Chapter XIII: Part 13

The Iceland geysers, mentioned by Saxo Grammaticus, are situated about 30 m. N.W. of Hecla, in a broad valley at the foot of a range of hills from 300 to 400 ft. in height. Within a circuit of about 2 m., upwards of one hundred hot springs may be counted, varying greatly both in character and dimensions. The Great Geyser in its calm periods appears as a circular pool about 60 ft. in diameter and 4 ft. in depth, occupying a basin on the summit of a mound of siliceous concretion; and in the centre of the basin is a shaft, about 10 ft. in diameter and 70 ft. in depth, lined with the same siliceous material. The clear sea-green water flows over the eastern rim of the basin in little runnels. On the surface it has a temperature of from 76 deg. to 89 deg. C., or from 168 deg. to 188 deg. F. Within the shaft there is of course a continual shifting both of the average temperature of the column and of the relative temperatures of the several strata. The results of the observations of Bunsen and A. L. O. Descloizeaux in 1847 were as follows (cf. _Pogg. Ann._, vol. 72 and _Comptes rendus_, vol. 19): About three hours after a great eruption on July 6, the temperature 6 metres from the bottom of the shaft was 121.6 deg. C; at 9.50 metres, 121.1 deg.; at 16.50 metres, 109 deg. (?); and at 19.70 metres, 95 deg. (?). About nine hours after a great eruption on July 6, at about 0.3 metres from the bottom, it was 123 deg.; at 4.8 metres it was 122.7 deg.; at 9.6 metres, 113 deg.; at 14.4 metres, 85.8 deg.; at 19.2 metres, 82.6 deg. On the 7th, there having been no eruption since the previous forenoon, the temperature at the bottom was 127.5 deg.; at 5 metres from the bottom, 123 deg.; at 9 metres, 120.4 deg.; at 14.75 metres, 106.4 deg.; and at 19 metres, 55 deg. About three hours after a small eruption, which took place at forty minutes past three o'clock in the afternoon of the 7th, the temperature at the bottom was 126.5 deg.; at 6.85 metres up it was 121.8 deg.; at 14.75 metres, 110 deg.; and at 19 metres, 55 deg. Thus, continues Bunsen, it is evident that the temperature of the column diminishes from the bottom upwards; that, leaving out of view small irregularities, the temperature in all parts of the column is found to be steadily on the increase in proportion to the time that has elapsed since the previous eruption; that even a few minutes before the great eruption the temperature at no point of the water column reached the boiling point corresponding to the atmospheric pressure at that part; and finally, that the temperature about half-way up the shaft made the nearest approach to the appropriate boiling point, and that this approach was closer in proportion as an eruption was at hand. The Great Geyser has varied very much in the nature and frequency of its eruptions since it began to be observed. In 1809 and 1810, according to Sir W. J. Hooker and Sir George S. Mackenzie, its columns were 100 or 90 ft. high, and rose at intervals of 30 hours, while, according to Henderson, in 1815 the intervals were of 6 hours and the altitude from 80 to 150 ft.

About 100 paces from the Great Geyser is the _Strokkr_ or churn, which was first described by Stanlay in 1789. The shaft in this case is about 44 ft. deep, and, instead of being cylindrical, is funnel-shaped, having a width of about 8 ft. at the mouth, but contracting to about 10 in. near the centre. By casting stones or turf into the shaft so as to stopper the narrow neck, eruptions can be accelerated, and they often exceed in magnitude those of the Great Geyser itself. During quiescence the column of water fills only the lower part of the shaft, its surface usually lying from 9 to 12 ft. below the level of the soil. Unlike that of the Great Geyser, it is always in ebullition, and its temperature is subject to comparatively slight differences. On the 8th of July 1847 Bunsen found the temperature at the bottom 112.9 deg. C; at 3 metres from the bottom, 111.4 deg.; and at 6 metres, 108 deg.; the whole depth of water was on that occasion 10.15 metres. On the 6th, at 2.90 metres from the bottom it was 114.2 deg.; and at 6.20 metres, 109.3 deg. On the 10th, at 0.35 metres from the bottom, the reading gave 113.9 deg.; at 4.65 metres, 113.7 deg.; and at 8.85 metres, 99.9 deg.

The great geyser-district of New Zealand is situated in the south of the province of Auckland in or near the upper basin of the Waikato river, to the N.E. of Lake Taupo. The scene presented in various parts of the districts is far more striking and beautiful than anything of the same kind to be found in Iceland, but this is due not so much to the grandeur of the geysers proper as to the bewildering profusion of boiling springs, steam-jets and mud-volcanoes, and to the fantastic effects produced on the rocks by the siliceous deposits and by the action of the boiling water. In about 1880 the geysers were no longer active, and this condition prevailed until the Tarawera eruption of 1886, when seven gigantic geysers came into existence; water, steam, mud and stones were discharged to a height of 600 to 800 ft. for a period of about four hours, when quieter conditions set in. Waikite near Lake Rotorua throws the column to a height of 30 or 35 ft.

In the Yellowstone National Park, in the north-west corner of Wyoming, the various phenomena of the geysers can be observed on the most portentous scale. The geysers proper are about one hundred in number; the non-eruptive hot springs are much more numerous, there being more than 3000. The dimensions and activity of several of the geysers render those of Iceland and New Zealand almost insignificant in comparison. The principal groups are situated along the course of that tributary of the Upper Madison which bears the name of Fire Hole River. Many of the individual geysers have very distinctive characteristics in the form and colour of the mound, in the style of the eruption and in the shape of the column. The "Giantess" lifts the main column to a height of only 50 or 60 ft., but shoots a thin spire to no less than 250 ft. The "Castle" varies in height from 10 or 15 to 250 ft.; and on the occasions of greatest effort the noise is appalling, and shakes the ground like an earthquake. "Old Faithful" owes its name to the regularity of its action. Its eruptions, which raise the water to a height of 100 or 150 ft., last for about five minutes, and recur every hour or thereabouts. The "Beehive" sometimes attains a height of 219 it.; and the water, instead of falling back into the basin, is dissipated in spray and vapour. Very various accounts are given of the "Giant." F. V. Hayden saw it playing for an hour and twenty minutes, and reaching a height of 140 ft., and Doane says it continued in action for three hours and a half, and had a maximum of 200 ft.; but at the earl of Dunraven's visit the eruption lasted only a few minutes.

