against St. Augustine, returned unsuccessful. In 1742 this invasion was retaliated, and a Spanish fleet of 36 ships and 3,000 men appeared in the Altamaha river, took Fort St. Simon, and were proceeding against Fort Frederica, on St. Simon's island, when by a stratagem conceived by Oglethorpe they became alarmed, retired to their ships, and sailed for Florida. Peace was soon after restored; but though the colony was freed from one source of disquiet, the condition of its affairs was not satisfactory. Restrictions of various kinds, and especially the prohibition of slavery, rendered the people discontented, and many abandoned their settlements, while those who remained with difficulty obtained a scanty subsistence. The complaints arising from their mismanagement at last induced the trustees to surrender their charter to the crown, and in 1752 Georgia became a royal government, with the same privileges and regulations as to land and trade and negro slaves that prevailed in the other colonies. The first good effect of the change of government was felt in the establishment of a general assembly in 1755. The limits of the colony to this time were the Savannah on the N. and the Altamaha on the S., extending westward to the Pacific. In 1763 all the lands lying between the Altamaha and St. Mary's were annexed to Georgia by a royal proclamation. From this period the colony began to make rapid progress; the rich swamps and lowlands on the rivers were brought into cultivation, and production so rapidly increased that the exports had risen from £3,059 in 1753 to £14,469 in 1763, and in 1773 they amounted to £85,391; in the same years the imports were valued at £14,128, £44,908, and £62,932. The population in 1775 was about 75,000, or more than 8 times its amount in 1752; and in this, its last year of colonial dependence, its exports were valued at £103,477, and its imports at £113,777. Thus at the commencement of the American revolution Georgia had just begun to enjoy the blessings of peace and of a more beneficent system of government. Notwithstanding these motives for continuing in connection with England, the colonists did not hesitate to make the grievances of their northern brethren their own, and take part in the coming struggle. In March, 1775, they appointed a delegate to congress; and in July of the same year a convention assembled and gave the sanction of the colony to the measures of congress. During the war that ensued Georgia was overrun by British troops, and the principal inhabitants were compelled to abandon their homes and fly into the neighboring states. In 1778 Savannah was captured, and in 1779 Augusta and Sunbury. In the latter year an unsuccessful attempt was made by the Americans and French to recapture Savannah. Georgia framed its first constitution in 1777, and a second one in 1785. The present constitution of the state is the third, having been adopted in 1798, but since that date it has undergone several amendments. The constitution of the United States was ratified by Georgia on Jan.

2, 1788. After the close of the revolutionary war Georgia suffered on her frontiers from the incursions of the Creeks and Cherokees. In 1790 and 1791 treaties were concluded with the chiefs of those nations by which the boundaries of the state were established. By the treaty of Fort Wilkinson in 1802 the Creeks ceded a large tract of land to the United States, which has since been assigned to Georgia, and now forms the S. W. counties of the state. In the same year Georgia ceded to the United States all its claims to the lands westward of its present limits, and which now form the flourishing states of Alabama and Mississippi. The subsequent intervention of Georgia in that portion of the ceded territory occupied by the Cherokees occasioned serious difficulty between the state and the national government, but was at length successful in 1838 in causing the removal of the Cherokees to the Indian territory, when Georgia came into possession of their long-coveted lands.

GEORGIA (Rus. Grusia; anc. Iberia), a country of Asia, on the S. declivity of the Caucasus, for more than 2,000 years a separate kingdom, with frequently changing governments, boundaries, and divisions, sometimes independent, and sometimes tributary to the Persians, Arabs, Tartars, &c. It was annexed to Russia in 1801, and now forms part of the Russian government of Tiflis, bounded N. by the Caucasian mountains, W. by a branch of that range, and S. and E. by Armenia and Shirvan; area, about 25,000 sq. m.; pop. about 300,000. The surface is in general mountainous, but the valleys, especially that of the river Kur, which occupies the centre of the province, are of great fertility. The climate is healthful and agreeable. The principal productions are corn, fruit, wine, hemp, flax, silk, and cotton. The inhabitants, like the other Caucasians, are distinguished for beauty of form and feature, and both sexes are highly esteemed and eagerly sought after by the Turks-the men for their armies, and the women for their harems. The sale of their serfs for these purposes long constituted the Georgian nobles' main source of revenue; but since the country passed under the sovereignty of Russia this traffic has been interdicted, and the relations between the different classes of society considerably modified and improved. The Georgians are members of the Greek church, and have had the Bible in their vernacular tongue since the beginning of the 10th century; but both priests and people are generally ignorant. Capital, Tiflis. The term Georgia is often, but incorrectly, applied to all the Trans-Caucasian possessions of Russia. Lady Sheil, in her "Glimpses of Life and Manners in Persia" (London, 1856), says of the Georgian women: "They certainly are fair, with high complexions, natural or artificial, and regular features, all of which perhaps entitle the women to the meed of beauty; still the entire absence of animation or expression deprives the countenance of attraction. They look well,

