1113 



OALICIA. 



GALL, ST. 



1114 



an old town, and some of the narrow streets are still entered by 

 ancient granite gateways. The population, about 4800, are mostly 

 employed in the fisheries. Perrol, 14 miles N.N.E. from Coruna 

 across the Bay of Betanzos, but more than twice the distance by land, 

 is a sea-port town with one of the best harbours in Europe, and with 

 a vast naval arsenal and dockyards founded by Carlos III. It is 

 situated in a deep inlet from the north side of the Bay of Betanzos, 

 and the harbour is entered by a narrow channel, which is defended by 

 the castles of San Felipe and Palma, while the town is strongly 

 fortified on the land side by a wall on which 200 cannon might be 

 mounted, but are not. The arsenal and dockyards are now in a 

 neglected and ruinous state. The old town is very irregular, but the 

 new town is a parallelogram of seven streets, crossed at right angles 

 by nine others, and has two square plazas. The Alameda, or public 

 walk, is between the new town and the Astillero, or dockyard. The 

 town contains three large churches, two hospitals, a prison, naval 

 barracks, and schools of navigation and mathematics : the population 

 in 1845 wag 15,720. Lugo, 50 miles S.E. from Coruna, is the capital 

 of the province of Lugo. It stands on the left or western bank of 

 the Mino, and is inclosed by walls. It has a large square surrounded 

 by arcades, and contains a cathedral of the 12th century : population, 

 7269. There are warm sulphur-baths, which were celebrated in the 

 time of the Romans. Mondonedo, 50 miles W. by N. from Coruna, 

 is situated in a cultivated valley on the high lands of the Sierra de 

 Mondonedo. It is the see of a bishop, suffragan of Santiago, and 

 contains a cathedral, begun in 1221 : population, 6000. Orense, 

 45 miles S.E. from Santiago and 55 miles S.S.W. from Lugo, is the 

 . of the province of Oreuse. It stands on the left or eastern 

 bank of the Mino, on a gentle ascent, and girdled by hills. It is the 

 see of a bishop, suffragan of Santiago, and contains a cathedral begun 

 in 1220. The streets are narrow and gloomy, but clean. It is 

 frequented for its hot springs, which gush out of a granite rock on 

 the west of the town almost boiling, and are applied to many uses 

 besides medical ones : population, 5000. Pontevedra, 75 miles S.S.W. 

 from Coruna, is situated on the south bank of the Lerezo, at its 

 entrance into the Kia de Pontevedra. There is a long bridge here 

 over the Lerezo, whence the name Pontevedra (Old Bridge). The 

 town is surrounded by walls, is well built, well paved, and clean, and 

 has a convenient harbour for small vessels : population, 4550. 

 Santiago de Compostela, formerly the capital of Galicia, 43 miles S. 

 from Coruna, is situated on the north bank and near the source of 

 the Sar, an affluent of the Ulla. The town is built round the cele- 

 brated cathedral, which was said to contain the body of St. James 

 the Apostle (Sant lago) : the name Compostela is from * Campus 

 Stella;,' because a star was said to have pointed out the spot where 

 the body was to be found. It was formerly a place of pilgrimage 

 of greater sanctity and frequented by greater numbers than any other 

 place in Spain. After the Reformation the numbers began to diminish. 

 It is the see of an archbishop, and contains the cathedral, 2 collegiate 

 churches, and 15 parish churches, and is still visited by considerable 

 numbers of devotees. Its numerous convents were plundered by the 

 French in 1809, and have since been suppressed. Each of the four 

 fronts of the cathedral looks to an open plaza. The grand fajade, or 

 western front, is modern. The body was completedin 1128. Thecloisters 

 are grand ; they were completed in 1533, by Fonseca, afterwards 

 bishop of Toledo. In one of the plazas is the Hospicio de los Reyes, 

 the hospital for pilgrims, a fine structure built in 1504. There are 

 several other public buildings, fountains, and other objects worthy of 

 inspection. There are some manufactures of cottons, hata, leather, 

 and hosiery, but the importance of the place depends chiefly on its 

 ecclesiastical establishments. The population in 1845 was 28,970. 

 Tuy, 42 miles S.W. from Orense, is a frontier town situated on the 

 north bank of the Mino, opposite to the Portuguese town of Valena. 

 It is walled, but of no great strength. It is the see of a bishop, 

 suffragan of Santiago, is regularly built, and contains an old 

 strongly-built gothic cathedral, begun in 1145 ; the cloisters, of 

 much later date, are very fine. The climate here is delicious, and the 

 country very fertile, and produces much excellent wine. The oranges 

 and other fruits rival those of Andalucia : population of the town, 

 4(100. Viyo, 15 miles N. by "W. from Tuy, stands on the south shore 

 of the Ria de Vigo. It has a good port, which was of great import- 

 ance previous to the formation of the naval establishments at Ferrol. 

 The town is inclosed by walls, with a trench, and is defended by two 

 castles, which crown the heights behind it. It contains a large 

 modern church, a theatre, and a lazaretto ; and there is a pleasant 

 Alameda, or public walk. It has a good export trade in wine, maize, 

 and bacon, and an active pilchard fishery. It was much injured by 

 the attacks of Drake in 1585, and by Lord Cobham in 1719 : the 

 population of the town is about 4000. 



Inhabitant*. The Galicians (Gallegos, in Spanish) are a hardy, 

 industrious, and docile people. In their habits they resemble their 

 neighbours the Portuguese rather than the rest of the Spaniards. 

 They speak a dialect which has considerable resemblance to the Por- 

 tuguese language. Many of them visit Portugal, and numbers may 

 be seen in the streets of Lisbon and Oporto employed as porters and 

 water-carriers ; and they have an established reputation for honesty. 