_Theory of Geysers._--No satisfactory explanation of the phenomena of
geysers was advanced till near the middle of the 19th century, when
Bunsen elucidated their nature. Sir George Mackenzie, in his _Travels
in Iceland_ (2nd ed., 1812), submitted a theory which partially
explained the phenomena met with. "Let us suppose a cavity C (fig. 1),
communicating with the pipe PQ, filled with boiling water to the
height AB, and that the steam above this line is confined so that it
sustains the water to the height P. If we suppose a sudden addition of
heat to be applied under the cavity C, a quantity of steam will be
produced which, owing to the great pressure, will be evolved in
starts, causing the noises like discharges of artillery and the
shaking of the ground." He admitted that this could be only a partial
explanation of the facts of the case, and that he was unable to
account for the frequent and periodical production of the necessary
heat; but he has the credit of hitting on what is certainly the
proximate cause--the sudden evolution of steam. By Bunsen's theory the
whole difficulty is solved, as is beautifully demonstrated by the
artificial geyser designed by J. H. J. Muller of Freiburg (fig. 2). If
the tube ab be filled with water and heated at two points, first at a
and then at b, the following succession of changes is produced. The
water at a beginning to boil, the superincumbent column is
consequently raised, and the stratum of water which was on the point
of boiling at b being raised to d is there subjected to a diminished
pressure; a sudden evolution of steam accordingly takes place at d,
and the superincumbent water is violently ejected. Received in the
basin c, the air-cooled water sinks back into the tube, and the
temperature of the whole column is consequently lowered; but the under
strata of water are naturally those which are least affected by the
cooling process; the boiling begins again at a, and the same
succession of events is the result (see R. Bunsen, "Physikalische
Beobachtungen uber die hauptsachlichsten Geisire Islands," _Pogg.
Ann._, 1847, vol. 72; and Muller, "Uber Bunsen's Geysertheorie,"
ibid., 1850, vol. 79).

The principal difference between the artificial and the natural
geyser-tube is that in the latter the effect is not necessarily
produced by two distinct sources of heat like the two fires of the
experimental apparatus, but by the continual influx of heat from the
bottom of the shaft, and the differences between the boiling-points of
the different parts of the column owing to the different pressures of
the superincumbent mass. This may be thus illustrated: AB is the
column of water; on the right side the figures represent approximately
the boiling-points (Fahr.) calculated according to the ordinary laws,
and the figures on the left the actual temperature of the same places.
Both gradually increase as we descend, but the relation between the
two is very different at different heights. At the top the water is
still 39 deg. from its boiling-point, and even at the bottom it is 19
deg.; but at D the deficiency is only 4 deg. If, then, the stratum at
D be suddenly lifted as high as C, it will be 2 deg. above the
boiling-point there, and will consequently expend those 2 deg. in the
formation of steam.

GEZER (the Kazir of Tethmosis [Thothmes] III.'s list of Palestinian cities and the Gazri of the Amarna tablets), a royal Canaanite city on the boundary of Ephraim, in the maritime plain (Josh. xvi. 3-10), and near the Philistine border (2 Sam. v. 25). It was allotted to the Levites, but its original inhabitants were not driven out until the time of Solomon, when "Pharaoh, king of Egypt" took the city and gave it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife (1 Kings ix. 16). Under the form Gazera it is mentioned (1 Macc. iv. 15) as being in the neighbourhood of Emmaus-Nicopolis ('Amwas) and Jamnia (Yebnah). Throughout the history of the Maccabean wars Gezer or Gazara plays the part of an important frontier post. It was first taken from the Syrians by Simon the Asmonean (1 Macc. xiv. 7). Josephus also mentions that the city was "naturally strong" (_Antiq._ viii. 6. 1). The position of Gezer is defined by Jerome (_Onomasticon_, s.v.) as four Roman miles north (_contra septentrionem_) of Nicopolis ('Amwas). This points to the mound of debris called _Tell-el-Jezari_ near the village of Abu Shusheh. The site is naturally very strong, the town standing on an isolated hill, commanding the western road to Jerusalem just where it begins to enter the mountains of Judea. This identification has been confirmed by the discovery of a series of boundary inscriptions, apparently marking the limit of the city's lands, which have been found cut in rock--outcrops partly surrounding the site. They read in every case in [Hebrew: nur] [Hebrew: taham][1], "the boundary of Gezer," with the name _Alkios_ in Greek, probably that of the governor under whom the inscriptions were cut. The site has been partially excavated by the Palestine Exploration Fund, and an enormous mass of material for the history of Palestine recovered from it, including remains of a pre-Semitic aboriginal race, a remarkably perfect High Place, the castle built by Simon, and other remains of the first importance.

See R. A. S. Macalister's reports in _Palestine Exploration Fund
Quarterly Statement_ (October 1902 onwards). Also _Bible Sidelights
from the Mound of Gezer_, by the same writer. (R. A. S. M.)

FOOTNOTE:

[1] So written, with a medial _mem_ ([Hebrew: mem]) instead of the
final ([Hebrew: mem]).

