﻿OHILAK. 



GIBRALTAR. 



M 



dM BrtUlian, Um oMett homo in Obont, on tlio Qukl mix Herbm, 

 dttinf from ISIS; the new theatre, built by the town at k ooat of 

 1 00,0001., in one corner of the Kauter, and containing a magoificent 

 •aloon, ball- and concert-raoms ; the Palaia de Juitioe (in the hand- 

 I Rue du Theatre), the lower part of which Mrrea aa an exchange, 



while the upper part ia fitted up for the courta of justice ; the modem 

 citadel, finiahed in 1830, and built on Mont BUudin, at the extremity 

 of the deration on which the weatem part of tlio city stands ; the 

 noat office, in the Rue de 1' Univeriit^ ; and the botanic garden 

 brlnnging to the uuireraity, 



Uhent contain* 21 public hospitala, beaidea sereral private establiah- 

 menta for benevolent purposes. The Ho«pital of Byloke, which wiu 

 fouuded in 1226, has aooommodation for 600 patients, and or^linarily 

 contains 300. It is bdieved that the body of Jacques van ArtcveUlo 

 was buried in the church of the Byloke, after bis oxKisiination at hia 

 own hooM, which stood in the Piulden Hoek. The school for the 

 poor, founded b^ the magistrates of the city in 1623, contains 150 

 ^ouUia, who receive on education suitable to artisans. Each scholar 

 M instructed in some particular branch of industry. A similar 

 ratablishment was founded at the same time fur poor girls, and is 

 stall in existence. 



The central prison of Ghent, situated in the Coupure, is remarkable 

 for its size and its judicious arran^meuta. This establishment has 

 all the appearance of a busy workshop. Weaving, and its accessories 

 of apinniug and wiudin;, are the most common employments of both 

 maiei and females. The two sexes are separated. The women are 

 also employed in washing and mending the clothes of the prisoners, 

 and in we other neeeaaary household duties. The building ivill bold 

 S600 prisoners. This prison, so Cur from being a cause of expense, 

 brings in an annual profit to the city of 4000A (50,000 florins). A 

 considerable portion of their earnings is given to the prisoners, part 

 nt the time and the remainder at their disohai^ from prison. 



About 20,000 persons are employed in various occupations connected 

 with the cotton manufacture, in spinning, weaving, bleaching, and 

 printing. Sugar-rvfining is extensively carried on. Among the other 

 mdnstnal products of Obent are lace, silk, salt, paper, leather, linen, 

 ■od wooUoi goods, soap, pins, beer, spirits, sail-cloth, oil-cloth, habei-- 

 dasbery, cntlery, steam-machinery, chemical products, Ac There are 

 ■ome good ship-biiildiDg docks in the town, which bos a largo trade in 

 agricultural produce, and an active transit trade. 



Ghent Is the residence of the governor of the province ; it is also 

 the seat of a tribunal of first resort, and of a court of appeal, which 

 lost ha.1 jurisdiction over the whole province of Flanders ; it likewise 

 gives title to a bishop, and is the bead-<xuarter8 of the first of the four 

 divisions of the Belgian army. 



Beaidea the market held every Friday, horse-fairs are held in Mid- 

 Lent and on the 23rd of July : there is aJso a general fair in August 



GHILAN. [Pkhsia.] 



OHOOLGHOOIiA, a remarkable hill in the volley of Bomeenn in 

 Afglianixtan, i» nitiiati-d about 35 miles N.W. from Cabul. It is 

 chiefly uiiticeablc hero on account of the groat number of excavations 

 in the mountains which inclose the valley on both sides. The 

 greater number of the caves occur on the northern face of the bill 

 The hill is detached and stands in the middle of the valley. The 

 cavea are very numerous and extend in every direction. On the face 

 of the bill are colossal statues of a male and a female, in alto-rilievo, 

 cut out in the mountain rock. They are not distinguished either by 

 symmetry of form or elt-gance in their drapery. The male figure is 

 about 120 feet high, and the female about 70 feet 



OHUNPORK fHi.vDusTAX.] 