however, in their pretty dresses, while young." She further remarks: "Next to its conquerors, the Georgians are the master caste of this country. It is said that between the Georgians and the Armenians, who are found here in great numbers, there is a wonderful contrast in character and manners. The Georgian is bold, turbulent, reckless, extravagant; the Armenian is mean, cringing, timid, always intent on gain, and unlike a Georgian in keeping what he gains. It is as unsurpassable topers, as well as for their military qualities, which have always been acknowledged, that the Georgians have acquired notoriety. At their frequent drinking parties it is said they will pass several days and nights, almost without intermission, in quaffing the productions of the vineyards of Kakheti, a district in the mountains E. of Tiflis. This wine is by no means of bad quality. It is of a deep red color, so deep that one fancies it has been tinged with some dye to produce so intense a hue. They are said to consume incredible quantities of wine on these occasions. The drinking vessel is a cow's horn of considerable length, and the point of honor is to drain it at a draught."

GEORGIA, GULF OF, an arm of the sea lying between Vancouver island and the mainland of British Columbia, between lat. 48° 50′ and 50° N., and long. 122° 40′ and 125° W. On the S. it is connected with the strait of Juan de Fuca, and on the N. with Queen Charlotte sound. Howe sound and Jervis and Burrard inlets run from it into the mainland. Fraser river flows into it. Its length is about 100 m., and its greatest breadth 30. At each extremity of the gulf is an archipelago of islands, and it contains several large islands, the principal of which are Texada, Savary, Harwood, and Llasqueti.

GEORGIAN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. The people (about 600,000) who speak the Georgian language call themselves Karthveli, but are also named Grusini, and inhabit S. and S. W. of the Caucasus, the valley of the upper and middle Kur, those of the Rion and Tchoruk, as far as the promontories of the Ararat chain, and N. E. to the Alazan, beyond which their language is mixed with the tongues of Shirvan and Daghestan, as far as the Caspian sea. Probably descendants of the Colchi and Albani, they were anciently called Iberi, and, according to tradition, are akin to the Armenians, although their language differs from the Haikanian (Somasi in Georgian), and is believed by their learned prince Theimuraz to be primitive. Brosset and Voss (1847) place it among the Indo-European languages. It consists of several dialects, viz.: the Karthveli or Georgian proper in the centre, the Kakheti and Imerethi next, then the Mingreli and Guri, and more remotely the Suani and the Lazi, which reaches almost to Trebizond. A colony transported into Asterabad in Persia in 1622 is said to speak a purer idiom than any of those now spoken in Georgia. The anbangan, or alphabet, has 3

