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GALWAY 



GAMA 



lines of steamers, reaching Gulf, Mexican, and 

 European ports, is the first cotton-exporting port 

 of the United States, and ranks fifth in general 

 foreign exports, including cotton -seed oil, wheat, 

 lumber, &c. Pop. (1850) 4177; ( 1870) 13,818 ; ( 1880) 

 22,848 ; ( 1890) 29,084 ; ( 1900) 37,789. It was devas- 

 tated bya terrible hurricane in September 1900, with 

 loss of several thousand lives and much property. 



Galway, a maritime county of Ireland, in the 

 province ot Connaught, and, after Cork, the 

 largest of all the Irish counties. Area, 1,569,505 

 acres, of which a little more than one-half is arable. 

 Pop. (1831) 414,684; (1871) 248,458; (1891) 214,256, 

 of whom 208,011 were Roman Catholics. It is 

 watered in the east by the Shannon, the Suck, and 

 their feeders ; and in the west by Loughs Mask 

 and Corrib, and by the streams which fall into 

 these loughs and into Galway Bay. In the south 

 are the Slieve-Baughta Mountains ; .and in the 

 west are the Maam-Turk Mountains, and the 

 well-known Twelve Pins, a striking mountain 

 group, culminating in Benbaun ( 2395 feet ). This 

 western portion of the county is wild and romantic ; 

 the hills are separated by picturesque glens, and by 

 secluded and beautiful loughs. South-west from 

 Lough Corrib to the sea is the district called Conne- 

 mara, which contains vast bogs, moors, lakes, and 

 morasses, and presents a peculiarly bleak and 

 dreary aspect. North-east of Connemara is Joyce's 

 Country, and south-east of it is lar-Connaught, or 

 Western Connaught. The shore is much broken, 

 offering many bays that serve as harbours for 

 large vessels, and is fringed with numerous islands. 

 The climate is mild and humid, but in low-lying 

 localities is sometimes unhealthy. The richest 

 soil occurs in the district between the head of 

 Galway Bay and the Shannon. Agriculture and 

 fishing are the most general pursuits. The lakes 

 and loughs, as well as the coasts of Galway, are 

 well stocked with fish. The county abounds in 

 ancient remains of the Celtic as well as of the 

 English period. Raths and cromlechs are numer- 

 ous ; there are seven round towers ; whilst of many 

 monastic ruins the finest is that of Knockmoy, near 

 Tuam. Since 1885 Galway county has returned 

 four members to parliament. 



GALWAY BAY is an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, 

 on the west coast of Ireland, between the counties 

 of Galway and Clare. It is a noble sheet of water, 

 and offers great facilities for an extended com- 

 merce being 30 miles in length from west to east, 

 with an average breadth of about 10 miles, and is 

 sheltered by the Arran Isles. 



Galway, a municipal and parliamentary 

 borough of Ireland, a seaport, and county of itself, 

 stands at the mouth of the river Corrib, on the 

 north shore of Galway Bay, 50 miles NNW. of 

 Limerick, and 127 W. of Dublin by rail. The old 

 town of Galway is poorly built and irregular. In 

 the wall of a house here is the ' Lynch Stone,' bear- 

 ing a skull and crossbones, and commemorating a 

 mayor of Galway, James Lynch Fitzstephen, com- 

 monly called ' Mayor Lynch,' who, in 1493, like 

 Brutus of old, condemned his own son to death 

 for the murder of a Spaniard, and to prevent his 

 being rescued, actually caused him to be hanged 

 from a window of the old prison on that site. 

 Hence some have derived Lynch Law (q.v. ). The 

 new town consists of well-planned and spacious 

 streets, and is built on a rising-ground which 

 slopes gradually toward the sea and the river. 

 A suburb, called Claddagh, is inhabited by 

 fishermen, who exclude all strangers from their 

 society. Galway is the see of a Catholic bishop, 

 but is in the Protestant Episcopal diocese of Tuam. 

