Chapter XV: Act 1874: ); and in valuing land whether for rates or taxes the value of (2)

By the Licensing Act 1872 penalties are incurred by licensed persons
who allow their houses to be used in contravention of the Betting Act
1853. There has been a great deal of litigation as to the meaning and
scope of this enactment, and a keen contest between the police and the
Anti-gambling League (which has been very active in the matter) and
the betting confraternity, in which much ingenuity has been shown by
the votaries of sport in devising means for evading the terms of the
enactment. The consequent crop of legal decisions shows a considerable
divergence of judicial opinion. The House of Lords has held that the
Tattersall's enclosure or betting ring on a racecourse is not a
"place" within the statute; and members of a bona-fide club who bet
with each other in the club are not subject to the penalties of the
act. But the word "place" has been held to include a public-house bar,
an archway, a small plot of waste ground, and a bookmaker's stand, and
even a bookmaker's big umbrella, and it is difficult to extract from
the judges any clear indication of the nature of the "places" to which
the act applies. The act is construed as applying only to ready-money
betting, i.e. when the stake is deposited with the bookmaker, and only
to places used for betting with persons physically resorting thereto;
so that bets by letter, telegram or telephone do not fall within its
penalties. The arm of the law has been found long enough to punish as
thieves "welshers," who receive and make off with deposits on bets
which they never mean to pay if they lose. The act of 1853 makes it an
offence to publish advertisements showing that a house is kept for
betting. It was supplemented in 1874 by an act imposing penalties on
persons advertising as to betting. But this has been read as applying
to bets falling within the act of 1853, and it does not prohibit the
publication of betting news or sporting tips in newspapers. A few
newspapers do not publish these aids to ruin, and in some public
libraries the betting news is obliterated, as it attracts crowds of
undesirable readers. The act of 1853 has been to a great extent
effectual against betting houses, and has driven some of them to
Holland and other places. But it has been deemed expedient to
legislate against betting in the streets, which has been found too
attractive to the British workman.

Street betting.

By the Metropolitan Streets Acts 1867 any three or more persons
assembled together in any part of any street in the city of London or
county of London for the purpose of betting and deemed to be
obstructing the street, may be arrested without warrant by a constable
and fined a sum not exceeding L5. The Vagrancy Act 1873 (36 & 37 Vict.
c. 38) provides that "Every person playing or betting by way of
wagering or gaming on any street, road, highway or other open and
public place, or in any open place to which the public have, or are
permitted to have, access, at or with any table or instrument of
gaming, or any coin, card, token or other article used as an
instrument or means of gaming, at any game or pretended game of
chance, shall be deemed a rogue and vagabond." This act amended a
prior act of 1868, passed to repress the practice of playing pitch and
toss in the streets, which had become a public nuisance in the
colliery districts. The powers of making by-laws for the peace, order
and good government of their districts, possessed by municipal
boroughs--and since 1888 by county councils--and extended in 1899 to
the new London boroughs, have in certain cases been exercised by
making by-laws forbidding any person to "frequent or use any street or
other public place, on behalf either of himself or any other person,
for the purpose of bookmaking, or betting, or wagering, or agreeing to
bet or wager with any person, or paying, or receiving or settling
bets." This and similar by-laws have been held valid, but were found
inadequate, and by the Street Betting Act 1906 (6 Edw. VII. c. 43),
passed by the efforts of the late Lord Davey, it is made an offence
for any person to frequent or loiter in a street or public place on
behalf of himself or of any other person for the purpose of bookmaking
or betting or wagering or agreeing to bet or wager or paying or
receiving or settling bets. The punishment for a first offence is fine
up to L10, for a second fine up to L20, and the punishment is still
higher in the case of a third or subsequent offence, or where the
accused while committing the offence has any betting transaction with
a person under the age of sixteen. The act does not apply to ground
used for a course for horse-racing or adjacent thereto on days on
which races take place; but the expression public place includes a
public park, garden or sea-beach, and any unenclosed ground to which
the public for the time have unrestricted access, and enclosed places
other than public parks or gardens to which the public have a
restricted right of access with or without payment, if the owners or
persons controlling the place exhibit conspicuously a notice
prohibiting betting therein. A constable may arrest without warrant
persons offending and seize all books, papers, cards and other
articles relating to betting found in their possession, and these
articles may be forfeited on conviction. Besides the above provision
against betting with infants the Betting and Loans (Infants) Act
1892, passed at the instance of the late Lord Herschell, makes it a
misdemeanour to send, with a view to profit, to any one known by the
sender to be an infant, a document inviting him to enter into a
betting or wagering transaction. The act is intended to protect lads
at school and college from temptation by bookmakers.

Wagering.

We must now turn from the public law with respect to gaming to the treatment of bets and wagers from the point of view of their obligation on the individuals who lose them. A wager may be defined as "a promise to give money or money's worth upon the determination or ascertainment of an uncertain event" (Anson, _Law of Contract_, 11th ed., p. 206). The event may be uncertain because it has not happened or because its happening is not ascertained; but to make the bargain a wager the determination of the event must be the sole condition of the bargain. According to the view taken in England of the common law, bets or wagers were legally enforceable, subject to certain rules dictated by considerations of public policy, e.g. that they did not lead to immorality or breach of the peace, or expose a third person to ridicule.[1] The courts were constantly called upon to enforce wagers and constantly exercised their ingenuity to discover excuses for refusing. A writer on the law of contracts[2] discovers here the origin of that principle of "public policy" which plays so important a part in English law. Wagering contracts were rejected because the contingencies on which they depended tended to create interests hostile to the common weal. A bet on the life of the emperor Napoleon was declared void because it gave one of the parties an interest in keeping the king's enemy alive, and also because it gave the other an interest in compassing his death by unlawful means. A bet as to the amount of the hop-duty was held to be against public policy, because it tended to expose the condition of the king's revenue to all the world. A bet between two hackney coachmen, as to which of them should be selected by a gentleman for a particular journey, was void because it tended to expose the customer to their importunities. When no such subtlety could be invented, the law, however reluctantly, was compelled to enforce the fulfilment of a wager. Actions on wagers were not favoured by the judges; and though a judge could not refuse to try such an action, he could, and often did, postpone it until after the decision of more important cases.

