respects said to be quite as good. G. stands in the midst of a district comprising the finest land of Bornu, and which, before the beginning of the present century, was loud with the noise and bustle of hundreds of towns and villages; now, however, it is the haunt of the elephant and the lion; the silence of solitude has overspread it, and it has sunk back into the condition of the primeval jungle.

GHA'RA, formed by the junction of the Sutlej and the Beas, the most easterly of the rivers of the Punjab, unites with the Chenab, which has previously collected the remaining three of the five, to form the Punjnud, which thus carries the whole into the Indus. The distance between the two points of confluence is about 300 miles. The G. is nowhere fordable at any season; and its breadth varies from 200 yards to 500.

GHASEL, or GHAZEL, a favourite form of lyrical poetry among the Turks and Persians. It is composed of not less than five, and not more than seventeen strophes of two lines each, all the second lines of which rhyme together. The last couplet always contains the real or assumed name of the author. In regard to matter, the ghasel is either purely erotic and bacchanalian, or allegorical and mystical. Western scholars regard it as the Oriental sonnet. Hafiz is unsurpassed in this kind of verse, and it has also been happily imitated by the German poets, Platen, Rückert, Bodenstedt, &c. GHATS, or, as usually written, GHAUTS, are buildings erected along the banks of rivers, in order to afford easy access to bathers. They are peculiar to Northern Hindustan, and line the river banks in most of the great cities, more especially those situated on the Ganges. A ghat consists in general of a long, high building, fronting the river, to which access is had by means of several flights of steps, these latter forming the essential part of the structure, as the wall or building is only for the protection of loungers from the sun's rays. The uniformity of the long lines of steps is broken by small projections, often crowned by kiosks, which relieve the eye. Upon these ghâts,' says one traveller, 'are passed the busiest and happiest hours of a Hindu's day. Escaping from the narrow unwholesome streets, it is a luxury for him to sit upon the open steps, and taste the fresh air of the river; so that on the ghats are concentrated the pastimes of the idler, the duties of the devout, and much of the necessary intercourse of business.' Though the Ganges, being the sacred river, is par excellence the river of ghâts, one of the most beautiful in Hindustan is that erected at Maheswar, on the Nerbudda, by Alaya Baiee, the widow of Holkar; and though Benares prides itself upon possessing the greatest number of ghats, it is almost rivalled by Ougein and other

cities. For a fuller account of these structures, see Fergusson's Hand-book of Architecture.

GHAUTS (in English, Gates or Passes) are two converging ranges of mountains, which run parallel with the east and west coasts of the peninsula of Hindustan, and hence known as the Eastern and Western G.-1. The Eastern G. extend, with an average height of 1500 feet, from the vicinity of Balasore, in lat. 21° 30′ N., a little north of the Mahanadi, to within 20 miles of Cape Comorin. Before joining the kindred ridge at this last-mentioned point, they send forth, about 36 miles to the north of Madras, a common spur, as it were, of both ranges, which reaches the other range to the north of the gap of Palghatcheri. To the south of the departure of this connecting chain, the Eastern G. become less continuous and distinct. Moreover, they

are nowhere a water-shed on any considerable scale, being penetrated and crossed by nearly all the drainage of the interior.-2. The Western G. stretch from the south side of the Tapti, about the same latitude as Balasore, to their junction with the kindred ridge, at a distance of 20 miles from Cape Comorin, or rather, in fact, to Cape Comorin itself. Though they are generally far more continuous and divided by the gap of Palghatcheri, 16 miles broad distinct than the G. Eastern, yet they are sharply the northern section measuring 800 miles in length, and the southern 200. Their general elevation appears to vary from about 4000 feet to fully 7000. The peak of Dodabetta in that portion of the Western G. known as the Neilgherries, is said to be 8760 feet above the level of the sea. site faces of these mountains differ very remarkably The oppofrom each other. Landward, there is a gradual slope to the table-land of the Deccan; seaward, almost perpendicular precipices, speaking generally, sink at once nearly to the level of the sea, at a distance from it ranging from 40 to 70 miles, but at one place approaching within 6 miles. From this peculiarity, aggravated, as it is, by the incredibly heavy rains which the south-west monsoon dashes against the lofty barrier before it, the maritime strip, more particularly towards the south, presents that singular feature of the country which is known as the 'Backwaters.' See COCHIN. The Western G. are, with hardly an exception, a waterits way through them. shed, for not a single stream of any magnitude finds

GHAZIPO'RE, a city of Hindustan, capital of a district of the same name, stands on the left bank of the Ganges, in lat. 25° 32′ N., and long. 83° 39′ E. It contains about 8000 inhabitants. The mean temperature of May, the hottest month is 97° F.; and of January, the coldest month, it is 56°. The air is said to be comparatively salubrious. The place owes this advantage to the porous character of the soil; and it has, moreover, a long reach of the river towards the south-eastthe quarter from which the hot winds generally blow.