GFRORER, AUGUST FRIEDRICH (1803-1861), German historian, was born at Calw, Wurttemberg, on the 5th of March 1803, and at the close of his preliminary studies at the seminary of Blaubeuren entered the university of Tubingen in 1821 as a student of evangelical theology. After passing his final examinations in 1825, he spent a year in Switzerland, during part of the time acting as companion and secretary to C. von Bonstetten (1745-1832); the year 1827 was spent chiefly in Rome. Returning to Wurttemberg in 1828, he first undertook the duties of repetent or theological tutor in Tubingen, and afterwards accepted a curacy in Stuttgart; but having in 1830 received an appointment in the royal public library at Stuttgart, he thenceforth gave himself exclusively to literature and historical science. His first work on Philo (_Philo u. die judisch-alexandrinische Theosophie_, Stuttgart, 1831) was rapidly followed by an elaborate biography, in two volumes, of Gustavus Adolphus (_Gustav Adolf, Konig von Schweden, und seine Zeit_, Stuttgart, 1835-1837), and by a critical history of primitive Christianity (_Kritische Geschichte des Urchristenthums_, 3 vols., Stuttgart, 1838). Here Gfrorer had manifested opinions unfavourable to Protestantism, which, however, were not openly avowed until fully developed in his church history (_Allgemeine Kirchengeschichte bis Beginn des 14ten Jahrhunderts_, Stuttgart, 1841-1846). In the autumn of 1846 he was appointed to the chair of history in the university of Freiburg, where he continued to teach until his death at Carlsbad on the 6th of July 1861. In 1848 he sat as a representative in the Frankfort parliament, where he supported the "High German" party, and in 1853 he publicly went over to the Church of Rome. He was a bitter opponent of Prussia and an ardent controversialist.

Among his later historical works the most important is the _Geschichte
der ost- u. westfrankischen Karolinger_ (Freiburg, 1848); but those on
the pseudo-Isidorian Decretals (_Untersuchung uber Alter, Ursprung, u.
Werth der Decretalen des falschen Isidorus_, 1848), on the primitive
history of mankind (_Urgeschichte des menschlichen Geschlechts_,
1855), on Hildebrand (_Papst Gregorius VII. u. sein Zeitalter_, 7
vols., 1859-1861), on the history of the 18th century (_Geschichte des
18ten Jahrhunderts_, 1862-1873), on German popular rights (_Zur
Geschichte deutscher Volksrechte im Mittelalter_, Basel, 1865-1866)
and on Byzantine history (_Byzantinische Geschichten_, 1872-1874), are
also of real value.

GHADAMES, GADAMES or RHADAMES, a town in an oasis of the same name, in that part of the Sahara which forms part of the Turkish vilayet of Tripoli. It is about 300 m. S.W. of the city of Tripoli and some 10 m. E. of the Algerian frontier. According to Gerhard Rohlfs, the last form given to the word most correctly represents the Arabic pronunciation, but the other forms are more often used in Europe. The streets of the town are narrow and vaulted and have been likened to the bewildering galleries of a coalpit. The roofs are laid out as gardens and preserved for the exclusive use of the women. The Ghadamsi merchants have been known for centuries as keen and adventurous traders, and their agents are to be found in the more important places of the western and central Sudan, such as Kano, Katsena, Kanem, Bornu, Timbuktu, as well as at Ghat and Tripoli. Ghadames itself is the centre of a large number of caravan routes, and in the early part of the 19th century about 30,000 laden camels entered its markets every year. The caravan trade was created by the Ghadamsi merchants who, aided by their superior intelligence, capacity and honesty, long enjoyed a monopoly. In 1873 Tripolitan merchants began to compete with them. In 1893 came the invasion of Bornu by Rabah, and the total stoppage of this caravan route for nearly ten years to the great detriment of the merchants of Ghadames. The caravans from Kano were also frequently pillaged by the Tuareg, so that the prosperity of the town declined. Later on, the opening of rapid means of transport from Kano and other cities to the Gulf of Guinea also affected Ghadames, which, however, maintains a considerable trade. The chief articles brought by the caravans are ostrich feathers, skins and ivory and one of the principal imports is tea. In 1845 the population was estimated at 3000, of whom about 500 were slaves and strangers, and upwards of 1200 children; in 1905 it amounted in round numbers to 7000. The inhabitants are chiefly Berbers and Arabs. A Turkish garrison is maintained in the town.

Before the Christian era Ghadames was a stronghold of the Garamantes whose power was overthrown in the days of Augustus by L. Cornelius Balbus Minor, who captured Ghadames (Cydamus). It is not unlikely that Roman settlers may have been attracted to the spot by the presence of the warm springs which still rise in the heart of the town, and spread fertility in the surrounding gardens. In the 7th century Ghadames was conquered by the Arabs. It appears afterwards to have fallen under the power of the rulers of Tunisia, then to a native dynasty which reigned at Tripoli, and in the 16th century it became part of the Turkish vilayet of Tripoli. It has since then shared the political fortunes of that country. In the first half of the 19th century it was visited by several British explorers and later by German and French travellers.

See J. Richardson, _Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara in 1845-1846
... including a Description of ... Ghadames_ (London, 1848); G.
Rohlfs, _Reise durch Marokko ... und Reise durch die Grosse Wuste uber
Rhadames nach Tripoli_ (Bremen, 1868).

GHAT, or RHAT, an oasis and town, forming part of the Turkish vilayet of Tripoli. Ghat is an important centre of the caravan trade between the Nigerian states and the seaports of the Mediterranean (see TRIPOLI).

GHATS, or GHAUTS (literally "the Landing Stairs" from the sea, or "Passes"), two ranges of mountains extending along the eastern and western shores of the Indian peninsula. The word properly applies to the passes through the mountains, but from an early date was transferred by Europeans to the mountains themselves.

The Eastern Ghats run in fragmentary spurs and ranges down the Madras coast. They begin in the Orissa district of Balasore, pass southwards through Cuttack and Puri, enter the Madras presidency in Ganjam, and sweep southwards through the districts of Vizagapatam, Godavari, Nellore, Chingleput, South Arcot, Trichinopoly and Tinnevelly. They run at a distance of 50 to 150 m. from the coast, except in Ganjam and Vizagapatam, where in places they almost abut on the Bay of Bengal. Their geological formation is granite, with gneiss and mica slate, with clay slate, hornblende and primitive limestone overlying. The average elevation is about 1500 ft., but several hills in Ganjam are between 4000 and 5000 ft. high. For the most part there is a broad expanse of low land between their base and the sea, and their line is pierced by the Godavari, Kistna and Cauvery rivers.