 The population of Galicia is almost entirely agricultural; landed 

 property i much subdivided, and the great majority of the people do 



not live in towns and villages, as in most other provinces of Spain, 

 but in detached dwellings on their lauds and fields. 



(Mifiano, Diccionario Geoyrafico de Espana ; Madoz, Diccvmano de 

 Espana,; Ford, Handbook of Spain.) 



GALILEE. [PALESTINE.] 



GALITSCH. [COSTROMA.] 



GALL, ST. (Sankt-Gallen), a Swiss canton, is bounded N. by the 

 Canton of Thurgau and the Lake of Constance, E. by the Austrian 

 province of the Vorarlberg, S. by the cantons of Grisons and Glarus, 

 and W. by those of Schwyz and Zurich. Its area is 758 square miles, 

 and its population at the end of March 1850 amounted to 169,508, of 

 whom 105,370 were Catholics, and the rest, with the exception of 

 some Jews and foreigners, were Calvinists. St.-Gall is a new canton, 

 which was formed at the beginning of the present century by the 

 union of the territories of the Abbot of St.-Gall with the free town of 

 St.-Gall, and several districts formerly subject to the old cantons, 

 namely, the Rheinthal, Sargans, Werdenberg, Utznach, Gaster, and 

 Sax, and the town of Rapperschwyl. By the union of so many various 

 districts which happened to be situated all round the old canton of 

 Appenzell, that canton is now inclosed on every side by the territory 

 of St-Gall The spoken language of St.-Gall is a dialect of the German, 

 resembling the Swabian. 



Surface. The canton of St.-Gall is in great part a mountainous 

 country, being intersected by various offsets of the Alps, the highest 

 of which are continuations of the great chain which bounds on the 

 north the valley of the Upper Rhine in the Grisons country, and 

 which on entering the territory of St.-Gall at the summit called 

 Scheibe (9000 feet) divides into three branches one running north 

 along the frontiers of Glarus as far as the south bank of the Lake of 

 Wallenstadt ; another eastward between St.-Gall and the Grisons, 

 forming the summit called Galanda (8800 feet high) ; and the third 

 extending north-east into the canton of St.-Gall, between the rivers 

 Tamina and Seez. North of the Lake of Wallenstadt is another chain 

 running in a north-west direction, which divides the basin of the 

 Linth from that of the Thur, and contains several summits between 

 6000 and 7000 feet high. North of the Thur, and between it and 

 the Lake of Constance, is another extensive group of mountains 

 known by the name of Alpstein, which cover nearly the whole of 

 Appenzell, and extend also into the adjacent districts of St.-Gall. 

 The general slope of the surface is towards the north and north- 

 west. 



Rivera. The Rhine, coming from the Grisons, touches the canton 

 of St.-Gall near Pfaffers, and flowing northward forms its eastern 

 boundary for a length of about fifty miles, dividing it first from the 

 Grisons and afterwards from the principality of Lichtenstein and the 

 Vorarlberg, until it enters the Lake of Constance below. Rheinek. Its 

 principal affluent in the canton of St.-Gall is the Tamina, a rapid 

 Alpine stream which rises in the Scheibe, crosses the south part of 

 the canton, passes by Pfaffers, and enters the Rhine below Ragaz. 

 The Seez rises also in the south part of the canton, runs first north- 

 east and then north-west, and enters the Lake of Wallenstadt. The 

 Thur, which rises in the central part of the canton near Wildhaus, 

 runs northward through part of the fine district of Toggenburg, passes 

 Lichtensteig, receives the Necker on its right bank, and after a course 

 of about forty miles enters the canton of Thurgau and the canton of 

 Zurich, through which it flows in a north-west direction, and falls 

 into the Rhine on the left bank in the latter canton. The Sitter, 

 coming from the canton of Appenzell passes near the town of 

 St.-Gall and enters Thurgau, where it joins the Thur at Bischofsxell. 

 The Goldach, which rises also in Appenzell, runs into the Lake 

 of Constance. The north and north-west districts of the canton 

 towards the borders of Thurgau are mostly level, as well as the banks 

 of the Linth, between the lakes of Walleustadfc and Zurich, where 

 an extensive marsh has been drained by means of the Linth Canal. 



The agricultural produce of the canton consists chiefly of wine, 

 'ruits in great abundance, especially apples and cherries, some corn, 

 maize potatoes, and pasture. The corn produced is not sufficient for 

 the home consumption. There are considerable forests in the southern 

 mrt of the canton, and much wood is exported. The domestic 

 uiimals are oxen, sheep, goats, pigs, and horses, all of which enter 

 nto the exports of the canton ; the rivers and lakes abound with fish 

 and water-fowl. There are rich iron-mines at Gunzenberg, and coals 

 and turf are found in several districts. Manufactures constitute an 

 mportant branch of industry. From the 13th century the town of 

 iSt.-Gall was famous for its linen manufactures, but these have been 

 n modern times replaced by the manufacture of cotton goods and 

 especially muslins. Muslin and other cotton fabrics are also largely 

 manufactured in the Toggenburg, which comprises the long and fertile 

 valley of the Thur from Wyl in the north-west of the canton to Wild- 

 laus, the birthplace of Zwinglius, which stands at the foot of Mont 

 Sentis, at the head of the valley, on the watershed between the Thur 

 and the Rhine. There are in the canton also numerous bleaching 

 establishments, glass-works, and wax-bleaching factories. The women 

 are also employed in embroidery. The tanneries have fallen off of 

 ate years. About 3000 bullocks' hides and 2000 goats' skins are 

 exported annually. The principal imports are corn and other pro- 

 visions, raw cotton, and other materials for manufacturing purposes. 

 The town of St.-Gall is a place of great trade with Germany and 



