GUILMANT 



2637 



GUINEA FOWL 



cruelly put to death, see that title. In Dickens' 

 Tale of Two Cities the chapter "Knitting" gives 

 a realistic word picture of the instrument. 



GUILMANT, geclmahN', FELIX ALEXANDRE 

 (1837-1911), a French organist and comp'oser, 

 whose influence upon organ music extended to 

 many lands. He was a tireless worker. Indeed, 

 so fast did he work, and so well also, that dur- 

 ing one of his American tours organ pieces 

 were written en route from New York to Phila- 

 delphia and completed before his arrival. His 

 Fugue in D Major was written in a single even- 

 ing and his Second Meditation, one morning 

 before breakfast. 



At the age of seven he began to compose 

 music extemporaneously, and worked cease- 

 lessly for twenty years before he developed his 

 art to the high standard for which he became 

 distinguished -later. He was organist in many 

 famous churches in France, and in 1896 accepted 

 a professorship at the Paris Conservatory. 

 Later he made several successful concert tours 

 in Europe and America. Great as were his 

 performances of standard works, he will be re- 

 membered for his own marvelous compositions. 

 In his extemporaneous playing he had no equal. 

 He composed eight organ sonatas, three masses, 

 and organ pieces numbering into the hundreds. 

 His Litvrgical Organist, of twelve volumes, 

 contains a wealth of material for the church 

 service. He also edited an Historical Organ 

 Book, containing examples of all the schools of 

 organ playing. 



GUINEA, gin' i t a name applied to portions 

 of the west coast of Africa, bordering on the 

 Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean. Al- 

 though the boundaries have never been clearly 

 denned it is generally understood that Guinea 

 extended from the River Gambia, in the north, 

 to the southern boundary of Portuguese West 

 Africa, and included Portuguese Guinea, French 

 Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia; the Ivory Coast, 

 Kamerun, Gabun, the French Kongo Coast and 

 what is now the coast line of Belgium Kongo. 

 The term Guinea is now practically confined 

 to Portuguese Guinea. 



The origin of the name is unknown, but it is 

 probably derived from Ghinea, or Ginnie, a 

 town and kingdom in the interior, on the Niger 

 River, a commercial center in the eighth cen- 

 tury. The name did not come into general use 

 until the fifteenth century. Early traders di- 

 vided Guinea into two countries, called Upper 

 and Lower Guinea, the dividing line between 

 north and south being somewhere in the Bight 

 of Benin. See PORTUGUESE GUINEA. 



GUINEA, an old English coin, so named 

 because it was ih.-t coined from gold found in 

 Guinea in 1663, during the reign of Charles II. 

 Its unit value is twenty-one shillings, or in 

 American and Canadian money, $5.04. It was 

 the principal English coin until 1817, when the 

 sovereign was introduced. It is still customary, 

 however, to estimate professional fees, such as 

 the charges of doctors and dentists, and most 

 charitable subscriptions, in guineas. 



In literature there is frequent reference to 

 this coin. Burns says: 



The rank is but the guinea's .stamp. 

 The man's the gowd for a' that. 



GUINEA, GULF OF, a gulf on the west coast 

 of Africa, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean. The 

 name is applied particularly to that part of the 

 coastal waters to the north of the Congo River 

 and south of Cape Palmas. It include* tin- 

 bay, or bight, which comes from the long sweep 

 of the coast line, known as the Bight of Benin. 

 The name Guinea is from that of the territory 

 which once extended over the whole district. 

 The Bight of Biafra, or Mafra, which i.< :iUn 

 included, contains the islands of Saint Thomas. 

 Prince's and Fernando Po. The coast is low, 

 and mangrove trees are the only sailing marks 

 to guide navigators in this region. The inhab- 

 itants are true negroes. 



GUINEA FOWL, a group of birds which 

 originated in Africa and which are closely re- 

 lated to the pheasants. The domestic guinea 

 fowl, which are quarrelsome and hard to raise, 

 are unpopular because of their continued harsh 



GUINEA FOWLS 



cries; but these disadvantages arc more than 

 offset by the high price commanded by their 

 flesh which, within the last few years, has be- 

 come an expensive delicacy. Their eggs, which 

 are small, spotted, and have a strong, thick 

 shell, are also highly esteemed. These fowl* 

 have dark, slate-colored feathers, with regu- 

 larly-arranged white spots. 