forms, viz.: the Khutsuri or priestly, containing both capital and small dzigni or letters, attributed by some to Pharnavaz, the first king, who expelled the viceroy of Alexander the Great, but more probably contrived by St. Mesrob, who made the Haikan Aibbiengim or Armenian alphabet, during the reign of Artchil (A. D. 413-24); and the Mkhedruli Kheli, or soldier's hand, dating from 1312, when the Georgian calendar was reformed. The catholicos or patriarch Antoni, of royal race, enriched the alphabet in his grammar (1667). It contains 8 vowels (ā, ē, ì, ō, ū, ě, iě, uiě) and 30 consonants. Of these 6 are guttural, g, k, gh, ch, kh, h (2); 5 labial, b, p, f, ph, v; 13 dental, d, t, 8, 2, th, French j, sh, ds, dz, ts, dsh, dzh, tch; 5 liquid, l, m, n, r (2). In shape it resembles the Zend letters. Beside these, about 160 contracted groups of letters are also in use. The language is very harsh and hissing, but very expressive. Its syntax has little analogy with that of other languages. Several grammatical forms are like those of the Sanscrit. It has no article and no genders. There are 8 cases of declension, viz.: nominative, ending in i; genitive, in 8, isa, esa; dative, sa; accusative, same as the nominative; vocative, o; instrumental, itha; ablative, sagan (vulgarly ida, idam); demonstrative, man, with some variations. A locative case ending in mde, and a modal case in d, are also found. The plural marks, inserted between the stem and these endings, are eb and n. We give some specimens with equivalents in Latin: puri, panis; khiboiesa, cancri; uremsa, currui; khoni, baculum; thavo! o caput; khilitha, fructus ope (instrumental); sakdrisagan, a throno; vardiman, en rosam; purebisagan, a panibus; khilebisamde, in fructibus, &c. The pronouns are: me, I; tchven, thou; tkhveni, you; tchemi, my; shen, thy, &c. Numerals: 1, erthi; 2, ori; 3, sami; 4, othkhi; 5, khuthi; 6, ekusi; 7, shvidi; 8, rva; 9, tskhra; 10, athi, &c. The ordinals are the same, with me prefixed. There are 8 conjugations of verbs, with many variations, both by prefixes (1st person w, 2d and 3d h) and by personal endings. Many verbs have inseparable prepositions. The construction is very free, e. g.: Radsethű kövěldsan rōmēlman hknnes Whereas every-one who makes (commits) sin, mōna ars igi tsōdhisa.

serf

is he sin-of.

Mamão tshveno rōmēli khar tsāta

shina, &c. Father our who art heaven in

tsōduais

-Notwithstanding the terrible devastations of Georgia by the Seljukian Osmanlis in the 11th century, by Batu Khan in 1234, by the Turks in 1552, &c., and the frequent change of masters, its princes distinguished themselves by a liberal patronage of men of letters. The dynasty of the Bagratides especially gave a great impulse in the 18th century to the development of the language, of poetry, and of the sciences. Theimuraz I., Artebil, Wakhtang VI. (who published the emperor Leo's, the Armenian, and his own laws), Sulkhan-Saba, Bakar, and many

other princes and princesses, rank among the most conspicuous Grusinian writers. The Georgian literature is mostly founded on that of Greece. The Bible was partly translated in the 8th century, finished in the 18th, and splendidly printed at Moscow, Tiflis, and St. Petersburg. Arabic and European works have also been translated into Georgian. We can mention but a few of the many remarkable national works. Among the romances are the following: Tariel (Of the Man in the Tiger Skin), by Skhotta of Rusthvel, a general of the heroic queen Thamar, with a commentary by King Wakhtang VI. (Titlis, 1793); Daredjamiani (Deeds of Amiran, son of Daredjan, a hero of Bagdad), by the courtier Moses of Khoni; Visramiani (Love of the princess Vis for Prince Ramin), somewhat resembling Rousseau's Héloise; Miriani (story of the Chinese princess Miri), imitated from the Persian. These and many others exhibit lively imagination and good taste. The Thamariani is a panegyrical epic on Queen Thamar, by Tchakhakhadze. In poetry, there are versions of lyrical poems from the Greek, &c., by Georgi Aphoni (11th century); didactics by King Theimuraz; Tsgobil-signaoba (Treatises by Order), by the above-mentioned catholicos and prince Antoni, a collection of historic odes; there is also a very keen satirical work by Bessarion Gabas Khoili. There are many histories of Georgia, chronicles, biographies, histories of families, monasteries, &c. The princess Makrina, about 1710, wrote a menonomasticon (names of months); the last king David wrote on artillery and geography; King Irakli translated J. Sonnenfels's treatise on police, from a Persian version (Tiflis, 1782). Several princes have written accounts of their travels, as Sulkhan-Saba in Europe (1713), Bishop Jonas in Asia Minor, Venice, Austria, &c. (1789 -'96), &c. The drama began to be cultivated at a late period, especially by Prince Eristov. Wakhtang VI. established a printing office at Tiflis. There are also there at present a national theatre and opera house. The Aurora, a periodical established in 1857, and the Kavkas, a Russian newspaper, are published at Tiflis.-On the Georgian language, see Stefano Paolini, Dizionario Georgiano-Italiano (Rome, 1629, the first Georgian book printed in Europe); Maggio, Syntagma Linguarum Orientalium quæ in Georgia Regionibus audiuntur (Rome, 1670); Firaloff, Russo-Georgian dictionary (St. Petersburg, 1820); J. Klaproth, Vocabulaire et grammaire de la langue Géorgienne, incomplete (Paris, 1827); Brosset the younger, Éléments de la grammaire Géorgienne (Paris, 1837); Tchubinoff, dictionary in Georgian, Russian, and French (St. Petersburg, 1840), and Russo-Gorgian (Tiflis, 1857). On the literature, see J. G. Ch. Adler, Museum Cuficum (Rome, 1782); Alter, Ueber Georgische Literatur (Vienna, 1798).