Parliament gradually intervened to confine the common law within narrower limits, both in commercial and non-commercial wagers, and both by general and temporary enactments. An example of the latter was 7 Anne c. 16 (1710), avoiding all wagers and securities relating to the then war with France. The earliest general enactment was 16 Car. II. c. 7 (1665), prohibiting the recovery of a sum exceeding L100 lost in games or pastimes, or in betting on the sides or hands of the players, and avoiding securities for money so lost. 9 Anne c. 19 avoided securities for such wagers for any amount, even in the hands of bona-fide holders for value without notice, and enabled the loser of L10 or upwards to sue for and recover the money he had lost within three months of the loss. Contracts of insurance by way of gaming and wagering were declared void, in the case of marine risks in 1746, and in the case of other risks in 1774. It was not until 1845 that a general rule was made excluding wagers from the courts. Section 18 of the Gaming Act 1845 (passed after a parliamentary inquiry in 1844 as to gaming) enacted "that all contracts or agreements, whether by parole or in writing, by way of gaming or wagering shall be null and void, and that no suit shall be brought or maintained in any court of law or equity for recovering any sum of money or valuable thing alleged to be won upon any wager, or which shall have been deposited in the hands of any person to abide the event on which any wager shall have been made; provided always that this enactment shall not be deemed to apply to any subscription or contribution, or agreement to subscribe or contribute, for or towards any plate, prize or sum of money to be awarded to the winner or winners of any lawful game, sport, pastime or exercise."

The construction put on this enactment enabled turf commission agents to recover from their principals bets made and paid for them. But the Gaming Act 1892 rendered null and void any promise, express or implied, to repay to any person any sum of money paid by him under, or in respect of, any contract or agreement rendered null and void by the Gaming Act 1845, or to pay any sum of money by way of commission, fee, reward, or otherwise in respect of any such contract or agreement, or of any services in relation thereto or in connexion therewith, and provided that no action should be brought or maintained to recover any such sum. By the combined effect of these two enactments the recovery by the winner from the loser or stakeholder of bets or of stakes on games falling within s. 18 of the Gaming Act 1845 is absolutely barred; but persons who have deposited money to abide the event of a wager are not debarred from crying off and recovering their stake before the event is decided, or even after the decision of the event and before the stake is paid over to the winner;[3] and a man who pays a bet for a friend, or a turf commission agent or other agent who pays a bet for a principal, has now no legal means of recovering the money, unless some actual deceit was used to induce him to pay in ignorance that it was a bet. But a person who has received a bet on account of another can still, it would seem, be compelled to pay it over, and the business of a betting man is treated as so far lawful that income-tax is charged on its profits, and actions between parties in such a business for the taking of partnership accounts have been entertained.

The effect of these enactments on speculative dealings in shares or other commodities calls for special consideration. It seems to be correct to define a wagering contract as one in which two persons, having opposite opinions touching the issue of an event (past or future), of which they are uncertain, mutually agree that on the determination of the event one shall win, and the other shall pay over a sum of money, or other stake, neither party having any other interest in the event than the sum or stake to be won or lost. This definition does not strike at contracts in "futures," under which the contractors are bound to give or take delivery at a date fixed of commodities not in existence at the date of the contract. Nor are such contracts rendered void because they are entered into for purposes of speculation; in fact, their legality is expressly recognized by the Sale of Goods Act 1893. Contracts of insurance are void if made by way of gaming or wagering on events in which the assured has no interest present or prospective whether the matter be life or fire risks (1774) or maritime risks (Marine Insurance Act 1906). An act known as Sir John Barnard's Act (7 Geo. II. c. 8, entitled "An act to prevent the infamous practice of stock jobbing") prohibited contracts for liberty to accept or refuse any public stocks or securities and wagers relating to public stocks, but this act was repealed in 1860, and contracts to buy or sell stocks and shares are not now void because entered into by way of speculation and not for purposes of investment. The only limitation on such contracts is that contained in Leeman's Act (30 & 31 Vict. c. 29) as to contracts for the sale of shares in joint-stock banking companies. But a transaction in any commodity, though in form commercial, falls within the Gaming Acts if in substance the transaction is a mere wager on the price of the commodity at a date fixed by the contract. It does not matter whether the dealing is in stocks or in cotton, nor whether it is entered into on the Stock Exchange, or on any produce exchange, or elsewhere; nor is it conclusive in favour of the validity of the bargain that it purports to bind the parties to take or deliver the article dealt in. The courts are entitled to examine into the true nature of the transaction; and where the substantial intention of the parties is merely to gamble in differences, to make what is called "a time bargain," the fact that it is carried out by a series of contracts, regular and valid in form, will not be sufficient to exclude the application of the Gaming Acts.

