fSIIKK 



GHI 



197 



there are several ruin* arid monument** of it* 

 former greatness, Hucli as the tomli of Mahmud, 

 M alumni's dam in the Gha/ni River, numerous 

 ruin-heaps north-east of tlie town, ami many 

 Mohammedan shrines. The .l.-l.i.iird gates of 

 Somuath (q.v.) were kept at Gha/.ni from 1024 to 



fi'hasnevitt Dunusty. Ataut the middle of the 

 luili century a lieutenant of the Samiinid ruler of 

 liokharii M-i/cd upon (lha/.ni, and, dying in 977, 

 left it to his Hon-in-Iaw, Sebuktagin, who dur- 

 ing a reign of twenty years extended his sway 

 over all modern Afghanistan and the Punjab. 

 But it was under his son .Mahmud (997-1030) that 

 the Gha/nevids reached their highest point of 

 splendour and renown. This prince repeatedly 

 invaded India, and carried his coni|uering arms as 

 far as Kurdistan and the Caspian on the west 

 and t<> Samarkand on the north. He was the 

 first monareh in Asia to assume the title of sultan. 

 His descendants had a keen struggle to maintain 

 themselves against the Seljuks, who had seized 

 upon Khorasan, Balkh, Khare/.m, and Irak dur- 

 ing the reign of Mahmud's son Masaud (1030- 

 42), and against their jealous rivals the princes of 

 Ghflr (q.v.). Bahrain Slrah, ruler of Gha/ni from 

 1118 to 115*2, was at length driven from his capital 

 by the latter, and retired to the Punjab. There 

 his grandson, Khosrau Malek, the last of the 

 dynasty, made Lahore his capital. This town was, 

 however, taken by the prince of Ghflr in 1186, and 

 with this the Ghaznevid dynasty came to an end. 



Ghee (Ghi), a kind of clarified butter used in 

 many parts of India, and generally prepared from 

 the milk of buffaloes. The fresh milk is tailed for 

 an hour or more ; it is then allowed to cool, and 

 a little curdled milk, called dhye, is added to pro- 

 mote 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, whieh 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. 



Glieclt a colony for the insane, in Belgium, 

 26 miles ESE. of Antwerp by rail. It is an oasis 

 in a desert, a village and commune (20 miles in 

 circumference) in a comparatively fertile spot, 

 inhabited and cultivated by 11,000 peasants, in the 

 midst of an extensive sandv waste, called the 

 Campine (see BELGIUM). Here in 800 A.D. St 

 Dymphna, an Irish princess, is said to have been 

 beheaded by her father, for resistance to his inces- 

 tuous passion. Pilgrims, the sick, the sorrowful, 

 and the insane, visited the shrine of the Christian 

 virgin ; the last were restored to sanity and serenity. 

 About 1300 insane persons are lodged with the 

 citizens of this community, and are controlled and 



employed by them, and this without recourse to 



wills or other asylum at> " 



coercion of any kind. The quieter sufferers reside 



walls or other asylum appliances, and with little 



generally one in each family in the village, the more 

 excited in separate farmhouses at some distance on 

 the confines of the commune, while those requiring 

 medical treatment are temporarily accommodated 

 in the infirmary in Gheel. The support of the 

 patients is in most cases guaranteed by the state. 

 See works in French on Gheel and the ' Gheel 

 system ' by Duval (1867) and Peeters ( 1879). 



Ghent (Flem. and Ger. Gent, Fr. Gand), a 

 city of Belgium, capital of the province of East 

 Flanders, is situated at the confluence of the Lys 

 and the Scheldt, 34 miles by rail NVV. of Brussels. 



It is divided by canal into 26 island**, connected 

 by 270 bridges, and is encompHMned with garden* 

 and meadowH, while the former walk have been 

 converted into pleasant promenades. It i- in 

 general well built ; but in the older part it still 

 i> i.uns several quaint and picturesque houses. 

 Among the chief buildings are the cathedral of 8t 

 l>avon, of the 13th and 14th centuries, counted 

 amongst the finest churches of the country, and 

 containing the 'Adoration of the Lamb,' by the 

 brothers Van Eyck ; the belfry-tower ( 1183-1339), 

 280 feet high, or 375 with the iron spire of 1855 ; 

 the new citadel ( 1822-30) ; the h6tel de-ville ( 1480- 

 1028), one of the most florid specimens of flam- 

 boyant Gothic in Belgium ; the Palais de Justice 

 ( 1835-43), with a peristyle of the Corinthian order ; 

 the university ( 1816), the Beguinage(q.v. ), and the 

 Academy of Painting. The cotton, woollen, and 

 linen manufactures are the chief industries. 

 Leather, lace, and sugar are also manufactured, 

 and there are foundries, machine-works, breweries, 

 v^e. Specially noteworthy is the floriculture of 

 (ihent. By the Great Canal, which flows into the 

 Scheldt, Gnent is united with the sea, and it can 

 receive into its docks vessels drawing 17 feet of 

 water. The harbour is capable of nolding 400 

 vessels, new docks having been opened in 1881. 

 Ghent is very rich in charitable and public institu- 

 tions. With the university are united a school for 

 civil engineers, another for arts and sciences, and 

 the former town-library. Pop. (1846) 102,977; 

 (1NOO) ir>:5,740; (1896) 159,218. 



Ghent, whose patron-saint, the soldier-monk 

 Bavon, is said to nave died in 655, was certainly 

 a prosperous city in the time of the Merovingian 

 Franks. In 1007 it was given by the emperor to 

 Count Baldwin IV. In the 12th century it was made 

 the capital of Flanders. And under the counts 

 it continued to prosper and increase, until, in the 

 14th century, it was able to send 80,000 men into 

 the field, and to withstand, single-handed, the 

 power of the count backed up by the king of 

 France. The wealth of the citizens of Ghent, and 

 the unusual measure of liberty which they enjoyed, 

 encouraged them to resist with arms any attempt 

 to infringe upon their peculiar rights arid privileges. 

 This jealous and turbulent spirit is exemplified in 

 the famous insurrection of Jacob van Artevelde 

 (q.v.), and other instances. John of Gaunt, i.e. 

 Gnent, was tarn here in 1340. For many years the 

 city maintained a vigorous resistance against the 

 Dukes of Burgundy ; and having retailed against 

 Charles V., their successor, in 1540 it was deprived 

 of its privileges. From this time the town iwgan 

 to decay, and under Philip II. the Inquisition 

 struck a yet deadlier blow at its well-being. In 

 the various wars of which the Netherlands has been 

 the battle-ground, Ghent has suffered severely, and 

 has been frequently taken, especially in the 18th 

 century. Falling into the hands of the French at 

 the Revolution, it was made the capital of the 

 department of the Scheldt, till its incorporation in 

 the kingdom of the Netherlands in 1814, in whieh 

 year was signed the peace of Ghent tatween Britain 

 and America. In 1830 it fell to Belgium. See 

 FLANDERS ; also Van Duyse, Gand, monumental et 

 jn'tton'.ttjue (Brussels, 1886). 



Gherardesca. See UGOLINO. 



Ghetto (Ital.), the Jews' quarter in Italian 

 cities, to which they used to be strictly confined. 

 The ghetto of Rome, instituted in 155*6 by Pope 

 Paul IV., was removed in 1885 and following years, 

 its demolition having been rendered necessary by 

 the new Tiber embankment. The term is also 

 employed to indicate the Jews' quarters in any 

 city. See JEWS. 



Ghi. See GHEE. 



