GUASTALLA GUELFS. 



575 



GUASTALLA ; a duchy in Upper Italy, on the 

 Po, in the Austrian dominions, and the duchy of 

 Modena, containing thirty-three square miles, with 

 7200 inhabitants. Its chief place, of the same name, 

 on the Crostolo and Po, contains 5500 inhabitants. 

 Guastalla formerly belonged to the dukes of Mantua. 

 The line becoming extinct in 1746, it was given to 

 Parma, and, in 1795, was comprised, with all the 

 dominions of this house, in the Italian republic. In 

 1815, it was annexed to the duchy of Parma, and 

 given to Maria Louisa, wife of Napoleon, as duchess 

 of Parma. 



GUATIMALA (for an account of the country of 

 this name, see Central America). Guatimala is also 

 the largest of the five states of the republic of Central 

 America, formed from the old captain-generalship of 

 the same name. It lies in the north-western part of 

 the republic, bordering on Mexico, the gulf of Hon- 

 duras, and the Pacific ocean. It is divided into four- 

 teen partidos. 



GUATIMALA, LA NUEVA (the New); seat of 

 the federal government of Central America, archie- 

 piscopal see, situated on the river Vacas, near the 

 Pacific ocean, with a good harbour; lat. 14 40' N.; 

 Ion. 91 25' W. In April, 1830, it was nearly de- 

 stroyed by an earthquake. Previous to this, the in- 

 habitants were about 40,000 ; the houses were hand- 

 some, but built low, on account of the frequency of 

 earthquakes ; the streets broad, and the numerous 

 churches and public buildings distinguished for their 

 elegance. It was founded in 1775, in consequence 

 of the destruction of the old city by an earthquake. 



GUAVA (psidium); a genus of plants, allied to 

 the myrtle, containing nearly forty species, natives of 

 the intertropical parts of America, with one or two 

 exceptions. They are trees or shrubs, with opposite 

 entire leaves, and axillary white flowers. The P. 

 pysiferum attains the height of eighteen or twenty 

 feet, and is now cultivated in all the intertropical 

 parts of the globe, for the sake of its fruit, which has 

 a sweet, agreeable flavour, and is considered very 

 wholesome. The young branches of this tree are 

 quadrangular ; the leaves, oval-acute, and the fruit 

 shaped like a pear, and about as large as a pullet's 

 egg, yellow without, with a fleshy pulp, and is eaten 

 either in a crude state, or in the form of jellies. The 

 wood, which is very hard, is much used for various 

 mechanical purposes, as also for burning, and makes 

 excellent charcoal. This tree has been cultivated, 

 with complete success, in the south of France. 



GUAXACA, or OAXACA ; a state of Mexico, 

 situated between Puebla and Guatimala, about 240 

 miles in length and 120 in breadth. The soil is fer- 

 tile, producing corn, maize, cocoa, cochineal, sugar, 

 honey, and fruits of every kind. Here are mines of 

 gold, silver and crystal. Mulberry trees, for the 

 cultivation of silk, have been introduced by the Span- 

 iards. There are 150 Indian towns, besides 300 

 villages and upwards of 150,000 natives, who are 

 tributary to the Spaniards. Population, 534,000. 



GUAXACA ; a town in Mexico, capital of the 

 state of the same name ; 90 miles S. by W. of Vera 

 Cruz, 195 miles S. S. E. of Mexico ; Ion. ts 36' 

 W. ; lat. 17 30' N. Population in 1792, 24,000. 

 This town, also called Anter/uera, is the see of a 

 bishop. It is agreeably situated in a valley, on a 

 river abounding with fish, which runs into the Alva- 

 rado. 



GUAYAQUIL, a province of Colombia, in New 

 Granada, lies along the Pacific ocean, on the Guaya- 

 quil river, and on the north side of the gulf of the 

 same name. Population, about 90,000. Staples, 

 cocoa, cotton, tobacco, salt, wax, rice and honey. 