The Western Ghats (Sahyadri in Sanskrit) start from the south of the Tapti valley, and run south through the districts of Khandesh, Nasik, Thana, Satara, Ratnagiri, Kanara and Malabar, and the states of Cochin and Travancore, meeting the Eastern Ghats at an angle near Cape Comorin. The range of the Western Ghats extends uninterruptedly, with the exception of a gap or valley 25 m. across, known as the Palghat gap, through which runs the principal railway of the south of India. The length of the range is 800 m. from the Tapti to the Palghat gap, and south of this about 200 m. to the extreme south of the peninsula. In many parts there is only a narrow strip of coast between the hills and the sea; at one point they rise in magnificent precipices and headlands out of the ocean. The average elevation is 3000 ft., precipitous on the western side facing the sea, but with a more gradual slope on the east to the plains below. The highest peaks in the northern section are Kalsubai, 5427 ft.; Harischandragarh, 4691 ft.; and Mahabaleshwar, where is the summer capital of the government of Bombay, 4700 ft. South of Mahabaleshwar the elevation diminishes, but again increases, and attains its maximum towards Coorg, where the highest peaks vary from 5500 to 7000 ft., and where the main range joins the interior Nilgiri hills. South of the Palghat gap, the peaks of the Western Ghats rise as high as 8000 ft. The geological formation is trap in the northern and gneiss in the southern section.

GHAZALI [Muhammad ibn Muhammad Abu Hamid al-Ghazali] (1058-1111), Arabian philosopher and theologian, was born at Tus, and belonged to a family of Ghazala (near Tus) distinguished for its knowledge of canon law. Educated at first in Tus, then in Jorjan, and again in Tus, he went to college at Nishapur, where he studied under Juwaini (known as the Imam ul-Haramain) until 1085, when he visited the celebrated vizier Nizam ul-Mulk, who appointed him to a professorship in his college at Bagdad in 1091. Here he was engaged in writing against the Isma'ilites (Assassins). After four years of this work he suddenly gave up his chair, left home and family and gave himself to an ascetic life. This was due to a growing scepticism, which caused him much mental unrest and which gradually gave way to mysticism. Having secured his chair for his brother he went to Damascus, Jerusalem, Hebron, Mecca, Medina and Alexandria, studying, meditating and writing in these cities. In 1106 he was tempted to go to the West, where the Moravid (Almoravid) reformation was being led by Yusuf ibn Tashfin, with whom he had been in correspondence earlier. Yusuf, however, died in this year, and Ghazali abandoned his idea. At the wish of the sultan Malik Shah he again undertook professorial work, this time in the college of Nizam ul-Mulk at Nishapur, but returned soon after to Tus, where he died in December 1111.

Sixty-nine works are ascribed to Ghazali (cf. C. Brockelmann's _Gesch.
d. arabischen Litteratur_, i. 421-426, Weimar, 1898). The most
important of those which have been published are: a treatise on
eschatology called _Ad-durra ul-fakhira_ ("The precious pearl"), ed.
L. Gautier (Geneva, 1878); the great work, _Ihya ul-`Ulum_ ("Revival
of the sciences") (Bulaq, 1872; Cairo, 1889); see a commentary by
al-Murtada called the Ithaf, published in 13 vols. at Fez, 1885-1887,
and in 10 vols. at Cairo, 1893; the _Bidayat ul-Hidaya_ (Bulaq, 1870,
and often at Cairo); a compendium of ethics, _Mizan ul-`Amal_,
translated into Hebrew, ed. J. Goldenthal (Paris, 1839); a more
popular treatise on ethics, the _Kimiya us-Sa`ada_, published at
Lucknow, Bombay and Constantinople, ed. H. A. Homes as _The Alchemy of
Happiness_ (Albany, N.Y., 1873); the ethical work _O Child_, ed. by
Hammer-Purgstall in Arabic and German (Vienna, 1838); the _Destruction
of Philosophers_ (_Tahafut ul-Falasifa_) (Cairo, 1885, and Bombay,
1887). Of this work a French translation was begun by Carra de Vaux in
_Museon_, vol. xviii. (1899); the _Maqasid ul-Falasifa_, of which the
first part on logic was translated into Latin by Dom. Gundisalvi
(Venice, 1506), ed. with notes by G. Beer (Leiden, 1888); the _Kitab
ul-Munqid_, giving an account of the changes in his philosophical
ideas, ed. by F. A. Schmolders in his _Essai sur les ecoles
philosophiques chez les Arabes_ (Paris, 1842), also printed at
Constantinople, 1876, and translated into French by Barbier de Meynard
in the _Journal asiatique_ (1877, i. 1-93); answers to questions asked
of him ed. in Arabic and Hebrew, with German translation and notes by
H. Malter (Frankfort, 1896); Eng. trans., _Confessions of
al-Ghazzali_, by Claud Field (1909).

For Ghazali's life see McG. de Slane's translation of Ibn Khallikan,
ii. 621 ff.; R. Gosche's _Uber Ghazzali's Leben und Werke_ (Berlin,
1859); D. B. Macdonald's "Life of al-Ghazzali," in _Journal of
American Oriental Society_, vol. xx. (1899), and Carra de Vaux's
_Gazali_ (Paris, 1902); see ARABIAN PHILOSOPHY. (G. W. T.)

GHAZI (an Arabic word, from _ghaza_, to fight), the name given to Mahommedans who have vowed to exterminate unbelievers by the sword. It is also used as a title of honour, generally translated "the Victorious," in the Ottoman empire for military officers of high rank, who have distinguished themselves in the field against non-Moslem enemies; thus it was conferred on Osman Pasha after his famous defence of Plevna.

