G I R 



Ginm.E, Chrijlians of ihe, jNIotr.vnctol, lontli calipii of 

 the family of ihe AbafTak-s, enjoined the Cl'.riflians and 

 Jews, in tiie year of the Hegira 235, of Jefus Chiiil 856, to 

 wear a large leathern girdle, as a badge of their profeffion ; 

 which they wear to this day throughout the Ea(t : from 

 whieh time the Chriftians of Afia, and pai-ticularly thofe 

 of Svria and Mcfopotamia, who are almoft all Neftorians 

 or Jacobites, have l)ecn called " Chriilians of the girdle." 



• GniDf.F,, Orn'rriT/'/^o the order of Cordeliers, See Cord 



and COKDF.LIEK. 



Girdle, in ylnhitff^ure. See ClNCxrUK. 



Gjrdi.k, among-. 7'fKv//iTj, the line which encompaffcs the 

 ■flone parallel to the horizon ; or, which determines the 

 greatcfi horizontal cxpanlion of the (lonei;. 



• GlRDIE IVhfel, a fr.iall fpmning-wheel, made for lianging 

 •to a woman's girdle or apron-ftriiig, fo that fhe may ipin 

 with it though walking about. 



GlKDLE, in Mining, is the name ufed in Cumberland, and 

 fomc other counties, to denote the uncertain ftrata, or chance 

 beds, of flone and different fubftances that are met v.'ith 

 in fome dillrifts ; which, inilead of occupying the whole 

 ■fpace, of the fame or nearly an equal thicknefs throughout, 

 are only local, preferving, however, conftantly the fame re- 

 lative fituation to the other ilrata, wherever they appear ; 

 that is, they are peculiar to particular places in the feries of 

 ilrata, and feem, according to the numerous enquiries and 

 obfervations which Mr. Farey, fen. has made on thefe 

 anomalous mafTes in the gratification, to be lenticular in 

 their fliape, always ending infenfibly or with {harp-edges on 

 all fides, like extremely flattened nodules ; and, except in 

 ihape and fize, and their rarity, he conjeftures that they 

 differ nothing from the nodules winch arc fo very common 

 in particular ftrata, as of iron-llone in the binds and fhales 

 of m.oil coal-fields, and in the grit-ftones of fome; thofe 

 of pyrites in many coal-feams, fome of the nodules of 

 flint in the upper chalk ftrata, &c. &c. Particular ftrata 

 in the Britifh ferits are found to be fubjcft to thefe chance 

 beds, or ilrata, within their mafs ; fom.e of which large no- 

 dular mafTes aiTume a confufedly cryftaUized ftruftm-e, 

 and feem to occafion large hills and even mountainous tracts, 

 as Charnwood Foreft, in Leiceiterllure, whofe iienite and 

 (late, &c. have been referred, by the gentleman named above, 

 to the anomalous malTes of the red-ground or marie (trata. 

 See Philofophical Magazine, vol. xxxi. page 40. 



GIRDLENESS, in Geography, a cape on the E. coaft 

 of vScotland. N. lat. 57 4'. W. long. 2 2'. 



GIRELLI, Agqilar, in i?/cijr,7/-iv> a female opera finger, 

 who arrived h.ere the fame feafon as Millier, in 1 7 7 2 . Her ftyle 

 of fin'^ing was good, but her voice was in decay, and lier 

 intonation frequently falfe, when Ihe arrived here ; ht wever, 

 it was eafy to imagine from what remained, that flie had 

 been better. Siie remained here only one feafon, and was 

 fucceeded by Mifs Cecilia Davics. 



GIREST, in Geography, a town of Perlia, in Ker- 

 ir.an ; 100 miles E.N.E. of Gomron. 



GIRET, a town of Perfia, in Mazanderan ; 30 miles S. 

 cf Fehrabad. 



GIPvGASHITES, in Scripture Geography. See Ger- 

 <;Asr.NF,s. 