In very many cases transactions with "outside stockbrokers" or "bucket shops" have been held to be mere wagers, although the contracts purported to give "put" or "call" options to demand delivery or acceptance of the stocks dealt with; and the cover deposited by the "client" has been treated as a mere security for performance of the bargain, and recoverable if sued for in time, i.e. before it is used for the purpose for which it is deposited. There was not up to 1909 any authoritative decision as to the application of the Gaming Act 1892 to transactions on the London Stock Exchange through a stockbroker who is a member of "the House"; but the same principle appears to be applicable where the facts of the particular deal clearly indicate that the intention was to make a mere time bargain, or to pay or receive differences only. The form, however, of all bargains on the Stock Exchange is calculated and intended to preclude people from setting up a gaming act defence: as each contract entitles the holder to call for delivery or acceptance of the stock named therein. In the event of the bankruptcy of a person involved in speculations, the bankruptcy officials exclude from proof against the estate all claims founded on any dealing in the nature of a wager; and on the same principle the bankrupt's trustee cannot recover sums won by the bankrupt by gaming transactions, but unexhausted "cover" on uncompleted transactions may be recovered back.

Gambling debts.

Besides the enactments which prevent the recovery of bets or wagers by action there has also been a good deal of legislation dealing with securities given in respect of "gambling debts." The earliest (1665) dealt with persons playing at games otherwise than for ready money and losing L100 or more on credit, and not only prohibited the winner from recovering the overplus but subjected him to penalties for winning it. An act of 1710 (9 Anne c. 19) declared utterly void all notes, bills, bonds, judgments, mortgages or other securities where the consideration is for money or valuable security won by gaming at cards, stocks or other games, or by betting on the sides or hands of the gamesters, or for reimbursing money knowingly advanced for such gaming or betting. This act draws a distinction between gaming and other bets or wagers. Under this act the securities were void even in the hands of innocent transferees. In 1841 the law was altered, declaring such securities not void but made upon an "illegal" consideration. The effect of the change is to enable an innocent transferee for value, of a bill, note or cheque, to recover on a security worthless in the hands of the original taker (see s. 30 of the Bills of Exchange Act 1882), but to put on him the burden of proving that he is a bona fide holder for value. In the case of a negotiable security given for a wager not within the acts of 1710 or 1841 (e.g. a bet on a contested election), but within the act of 1845, a third person holding it would be presumed to be a holder for value and on the person prima facie liable under the security falls the burden of proving that no consideration was given for it. It has been decided after considerable divergence of judicial opinion that an action will not lie in England in favour of the drawee against the drawer of a cheque drawn at Algiers on an English bank, partly for losses at baccarat, and partly for money borrowed to continue playing the game. The ground of decision was in substance that the Gaming Acts of 1845 and 1892 as the _lex fori_ prohibit the English courts from enforcing gaming debts wherever incurred (_Moulis_ v. _Owen_, 1907, 1 K.B. 746).

_Scotland._--A Scots act of 1621 c. 14 (said still to be in force)
forbids playing at cards or dice in any common house of hostelry, and
directs that sums over 100 marks won on any one day at carding or
dicing or at wagers on horse races should be at once sent to the
treasurer of the kirk session. The Lottery Acts, except that of 1698,
apply to Scotland; and the Betting House Act 1853 was extended to
Scotland in 1874. The Street Betting Act 1906 extends to Scotland, and
gaming houses can be suppressed under the Burgh Police Act 1892, and
street betting, lotteries or gaming under that of 1903.

The Scots courts refuse to try actions on wagers, as being _sponsiones
ludicrae_, unbecoming the dignity of the courts. 9 Anne c. 19 and 5 &
6 Will. IV. c. 41 extend to Scotland, but the weight of judicial
opinion is that the Gaming Act 1845 does not.

_Ireland._--The British Acts against lotteries were extended to
Ireland in 1780, and the general law as to gaming is the same in both
countries.

_British Possessions._--Certain of the earlier imperial acts are in
force in British possessions, e.g. the act of 9 Anne c. 19, which is
in force in Ontario subject to amendments made in 1902. In the Straits
Settlements, Jamaica and British Guiana there are ordinances directed
against gambling and lotteries, and particularly against forms of
gambling introduced by the Chinese. Under these ordinances the money
paid for a lottery ticket is recoverable by law. In the Transvaal
betting houses were suppressed by proclamation (No. 33) soon after the
annexation. An invention known in France as the _pari mutuel_, and in
Australia as the totalizator, is allowed to be used on race-courses in
most of the states (but not in New South Wales). In Queensland, South
Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia the state levies a duty on
the takings of the machine. In Tasmania the balance of the money
retained by the stewards of the course less the tax must be applied
solely for improving the course or promoting horse-racing. In Victoria
under an act of 1901 the promoters of sports may by advertisement duly
posted make betting on the ground illegal.

_Egypt._--By law No. 10 of 1905 all lotteries are prohibited with
certain exceptions, and it is made illegal to hawk the tickets or
offer them for sale or to bring illegal lotteries in any way to the
notice of the public. The authorized lotteries are those for
charitable purposes, e.g. those of the benevolent societies of the
various foreign communities.

_United States._--In the United States many of the states make gaming
a penal offence when the bet is upon an election, or a horse race, or
a game of hazard. Betting contracts and securities given upon a bet
are often made void, and this may destroy a gaming note in the hands
of an innocent purchaser for value. The subject lies outside of the
province of the federal government. By the legislation of some states
the loser may recover his money if he sue within a limited time, as he
might have done in England under 9 Anne c. 19.

