We have studied spatially resolved spectra of the low-excitation HH objects HH 7, HH 11, HH 43 B, HH 43 C and of the high excitation object HH 43 A in the spectral range 3700 Å ≲ i ≲ 10000 Å. The spectra have been obtained with the "echellette" spectrograph (with a CCD detector) at the 3.5 m telescope and the coudé spectrograph at the 2.2 m telescope of the Calar Alto Observatory. A considerable number of new lines have been detected in all five objects. The spatial distribution of the intensities and the radial velocities have been studied. We have also determined spatial distributions of the electron temperature Te and density Ne from forbidden line ratios. In HH 43 B and C both Ne and Te show maxima at the same locations, namely at the centers of the condensations (where the Hα intensity shows maxima). Radial velocities in HH 43 are negative everywhere, with maxima (i.e., minima in the absolute velocities) occurring at the intensity maxima of the three condensations A, B, and C. This strongly indicates that HH 43 should be described by a shocked cloudlet model. A comparison of HH 43 B and C shows a much larger [O I] (6300+6363)/Hβ ratio in C than in B in spite of the fact that all other line ratios indicate only a small difference in the excitation of B and C. Our observations show even more clearly than earlier ones the extremely low excitation character of HH 7 with a [S II] (6716+6731)/Hα ratio of 3.7 and a [C I] (9823+9845)/Hβ ratio of 14.3 (!) which is much larger than that predicted for a shock wave with a velocity of only 20 km s-1. The object has rather low Te values in the range 6800-9150 K. In spite of its small size HH 11 shows large internal radial velocity gradients. In this object (in contradistinction to HH 43 B and HH 43 C) the radial velocity shows a steep minimum (i.e., a large negative velocity) at the point where the Hα intensity has its maximum. This is obviously the behavior which we would expect for a bullet model. (A completely self-consistent explanation in terms of the bow shock of a bullet is, however, not possible.) We have studied the average ratio of the [Fe II]/Hβ intensities in different objects. Surprisingly this ratio does not depend on the "excitation" of the HH object in question (and therefore not on the shock strength). It does, however, depend strongly on the "HH complex" to which the HH object belongs. That means HH 43 A, B, and C have all the same [Fe II]/Hβ ratio though B and C are low-excitation and A is a high-excitation object. On the other hand, HH 7 and HH 11 show the same [Fe II]/Hβ ratio which, however, is very different from that of HH 43 A, B, C. We present a tentative explanation of this surprising fact.
