444 



GUAXACA 



GUBBLNS 



Guava ( Psidium pyriferum } 

 a, section of fruit. 



pyriferum ) is a low tree of 7-20 feet, with numerous 

 branches, ohtuse smooth leaves 2-3 inches long, 

 and fragrant white flowers on solitary axillary 

 stalks. It is said to be a native alike of the East 



and West 

 Indies, and is 

 now much 

 cultivated in 

 both. It is 

 not improb- 

 able, now* 

 ever, that it 

 was intro- 

 duced into 

 the East 



Indies from 

 America, but 

 it has now 

 become fully 

 naturalised ; 

 it is to be 

 seen in the 

 jungle a- 

 round every 

 cottage in 

 Ceylon. It 

 has long been 

 occasionally 

 grown as a 



stove-plant in Britain. The fruit is larger than a 

 hen's egg, roundish or pear-shaped, smooth, yellow; 

 the rind thin and brittle ; the pulp firm, full of bony 

 seeds, aromatic, and sweet. The jelly or preserve 

 made from it is highly esteemed, and is now regu- 

 larly imported into Britain from the West Indies and 

 South America. The rind is stewed with milk, and 

 is also made into marmalade. This fruit is rather 

 astringent than laxative. Guava buds, boiled with 

 barley and liquorice, make a useful astringent 

 drink in diarrhoaa. The Red Guava (P.pomiferum), 

 also now common in the East as well as in the 

 West Indies, produces a beautiful fruit, with red 

 flesh, but not nearly so agreeable as the white 

 guava. It is very acid. The China Guava (P. 

 Cattleianum), a native of China, produces fruit 

 readily in vineries in Britain. It is a larger tree 

 than the white guava. The fruit is round, about 

 the size of a walnut, of a fine claret colour when 

 ripe, growing in the axils of the leaves ; the pulp 

 purplish-red next the skin, becoming paler towards 

 the centre, and there white, soft, subacid, in con- 

 sistence and flavour resembling the strawberry. It 

 makes an excellent preserve. It succeeds in the 

 open air in the south of France. On some of the 

 mountains of Brazil grows a dwarf species of Guava, 

 called Marangaba (P. pygmceum), a shrub, 1-2 feet 

 high, with fruit about the size of a gooseberry, much 

 sought after on account of its delicious flavour, 

 which resembles that of the strawberry. The 

 Bastard Guava of the West Indies is a species of 

 Eugenia (q.v. ). 



Guaxaca. See OAJACA. 



Guayaquil, chief commercial city of Ecuador, 

 and capital of Guayas province, lies in the fertile 

 valley of the Guayas, some 30 miles above its mouth. 

 From the river the town, with its pagoda-like 

 towers, presents an imposing appearance, which is 

 riot borne out on closer inspection, and the climate 

 is hot and unhealthy, yellow fever being very 

 common. Most of the houses are built of bamboo 

 or wood and earth, and covered with creepers. The 

 custom-house is the most noteworthy of the public 

 buildings, which include a cathedral and a town- 

 hall. The town, however, is now lit with gas, 

 there is a complete system of tramways, and the 

 streets are gradually being paved : while in 1888 

 considerable progress was made with much-needed 



water- works. In 1889 a statue to Bolivar was 

 erected. The leading manufacturing establish- 

 ments are combined steam sawmills, foundries, 

 and -machine-shops ; there are also ice-factories and 

 a lager beer brewery ; and the place is noted for its 

 straw hats and hammocks. Ships drawing 18 feet 

 can come up to the breakwater, and below the 

 town there is a wharf, with a dry-dock opposite. 

 The railway into the interior was stopped at Chimbo 

 (60 miles). Most of the trade is in the hands of 

 foreigners ; of 200 vessels of 150,000 tons that clear 

 the port annually, nearly half the ships, and more 

 than half the tonnage, are British. Annual exports 

 average 1,300,000, of which cocoa represents 

 nearly five-sixths ; the other principal items are 

 coffee, ivory-nuts, rubber, hides, and specie. About 

 7 per cent, is shipped to Britain, and 14 per cent, to 

 the United States. The town was founded by 

 Orellana in 1537, and removed to its present site in 

 1693. Pop. about 30,000. The Bay of Guayaquil is 

 the only important bay on the west coast of South 

 America north of Patagonia. 



Guayas, a fertile coast-province of Ecuador, 

 with an area of about 9000 sq. m., and a pop. ( 1895) 

 of 98,640. Its chief product is cocoa, of a very high 

 quality. Capital, Guayaquil. 



Gliaynias, a well-sheltered port of Mexico, on 

 the Gulf of California, the terminus of the Sonora 

 Railway (353 miles by rail S. by W. of Benson, an 

 Arizona station on the Southern Pacific Railroad). 

 It is a small place, excessively hot, surrounded by 

 barren mountains, and mostly inhabited by Indian 

 fishermen ; but already it exports precious metals, 

 wheat, flour, &c. in considerable quantities, and 

 its trade is increasing. Pop. 5000. 



Gil ay r a. See GUAIRA. 



< lib bins, a half -savage race in Devon, are 

 mentioned by the pastoral poet, William Browne, 

 in 1644, in a poem on Lydford Law, printed in 

 Westcote's Devon. He says : 



This town's enclosed with desert moors, 

 But where no bear nor lion roars, 



And nought can live but frogs ; 

 For all o'erturned by Noah's Flood, 

 Of fourscore miles scarce one foot 's good, 



And hills are wholly bogs. 



And near hereto 's the Gubbins Cave; 

 A people that no knowledge have 



Of law, of God, or men : 

 Whom Cesar never yet subdued ; 

 Who 've lawless lived ; of manners rude, 



All savage in their den. 



By whom, if any pass that way, 

 He dares not the least time to stay, 



For presently they howl ; 

 Upon which signal they do muster 

 Their naked forces in a cluster, 



Led forth by Roger Rowle. 



Old Fuller says of this district : ' Gubbin's Land 

 is a Scythia within England, and they pure heathens 

 therein. . . . Their language is the drosse of the dregs 

 of the vulgar Devonian. . . . They hold together like 

 burrs ; oft'end one, and all will revenge his quarrel. ' 

 They lingered on, becoming more and more aosorbed 

 into the general mass of the less uncultured, till 

 the present time. The last remnants, probably, 

 but not certainly descendants, were in Nymet 

 Roland, in North Devon, and bore the name of 

 Cheriton. They lived in semi-nakedness and in 

 utter savagery in an old cottage of clay, of which 

 one wall had fallen and most of the roof had given 

 way, so that in the only room grass grew on the 

 earth floor. They claimed a small tract of land 

 as their own, upon which probably their forefathers 

 had squatted. They stole what clothes they re- 

 quired, and" were continually getting into trouble 

 with the police, one of whom was felled to the 

 earth by a blow of the fist of one of the girls. 

 They were finely built, muscular, and strong. The 



