GUINEA GUISCAJID, 



585 



Europeans, lias occupied a conspicuous place. This 

 is Asliantee, die sovereign of which has waged re- 

 peated and successful wars against the Fantees. 

 Cape Coast Castle is the capital of the British settle- 

 ments on the Gold coast; and forts are also maintained 

 at Acra, Dixcove, Succondee, Commendo, and Ana- 

 niaboe. That at Winnebah lias been given up. The 

 Slave coast extends from the Rio Volta to the bay 

 and river of Lagos, which separate it from Benin. 

 Of all the parts of native Africa yet explored by 

 Europeans, this is the one where cultivation and the 

 arts Imve been carried to the greatest perfection. 

 The country here was in a most flourishing and pros- 

 perous state, when it received a fatal blow, about the 

 middle of last century, by the invasion of the king of 

 Dahomey, who, having conquered it, reduced the 

 principal towns to ashes, and massacred a great pro- 

 portion of the population. This coast has since con- 

 tinued to form part of the territory of Dahomey, and 

 is governed by a viceroy, who resides at Griwhee ; 

 but, under this ferocious and military tyranny, it has 

 never recovered its ancient wealth and prosperity. 



GUINEA, NEW. See Papua. 



GUINEA; an English gold coin, worth twenty- 

 one shillings sterling. Guineas were first coined, in 

 the reign of Charles II. (1662), of gold which the 

 English procured from Guinea, and hence the name. 

 Till 1718, they were of the value of twenty shillings 

 sterling. See Coin. 



GUINEA CLOTH. Mariners give the name of 

 Guinea to a much greater extent of the African coast 

 than is recognised by .geography ; and, in commerce, 

 several articles made for the African trade are called 

 by this name. Guinea cloth is a kind of calico, calcu- 

 lated for the African market, where it is an important 

 article of barter. There are also Guinea knives, &c. 



GUINEA PEPPER. See Cayenne Pepper. 



GUINEA PIG (cavia cobaya). This well known 

 little animal is a native of South America, and is 

 now domesticated in Europe. As writers make but 

 little mention of its habits and manners in a wild 

 state, most that is known respecting it has been 

 derived from observations on the domesticated ani- 

 mal. It is a restless, grunting little quadruped, 

 seldom remaining quiet more than a few minutes. It 

 feeds on bread, grain, fruit, or vegetables, giving a 

 decided preference to parsley. It breeds when only 

 two months old, and generally brings forth every 

 two months, having from four to twelve young ones 

 at a time ; hence the produce of a single pair might 

 be a thousand in the year. From their being so 

 prolific, they would become innumerable, were not 

 vast numbers of the young eaten by cats, killed by 

 the males, or destroyed by other means. As they 

 are very tender, multitudes perish from cold and 

 moisture. In the space of twelve hours after birth, 

 the young are able to run about. In their habits, 

 they are so extremely cleanly, that if the young, by 

 any accident, are dirtied, the female takes such a 

 dislike to them as never to suffer them to approach 

 her. The principal employment of the male and 

 female seems to consist in smoothing each other's 

 hair, which being performed, they turn their atten- 

 tion to the young, whose hair they take particular 

 care to keep unruffled, biting them if they prove 

 refractory. Their sleep is short, but frequent ; they 

 eat rapidly, like the rabbit, a little at a time, but 

 often. They repose flat on their belly, and, like the 

 dog, turn round several times before they lie down. 

 Their manner of fighting is very singular, and 

 appears extremely ridiculous. One of them seizes 

 the neck of his antagonist with his teeth, and attempts 

 to tear the hair from it ; in the mean time the other 

 turns his tail to the enemy, kicks up like a horse, 

 nnd, by way of retaliation, scratches the sides of his 



opponent with -his hind feet. Their skins are 

 scarcely of any value, and their flesh, though edible, 

 is not savoury. Bufibn observes of them, " By na- 

 ture they are gentle and tame ; they do no mischief, 

 but they are equally incapable of good, for they never 

 form any attachments : mild by constitution ; docile 

 through weakness ; almost insensible to every object, 

 they have the appearance of living machines, con- 

 structed for the purposes of propagation, and of re- 

 presenting a species." 



GUISCARD, ROBERT, duke of Apulia and Cala- 

 bria, a son of the celebrated Tancred de Hauteville, 

 was born in 1015. Hauteville had many sons, and 

 his estate in Normandy was small. This induced 

 his three eldest sons, William the Ironarms (Bras- 

 de-fers), Dagobert and Humphrey to go to Italy, and 

 ofter their services to the Italian princes, then en- 

 gaged in continual wars. Fortune, courage, and 

 cunning enabled William the Ironarms, who knew 

 how to take advantage of the weakness of the 

 Italian princes, to get possession of Apulia. Robert 

 Guiscard, who, in the mean time, had grown np, 

 burned with the desire of sharing the splendid for- 

 tune of his brother in Italy. A little band of adven- 

 turers was soon found, in those times so prone to 

 adventurous enterprises, who were ready to follow 

 him in the expectation of a rich booty. Robert, 

 who was no ways inferior in courage to his brothers, 

 soon distinguished himself in many battles ; and the 

 soldiers, moved by his exploits, unanimously pro- 

 claimed him, after the death of his brother Hum- 

 phrey, count of Apulia a dignity which he accepted 

 without hesitation, although to the prejudice of the 

 rights of his brother's children. He then conquered 

 Calabria, in the possession of which lie was con- 

 firmed by pope Nicholas II., although that pontiff 

 had not long before excommunicated him for his out- 

 rages. Robert, grateful for this favour, bound him- 

 self to pay to the holy see an annual sum ; and from 

 this the feudal claims of the papal see on Naples, 

 which exist to this day, are derived. In Apulia 

 itself, Guiscard ruled with absolute power. This 

 country had, till his reign, preserved a number of 

 privileges, and some forms of a constitution ; but 

 scarcely was he at the head of the state, when he 

 destroyed them ; and hence naturally arose discon- 

 tents and conspiracies among the nobility, who, at 

 that time, were alone in possession of any rights. 

 Robert punished many of these with death, and 

 reduced the others to submission. He now began to 

 think of conquering Sicily, the investiture of which 

 the pope had already promised him. He sent, there- 

 fore, his youngest brother, Roger, whose valour had 

 already been displayed hi many battles, at the head 

 of 300 resolute warriors, to take possession of this 

 island. Roger made himself master of the city of 

 Messina with this small band, in 1060. In the fol- 

 lowing year, the two brothers united, conquered the 

 Saracens on the plains of Enna ; but the misunder- 

 standing which broke out between the victors, pre- 

 vented them from deriving all the advantages which 

 might have resulted from this victory. Guiscard 

 had promised Roger the half of Calabria, in case 

 his expedition to Sicily should prove successful ; but 

 he was now unwilling to allow him more than two 

 cities. The complaints of Roger irritated his bro- 

 ther, who determined to imprison him. But the 

 soldiers of the former made themselves masters of 

 the person of Robert himself, and Roger was mag- 

 nanimous enough not to take advantage of this suc- 

 cess. Guiscard, touched with this generosity, was 

 reconciled to his brother, and fulfilled his promise. 

 Roger now conquered nearly the whole of the island, 

 and became the first count of Sicily. Guiscard, in 

 the mean time, besieged all those cities in Lower 