GHAZIABAD, a town of British India in Meerut district of the United Provinces, 12 m. from Delhi and 28 m. from Meerut. Pop. (1901) 11,275. The town was founded in 1740 by Ghazi-ud-din, son of Azaf Jah, first nizam of the Deccan, and takes its name from its founder. It has considerably risen in importance as the point of junction of the East Indian, the North-Western and the Oudh & Rohilkhand railway systems. The town has a trade in grain and hides.

GHAZIPUR, a town and district of British India, in the Benares division of the United Provinces. The town stands on the left bank of the Ganges, 44 m. E. of Benares. It is the headquarters of the government opium department, where all the opium from the United Provinces is collected and manufactured under a monopoly. There are also scent distilleries, using the produce of the rose-gardens in the vicinity. Lord Cornwallis, governor-general of India, died at Ghazipur in 1805, and a domed monument and marble statue (by Flaxman) are erected over his grave. Pop. (1901) 39,429.

The district of Ghazipur has an area of 1389 sq. m. It forms part of the great alluvial plain of the Ganges, which divides it into two unequal portions. The northern subdivision lies between the Gumti and the Gogra, whose confluences with the main stream mark its eastern and western limits respectively. The southern tract is a much smaller strip of country, enclosed between the Karamnasa and the great river itself. There are no hills in the district. A few lakes are scattered here and there, formed where the rivers have deserted their ancient channels. The largest is that of Suraha, once a northern bend of the Ganges, but now an almost isolated sheet of water, 5 m. long by about 4 broad. Ghazipur is said to be one of the hottest and dampest districts in the United Provinces. In 1901 the population was 913,818, showing a decrease of 11% in the decade. Sugar refining is the chief industry, and provides the principal article of export. The main line of the East Indian railway traverses the southern portion of the district, with a branch to the Ganges bank opposite Ghazipur town; the northern portion is served by the Bengal & North-Western system.

GHAZNI, a famous city in Afghanistan, the seat of an extensive empire under two medieval dynasties, and again of prominent interest in the modern history of British India. Ghazni stands on the high tableland of central Afghanistan, in 68 deg. 18' E. long., 33 deg. 44' N. lat., at a height of 7280 ft. above the sea, and on the direct road between Kandahar and Kabul, 221 m. by road N.E. from the former, and 92 m. S.W. from the latter. A very considerable trade in fruit, wool, skins, &c., is carried on between Ghazni and India by the Povindah kafilas, which yearly enter India in the late autumn and pass back again to the Afghan highlands in the early spring. The Povindah merchants invariably make use of the Gomal pass which leads to the British frontier at Dera Ismail Khan. The opening up of this pass and the British occupation of Wana, by offering protection to the merchants from Waziri blackmailing, largely increased the traffic.

Ghazni, as it now exists, is a place in decay, and probably does not contain more than 4000 inhabitants. It stands at the base of the terminal spur of a ridge of hills, an offshoot from the Gul-Koh, which forms the watershed between the Arghandab and Tarnak rivers. The castle stands at the northern angle of the town next the hills, and is about 150 ft. above the plain. The town walls stand on an elevation, partly artificial, and form an irregular square, close on a mile in circuit (including the castle), the walls being partly of stone or brick laid in mud, and partly of clay built in courses. They are flanked by numerous towers. There are three gates. The town consists of dirty and very irregular streets of houses several stories high, but with two straighter streets of more pretension, crossing near the middle of the town. Of the strategical importance of Ghazni there can hardly be a question. The view to the south is extensive, and the plain in the direction of Kandahar stretches to the horizon. It is bare except in the vicinity of the river, where villages and gardens are tolerably numerous. Abundant crops of wheat and barley are grown, as well as of madder, besides minor products. The climate is notoriously cold,--snow lying 2 or 3 ft. deep for about three months, and tradition speaks of the city as having been more than once overwhelmed by snowdrift. Fuel is scarce, consisting chiefly of prickly shrubs. In summer the heat is not like that of Kandahar or Kabul, but the radiation from the bare heights renders the nights oppressive, and constant dust-storms occur. It is evident that the present restricted walls cannot have contained the vaunted city of Mahmud. Probably the existing site formed the citadel only of his city. The remarks of Ibn Batuta (c. 1332) already suggest the present state of things, viz. a small town occupied, a large space of ruin; for a considerable area to the N.E. is covered with ruins, or rather with a vast extent of shapeless mounds, which are pointed out as Old Ghazni. The only remains retaining architectural character are two remarkable towers rising to the height of about 140 ft., and some 400 yds. apart from each other. They are similar, but whether identical, in design, is not clearly recorded. They belong, on a smaller and far less elaborate scale, to the same class as the Kutb Minar at Delhi (q.v.). Arabic inscriptions in Cufic characters show the most northerly to have been the work of Mahmud himself, the other that of his son Masa'ud. On the Kabul road, a mile beyond the Minaret of Mahmud, is a village called Rauzah ("the Garden," a term often applied to garden-mausoleums). Here, in a poor garden, stands the tomb of the famous conqueror. It is a prism of white marble standing on a plinth of the same, and bearing a Cufic inscription praying the mercy of God on the most noble Amir, the great king, the lord of church and state, Abul Kasim Mahmud, son of Sabuktagin. The tomb stands in a rude chamber, covered with a dome of clay, and hung with old shawls, ostrich eggs, tiger-skins and so forth. The village stands among luxuriant gardens and orchards, watered by a copious aqueduct. Sultan Baber celebrates the excellence of the grapes of Rauzah.

There are many holy shrines about Ghazni surrounded by orchards and vineyards. Baber speaks of them, and tells how he detected and put a stop to the imposture of a pretended miracle at one of them. These sanctuaries make Ghazni a place of Moslem pilgrimage, and it is said that at Constantinople much respect is paid to those who have worshipped at the tomb of the great Ghazi. To test the genuineness of the boast, professed pilgrims are called on to describe the chief _notabilia_ of the place, and are expected to name all those detailed in certain current Persian verses.

