a town of Hindustan, in the south of India, and province of Mysore, situated on the east side of the river Vedawati. During the government of the Chittledroog rajahs it was a place of great consequence, and contained 2000 houses, with an outer and inner fort. It was twice sacked by the Mahrattas in the reign of Hyder; and has since fallen into great decay, owing partly to a dreadful famine which followed, and swept away most of the inhabitants. Under its present mild government the town is gradually reviving. Long. 76. 37. E. Lat. 13. 46. N.

HERMÆA, in Antiquity, ancient Greek festivals celebrated in honour of the god Hermes or Mercury. One of these was celebrated by the Phenætes in Arcadia; a second by the Cellenians in Elis; and a third by the Tanagraeans, where Mercury was represented carrying a ram upon his shoulder, because he was said to have walked through the city in that manner in time of a plague, and to have cured the sick, in memory of which, it was customary at this festival for one of the most beautiful youths in the city to walk round the walls with a ram upon his shoulder. A fourth festival of the same name was observed in Crete, when it was usual for the servants to sit down at the table whilst their masters waited; a custom which was also observed at the Roman Saturnalia.

HERMOGENES, Sr., an island in the North Pacific Ocean, about six leagues in circuit, discovered by Behring, and further explored by Cook, situated at the entrance of Cook's Inlet, and separated from the adjacent coast by a channel one league broad. Long. 152. W. Lat. 58. 20. N.