 The principal buildings are the cruciform church 

 (Episcopal) of St Nicholas (1320), St Augustine's 



Catholic Church (1859), monasteries, nunneries, the 

 county court-house, barracks, prison, infirmary, 

 &c. Queen's College (1849) has eighteen pro- 

 fessors and about a hundred students ; its quad- 

 rangular buildings are spacious and handsome. 

 Galway has flour-mills, a distillery, a foundry, 

 extensive salmon and sea fishing, a good harbour, 

 with docks that admit vessels of 500 tons, and a 

 lighthouse. During 1858-64 a line of steamers 

 plied between Galway and the United States. 

 The exports consist mainly of agricultural produce, 

 wool, and black marble. Galway returns one 

 member to parliament. Pop. (1851)' 20,686; (1881) 

 15,471 ; (1891) 13,746, nine-tenths Catholics. 



Galway was taken by Richard de Burgh in 1232, 

 and the ancestors of many of the leading families 

 now resident in this quarter settled here about 

 that time. From the 13th till the middle of the 

 17th century the place continued to rise in com- 

 mercial importance. In 1652 it was taken by Sir 

 Charles Coote after a blockade of several months ; 

 and in July 1691 it was compelled to surrender to 

 General Ginkell. See Hardiman's History of the 

 Town and County of Galway (Dublin, 1820). 



Gama, VASCO DA, the greatest of Portuguese 

 navigators, was born about 1469, of good family, 

 at Sines, a small seaport in the province of 

 Alemtejo. He early distinguished himself as an 

 intrepid mariner, and, after the return of Bar- 

 tolomeu Diaz in 1487 from his venturesome voyage 

 past the Cape of Storms had determined King 

 Joao to make explorations farther, was appointed 

 by his successor, Manoel the Fortunate, to com 

 mand an expedition of four vessels, manned with 

 160 men. At the same time he was furnished 

 with letters to all the potentates he was likely to 

 visit, among them the mythical ' Prester John,' 

 then supposed to be reigning in splendour some- 

 where in the east of Africa. The little fleet left 

 Lisbon 8th July 1497, but was vexed by tem- 

 pestuous winds almost the whole way, and was 

 four months in reaching St Helena Bay. After 

 rounding the Cape, in spite of dreadful storms and 

 mutinies among his crews, he made Melinda early 

 in the following year. Here he found a skilful 

 Indian pilot, next steered eastwards across the 

 Indian Ocean, and arrived at Calicut, in India, on 

 the 20th of May 1498. The zamorin or ruler of 

 Calicut was at first merely suspicious, but soon 

 became, at the instigation of the jealous Arab 

 merchants, actively hostile, until at length Da 

 Gama had to fight his way out of the harbour. 

 In September 1499 he cast anchor at Lisbon, and 

 was received with great distinction, and created 

 a noble. 



King Manoel immediately despatched a squadron 

 of thirteen ships, under Pedro Alvarez Cabral, to 

 establish Portuguese settlements in India. Sailing 

 too far westwards he discovered the unknown coast 

 of Brazil, and, after losing half his ships, at length 

 made Calicut, where he founded a factory. Here, 

 after Cabral's departure, the forty Portuguese who 

 had been left behind were murdered by the natives. 

 To avenge this insult and secure the Indian Ocean 

 commerce the king fitted out a new squadron of 

 twenty ships, which set sail under Da Gama's 

 command in 1502, founded the Portuguese colonies 

 of Mozambique and Sofala, bombarded Calicut, 

 destroyed a fleet of twenty-nine ships, and ex- 

 torted a peace with suitable indemnification, and 

 reached the Tagus with thirteen richly-laden vessels 

 before the close of December 1503. Da Gama 

 had effected his purpose with marvellous despatch, 

 but not without cruelties that have left an indelible 

 stain upon his name. For the next twenty years 

 he lived inactive at Evora, while the Portuguese 

 conquests in India increased, presided over by five 

 successive viceroys. The fifth of these was so 