AUTHORITIES.--Brandt on _Games_ (1872); Oliphant, _Law of Horses, &c._
(6th ed. by Lloyd, 1908); Schwabe on the _Stock Exchange_ (1905);
Melsheimer on the _Stock Exchange_ (4th ed., 1905); Coldridge and
Hawksford, _The Law of Gambling_ (1895); Stutfield, _Betting_ (3rd
ed., 1901). (W. F. C.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Leake on _Contracts_ (4th ed.), p. 529.

[2] Pollock, _Contracts_ (7th ed.), p. 313.

[3] _Burge_ v. _Ashby_, 1900, 1 Q.B. 744.

GAMUT (from the Greek letter _gamma_, used as a musical symbol, and _ut_, the first syllable of the medieval hymn _Sanctus Johannes_), a term in music used to mean generally the whole compass or range of notes possessed by an instrument or voice. Historically, however, the sense has developed from its stricter musical meaning of a scale (the recognized musical scale of any period), originating in the medieval "great scale," of which the invention has usually been ascribed to Guido of Arezzo (q.v.) in the 11th century. The whole question is somewhat obscure, but, in the evolution of musical notation out of the classical alphabetical system, the invention of the medieval gamut is more properly assigned to Hucbald (d. 930). In his system of scales the semitone was always between the 2nd and 3rd of a tetrachord, as G, A, [flat]B, C, so the [natural]B and # F of the second octave were in false relation to the [flat]B and [natural]F of the first two tetrachords. To this scale of four notes, G, A, [flat]B, C, were subsequently added a note below and a note above, which made the hexachord with the semitone between the 3rd and 4th both up and down, as F, G, A, [flat]B, C, D. It was at a much later date that the 7th, our leading note, was admitted into a key, and for this the first two letters of the last line of the above-named hymn, "Sanctus Johannes," would have been used, save for the notion that as the note Mi was at a semitone below Fa, the same vowel should be heard at a semitone below the upper Ut, and the syllable Si was substituted for Sa. Long afterwards the syllable Ut was replaced by Do in Italy, but it is still retained in France; and in these two countries, with whatever others employ their nomenclature, the original Ut and the substituted Do stand for the sound defined by the letter C in English and German terminology. The literal musical alphabet thus accords with the syllabic: A (La), B (Si), C (Ut or Do), D (Re), E (Mi), F (Fa), G (Sol). In Germany a remnant of Greek use survives. A was originally followed in the scale by the semitone above, as the classical Mese was followed by Paramese, and this note, namely [flat]B, is still called B in German, English [natural]B (French and Italian Si) being represented by the letter H. The gamut which, whenever instituted, did not pass out of use until the 19th century, regarded the hexachord and not the octachord, employed both letters and syllables, made the former invariable while changing the latter according to key relationship, and acknowledged only the three keys of G, C and F; it took its name from having the Greek letter gamma with Ut for its lowest keynote, though the Latin letters with the corresponding syllables were applied to all the other notes.

GANDAK, a river of northern India. It rises in the Nepal-Himalayas, flows south-west until it reaches British territory, where it forms the boundary between the United Provinces and Bengal for a considerable portion of its course, and falls into the Ganges opposite Patna. It is a snow-fed stream, and the surrounding country in the plains, lying at a lower level than its banks, is endangered by its floods. The river is accordingly enclosed by protective embankments.

The LITTLE GANDAK rises in the Nepal hills, enters Gorakhpur district about 8 m. west of the Gandak, and joins the Gogra just within the Saran district of Bengal.

The BURHI (or old) GANDAK also rises in the Nepal hills, and follows a course roughly parallel to and east of that of the Gandak, of which it represents an old channel, passing Muzaffarpur, and joining the Ganges nearly opposite to Moughjr. Its principal tributary is the Baghmati, which rises in the hills N. of Kathmandu, flows in a southerly direction through Tirhut, and joins the Burhi Gandak close to Rusera.

GANDAMAK, a village of Afghanistan, 35 m. from Jalalabad on the road to Kabul. On the retreat from Kabul of General Elphinstone's army in 1842, a hill near Gandamak was the scene of the massacre of the last survivors of the force, twenty officers and forty-five British soldiers. It is also notable for the treaty of Gandamak, which was signed here in 1879 with Yakub Khan. (See AFGHANISTAN.)

GANDERSHEIM, a town of Germany in the duchy of Brunswick, in the deep valley of the Gande, 48 m. S.W. of Brunswick, on the railway Boissum-Holzminden. Pop. (1905) 2847. It has two Protestant churches of which the convent church (_Stiftskirche_) contains the tombs of famous abbesses, a palace (now used as law courts) and the famous abbey (now occupied by provincial government offices). There are manufactures of linen, cigars, beet-root sugar and beer.

The abbey of Gandersheim was founded by Duke Ludolf of Saxony, who removed here in 856 the nuns who had been shortly before established at Brunshausen. His own daughter Hathumoda was the first abbess, who was succeeded on her death by her sister Gerberga. Under Gerberga's government Louis III. granted a privilege, by which the office of abbess was to continue in the ducal family of Saxony as long as any member was found competent and willing to accept the same. Otto III. gave the abbey a market, a right of toll and a mint; and after the bishop of Hildesheim and the archbishop of Mainz had long contested with each other about its supervision, Pope Innocent III. declared it altogether independent of both. The abbey was ultimately recognized as holding directly of the Empire, and the abbess had a vote in the imperial diet. The conventual estates were of great extent, and among the feudatories who could be summoned to the court of the abbess were the elector of Hanover and the king of Prussia. Protestantism was introduced in 1568, and Magdalena, the last Roman Catholic abbess, died in 1589; but Protestant abbesses were appointed to the foundation, and continued to enjoy their imperial privileges till 1803, when Gandersheim was incorporated with Brunswick. The last abbess, Augusta Dorothea of Brunswick, was a princess of the ducal house, and kept her rank till her death. The memory of Gandersheim will long be preserved by its literary memorials. Hroswitha, the famous Latin poet, was a member of the sisterhood in the 9th century; and the rhyming chronicle of Eberhard of Gandersheim ranks as in all probability the earliest historical work composed in low German.