_History._--The city is not mentioned by any narrator of Alexander's expedition, nor by any ancient author so as to admit of positive recognition. But it is very possibly the _Gazaca_ which Ptolemy places among the _Paropamisadae_, and this may not be inconsistent with Sir H. Rawlinson's identification of it with _Gazos_, an Indian city spoken of by two obscure Greek poets as an impregnable place of war. The name is probably connected with the Persian and Sanskrit _ganj_ and _ganja_, a treasury (whence the Greek and Latin _Gaza_). We seem to have positive evidence of the existence of the city before the Mahommedan times (644) in the travels of the Chinese pilgrim, Hsuan Tsang, who speaks of _Ho-si-na_ (i.e. probably _Ghazni_) as one of the capitals of _Tsaukuta_ or Arachosia, a place of great strength. In early Mahommedan times the country adjoining Ghazni was called _Zabul_. When the Mahommedans first invaded that region Ghazni was a wealthy entrepot of the Indian trade. Of the extent of this trade some idea is given by Ibn Haukal, who states that at Kabul, then a mart of the same trade, there was sold yearly indigo to the value of two million dinars (L1,000,000). The enterprise of Islam underwent several ebbs and flows over this region. The provinces on the Helmund and about Ghazni were invaded as early as the caliphate of Moaiya (662-680). The arms of Yaqub b. Laith swept over Kabul and Arachosia (Al-Rukhaj) about 871, and the people of the latter country were forcibly converted. Though the Hindu dynasty of Kabul held a part of the valley of Kabul river till the time of Mahmud, it is probably to the period just mentioned that we must refer the permanent Mahommedan occupation of Ghazni. Indeed, the building of the fort and city is ascribed by a Mahommedan historian to Amr b. Laith, the brother and successor of Ya`kub (d. 901), though the facts already stated discredit this. In the latter part of the 9th century the family of the Samanid, sprung from Samarkand, reigned in splendour at Bokhara. Alptagin, originally a Turkish slave, and high in the service of the dynasty, about the middle of the 10th century, losing the favour of the court, wrested Ghazni from its chief (who is styled Abu Bakr Lawik, wali of Ghazni), and established himself there. His government was recognized from Bokhara, and held till his death. In 977 another Turk slave, Sabuktagin, who had married the daughter of his master Alptagin, obtained rule in Ghazni. He made himself lord of nearly all the present territory of Afghanistan and of the Punjab. In 997 Mahmud, son of Sabuktagin, succeeded to the government, and with his name Ghazni and the Ghaznevid dynasty have become perpetually associated. Issuing forth year after year from that capital, Mahmud (q.v.) carried fully seventeen expeditions of devastation through northern India and Gujarat, as well as others to the north and west. From the borders of Kurdistan to Samarkand, from the Caspian to the Ganges, his authority was acknowledged. The wealth brought back to Ghazni was enormous, and contemporary historians give glowing descriptions of the magnificence of the capital, as well as of the conqueror's munificent support of literature. Mahmud died in 1030, and some fourteen kings of his house came after him; but though there was some revival of importance under Ibrahim (1059-1099), the empire never reached anything like the same splendour and power. It was overshadowed by the Seljuks of Persia, and by the rising rivalry of Ghor (q.v.), the hostility of which it had repeatedly provoked. Bahram Shah (1118-1152) put to death Kutbuddin, one of the princes of Ghor, called king of the Jibal or Hill country, who had withdrawn to Ghazni. This prince's brother, Saifuddin Suri, came to take vengeance, and drove out Bahram. But the latter recapturing the place (1149) paraded Saifuddin and his vizier ignominiously about the city, and then hanged them on the bridge. Ala-uddin of Ghor, younger brother of the two slain princes, then gathered a great host, and came against Bahram, who met him on the Helmund. The Ghori prince, after repeated victories, stormed Ghazni, and gave it over to fire and sword. The dead kings of the house of Mahmud, except the conqueror himself and two others, were torn from their graves and burnt, whilst the bodies of the princes of Ghor were solemnly disinterred and carried to the distant tombs of their ancestors. It seems certain that Ghazni never recovered the splendour that perished then (1152). Ala-uddin, who from this deed became known in history as _Jah[=an]-soz_ (_Brulemonde_), returned to Ghor, and Bahram reoccupied Ghazni; he died in 1157. In the time of his son Khusru Shah, Ghazni was taken by the Turkish tribes called Ghuzz (generally believed to have been what are now called Turkomans). The king fled to Lahore, and the dynasty ended with his son. In 1173 the Ghuzz were expelled by Ghiyasuddin sultan of Ghor (nephew of Ala-uddin Jahansoz), who made Ghazni over to his brother Muizuddin. This famous prince, whom the later historians call Mahommed Ghori, shortly afterwards (1174-1175) invaded India, taking Multan and Uchh. This was the first of many successive inroads on western and northern India, in one of which Lahore was wrested from Khusru Malik, the last of Mahmud's house, who died a captive in the hills of Ghor. In 1192 Prithvi Rai or Pithora (as the Moslem writers call him), the Chauhan king of Ajmere, being defeated and slain near Thanewar, the whole country from the Himalaya to Ajmere became subject to the Ghori king of Ghazni. On the death of his brother Ghiyasuddin, with whose power he had been constantly associated, and of whose conquests he had been the chief instrument, Muizuddin became sole sovereign over Ghor and Ghazni, and the latter place was then again for a brief period the seat of an empire nearly as extensive as that of Mahmud the son of Sabuktagin. Muizuddin crossed the Indus once more to put down a rebellion of the Khokhars in the Punjab, and on his way back was murdered by a band of them, or, as some say, by one of the _Mulahidah_ or Assassins. The slave lieutenants of Muizuddin carried on the conquest of India, and as the rapidly succeeding events broke their dependence on any master, they established at Delhi that monarchy of which, after it had endured through many dynasties, and had culminated with the Mogul house of Baber, the shadow perished in 1857. The death of Muizuddin was followed by struggle and anarchy, ending for a time in the annexation of Ghazni to the empire of Khwarizm by Mahommed Shah, who conferred it on his famous son, Jelaluddin, and Ghazni became the headquarters of the latter. After Jenghiz Khan had extinguished the power of his family in Turkestan, Jelaluddin defeated the army sent against him by the Mongol at Parwan, north of Kabul. Jenghiz then advanced and drove Jelaluddin across the Indus, after which he sent Ogdai his son to besiege Ghazni. Henceforward Ghazni is much less prominent in Asiatic history. It continued subject to the Mongols, sometimes to the house of Hulagu in Persia, and sometimes to that of Jagatai in Turkestan. In 1326, after a battle between Amir Hosain, the viceroy of the former house in Khorasan, and Tarmashirin, the reigning khan of Jagatai, the former entered Ghazni and once more subjected it to devastation, and this time the tomb of Mahmud to desecration.