UilUZNEK, Afghanistan, a fortified city, once the capital of on 

 empire reaching from the Tigris to the Ganges, is situated in 33° 34' 

 N. lot, 68° 21' K. long., distant about 80 miles S.S.VV. from CabuL 

 The city was once adorned with the moat splendid buildings in Asia, 

 bat the houses which now occupy the site are of mean appearance 

 and ooDsiderably reduced in iiiiiiibcr. In the vicinity however some 

 remains of the ancient grandeur of the city are observable. At a dla- 

 taoce of about tliree miles is the tomb of Sultan Mohmood, the con- 

 queror of India, which though not maguifioent is spacious and 

 omrered with a cupola. The doors, or rather gates, of this tomb, 

 wUob were of sondal-wood and said to have been brought as a trophy 

 from the temple of Somnauth in tiuzorat, wore removed by the British 

 iDl842. The nopnUtion has been variounly stated, but is probably 

 about 6000. The city stands on a rock about 280 feet above the odja- 

 oeal plain. The citadel contains a palace, a maiiazine, and a granary. 

 The dty was taken by Lord Keone July 23rd 1839, but was sur- 

 raodarsd to the Afghans in 1842. On September 6th 1842 it was 

 r»4aken by Oeoetol Nott [ AroBAXiSTAN.] Gbuxnee is a commercial 

 depei for the trade between Afghanistan and the Poniab. 



OIANrS CAUSEWAY. [A.xtbiii.] 



UIBARA. [CiDA.] 



GIBRALTAR, a llritish town and forUfied rook in Andaluaia, the 

 moat southern i.rovinc.) of Spain. The rock, which is connected with 

 the oontincnt by an isthmus of low sand, and almost wholly sur- 

 rounded by the walcm of the Mediterranean, forms a |iromontory 

 thraa miUs in length from north to south. The width is irregular, 

 but Um eotirs cireumferMica is almut seven miles. Towards the 

 onlh it tenainotc* in a point cJlei Eurijia Point, which is in 



86* 2' 30" N. Ut, and 5° 15' 12' W. long. This rock, under the 

 name of Calpe, and Mount Abyla (now chilled Ceuta), opposite to it on 

 the African coast, were called by the aiicienta the Pillars of Hercules, 

 an<l in very eariy ages were r^g.irdcd by the people dwelling to the 

 oast of them as tiie wastam boundary of the world. In the early part 

 of the 8th century an army of Saracens under the command of Tarif, 

 or Tarek, from ib» coast of Africa, lan4sd near to Gibraltar with the 

 intention of dethroning Uodaric, king of Spain. The Saracens ereotod 

 a castle on the shoulder of the rook, and called the rock itaelf Qibel- 

 Tarif (the mountain of Tarif), whence its present name of Gibraltar is 

 supposed to be derived. The ruins ofthis castle may still bo seen. The 

 African Moors continued in possession of Gibraltar till the beginning 

 of the 14 th century, when it was recovered from them by 

 Ferdinand IV., king of Castile and Leon. It subsequently fell into the 

 hands of the kiug of Granada, from whom it was token in 1462 by the 

 Christians under Henry IV., king of Castile, who gave it the arms it 

 still bears, namely, a castle with a key hanging to the gate, alluding 

 to iU being the key of the Mediterranean. From this time to the 

 end of the 16th century Gibraltar remained in the bonds of the 

 Spaniards, by whom the fortifications were so far increased and 

 modernised that the place was looked upon as impregnable until 

 token by on English and Dutch fleet under Sir Geoi^e Booke and the 

 prince of Hesse Darmstadt on tbe 24th of July 1701. During th« 

 nine following years several unsuccessful attempts were made to 

 recover tbe fortress by force or stratagem, in which tbe loss of the 

 ossailonto was very great. In 1713 the possession of Gibraltar was 

 confirmed to tbe Kuglish by tbe peace of Utrecht In 1727 it waa 

 again attacked by tbe Spaniards with on army of 20,000 men. The 

 siege continued for several months, and was terminated by the general 

 peace on the 12th of May. The lost and most memorable of nil the 

 sieges of Gibraltar was commenced in 1779, and did not termin.ate till 

 the 2nd of February 1783, when it was anuounced that the prelimina- 

 ries of a general peace bad been signed. 