GUAYAQUIL; a city of Colombia, and capital of 

 Ihe province of the same name, on the West side of 



Guayaquil river. It possesses an excellent seaport. 

 Ship-timber abounds in the vicinity, from which many 

 vessels have been built. It is 150 miles S. S. VV of 

 Quito ; Ion. 79 5& W.; lat. 2 11' S. 



GUAYAQUIL BAY, or GULF, extends from 

 cape St Helena to Pontade Picos, upwards of 100 

 miles, and, extending inland, in the form of a triangle, 

 receives, at its head, Guayaquil river. The gulf is 

 chequered by numerous islands, one of which, Puna, 

 is of considerable size. 



GUDGEON (gobio, Cuv.). These fish are distin- 

 guished by having the dorsal and anal fins short, and 

 without spines. At the angle on each side of the 

 mouth, there is a small beard of a quarter of an inch 

 in length. Neither jaw is furnished with teeth, but, 

 at the entrance of the throat, there are two triangular 

 bones, that perform the office of grinders. These 

 fish are taken in gentle streams, and are generally of 

 small size, measuring only about six inches. They 

 are brought together by raking the bed of the river, 

 which makes them crowd in shoals to the spot, ex- 

 pecting food from this disturbance. They are spoken 

 of by Aristotle ; and old Willoughby says that they 

 are preferred, by the English, to every other river 

 fish, 



GUEBERS, or GUEBRES, or G ALTERS (i. e., 

 infidels); the fire-worshippers in Persia; in India 

 called Par sees. They call themselves Behendie, or 

 followers of the true faith, and live chiefly in the de- 

 serts of Caramania, towards the Persian gulf, and in 

 the province Yerd Keram. These people, who are 

 but little known, are laborious and temperate culti- 

 vators of the ground. The manners of the Guebers 

 are mild. They drink wine, eat all kinds of meat, 

 marry but one wife, and live chastely and temperate- 

 ly. Divorce and polygamy are prohibited by their 

 religion ; but if a wife remains barren during the 

 first nine years of marriage, the husband may take a 

 second wife. They worship one Supreme Being, 

 whom they call the Eternal Spirit or Yerd. The 

 sun, moon and planets they believe to be peopled with 

 rational beings, acknowledge light as the primitive 

 cause of good, darkness as that of evil, and wor- 

 ship fire, as it is said, from which they have received 

 their name. But they themselves say, that they do 

 not worship fire, but only find in it an image of the 

 incomprehensible God ; on which account they offer 

 up their prayers before a fire, and maintain one unin- 

 terruptedly burning on holy places, which their pro- 

 phet Zoroaster they say, kindled 4000 years ago. 

 Their holy book is called Zend-Avesta. One of the 

 peculiarities of the Guebers is, that they do not bury 

 their dead, but expose the bodies upon the towers of 

 their temples, to be devoured by birds. They ob- 

 serve which part the birds first eat, from which they 

 judge of the fete of the deceased. 



GUELFS, or GUELPHS (from the Italian Guelf 

 and the German fVelferi); the name of a celebrated 

 family, which, in the eleventh century, was transplan- 

 ted from Italy to Germany, where it became the 

 ruling race of several countries. The family still 

 continues in the two lines of Brunswick, the royal 

 in Britain, and the ducal in Germany. According 

 to Eichhorn's Urgeschichte des Hauses der IVelfen, 

 this house first appears distinctly in the ninth century, 

 in the reign of Charlemagne. The memory of this 

 ancient name has lately been revived by the founda- 

 tion of the Hanoverian Guelfic order. (See Hanover.) 

 The term Guelf is also applied to a powerful party 

 in the middle ages, which, in Germany, and, at a 

 later period, in Italy, opposed the German emperors 

 and their adherents, called the Ghibelines. (See 

 Frederic von Raumer's Geschichte der Hohenstaufen, 

 Leipsic, 1823. The family of the Guelfs, in different 

 branches, possessed considerable estates in Germany, 