Ibn Batuta (c. 1332) says the greater part of the city was in ruins, and only a small part continued to be a town. Timur seems never to have visited Ghazni, but we find him in 1401 bestowing the government of Kabul, Kandahar, and Ghazni on Pir Mahommed, the son of his son Jahangir. In the end of the century it was still in the hands of a descendant of Timur, Ulugh Beg Mirza, who was king of Kabul and Ghazni. The illustrious nephew of this prince, Baber, got peaceful possession of both cities in 1504, and has left notes on both in his own inimitable Memoirs. His account of Ghazni indicates how far it had now fallen. "It is," he says, "but a poor mean place, and I have always wondered how its princes, who possessed also Hindustan and Khorasan, could have chosen such a wretched country for the seat of their government, in preference to Khorasan." He commends the fruit of its gardens, which still contribute largely to the markets of Kabul. Ghazni remained in the hands of Baber's descendants, reigning at Delhi and Agra, till the invasion of Nadir Shah (1738), and became after Nadir's death a part of the new kingdom of the Afghans under Ahmad Shah Durani. We know of but two modern travellers who have recorded visits to the place previous to the war of 1839. George Forster passed as a disguised traveller with a qafila in 1783. "Its slender existence," he says, "is now maintained by some Hindu families, who support a small traffic, and supply the wants of the few Mahommedan residents." Vigne visited it in 1836, having reached it from Multan with a caravan of Lohani merchants, travelling by the Gomal pass. The historical name of Ghazni was brought back from the dead, as it were, by the news of its capture by the British army under Sir John Keane, 23rd July 1839. The siege artillery had been left behind at Kandahar; escalade was judged impracticable; but the project of the commanding engineer, Captain George Thomson, for blowing in the Kabul gate with powder in bags, was adopted, and carried out successfully, at the cost of 182 killed and wounded. Two years and a half later the Afghan outbreak against the British occupation found Ghazni garrisoned by a Bengal regiment of sepoys, but neither repaired nor provisioned. They held out under great hardships from the 16th of December 1841 to the 6th of March 1842, when they surrendered. In the autumn of the same year General Nott, advancing from Kandahar upon Kabul, reoccupied Ghazni, destroyed the defences of the castle and part of the town, and carried away the famous gates of Somnath (q.v.).

GHEE (Hindustani _ghi_), a kind of clarified butter made in the East. The best is prepared from butter of the milk of cows, the less esteemed from that of buffaloes. The butter is melted over a slow fire, and set aside to cool; the thick, opaque, whitish, and more fluid portion, or ghee, representing the greater bulk of the butter, is then removed. The less liquid residue, mixed with ground-nut oil, is sold as an inferior kind of ghee. It may be obtained also by boiling butter over a clear fire, skimming it the while, and, when all the water has evaporated, straining it through a cloth. Ghee which is rancid or tainted, as is often that of the Indian bazaars, is said to be rendered sweet by boiling with leaves of the _Moringa pterygosperma_ or horse-radish tree. In India ghee is one of the commonest articles of diet, and indeed enters into the composition of everything eaten by the Brahmans. It is also extensively used in Indian religious ceremonies, being offered as a sacrifice to idols, which are at times bathed in it. Sanskrit treatises on therapeutics describe ghee as cooling, emollient and stomachic, as capable of increasing the mental powers, and of improving the voice and personal appearance, and as useful in eye-diseases, tympanitis, painful dyspepsia, wounds, ulcers and other affections. Old ghee is in special repute among the Hindus as a medicinal agent, and its efficacy as an external application is believed by them to increase with its age. Ghee more than ten years old, the _purana ghrita_ of Sanskrit materia medicas, has a strong odour and the colour of lac. Some specimens which have been much longer preserved--and "clarified butter a hundred years old is often heard of"--have an earthy look, and are quite dry and hard, and nearly inodorous. Medicated ghee is made by warming ordinary ghee to remove contained water, melting, after the addition of a little turmeric juice, in a metal pan at a gentle heat, and then boiling with the prepared drugs till all moisture is expelled, and straining through a cloth.

GHEEL, or GEEL, a town of Belgium, about 30 m. E. of Antwerp and in the same province. Pop. (1904) 14,087. It is remarkable on account of the colony of insane persons which has existed there for many centuries. The legend reads that in the year 600 Dymphna, an Irish princess, was executed here by her father, and in consequence of certain miracles she had effected she was canonized and made the patron saint of the insane. The old Gothic church is dedicated to her, and in the choir is a shrine, enclosing her relics, with fine panel paintings representing incidents in her life by, probably, a contemporary of Memling. The colony of the insane is established in the farms and houses round the little place within a circumference of 30 m. and is said to have existed since the 13th century. This area is divided into four sections, each having a doctor and a superintendent attached to it. The Gheel system is regarded as the most humane method of dealing with the insane who have no homicidal tendencies, as it keeps up as long as possible their interest in life.