GEORGIUM SIDUS, the name given by Herschel to the planet Uranus, in honor of George III., the reigning king of England when he discovered it.

GEPIDÆ, a Germanic people of Gothic origin, who first appear in history in the 3d century A. D. They came from Scandinavia, drove the Burgundians from the plains of the Vistula and Oder, occupied that region, then moved further S. and lived N. of Pannonia, between the Ostrogoths on the E. and the Visigoths on the W. Compelled to follow Attila, they became independent under their king Aderic, after the death of that conqueror, and lived on the lower banks of the Theiss, Danube, Drave, and Save, by turns as friends and enemies of the Byzantine empire. Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, defeated them in the battle of Sirmium (now Szerém in Slavonia) in 488. Alboin, king of the Lombards, assisted by the Avari, destroyed their power in 566.

GERA, a town and domain in the German principality of Reuss-Schleig; pop. of the former, 12,500; of the latter, with an area of 72 sq. m., 32,300. The town, situated in a beautiful valley on the right bank of the White Elster, 35 m. Š. S. W. from Leipsic, consists of the town proper and two suburbs, and is regularly built, having been restored in modern style after a great conflagration in 1780. It has manufactories of woollens, cotton, linen, camlet, porcelain, stoneware, tobacco, leather, soap, musical instruments, and fire engines. It has large breweries and dyeing establishments, and carries on a considerable trade. A bank was established there in 1856. Its old castle dates from 1086, when the place first became a town, and was first bestowed on the baron of Reuss in the 12th century.

GERANIUM (Gr. yepavos, a crane), the popular name for a great many species of plants belonging to the natural order geraniacea, and divided into 4 principal genera, erodium, geranium, Monsonia, and pelargonium. The geraniums are either herbaceous or shrubby plants, exogenous, having swollen stems separable at the joints, opposite or alternate leaves, membranous stipules, and commonly symmetrical flowers, varying from those of a small size to those of remarkable proportions, beauty, and even splendor. Some are so insignificant as to be classed with weeds when fortuitously introduced in cultivated ground, while others are eagerly sought after as ornamental and attractive plants. The peculiar form of the capsules containing the seeds, which end in twisted arms resembling the beak or bill of some kinds of birds, gives the trivial name of cranesbill to the entire order, and furnishes distinctive divisions to facilitate the study of the numerous species. Thus, erodium is derived from epwdios, a heron, and comprises numerous species, mostly natives of Europe, some of northern Africa, of Asia, and America. They are either herbs or undershrubs, having variously shaped leaves and manyflowered peduncles. E. moschatum (musky heronsbill) is a widely distributed European plant, found at the Cape of Good Hope and in Peru, a small but handsome sort, growing in dry sandy places, and emitting a strong musky

