GAMBIA 



2372 



GAME 



LEON GAMBETTA 



Paris in a balloon during the siege, and estab- 

 lished what amounted to a dictatorship at 

 Tours. Calling on the nation to rise in a 

 mass to over- 

 whelm the invad- 

 ers, he conducted 

 a fierce resistance, 

 with a deter- 

 mination to fight 

 to the end. He 

 accused Marshal 

 Bazaine of an act 

 of treason in sur- 

 rendering Metz, 

 and was active 

 in securing his 

 trial after the war. After peace was made he 

 held office in several Ministries and became 

 Premier in November, 1881. Resigning in 1882, 

 he continued to exert his influence through his 

 paper, the Republique Frangaise, one of the 

 most brilliant journals of the time. His death 

 was hastened by a wound in the hand caused 

 by the accidental discharge of a pistol. See 

 FRANCO-GERMAN WAR. 



GAM'BIA, the most northerly of the British 

 colonies on the west coast of Africa, covering 

 an area of about 4,000 square miles in a long 

 triangle, on both sides of the River Gambia. 

 The climate is more healthful than elsewhere 

 on the west coast, for there the malaria-carry- 

 ing mosquito has been practically exterminated. 

 The Gambia is navigable for the whole extent 

 of the colony, and affords excellent means of 

 transportation for internal produce. Rice, 

 maize, cotton and ground nuts are raised for 

 local use, and rubber, beeswax and palm oil 

 are extensively exported. The rivers and 

 creeks are inhabited by hippopotami and croco- 

 diles, and lions, leopards, monkeys, wild boars 

 and many kinds of deer are found in the for- 

 ests and plains. The capital is Bathurst, on 

 the island of Saint Mary, at the mouth of the 

 Gambia. Most of the inhabitants are negroes, 

 industrious, thrifty and skilful agriculturists. 

 Population, estimated at about 163,000. 



Gambia River, one of the most important 

 rivers on the west coast of Africa, and the only 

 one that is navigable at all times of the year 

 for 200 miles from the sea. It rises only 150 

 miles inland, but winds and twists over a 

 course of 1,000 miles before emptying its 

 waters into the Atlantic Ocean. Mungo Park, 

 the explorer, started his two journeys into the 

 interior from this river in 1795 and 1805. The 

 source was discovered in 1818. 



GAMBOGE, gambohj', or GAMBOGE, a res- 

 inous gum derived from the gamboge tree, a 

 native of Cambodia, Ceylon, Siam and other 

 Far Eastern countries. The tree grows to a 

 height of forty or fifty feet, has oval leaves 

 like those of the laurel, and square-shaped, 

 four-seeded edible fruit. The gamboge is 

 obtained by making incisions in the bark of 

 a tree in the same way that maple trees are 

 tapped. A bamboo tube is placed so that the 

 juice is carried off and, received in cocoanut 

 shells or other receptacles. The juice hardens 

 on exposure to the air, becoming a dirty orange 

 on the outside and brilliant yellow inside. It 

 is sold commercially in hollow rolls, sticks and 

 shapeless lumps. 



Gamboge is extensively used by artists in 

 mixing water colors, for staining wood and as 

 a lacquer for brass. In medicine it is occa- 

 sionally employed as a cathartic, but its action 

 is harsh, causing severe griping. It is said to 

 be effective in minute doses in cases of dropsy 

 and apoplexy when taken in conjunction with 

 a sedative. American gamboge, which is used 

 for the same purposes, is obtained from a 

 similar tree which is native to Mexico. It is 

 somewhat inferior to the imported variety. 



GAME, the general name for animals which 

 are hunted, from truly wild beasts, such as 

 tigers and bears, to small, helpless creatures 

 like the rabbits and fowls. 



Game Laws. There are two distinct types 

 of game regulations, those intended to make 

 hunting the privilege of aristocracy, and those 

 to prevent the wanton destruction of game and 

 the possible extermination of a species of ani- 

 mal life. The first are characteristic of Euro- 

 pean countries, the second, of America. In 

 Scotland and Ireland none are permitted to 

 hunt but the possessors of estates of a certain 

 size or value, and a similar restriction was in 

 effect in England until 1881. Such provisions 

 are a survival of feudalism, of the days in 

 which poaching, or illegal hunting, was an 

 offense sometimes punished by death. 



Each of the American states and Canadian 

 provinces has its own game laws. Most of 

 them forbid shooting except during a short 

 period of each year known as the open season, 

 and restrict the number of animals which each 

 hunter may kill, have in his possession, or ship 

 out of the state. Any person may secure a 

 copy of his state or provincial game laws by 

 addressing the game warden, at the capital. In 

 Canada, a law of the Dominion places a rigid 

 limit upon the export of game. 



