[1] The word “hue,” which is now obsolete except in this phrase and in the “huers” on the Cornish coast who direct the pilchard-fishing from the cliffs, is generally connected with the Old French verb huer, to cry, shout, especially in war or the chase. It has been suggested that while “cry” represents the sound of the voices of the pursuers, “hue” applies to the sound of horns or other instruments used in the pursuit; and so Blackstone, Comment. iv. xxi. 293 (1809), “an hue and cry, hutesium et clamor, ... with horn and voice.” “Hue,” appearance, colour, is in Old English hiew, hiw, cognate with Swedish hij, complexion, skin, and probably connected with Sanskrit chawi, skin, complexion, beauty.
HUEHUETANANGO (i.e. in the local Indian dialect, “City of the Ancients”), the capital of the department of Huehuetanango, western Guatemala, 106 m. W.N.W. of Guatemala city, on the right bank and near the source of the river Salegua, a tributary of the Chiapas. Pop. (1905) about 12,000. Huehuetanango was built near the site of the ancient Indian city of Zakuleu, now represented by some ruins on a neighbouring ridge surrounded by deep ravines. It is the principal town of a fertile upland region, which produces coffee, cocoa and many European and tropical fruits. Chiantla, a neighbouring town mainly inhabited by Indians, was long the headquarters of a successful Dominican mission; its convent, enriched by the gifts of pilgrims and the revenues of the silver mines owned by the monks, became one of the wealthiest foundations in Central America. It was secularized in 1873, and the mines have been abandoned.
HUELVA, a maritime province of south-western Spain, formed in 1833 of districts taken from Andalusia, and bounded on the N. by Badajoz, E. by Seville, S. by the Gulf of Cadiz and W. by Portugal. Pop. (1900) 260,880; area 3913 sq. m. With the exception of its south-eastern angle, where the province merges into the flat waste lands known as Las Marismas, at the mouth of the Guadalquivir, Huelva presents throughout its entire extent an agreeably varied surface. It is traversed in a south-westerly direction by the Sierra Morena, here known, in its main ridge, as the Sierra de Aracena. The principal streams are the navigable lower reaches of the Guadalquivir and Guadiana, which respectively form for some distance the south-eastern and south-western boundaries; the Odiel and the Tinto, which both fall into the Atlantic by navigable rias or estuaries; the Malagon, Chanza, Alcalaboza and Murtiga, which belong to the Guadiana system; and the Huelva, belonging to that of the Guadalquivir. Huelva has a mild and equable climate, with abundant moisture and a fertile soil. Among the mountains there are many valuable woodlands, in which oaks, pines, beeches, cork-trees and chestnuts predominate, while the lowlands afford excellent pasturage. But agriculture and stock-breeding are here less important than in most Spanish provinces, although the exports comprise large quantities of fruit, oil and wine, besides cork and esparto grass. The headquarters of the fishing trades, which include the drying and salting of fish, are at Huelva, the capital, and Ayamonte on the Guadiana. There are numerous brandy distilleries; and bricks, pottery, soap, candles and flour are also manufactured; but the great local industry is mining. In 1903 no fewer than 470 mines were at work; and their output, consisting chiefly of copper with smaller quantities of manganese and iron, exceeded £1,500,000 in value. The celebrated Rio Tinto copper mines, near the sources of the Tinto, were, like those of Tharsis, 30 m. N.N.W. of Huelva, exploited long before the Christian era, probably by the Carthaginians, and certainly by the Romans. They are still among the most important copper mines in the world (see [Rio Tinto]). Saline and other mineral springs are common throughout the province. Huelva is the principal seaport, and is connected with Seville on the east and Mérida on the north by direct railways; while a network of narrow-gauge railways gives access to the chief mining centres. The principal towns, besides Huelva (21,359) and Rio Tinto (11,603), which are described in separate articles, are Alosno (8187), Ayamonte (7530), Bollullos (7922), Moguer (8455), Nerva (7908) and Zalamea la Real (7335). The state and municipal roads are better engineered and maintained than those of the neighbouring provinces. See also [Andalusia].
HUELVA (the ancient Onuba, Onoba, or Onuba Aestuaria), the capital of the Spanish province of Huelva, about 10 m. from the Atlantic Ocean, on the left bank of the river Odiel, and on the Seville-Huelva, Mérida-Huelva and Rio Tinto-Huelva railways, the last-named being a narrow-gauge line. Pop. (1900) 21,357. Huelva is built on the western shore of a triangular peninsula formed by the estuaries of the Odiel and Tinto, which meet below the town. It is wholly modern in character and appearance, and owes its prosperity to an ever-increasing transit trade in copper and other ores, for which it is the port of shipment. After 1872, when the famous Rio Tinto copper mines were for the first time properly exploited, it progressed rapidly in size and wealth. Dredging operations removed a great part of the sandbanks lining the navigable main channel of the Odiel, and deepened the water over the bar at its mouth; new railways were opened, and port works were undertaken on a large scale, including the construction of extensive quays and two piers, and the installation of modern appliances for handling cargo. Many of these improvements were added after 1900. Besides exporting copper, manganese and other minerals, which in 1903 reached 2,750,000 tons, valued at more than £1,500,000, Huelva is the headquarters of profitable sardine, tunny and bonito fisheries, and of a trade in grain, grapes, olives and cork. The copper and cork industries are mainly in British hands, and the bulk of the imports, which consist chiefly of coal, iron and steel and machinery, comes from Great Britain. Foodstuffs and Australian hardwood are also imported.
Huelva was originally a Carthaginian trading-station, and afterwards a Roman colony; but it retains few memorials of its past, except the Roman aqueduct, repaired in modern times, and the colossal statue of Columbus. This was erected in 1892 to commemorate the fourth centenary of his voyage to the new world in 1492-1493, which began and ended in the village of San Pálos de la Frontera on the Tinto. Columbus resided in the neighbouring monastery of Santa Maria la Rabida after his original plans for the voyage had been rejected by King John II. of Portugal in 1484. An exact reproduction of this monastery was erected in 1893 at the World’s Fair, Chicago, U.S.A., and was afterwards converted into a sanatorium. Higher up the Tinto, above San Pálos, is the town of Moguer (pop. 8455), which exports large quantities of oil and wine.
HUÉRCAL OVERA, a town of south-eastern Spain, in the province of Almería, on the Lorca-Baza railway, and between two branches of the river Almanzora. Pop. (1900) 15,763. Huércal Overa is the chief town of a thriving agricultural district, largely dependent for its prosperity on the lead mining carried on among the surrounding highlands.