GAMA 



2371 



GAMBETTA 



appalling disaster from natural causes in the 

 history of the North-American continent. The 

 city was flooded to a depth of from four to 

 sixteen feet by a West Indian hurricane, which 

 caused a loss of 8,000 lives and a destruction 

 of property amounting to $20,000,000. 



To prevent another such catastrophe, three 

 tremendous engineering feats have been accom- 

 plished the erection of the sea-wall, the 

 raising of the city grade and the building of 

 a causeway. The sea-wall is a concrete steel- 

 reenforced battlement 17,593 feet long, sixteen 



PATH OF THE HURRICANE 

 The figures indicate days of the month and 

 show the rate of speed of the wind, which 

 reached its greatest velocity at Galveston. 



feet wide at the base and seventeen feet high. 

 In raising the grade the city was lifted to a 

 height of nineteen feet above its former level, 

 two feet higher than the sea-wall, and during 

 the operations, the city may be said to have 

 walked on stilts, as houses, walks and car 

 lines were propped up while thousands of cubic 

 yards of sand were deposited from the Gulf 

 of Mexico. To bring order out of chaos, sev- 

 eral citizens at that time formed a new plan 

 of government, and in 1901 Galveston pre- 

 sented to the world what is now known as the 

 commission form of government, which has 

 been adopted widely throughout the United 

 States, Canada and Europe. H.H.H. 



GAMA, gah'mah, VASCO DA (14607-1524), a 

 Portuguese navigator, the first to sail around the 

 Cape of Good Hope, and the discoVerer of the 

 sea route to India. He was descended from a 

 noble family and at an early age became 

 known as a fearless mariner. He was selected 

 by the king of Portugal to command an expe- 



dition to find the way to India. He sailed 

 July 8, 1497 and after visiting Calicut, returned 

 to Portugal with reports of the boundless 

 wealth of India. The king richly rewarded 

 him with rank of nobility, a pension and great 

 commercial privileges. He was named Admiral 

 of the Indies and made a second successful 

 voyage. In 1524 he was appointed viceroy of 

 India and was sent out to remedy the ill effects 

 of the misrule of the king's representatives. 

 The same year he died at Cochin. His body 

 was later removed to Portugal and buried with 

 honors in Lisbon. 



GAMA, gah'ma, GRASS, or SESAME, scs' 

 a me, GRASS , a fodder grass cultivated in the 

 Southwestern United" States, Mexico and parts 

 of Europe, but particularly adapted to the 

 climate of Australia. The name gama is from 

 that of a Spaniard who first attempted to cul- 

 tivate it in Mexico. This grass is drouth- 

 enduring, and is quickly killed by frost. From 

 stout rootstocks its coarse, pithy, branching 

 stems grow to a height of nine or ten feet. 

 Its leaves, about six feet long, resemble those 

 of Indian corn. In midsummer it bears spikes 

 of feathery, dark purple flowers, topped with 

 long, orange-colored anthers. 



GAMA'LIEL, a Jewish doctor of the law 

 and member of the Sanhedrin who showed his 

 good judgment and common sense when he 

 urged his colleagues not to persecute Peter and 

 the other Apostles for preaching Christ to the 

 people (Acts V, 34). He was the rabbi, or 

 teacher, who taught Saint Paul in his youth 

 and was held in the highest respect among 

 his countrymen. For that reason they were 

 guided by his reasoning when he said that if 

 the Apostles' work were simply man's, it would 

 finally come to nothing, even if they took no 

 measures against it, while if it were of God, 

 they could not overthrow it, for they would be 

 fighting God. He is said to have been presi- 

 dent of the Sanhedrin for several years, but 

 the report that he became a Christian is with- 

 out proof. 



GAMBETTA, gam bet 'a, LEON (1838-1882), 

 a French statesman noted for his bitter oppo- 

 sition to monarchical government. As a lawyer 

 he met with great success in Paris, chiefly in 

 defending political prisoners. In 1869 he was 

 elected to the Chamber of Deputies by Paris 

 and Marseilles, and his republican views im- 

 mediately attracted attention. He strongly 

 opposed the policy which resulted in the 

 Franco-German War in 1870, and led bitter 

 attacks against the empire. He escaped from 