GIRGE', the capital of Upper Egypt, and the refi- 

 dence of the Bey, fituated about 400 yards from the left 

 bank of the Nile. This town is about a league in circum- 

 ference, and has feveral mofq-jes, bazars, and public fquares ; 

 but it has no remarkable buildings nor ancient edifices, 

 whence fome have inferred that it is a modern building , 

 more efpcciaflyas Abu'.feda does not mention it. The Bey 

 'liTes in great ftatc, ar.d continues in o2ice three or fouj- 

 4 



C I R 



yfars, according to the pleafureof thedivan at Cairo. Hi» 

 f'oldiers commit innumerable outrages. The Copts are net 

 allowed to hare churches in thai town ; and therefore when 

 they would join in divine fervice, they are obliged to go to 

 a convent fituated on the other fide of the Nile. Thi; 

 Francifcans, who have a convent here, pafs for phyficians, 

 but they are frequently expofed to danger from the ini'o- 

 lence of the Janizaries, the mofl refraftory of whom are lent 

 hither from Cairo; 160 milesN. of Syene. N. lat. 26^ 30'. 

 E. long. 31° 52'. 



GIRGEN'i'I, or AoRiGEVTr, a town of Sicily, near 

 the S. coall of the valley of Mazara, erefted near the ruins 

 of the ancient yjgrigentum (which fee), and occupying 

 only the ground on which the citadel of the ancient city 

 flood ; the fee of a bifhop, fituated on the river St. Blaife, 

 about three miles from tiie fea ; 47 miles S. of Palermo. 

 N. lat. 37° 22'. E. long. 73° 33'. Its fituation on a moun- 

 tain renders almoit all the ilreets in -paflable, not only for 

 carnages but even for mules. The population of Girgenti 

 falls far fliort of that of the ancient Agrigcntnm, whicli 

 Empedocles reckons at 8co,ooo; whereas at prcfent, reckon- 

 ing the city, properly fo called, whieh was the ancient 

 caftle, the fuburb of Camico, and that built by Henry and 

 Conltance in the 12th century, it is reduced to 15,000 per- 

 fons, generally poor and of a melancholy appearance. 

 The nobility here are poor, and live in great privacy ; th« 

 merchants, wholly taken up with their own affairs, fee no- 

 body but at the exchange ; without fcciety and with- 

 out amufements, ever)- body is, or appears to be, gloomy 

 and devout. The port of Girgenti, very different from the 

 mole of the ancient Agrigentum, which was at the mouth 

 of the Acragas, and of which not a flrgle trace is left, is 

 fubjett to the fame inconvenience with that of the harbours 

 of Apulia and Calabria, which is that of being liable to be 

 filled up equally by two oppofita winds, I'/s. the fouth-eailerly 

 and north-weflerly. The two piers ertdted to remedy this 

 inconvenience having been found infufllcient, the government 

 has been obhged, as at Cortona, to employ gailey-flaves for 

 emptying and cleanfing the entrance of this port ; nor can 

 their labox-ious work be abandoned on account of the import- 

 ance of this harbour in the exportation of commodities from 

 all the fouthern part of Sicily ; and the ihelter it affords to 

 the Neapolitan velfels in the feas molt expofed to the Bar- 

 bary corfiiirs, being alnioH within fight of Africa. Near the 

 mole are the admirable magazines of the " Caricatoria," 

 the richeft in Sicily, confifting of caverns or ciltcrns cut 

 out of the rock, in which the corn is preferved without the 

 leaft injury. Thefe magazines belong to the king, and 

 fecure the fubfiftence of the ifland. Foreign merchants 

 refort hither to purchafe the furplus, after referving enough 

 for the home confumption. The king is accountable for 

 tl;e corn lodged there, and the proprietors have only a 

 fmall fnm to pay for itore-houfe rent. 



GIRGITES, a name ufed by fome chemical writers for 

 a fort fif white floncs found in rivers, of which they make 

 a peculiarly ftrong lime. The ftones are of the fparry kind, 

 worn into roundnefs by the motion of the water ; and tliey 

 have their name glrgiles, from the word gir, ufed by tlie 

 chemifls for lime. 



GHIGITZA, in Geography, a town of Walachia ; 40 

 miles N.N. E. of Bucharefl. N. lat. 45^ i'. E. long. 26^ 



19'- 



GIRIA, a town of the ifland of Cephalonia ; 16 miles 

 W. of Cephalonia. 



GIRKIN, among Cnrchncrs. See Guerkin. 



GIRLE, or Gyrle, among Sporljnicn, denotes the rot- 

 buck in its fecoud year. 



GIRMANO, 