GHAZZA'LI, ABU HAMID MOHAMMAD IBN

The surname of

AHMAD, surnamed ZAINEDDIN (glory of the law), and divines, and one of the warmest adherents of one of the most eminent Mohammedan philosophers Sufism (q. v.), born in 450 H. (1058 A.D.) at Tus, in Khorassan, the birthplace also of Firdusi, and G. was given to him, according to some, because burial-place of Harun-al-Rashid. his father dealt in ghazal or spun cotton. Left an orphan at an early age, by the advice of his guardian, a Sufi, he went to Djorshan, with the intention of devoting himself to study and science, as a means of support, and became the favourite pupil of Abu Nasr Ismail, an eminent teacher of the time. He afterwards betook himself to Nishapur, where he attended the lectures of the learned Imam of the two sanctuaries (Mecca and Medina) on law, polemics, philosophy, and theology, and remained till the death of his instructor. grand vizier of Bagdad then appointed him (1091 A. D.) to a professorship at his Nizamjé (university), which he left four years later, in order to perform the holy pilgrimage to Mecca. On his return, he visited Jerusalem and Damascus, and remained for ten years at the mosque of the latter place, leading a studious and ascetic life. He afterwards visited Cairo, Alexandria, and other places in Africa, everywhere teaching and lecturing on religion and science, and also returned for a short time to Nishapur; but he finally went back to Tus, his native place, where he died 505 H. (1111 A. D.)

The

having founded a monastery for Sufis, and a college for the studious.

Of the ninety-nine works written by him (mostly in Arabic, a few in Persian), the most famous is his Ihjá Olúm ad-Din (Restoration of Religious Sciences), a work so remarkable and exhaustive, that it has been said: If all the books of the Islam were lost, and we had only this one left, we should not miss the others' (Haji Khalifah). The academies of the West, however, Cordova, Marocco, Fez, &c., condemned it as contrary to the teachings of the Sunna (q. v.), and had it publicly burned. Next in importance stands his great philosophical work Tahafat Al-Filásafah (The Overturning of the Philosophers), which has survived only in Hebrew translations, and which gave rise to a warmly contested controversy between him and Averroës (Ibn Roshd). We may mention also his commentary on the ninety-nine names of God, and an ethical treatise, O Child! published and translated into German by Hammer-Purgstall. About one-third only of his works is known to have survived, and of this but a very small part has been published.

GHEE, a kind of butter used in many parts of India, and generally prepared from the milk of buffaloes. The fresh milk is boiled for an hour or more; it is then allowed to cool, and a little curdled milk, called dhye, is added to promote coagulation. The curdled mass is churned for half an hour; some hot water is then added; and the churning continued for another half hour, when the butter forms. When the butter begins to become rancid, which is usually the case after a few days, it is boiled till all the water contained in it is expelled, and a little dhye and salt, or betel-leaf, is added; after which it is put into closed pots to be kept for use. It is used to an enormous extent by the natives of many parts of India, but is seldom relished by Europeans.

GHEEL, a well-known colony for the insane, is a town of Belgium, in the province of Antwerp, and 26 miles east-south-east of the town of that name. It is literally an oasis in a desert; a comparatively fertile spot, inhabited and cultivated by 10,000 or 11,000 peasants, in the midst of an extensive sandy waste, called the Campine, where neither climate, soil, nor surroundings invite a settlement. There are no gentlemen's seats in the district, and the farmhouses, though neat, and generally surrounded by trees and a garden, are evidently in the hands of the poor. Their frequency shews this. They are sometimes built of brick; much more generally, they are constructed of wattled or wicker work, thickly laid over with mud or plaster, and whitewashed. A G. crofter's house is much larger than the dwelling of a small farmer in Scotland. The people inhabiting these seem to be about the rank of English cottagers, but are inferior in aspect, tone of character, and cleanliness of habits. The dwellings are arranged into three classes, or cordons: those of the village proper; those scattered around in its immediate vicinity; and those collected into hamlets in the more distant and least reclaimed portions of the commune, which may be about 20 miles in

circumference.

