Be Guignes, whose theory has been accepted by Gibbon, the Huns who invaded the Roman empire were lineally descended from the Iliong nou, whose ancient seat was an extensive but barren tract of country immediately to the n. of the great wall of China. About the year 200 B.C., these people overran the Chinese empire, defeated the Chinese armies in numerous engagements, and even drove the emperor Kao-ti himself to an ignominious capitulation and treaty. During the reign of Vou-ti (141-87 u.c.), the power of the Huns was very much broken. Eventu ally, they separated into two distinct camps, one of which, amounting to about 50.000 families, went southwards, while the other endeavored to maintain itself in its original seat. This, however, it was very difficult for them to do; and eventually the most war like and enterprising went w. and n.w. in search of new homes. Of those that went n.w., a large number established themselves for a while on the banks of the Volga. Then crossing this river, they advanced into the territories of the Alani, a pastoral people dwelling between the Volga and the Don. At what period this took place is uncertain, but probably it was early in the 4th century. Time Alani, who had long dwelt in these plains, resisted the incursions of the Huns with much bravery and some effect, until at length a bloody and decisive battle was fought on the banks of the Don; in which the Alan king was slain, and his army utterly routed; the vast majority of the survivors joined the invaders.
The Huns are described as being of a dark complexion, almost black; deformed in their appearance, of uncouth gesture and 'shrill voice. "They were distinguished,"
says Gibbon, "from the rest of the human species by their broad shoulders, flat noses, and small black eyes deeply buried in the head; and as. they were almost destitute of beards, they never enjoyed either the manly graces of youth, or the venerable aspect of age. A fabulous origin was assigned worthy of their form and manners—that the witches of Scythia, who for their foul and deadly practices had been driven from society, had copulated in the desert with infernal spirits; and that the Huns were the offspring of this execrable conjunction." Such was the origin assigned to them by their enemies the Goths, whom the Huns now invaded with fire and sword. Hermanric, the aged sovereign of the Goths, whose dominions reached from the Baltic to the Euxine, roused himself to meet the invaders, but in vain. His successor, Withimir, encountered the Huns in a pitched battle, in which he was himself slain, and his countrymen utterly routed. These now threw themselves upon the protection of the emperor Valens, who in 376 gave permission to a great number of them to cross the Danube and settle in the countries on the other side as auxiliaries to the Roman arms against further invasion.. The Huns now occupied all the territories that had been abandoned by the Goths; and when these, not long afterwards, revolted against Valens, the litmus also crossed the Danube, and joined their arms to those of the Goths in hostilities against the Roman empire. In the wars that followed, the Huns were not so conspicuous as the Goths, their former enemies. Indeed, we now hear but little of the Huns during the remainder of the 4th century. It is supposed, however, that early in the following century they were joined by fresh hordes of their brethren, a circumstance which encouraged them to press onward towards further conquests. In the reign of Theodosius the younger, they had increased so considerably in power, that their sovereign Rugilas, or Roas, was paid an annual tribute to secure the Roman empire from further injury, Rugilas, dying in the year 434, was succeeded in the sovereignty of the Huns by his nephews Attila (q.v.) and Bleda. With Attila's death, however, in 454. the power of time Huns was broken in pieces. A few feeble sovereigns succeeded to him, but there was strife now everywhere among time several nations that had owned the firm sway of Attila, and the Huns especially never regained their power. Many of them took service in the armies of the Romans, and others again joined fresh hordes of invaders from the n. and e., aiding them in their repeated attacksupon the moribund Roman empire.