Definition of "hower"

[O]ur men receaued no other recreation from work and sleep, but onlie the time of eateing their meat, whereof they had sufficient, thrice in every twenty-four howers; and besides, some of them had alowed aquauitæ at ech four hower's end.

1880, Clements R Markham, editor, The Voyages of William Baffin, 1612-1622, published 1881