Historically considered, G. is noted as having been the spot where a woman of rank, said to have been of British origin, was murdered by her father, in consequence of her resistance to his incestuous passion. The pagan in his revenge gave the church a martyr. Pilgrims, the sick, the sorrowful, and the insane, visited the tomb of the Christian virgin; the last were restored to sanity and serenity. Dymphna became the tutelar saint of those stricken in spirit; a shrine rose in her honour, which now,

for ten centuries, has been consecrated to the relief of mental disease, is said to have been distinguished by never-failing success, and, at all events, has collected around it hundreds of lunatics, chiefly of the poorer classes, but labouring under every form and stage of nervous malady. Formerly, besides the benefit derivable from proximity to the ashes of the saint, and from the prayers of the church, the afflicted underwent a sort of novitiate in a building adjoining the church, where they were chained to the wall, and subsequently passed under the mausoleum of their patron, &c.; but now, although faith lingers, there do not appear to be any other than the ordinary ministrations of the church to which the patients belong, resorted to as treatment.

About 800 insane persons are lodged with the citizens of this community, or with 600 heads of families, and are controlled and employed by them, and this without recourse to walls or ha-has, or other asylum appliances, and with little coercion of any kind. The quiet and industrious reside generally one in each family in the town, the most unmanageable with the labourers on the the more excited in the suburban cottages, and confines of the commune. The effect produced by this large body of lunatics wandering, working, displaying many of their peculiarities in the midst of a thriving sane population, who chiefly depend upon a traffic in insanity, is both striking and liberty, and of what is called the free-air treatpicturesque. In the enjoyment of comparative ment, these patients are, upon the whole, contented, tranquil, and healthy. Violence is rare; only two suicides have occurred in four years; and morality is less outraged than in more protected classes. Each individual is maintained for about 64d. to 74d per diem. Until recently, this colony was merely a psychological curiosity; recently, the anomaly and absurdity of treating all cases alike, and indepen dently of medical aid, have led to the institution of a medical staff, the erection of an hospital, and the introduction of many salutary alterations in the relations between the insane and their custodiers, in classification and supervision. The compatibility of the seclusion of the insane with greater freedom, with domestic life, and association with the sane, have suggested the introduction of cottage asylums, as a modification in the accommodation of this class in this country. (Gheel ou une Colonie d'Aliénés vivant en famile et en libertè, par M. Jules Duval. Paris, 1860.)

GHENT (Flem. Gend, Ger. Gent, Fr. Gand), an important city of Belgium, capital of the province of East Flanders, is situated at the confluence of the Lys and the Scheldt, 31 miles west-north-west of Brussels. It is divided by canals into 26 islands, connected by 270 bridges, and is encompassed with gardens, meadows, and pleasant promenades. It is surrounded by walls, pierced by seven gates, and enclosing an area eight miles in circuit, and is in general well built; but in the older part its quaint and fantastic houses render it in the highest degree picturesque. Among the chief buildings are the Church of St Bavon, containing the famous 'Adoration of the Lamb,' by the brothers Van Eyck; the new citadel, finished in 1830; the Palace of Justice, built in 1844, and having a peristyle of the Corinthian order; the university, connected with a school for civil engineering, and for trades and professions; the Beguinage, a convent containing about 700 nuns; the royal Gymnasium; and the Academy of Painting. The cotton and woollen manufactures are carried on on a great scale. There are about 60 cotton-mills, and upwards of 15,000 workmen are employed in the spinning, printing, dyeing, and

weaving of cotton, woollen, and linen fabrics. Leather and paper are also manufactured, and a flourishing trade is carried on in floriculture. Eight extensive flower-dealers are engaged in this branch of trade, and upwards of 400 hothouses are required. The commerce of G. is important. By the Great Canal, which flows into the Scheldt, it is united with the sea, and it can receive into its docks vessels drawing 18 feet of water. The new dock or basin on the north-east side of the city is capable of holding 400 vessels. Pop. 109,618.

G. is mentioned in history as early as the 7th century. About the year 868, Baldwin Bras-de-Fer, the first Count of Flanders, built a fortress here as a defence against the Normans. Under the Counts of Flanders, G. continued to prosper and increase, until, in the 14th c., it was able to send 50,000 men into the field. The wealth of the citizens of G., and the unusual measure of liberty which they enjoyed, encouraged them to resist with arms any attempt to infringe upon their peculiar rights and privileges. This readiness to arm in their own defence is exemplified in the famous insurrection of Jacob van Artevelde (q. v.), and other instances. For many years, it maintained a vigorous, but unavailing resistance against the Dukes of Burgundy-who wished to be recognised as Counts of Flanders-and the kings of Spain. In the various wars of which the Netherlands has been the battle-ground, G. suffered severely, and was frequently taken. In 1792, the Netherlands fell under the power of France, and G. was made the capital of the department of the Scheldt, continuing under French dominion until the fall of Napoleon, in 1814, when it was incorporated with Flanders in the kingdom of the Netherlands.