The Chronicle, which contains an account of the first period of the
monastery, is edited by L. Wieland in the _Monumenta Germ. historica_
(1877), and has been the object of a special study by Paul Hasse
(Gottingen, 1872). See also "Agii vita Hathumodae abbatissae
Gandershemensis primae," in J.G. von Eckhart's _Veterum monumentorum
quaternio_ (Leipzig, 1720); and Hase, _Mittelalterliche Baudenkmaler
Niedersachsens_ (1870).

GANDHARVA, in Hindu mythology, the term used to denote (1) in the Rig-Veda usually a minor deity; (2) in later writings a class of divine beings. As a unity Gandharva has no special attributes but many duties, and is in close relation with the great gods. Thus he is director of the sun's horses; he is guardian of soma, the sacred liquor, and therefore is regarded as the heavenly physician, soma being a panacea. He is servant of Agni the god of light and of Varuna the divine judge. He is omnipresent: in the heavens, in the air and in the waters. He is the keeper of heaven's secrets and acts as messenger between gods and men. He is gorgeously clothed and carries shining weapons. For wife he has the spirit of the clouds and waters, Apsaras, and by her became father of the first mortals, Yama and Yami. He is the tutelary deity of women and presides over marriage ceremonies. In their collective capacity the Gandharva share the duties allotted to the single deity. They live in the house of Indra and with their wives, the Apsaras, beguile the time by singing, acting and dancing. Sometimes they are represented as numbering twelve, sometimes twenty-seven, or they are innumerable. In Hindu law a Gandharva marriage is one contracted by mutual consent and without formality.

GANDIA, a seaport of eastern Spain, in the province of Valencia; on the Gandia-Alcoy and Alcira-Denia railways. Pop. (1900) 10,026. Gandia is on the left bank of the river Alcoy or Serpis, which waters one of the richest and most populous plains of Valencia and enters the Mediterranean Sea at the small harbour of Gandia (_El Grao_), 3 m. N.E. The chief ancient buildings of Gandia are the Gothic church, the college, founded by San Francisco de Borgia, director-general of the order of Jesus (1510-1572), and the palace of the dukes of Gandia--a title held in the 15th and 16th centuries by members of the princely house of Borgia or Borja. A Jesuit convent, the theatre, schools and the palace of the dukes of Osuna, are modern. Besides its manufactures of leather, silk, velvet and ribbons, Gandia has a thriving export trade in fruit, and imports coal, guano, timber and flour. In 1904, 400 vessels, of 200,000 tons, entered the harbour.

GANDO, a sultanate of British West Africa, included in the protectorate of Nigeria, situated on the left bank of the Niger above Borgu. The sultanate was established, c. 1819, on the death of Othman Dan Fodio, the founder of the Fula empire, and its area and importance varied considerably during the 19th century, several of the Fula emirates being regarded as tributaries, while Gando itself was more or less dependent on Sokoto. Gando in the middle of the century included both banks of the Niger at least as far N.W. as Say. The districts outside the British protectorate now belong to France. Since 1884 Gando has been in treaty relations with the British, and in 1903 the part assigned to the British sphere by agreement with France came definitely under the control of the administration in Nigeria. Gando now forms the sub-province of the double province of Sokoto. The emir was appointed under British authority after the conquest of Sokoto in 1903. Since that date the province has been organized for administration on the same system as the rest of the protectorate of Northern Nigeria. Provincial and native courts of justice have been established, roads have been opened, the slave trade has been abolished, and the country assessed under the new scheme for taxation. British garrisons are stationed at Jegga and Ambrusa. The chief town is Gando, situated on the Sokoto, the first considerable affluent of the Niger from the east, about 60 m. S.W. of the town of Sokoto.

GANESA, or GANESH, in Hindu mythology, the god of wisdom and prudence, always represented with an elephant's head possibly to indicate his sagacity. He is the son of Siva and Parvati. He is among the most popular of Indian deities, and almost every act, religious or social, in a Hindu's life begins with an invocation to him, as do most books. He typifies not the wisdom of knowledge but that worldly wisdom which results in financial success, and thus he is particularly the god of the Hindu shopkeeper. In his divine aspect Ganesa is ruler over the hosts of heaven, the spirits which come and go to do Indra's will.

GANGES (GANGA), a great river of northern India, formed by the drainage of the southern ranges of the Himalayas. This mighty stream, which in its lower course supplies the river system of Bengal, rises in the Garhwal state, and falls into the Bay of Bengal after a course of 1500 m. It issues, under the name of the Bhagirathi, from an ice cave at the foot of a Himalayan snow-bed near Gangotri, 10,300 ft. above the level of the sea.