GHENT (Flem. _Gent_, Fr. _Gand_), the capital of East Flanders, Belgium, at the junction of the Scheldt and the Lys (Ley). Pop. (1880) 131,431, (1904) 162,482. The city is divided by the rivers (including the small streams Lieve and Moere) and by canals, some navigable, into numerous islands connected by over 200 bridges of various sorts. Within the limits of the town, which is 6 m. in circumference, are many gardens, meadows and promenades; and, though its characteristic lanes are gloomy and narrow, there are also broad new streets and fine quays and docks. The most conspicuous building in the city is the cathedral of St Bavon[1] (Sint Baafs), the rich interior of which contrasts strongly with its somewhat heavy exterior. Its crypt dates from 941, the choir from 1274-1300, the Late Gothic choir chapels from the 15th century, and the nave and transept from 1533-1554. Among the treasures of the church is the famous "Worship of the Lamb" by Hubert and Jan van Eyck. Of the original 12 panels, taken to France during the Revolutionary Wars, only 4 are now here, 6 being in the Berlin museum and two in that of Brussels. Among the other 55 churches may be mentioned that of St Nicholas, an Early Gothic building, the oldest church in date of foundation in Ghent, and that of St Michael, completed in 1480, with an unfinished tower. In the centre of the city stands the unfinished Belfry (_Beffroi_), a square tower some 300 ft. high, built 1183-1339. If has a cast-iron steeple (restored in 1854), on the top of which is a gold dragon which, according to tradition, was brought from Constantinople either by the Varangians or by the emperor Baldwin after the Latin conquest. Close to it is the former Cloth-hall, a Gothic building of 1325. The hotel-de-ville consists of two distinct parts. The northern facade, a magnificent example of Flamboyant Gothic, was erected between 1518 and 1533, restored in 1829 and again some fifty years later. The eastern facade overlooking the market-place was built in 1595-1628, in the Renaissance style, with three tiers of columns. It contains a valuable collection of archives, from the 13th century onwards. On the left bank of the Lys is the Oudeburg (s'Gravenstein, Chateau des Contes), the former castle of the first counts of Flanders, dating from 1180 and now restored. The chateau of the later counts, in which the emperor Charles V. was born, is commemorated only in the name of a street, the Cours des Princes.

To the north of the Oudeburg, on the other side of the Lys, is the Marche du Vendredi, the principal square of the city. This was the centre of the life of the medieval city, the scene of all great public functions, such as the homage of the burghers to the counts, and of the auto-da-fes under the Spanish regime. In it stands a bronze statue of Jacob van Artevelde, by Devigne-Quyo, erected in 1863. At a corner of the square is a remarkable cannon, known as _Dulle Griete_ (Mad Meg), 19 ft. long and 11 ft. in circumference. It is ornamented with the arms of Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, and must have been cast between 1419 and 1467. On the Scheldt, near the Place Laurent, is the Geerard-duivelsteen (chateau of Gerard the Devil), a 13th-century tower formerly belonging to one of the patrician families, now restored and used as the office of the provincial records. Of modern buildings may be mentioned the University (1826), the Palais de Justice (1844), and the new theatre (1848), all designed by Roelandt, and the Institut des Sciences (1890) by A. Pauli. In the park on the site of the citadel erected by Charles V. are some ruins of the ancient abbey of St Bavon and of a 12th-century octagonal chapel dedicated to St Macharius. In the park is also situated the Museum of Fine Arts, completed in 1902.

One of the most interesting institutions of Ghent is the great Beguinage (Begynhof) which, originally established in 1234 by the Bruges gate, was transferred in 1874 to the suburb of St Amandsberg. It constitutes a little town of itself, surrounded by walls and a moat, and contains numerous small houses, 18 convents and a church. It is occupied by some 700 Beguines, women devoted to good works (see BEGUINES). Near the station is a second Beguinage with 400 inmates. In addition to these there were in Ghent in 1901 fifty religious houses of various orders.

As a manufacturing centre Ghent, though not so conspicuous as it was in the middle ages, is of considerable importance. The main industries are cotton-spinning, flax-spinning, cotton-printing, tanning and sugar refining; in addition to which there are iron and copper foundries, machine-building works, breweries and factories of soap, paper, tobacco, &c. As a trading centre the city is even more important. It has direct communication with the sea by a ship-canal, greatly enlarged and deepened since 1895, which connects the Grand Basin, stretching along the north side of the city, with a spacious harbour excavated at Terneuzen on the Scheldt, 21-1/2 m. to the north, thus making Ghent practically a sea-port; while a second canal, from the Lys, connects the city via Bruges with Ostende.

Among the educational establishments is the State University, founded by King William I. of the Netherlands in 1816. With it are connected a school of engineering, a school of arts and industries and the famous library (about 300,000 printed volumes and 2000 MSS.) formerly belonging to the city. In addition there are training schools for teachers, an episcopal seminary, a conservatoire and an art academy with a fine collection of pictures mainly taken from the religious houses of the city on their suppression in 1795. The oldest Belgian newspaper, the _Gazet van Gent_, was founded here in 1667.

_History._--The history of the city is closely associated with that of the countship of Flanders (q.v.), of which it was the seat. It is mentioned so early as the 7th century and in 868 Baldwin of the Iron Arm, first count of Flanders, who had been entrusted by Charles the Bald with the defence of the northern marches, built a castle here against the Normans raiding up the Scheldt. This was captured in 949 by the emperor Otto I. and was occupied by an imperial burgrave for some fifty years, after which it was retaken by the counts of Flanders. Under their protection, and favoured by its site, the city rapidly grew in wealth and population, the zenith of its power and prosperity being reached between the 13th and 15th centuries, when it was the emporium of the trade of Germany and the Low Countries, the centre of a great cloth industry, and could put some 20,000 armed citizens into the field. The wealth of the burghers during this period was equalled by their turbulent spirit of independence; feuds were frequent,--against the rival city of Bruges, against the counts, or, within the city itself, between the plebeian crafts and the patrician governing class. Of these risings the most notable was that, in the earlier half of the 14th century, against Louis de Crecy, count of Flanders, under the leadership of Jacob van Artevelde (q.v.).