GHERARDE'SCA, a family of Tuscan origin, which enacted a conspicuous part in the history of the Italian republics during the middle ages. Their vast territorial possessions lay between Pisa and Piombino. In the 13th c., the Counts G. exercised a preponderating authority in the republic of Pisa, and were prominent supporters of the popular interests, in opposition to the encroachments of the nobles. In the great feud between the Guelphs and Ghibellines, they became warm partisans of the latter, and were the irreconcilable enemies of the Visconti, who headed the Guelphs. The most famous of this family, both with respect to the historical events of his career, and the appalling tragedy of his fate, is Count Ugolino, whose name and fate have been invested with undying interest by Dante. Count Ugolino, more than any of his race, was possessed by a lawless ambition, and a subtle, unscrupulous spirit. Having resolved to usurp supreme power over Pisa, he formed an alliance with Giovanni Visconti, the head of the Guelphic party, who promised to supply him secretly with soldiers from Sardinia. The plot was, however, discovered, and both Giovanni and Ugolino were banished from the city. The former died soon after; but the latter, uniting himself with the Florentines and the Lucchese, forced the Pisans, in 1276, to restore him his territories, of which he had been deprived. No sooner was he reinstated in his possessions than he began to devise anew ambitions schemes. The war of the Pisans with the Genoese afforded him the opportunity he desired. In the battle fought at the island of Malora, 6th August 1284, Ugolino, by treacherously abandoning the Pisans, occasioned the complete annihilation of their fleet, together with a loss of 11,000 prisoners. When the news of this disaster spread, the Florentines, the Lucchese, the Sienese, the Pistoians, and all the other enemies of the Pisan republic, gathered together to destroy it, as the stronghold of the

Ghibellines in Italy. Being thus brought to the brink of ruin, the Pisans had no other resource left than to throw themselves into the arms of him whose treachery had reduced them to such misery. From the time of his election, he gave free scope to his vindictive, despotic nature, persecuting and banishing all who were privately obnoxious to him, on pretexts of state delinquency, till at length a conspiracy was formed against him, headed by his former supporter, the Archbishop of Pisa. Dragged from his palace, 1st July 1288, after a desperate defence, he was thrown into the tower of Gualandi, with his two sons and two grandsons, where they all perished amid the agonies of starvation, for which reason their dungeon has since borne the ominous name of the Tower of Hunger.' In spite of this, the family again rose into importance; and in 1329 we find Nieri Donavatico G. at the head of the republican authority in Pisa. See Sismondi's History of the Italian Republics.

GHI'BELLINES. See GUELPHS and GHIBEL

LINES.

GHIBERTI, LORENZO, a famous Italian sculptor, was born at Florence about 1378. He was educated in art by his stepfather, a skilful goldsmith, and rapidly acquired dexterity in drawing, painting, and modelling. At the age of 19, he was selected for the execution of a noble fresco in the palatial residence of Prince Pandolfo Malatesta at Rimini. Along with seven other artists, he was next chosen by the Florentine guild of merchants to compete for the execution of a splendid gate in bronze, to suit that executed by Andrea Pisano in the baptistery of Florence, about 1340. The subject of the design was The Sacrifice of Isaac, to be executed in basrelief as a model for one of the panels. The judges found a difficulty in deciding between Brunelleschi, Donatelli, and G., but the two former generously proclaimed the superiority of G.'s design, both with respect to the art and beauty of its conception, and the delicacy and skill of its execution. When G. had completed his great work, his fellowcitizens intrusted him with the execution of another gate, to emulate the beauty and colossal dimensions of the two already adorning the baptistery. From Michael Angelo, G. received a noble tribute of admiration, when the great artist asserted that the two gates were worthy of Paradise. G.'s second gate contains ten reliefs on a larger scale, the subjects in this case also being wholly biblical. The mingled grace and grandeur of these compositions are beyond all praise. Not the least of G.'s merits was the success that attended his efforts to break up the conventionalism that before his day hampered the free development of sculptural art. Among his other works may be mentioned a bronze relief in the Duomo at Florence, representing San Zenobi bringing a dead child to life, and bronze statues of St John the Baptist, St Matthew, and St Stephen. G. died at Florence in 1455.

GHI'KA, a princely family of Albanian origin, which has given many hospodars to Moldavia and Wallachia. The founder of the House was George G., an Albanian by birth, who, through the favour of his compatriot, the grand vizier, Mohammed Kiupruli, was raised to the dignity of Hospodar of Wallachia in 1657. He was succeeded by his son Gregory G., who ruled, with various vicissitudes, till 1673, and received from the Emperor Leopold I. the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire. Of subsequent members of the family, the only ones calling for special notice are Alexander, Gregory, and Helena.

ALEXANDER GHIKA IX. was born in 1795, and, through the influence of the Russian Count Kisseleff,