During its passage through the southern spurs of the Himalayas it
receives the Jahnavi from the north-west, and subsequently the
Alaknanda, after which the united stream takes the name of the Ganges.
Deo Prayag, their point of junction, is a celebrated place of
pilgrimage, as is also Gangotri, the source of the parent stream. At
Sukhi it pierces through the Himalayas, and turns south-west to
Hardwar, also a place of great sanctity. It proceeds by a tortuous
course through the districts of Dehra Dun, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar,
Bulandshahr and Farukhabad, in which last district it receives the
Ramganga. Thus far the Ganges has been little more than a series of
broad shoals, long deep pools and rapids, except, of course, during
the melting of the snows and throughout the rainy season. At
Allahabad, however, it receives the Jumna, a mighty sister stream,
which takes its rise also in the Himalayas to the west of the sources
of the Ganges. The combined river winds eastwards by south-east
through the United Provinces, receiving the Gumti and the Gogra. The
point of junction with both the Gumti and the Gogra has more or less
pretension to sanctity. But the tongue of land at Allahabad, where the
Jumna and the Ganges join, is the true Prayag, _the_ place of
pilgrimage, to which hundreds of thousands of devout Hindus repair to
wash away their sins in the sacred river. It is here that the great
festival called the Magh mela is held.

Shortly after passing the holy city of Benares the Ganges enters
Behar, and after receiving an important tributary, the Sone from the
south, passes Patna, and obtains another accession to its volume from
the Gandak, which rises in Nepal. Farther to the east it receives the
Kusi, and then, skirting the Rajmahal hills, turns sharply to the
southward, passing near the site of the ruined city of Gaur. By this
time it has approached to within 240 m., as the crow flies, from the
sea. About 20 m. farther on it begins to branch out over the level
country, and this spot marks the commencement of the delta, 220 m. in
a straight line, or 300 by the windings of the river, from the Bay of
Bengal. The main channel takes the name of the Padma or Padda, and
proceeds in a south-easterly direction, past Pabna to Goalanda, above
which it is joined by the Jamuna or main stream of the Brahmaputra.
The vast confluence of waters rushes towards the sea, receiving
further additions from the hill country on the east, and forming a
broad estuary known under the name of the Meghna, which enters the Bay
of Bengal near Noakhali. This estuary, however, is only the largest
and most easterly of a great number of mouths or channels. The most
westerly is the Hugli, which receives the waters of a number of
distributary channels that start from the parent Ganges above
Murshidabad. Between the Hugli on the west and the Meghna on the east
lies the delta. The upper angle of it consists of rich and fertile
districts, such as Murshidabad, Nadia, Jessore and the 24 Parganas.
But towards its southern base, resting on the sea, the country sinks
into a series of great swamps, intercepted by a network of innumerable
channels. This wild waste is known as the Sundarbans, from the
_sundari_ tree, which grows in abundance in the seaboard tracts.

The most important channel of the Ganges for commerce is the Hugli, on
which stands Calcutta, about 90 m. from the mouth. Beyond this city
the navigation is conducted by native craft,--the modern facilities
for traffic by rail and the increasing shoals in the river having put
an end to the previous steamer communication, which plied until about
1860 as high up as Allahabad. Below Calcutta important boat routes
through the delta connect the Hugli with the eastern branches of the
river, for both native craft and steamers.

The Ganges is essentially a river of great cities: Calcutta, Monghyr,
Patna, Benares and Allahabad all lie on its course below its junction
with the Jumna; and the ancient capitals, Agra and Delhi, are on the
Jumna, higher up. The catchment basin of the Ganges is bounded on the
N. by a length of about 700 m. of the Himalayan range, on the S. by
the Vindhya mountains, and on the E. by the ranges which separate
Bengal from Burma. The vast river basin thus enclosed embraces 432,480
sq. m. According to the latest calculations, the length of the main
stream of the Ganges is 1540 m., or with its longest affluent, 1680;
breadth at true entrance into the sea, 20 m.; breadth of channel in
dry season, 1-1/4 to 2-1/4 m.; depth in dry season, 30 ft.; flood
discharge, 1,800,000 cub. ft. per second; ordinary discharge, 207,000
cub. ft.; longest duration of flood, about 40 days. The average fall
from Allahabad to Benares is 6 in. per mile; from Benares to Calcutta,
between 4 and 5 in.; from Calcutta to the sea, 1 to 2 in. Great
changes take place from time to time in the river-bed, which alter the
face of the country. Extensive islands are thrown up, and attach
themselves to the mainland, while the river deserts its old bed and
seeks a new channel, it may be many miles off. Such changes are so
rapid and on so vast a scale, and the corroding power of the current
on the bank so irresistible, that in Lower Bengal it is considered
perilous to build any structure of a large or permanent character on
its margin. Many decayed or ruined cities attest the changes in the
river-bed in ancient times; and within our own times the main channel
which formerly passed Rajmahal has turned away from it, and left the
town high and dry, 7 m. from the bank.

The Ganges is crossed by six railway bridges on its course as far as
Benares; and another, at Sara in Eastern Bengal, has been sanctioned.

