GREAT SLAVE 



3664 



Great Seal. Facsimile o! the two sides of an impression of the great seal of James II. 

 The original measures 5A ins. diameter 



seal. But since the accession of 

 George III, in 1760, it has been in 

 the keeping of the lord chan- 

 cellor, although occasionally the 

 office has been placed in commis- 

 sion. There was a separate seal 

 for Scotland until the union of 

 1707. See Chancellor; Seals. 



Great Slave. Lake of Canada, 

 in the N.W. Territories. Its area 

 is 10,719 sq. m., and its shape 

 irregular. It is about 300 m. long 

 and of varying width and has 

 several bays ; the Slave and other 

 rivers flowinto it, and theMackenzie 

 carries its waters to the Arctic. 



Great Smoky Mountains. 

 Section of the Appalachian system, 

 U.S.A. They extend in a S.W. to 

 N.E. direction between the states of 

 TennesseeandNiCarolina,and attain 

 an alt. of 6,636 ft. in Mt. Guyot. 



Great Southern and Western 

 Railway. Irish rly. co. The 

 largest in the country, its main 

 line runs from 

 Dublin to Cork 

 and Limerick, 

 and it also serves 

 Athlone, Water- 

 ford, Mallow, 

 C 1 o n m e 1, Kil- 

 kenny, Kill arney, 

 Kenmare, Val- 

 entia, and other 

 towns in the 



S. and W., and links up at Rosslare 

 with the G.W.R. boat service from 

 Fishguard. Its headquarters are 

 Kingsbridge Terminus, Dublin. Its 

 capital is 14,577,000, and its total 

 mileage open for traffic, 1,130. 



Great Wall, THE. Rampart 

 constructed in the reign of Tsui 

 Shih Hwangti (246-209 B.C.) as a 

 protection against the incursions of 

 the Tartars. It stretches from 

 beyond Lanchow, Kansu province, 

 in the W. to Chihli province, where 

 it ends within a few miles of the sea 

 at Shanhaikwan,the total length be- 

 ing about 1 ,400 m. Originally from 

 20 ft. to 30 ft., with towers 40 ft. to 

 50 ft. high at intervals of 200 yds., 

 it has crumbled away to a low mud 



G.S. & W.R. of 

 Ireland arms 



wall in the W., with wide gaps. It 

 is best preserved in the neighbour- 

 hood of Peking. See China. 



Great War. Name usually 

 given to the struggle extending to 

 nearly every part of the world that 

 opened with Austria's attack on 

 Serbia in July, 1914, and ended 

 with Germany's surrender Nov. 11, 

 1918. In this Encyclopedia its 

 various battles are described under 

 their respective headings (see. 

 Battle), while there is a general 

 account of the whole struggle under 

 War, Great. The Great War is the 

 title of a current history edited by 

 H. W.Wilson and J. A. Hammerton 

 that appeared weekly during the 

 struggle. It created a record for a 

 publication of this kind, running 

 for over five years, and was com- 

 pleted in thirteen large volumes. 



Great Western Railway. Eng 

 lish railway company. Founded in 

 1835, its first line was from London 

 to Bristol. The system was rapidly 

 extended, both 

 byconstruc- 

 ti n an d pur- 

 chase, until it 

 became the 

 chief line 

 serving the W. 

 of England. 

 Continuous ex- 

 tensions were 

 made, and the 

 line now serves 

 Birmingham 

 and the^lidlands, Devon and Corn- 

 wall, Bristol and S. Wales. 



The company has a steamboat 

 service to Ireland, Fishguard to 

 Rosslare, opened in 1906, while the 

 Severn Tunnel, 1887, shortened 

 the journey to S. Wales. It 

 has greatly developed motor-bus 

 services as feeders to the lines, 

 while its non-stop to Plymouth and 

 Torquay, and its services to the 

 Cornish watering-places are among 

 the most efficient pieces of modern 

 railway management. It owns 

 docks at Plymouth, Birkenhead, 

 and elsewhere, manages the har- 



CREDOS 



bour at Fishguard. and has hotels. 

 Its mileage is 2,996, and its capital 

 over 100,000,000. The principal 

 locomotive and carriage works are 

 at Swindon, and its headquarters 

 are at Paddington. During the 

 Great War the company ran 33,615 

 trains for the forces, of which 5,000 

 were ambulance trains. . In the 

 grouping scheme it absorbed vari- 

 ous other lines. See Railways. 



Greaves (old Fr. greve, shin- 

 bone). Armour for the lower part 

 of the legs. 

 Bronze or 

 pewter greaves 

 were worn by 

 the ancient 

 Greeks and 

 Romans (Gr. 

 knemides, Lat. 

 ocrcae ). In me- 

 dieval times 

 they were 

 f req uently 

 richly em- 

 bossed and or- 

 namented. 

 They were 

 lined with 

 some soft 

 material and fastened by ankle rings 

 and straps. See Armour. 



Grebe (Podiceps). Genus of 

 diving birds, five species of which 

 occur in Great Britain. They are 

 remarkable for their curiously 

 lobed feet, rudimentary tail, and 

 the backward position of the legs 

 which causes them to assume on 



Greaves. Mailed 



leg, showing 



greave between 



knee and ankle 



Grebe. Great crested grebe on her 

 nest among rushes 



land an upright position like a pen- 

 guin. They frequent ponds and 

 lakes in summer, and some go to 

 the sea in winter. The little grebe 

 is known as the dabchick (?.?>.). 



Greco, EL. Name by which the 

 painter Domenico Theotocopuli 

 (g.v.) is generally known. 



Gredos, SIERRA DE. Mountain 

 range of W. Spain, dividing Old 

 Castile from New Castile and Estre- 

 madura. It is a S.W. continuation 

 of the Sierra de Guadarrama, and is 

 about 100 m. in length. 