The rock consists principally of a gray comi>act marble It 

 abounds with caves, the most remarkable of whii^ is St Michael's 

 on tbe south-west side. The entrance to this cave is 1000 feet above 

 the sea-level, and leads to a spacious hall, apparently supported by 

 massive stalactites. Beneath this is a succession of descending cavea 

 beautifully picturesque, but of difficult access. In tbe perpuudicular 

 fissures of the rock bones of various animals, including human bon&i, 

 have frequently been discovered. The natural productions of 

 Gibraltar are wild rabbits, woodcocks, teal, and partridges; there 

 are also largo numbers of monkeys, of a dark-fawn colour, and without 

 tails. The climate is temperate during tbe greater part of the year, 

 and even in the summer months the excessive heat is alUyed by a 

 refreshing sea-breeze that sets in during tbe forenoon and continues 

 till sun-set The temperature in winter is cousiderably higher than 

 in the neighbouring country, so that the snow, which falls but seldom, 

 soon disappears, while it continues for many weeks on tbe mountains 

 of Africa and the Sierra Moreno. On whichever side tho ruck is 

 approached it has a barren and forbidding appearance. From tho 

 ship's deck not a spot of verdure con bs seen, an<l yet it is by no 

 means destitute of vegetation, for besides acacias, fig and orouge trees, 

 there is a great variety of odoriferous planta The rock rises to a 

 height of about 1600 feet above the sea. On the east and north sides 

 it is so steep as to be wholly inaccessible. Towards the south it is 

 also venr precipitous, but on the west side, where tho town is built, it 

 giadually declines towards the boy, where tbe strength of the fortifi- 

 cations is such that the fortress appears to be impreguable. Besides 

 the fortifications uf which we hove just spoken there ore excavations, 

 wrought with extreme labour, in the solid rock, called galleries, which 

 extend from two miles to throe miles in length, and ore of sulficiont 

 width for carriagea. Along these galleries, at intervals of every 

 twelve yards, are portholes bearing upon tbe neutral ground and buy. 

 Of Ute years the fortifications hove been carefully strengthened ut 

 every vulnerable point Tbe Spanish liuus, which extend across the 

 isthmus, ore defended by two forts, tbe principal of which is called 

 St Philip. The space between these lines and the foot of tlio rock is 

 colled the neutral ground, and it is bore that tbe lazarette is situated. 



The town is built on a bed of red 8an<l, near tbe foot of the north- 

 west side of the hill. It is paved and lighted, and consists chiefly of 

 one street, extending about a mile in length fh>m South-Port to 

 Water-Port Tbe principal buildings ore the governor's and lieutenant- 

 governor's houses, the Admlnilty (formerly a monastery of White 

 friars), the barracks, victualliug-office and store-boiue, the cathedral, 

 the Spanish churcb, imd the Jews' synagogue. Towards Kuropa 

 Point ore the South bnrrocks ond navy hospitals, both fine buihiiugs, 

 pleasantly situated, and well adopted te the purposes for which they 

 were buUt There ore also a chai>el for Wesleyan Methodists, an 

 exchange, a library, a news-room, several subscription schools, a 

 lunatic asylum, almshouses, &c. Tho water for tbe supply of tho 

 town and garrison is collected during the i-ainy season, and conveyeil 

 te tbe garrison by means of an aqueduct erected by the Spanianls. 

 The roofs of the houses are ao constructed as te recuive the falling 

 rain and te conduct it to a tank beneath, with which every bouse is 

 provided. Tbe nearest spring is on the neutral ground, and even 

 there the water is brackish. The provisions ore principally derived 

 from Africa, Tho town ca:i neither bo called clean nor neat Tho 