The UPPER GANGES CANAL and the LOWER GANGES CANAL are the two
principal systems of perennial irrigation in the United Provinces. The
Ganges canal was opened by Lord Dalhousie in 1854, and irrigates
978,000 acres. The Lower Ganges canal, an extension of the original
canal, has been in operation since 1878 and irrigates 830,000 acres.
The two canals, together with the eastern Jumna, command the greater
portion of the Doab lying between the Ganges and the Jumna, above
Allahabad. Navigation in either is insignificant. (T. H. H.*)

GANGOTRI, a celebrated place of Hindu pilgrimage, among the Himalaya Mountains. It is situated in the native state of Garhwal in the United Provinces, on the Bhagirathi, the chief head-stream of the Ganges, which is here not above 15 or 20 yds. broad, with a moderate current, and not in general above 3 ft. deep. The course of the river runs N. by E.; and on the bank near Gangotri there is a small temple about 20 ft. high, in which are images representing Ganga, Bhagirathi and other figures of mythology. It dates from the early part of the 18th century. The bed of the river adjoining the temple is divided off by the Brahmans into three basins, where the pilgrims bathe. One of these portions is dedicated to Brahma, another to Vishnu and the third to Siva. The pilgrimage to Gangotri is considered efficacious in washing away the sins of the devotee, and ensuring him eternal happiness in the world to come. The water taken from this sacred spot is exported by pilgrims to India and sold at a high price. The elevation of the temple above the sea is 10,319 ft.

GANGPUR, a tributary state of Orissa, Bengal, included until 1905 among the Chota Nagpur States. It is bounded N. by Ranchi district, E. by the Singhbhum district, S. by Sambalpur and Bamra, and W. by Raigarh in the Central Provinces. The country is for the most part an undulating plain, broken by detached ranges of hills, one of which, the Mahavira range, possesses a very remarkable appearance, springing abruptly from the plain in an irregular wall of tilted and disrupted rock, with two flanking peaks. The rivers are the Ib and the Brahmani, formed here by the union of the Sankh and the South Koel, both navigable by canoes. The Ib was formerly famous on account of diamonds found in its bed, and its sands are still washed for gold. One of the largest coalfields in India extends into the state, and iron ore is also found. Jungle products--lac, silk cocoons, catechu and resin, which are exported; wild animals--bisons, buffaloes, tigers, leopards, hyenas, wolves, jackals, wild dogs and many sorts of deer. Area, 2492 sq. m.; pop. (1901) 238,896; estimated revenue, L16,000.

GANGRENE (from Gr. [Greek: gangraina], an eating sore, from [Greek: grainein], to gnaw), a synonym in medicine for mortification (q.v.), or a local death in the animal body due to interruption of the circulation by various causes.

GANILH, CHARLES (1758-1836), French economist and politician, was born at Allanche in Cantal on the 6th of January 1758. He was educated for the profession of law and practised as _avocat_. During the troubled period which culminated in the taking of the Bastille on the 14th of July 1789, he came prominently forward in public affairs, and was one of the seven members of the permanent Committee of Public Safety which sat at the hotel de ville. He was imprisoned during the Reign of Terror, and was only released by the counter-revolution of the 9th Thermidor. During the first consulate he was called to the tribunate, but was excluded in 1802. In 1815 he was elected deputy for Cantal, and finally left the Chamber on its dissolution in 1823. He died in 1836. Ganilh is best known as the most vigorous defender of the mercantile school in opposition to the views of Adam Smith and the English economists.

His works, though interesting from the clearness and precision with
which these peculiar opinions are presented, do not now possess much
value for the student of political economy. He wrote _Essai politique
sur le revenue des peuples de l'antiquite, du moyen age, &c._ (1808);
_Des systemes d'economie politique_ (1809); _Theorie d'economie
politique_ (1815); _Dictionnaire analytique de l'economie politique_
(1826).

GANJAM, a district of British India, in the extreme north-east of the Madras Presidency. It has an area of 8372 sq. m. Much of the district is exceedingly mountainous and rocky, but is interspersed with open valleys and fertile plains. Pleasant groves of trees in the plains give to the scenery a greener appearance than is usually met with in the districts to the south. The mountainous tract known as the Maliyas, or chain of the Eastern Ghats, has an average height of about 2000 ft.--its principal peaks being Singharaj (4976 ft.), Mahendragiri (4923) and Devagiri (4535). The hilly region forms the agency of Ganjam, with an area of 3483 sq. m. and a population (in 1901) of 321,114, mostly wild backward tribes, incapable of being governed under ordinary conditions and therefore ruled by an agent of the governor with special powers. The chief rivers are the Rushikulya, the Vamsadhara and the Languliya. The sea and river fisheries afford a livelihood to a considerable section of the population. The hilly region abounds in forests consisting principally of _sal_, with satin-wood, ebony and sandal-wood in smaller quantities.

Ganjam formed part of the ancient kingdom of Kalinga. Its early history is involved in obscurity, and it was not till after the Gajapati dynasty ascended the throne of Orissa that this tract became even nominally a part of their dominions. Owing to the nature of the country the rising Mahommedan power was long kept at bay; and it was not till nearly a century after the first invasion of Orissa that a Mahommedan governor was sent to govern the Chicacole Circars, which included the present district of Ganjam. In 1753 Chicacole, with the Northern Circars, were made over to the French by Salabat Jang for the maintenance of his French auxiliaries. In 1759 Masulipatam was taken by an English force sent from Bengal, and the French were compelled to abandon Ganjam and their other factories in the north. In 1765 the Northern Circars (including Ganjam) were granted to the English by imperial firman, and in August 1768 an English factory was founded at Ganjam, protected by a fort. The present district of Ganjam was constituted in 1802. In the earlier years of British rule considerable difficulty was experienced in the administration of the district; and on more than one occasion the refractory large landholders had to be coerced by means of regular troops. In 1816 Ganjam was overrun by the Pindaris; and in 1836 occurred the Gumsur campaign, when the British first came into contact with the aboriginal Kondhs, the suppression of whose practice of human sacrifice was successfully accomplished. A petty rising of a section of the Kondhs occurred in 1865, which was, however, suppressed without the aid of regular troops.