scent. E. cicutarium (the hemlock-leaved heronsbill) is found indigenous in the whole of Europe, and even in the north of Africa, and, according to Don, extends to Chili. Nuttall found it common in Oregon and California, and considers it "certainly not introduced" there. It has been seen on the shores of Oneida lake, but is thought to have been adventitiously introduced. Another species, E. macrophyllum (Hooker and Arnott), with cordate leaves 2 to 23 inches long, and with 3 to 5 flowered umbels, occurs in California. The annual kinds, several of which are handsome enough for the flower bed, require only to be sown in the spring in any kind of soil. The perennial species are still more ornamental, but equally ready to thrive under ordinary care. Those raised in greenhouses are most sub-shrubby, and do best in a mixture of sandy loam and leaf mould.-The genus geranium contains herbs, rarely subshrubs, having palmately lobed leaves, 1 to 2 flowered peduncles, and bearing usually beautiful flowers of various tints and hues. There are both annual and perennial kinds. Some with elegant flowers are to be met with in gardens, being of the perennial species, such as G. collinum (a native of Caucasus), in mountain meadows, with finely colored purplish blue petals; G. phaum, with dark brown petals, almost black, each having a white spot at its base. This is considered the rarest of British species, and is much admired and cultivated for its singular beauty. G. sanguineum, found plentifully in England, has large, beautiful crimson or blood-red flowers, which blossom most of the summer; it grows in rather dry soil. G. anemonifolium, a species occurring at the Cape of Good Hope, is of rare beauty with its large, fern-like, glossy foliage of the most delicate green, and its rich red blossoms. G. maculatum, the cranesbill or crowfoot of the United States, is conspicuous in early summer in every neglected border of the fields and on the edges of the woods of New England, extending however even to South Carolina. Its large rosy-purple flowers, borne upon sub-corymbose peduncles rising above its expanded 3 to 5 parted leaves, attract the attention. As the flowers fade, the lower leaves early assume rich crimson and orange tints. This species is well suited to the garden, growing well and increasing in abundance of blossoms without any extra care. Its roots possess a fine astringency to such a degree as to be called alum root in some sections, while as a popular remedy for dysentery under the name of cranesbill it is equally sought. It is stated that large quantities of tannin and gallic acid exist in it. Two other perennial species, G. erianthum of the N. W. coast, and G. albiflorum in the valleys of the Rocky mountains, are allied to it; the latter with white flowers as its name implies, the former with large purple blossoms, the bases of whose petals and stamens are densely villous. Of the annual kinds we have G. Robertianum, or herb Robert, a beautiful plant common in our

woods, especially among rocks and in the rich black mould of their crevices, where they are partially shaded. Its flowers, though small, are numerous and prettily striped and rosy, and its foliage so delicately cut and borne upon long slender petioles, that it is well adapted for the garden, especially in the rockwork. A heavy disagreeable odor is however emitted from its leaves, if slightly touched or carelessly handled. Frequently in the autumn the leaves are curiously dotted with minute black specks, the perithecia of a parasitic fungus (dothidea Robertianum). G. Carolinianum, similar, with paler flowers and scentless foliage, erroneously supposed to be G. dissectum, occurs in waste places on barren soils, and is widely diffused. G. pusillum (small-flowered cranesbill), with slender stems, rounded, 5-parted, kidney-formed leaves, and small bluish-purple petals, has been found in waste places in New York and Boston, although a European species.-In honor of Lady Ann Monson, who introduced into Great Britain many curious plants from India, and who was distinguished for her botanical acquisitions, we have the genus Monsonia, remarkable among the geraniacea for its large, showy, and even splendid flowers, consisting of a calyx of 5 equal sepals, and 5 equal petals twice the size of the calyx; all perennial plants, with toothed, lobed, or decompound leaves. Considerable diversity in the form of foliage, and in the entire or divided edges of the petals, is to be found among the species. They are all natives of the Cape of Good Hope. Mr. Don affirms that the entire genus consists of very showy herbs, deserving to be cultivated in every greenhouse. Their favorite soil, according to Sweet, is a mixture of light turfy loam and decayed leaves. They are easily increased by cuttings or by pieces of the roots, using the hand glass to facilitate the operation. M. speciosa is a showy flower, and M. lobata has very beautiful unexpanded buds, more showy than the rosy corollas, requiring the bright rays of the sun to bring them to perfection. The genus pelargonium derives its name from Gr. Teλapyos, a stork, and the storksbill geraniums are those best known in indoor culture. the exception of a very few, the species, exceedingly numerous, are natives of the Cape of Good Hope. Indeed, so vast in number are the kinds, that artificial distinctions are invented in order to arrange them. Of these, the most curious as well as prominent are of the sections of the stemless and tuberous-rooted, which have all their leaves near the base of the plant or just above the summit of the root. The leaves vary greatly in form, being either oblong and entire, or lobed with the lobes entire, or hardly toothed, or cordate-sagittate with 3 lobes, or pinnate with the leaflets cut and even multifid. The flowers are supported on long peduncles, are of moderate size, but frequently of rarest beauty, and in the hybrid sorts the colors are of the richest tones. There are some whose flowers are dingy or yellowish, but which com

With