In 1901 the pop. of the district was 2,010,256, showing an increase of 20% in the decade. There are two systems of government irrigation: (1) the Rushikulya project, and (2) the Ganjam minor rivers system. The principal crops are rice, other food grains, pulse, oil seeds and a little sugar-cane and cotton. Salt is evaporated, as a government monopoly, along the coast. Sugar is refined, according to German methods, at Aska, where rum also is produced. A considerable trade is conducted at the ports of Gopalpur and Calingapatam, which are only open roadsteads. The district is traversed throughout by the East Coast railway (Bengal-Nagpur system), which was opened from Calcutta to Madras in 1900. There are colleges at Berhampore and Parlakimedi. The headquarters station is Berhampore; the town of Ganjam occupied this position till 1815, when it was found unhealthy, and its importance has since declined.

GANNAL, JEAN NICOLAS (1791-1852), French chemist, was born at Sarre-Louis on the 28th of July 1791. In 1808 he entered the medical department of the French army, and witnessed the retreat from Moscow in 1812. After the downfall of the empire he worked at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris and subsequently at the Faculty of Sciences as assistant to L.J. Thenard. His contributions to technical chemistry included a method of refining borax, the introduction of elastic rollers formed of gelatin and sugar for use in printing, and processes for manufacturing glue and gelatin, lint, white lead, &c. The Institute awarded him a Montyon prize in 1827 for his advocacy of chlorine as a remedy in pulmonary phthisis, and again in 1835 for his discovery of the efficacy of solutions of aluminium acetate and chloride for preserving anatomical preparations. In the latter part of his life he turned his attention to embalmment, his method depending on the injection of solutions of aluminium salts into the arteries. He died at Paris in January 1852. His son FELIX, born in 1829, also devoted himself to the question of the disposal of the dead, among his publications being _Mort reelle et mort apparente_ (1868), _Inhumation et cremation_ (1876), and _Les Cimetieres_ (1885), a work on the history and law of burial, of which only one volume appeared.

GANNET (O.E. _ganot_) or SOLAN GOOSE,[1] the _Pelecanus bassanus_ of Linnaeus and the _Sula bassana_ of modern ornithologists, a large sea-fowl long known as a numerous visitor, for the purpose of breeding, to the Bass Rock at the entrance of the Firth of Forth, and to certain other islands off the coast of Britain, of which four are in Scottish waters--namely, Ailsa Craig, at the mouth of the Firth of Clyde; the group known collectively as St Kilda; Suleskerry, some 40 m. north-east of the Butt of Lewis; and the Stack and Skerry, about the same distance westward of Stromness. It appears also to have two stations off the coast of Ireland, the Skellig Islands and the Stags of Broadhaven, and it resorts besides to Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel--its only English breeding-place. Farther to the northward its settlements are Myggenaes, the most westerly of the Faeroes, and various small islands off the coast of Iceland, of which the Vestmannaeyjar, the Reykjanes Fuglasker and Grimsey are the chief. On the western side of the Atlantic it appears to have but five stations, one in the Bay of Fundy, and four rocks in the Gulf of St Lawrence. On all these seventeen places the bird arrives about the end of March or in April and departs in autumn when its young are ready to fly; but even during the breeding-season many of the adults may be seen on their fishing excursions at a vast distance from their home, while at other times of the year their range is greater still, for they not only frequent the North Sea and the English Channel, but stray to the Baltic, and, in winter, extend their flight to the Madeiras, while the members of the species of American birth traverse the ocean from the shores of Greenland to the Gulf of Mexico.

Apparently as bulky as a goose, and with longer wings and tail, the gannet weighs considerably less. The plumage of the adult is white, tinged on the head and neck with buff, while the outer edge and principal quills of the wings are black, and some bare spaces round the eyes and on the throat reveal a dark blue skin. The first plumage of the young is of a deep brown above, but paler beneath, and each feather is tipped with a triangular white spot. The nest is a shallow depression, either on the ground itself or on a pile of turf, grass and seaweed--which last is often conveyed from a great distance. The single egg it contains has a white shell of the same chalky character as a cormorant's. The young are hatched blind and naked, but the slate-coloured skin with which their body is covered is soon clothed with white down, replaced in due time by true feathers of the dark colour already mentioned. The mature plumage is believed not to be attained for some three years. Towards the end of summer the majority of gannets, both old and young, leave the neighbourhood of their breeding-place, and, betaking themselves to the open sea, follow the shoals of herrings and other fishes (the presence of which they are most useful in indicating to fishermen) to a great distance from land. Their prey is almost invariably captured by plunging upon it from a height, and a company of gannets fishing presents a curious and interesting spectacle. Flying in a line, each bird, when it comes over the shoal, closes its wings and dashes perpendicularly into the waves, whence it emerges after a few seconds, and, shaking the water from its feathers, mounts in a wide curve, and orderly takes its place in the rear of the string, to repeat its headlong plunge so soon as it again finds itself above its prey.[2]

Structurally the gannet presents many points worthy of note, such as its closed nostrils, its aborted tongue, and its toes all connected by a web--characters which it possesses in common with most of the other members of the group of birds (_Steganopodes_) to which it belongs. But more remarkable still is the system of subcutaneous air-cells, some of large size, pervading almost the whole surface of the body, communicating with the lungs, and capable of being inflated or emptied at the will of the bird. This peculiarity has attracted the attention of several writers--Montagu, Sir R. Owen (_Proc. Zool. Soc._, 1831, p. 90), and Macgillivray.