Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 04.djvu/294

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
LEFT
250
RIGHT

GALLOWAY 250 QALT GALLOWAY, an extensive district in the S. W. of Scotland, once somewhat larger, but now entirely comprised in the shire of Wigtown and stewartry of Kirk- cudbright. It enjoys a remarkably mild climate, and has long been famous as a pastoral country, its breed of small horses and of large hornless black cattle being well known centuries ago; dairy farming is now the most important in- dustry. The province is about 70 miles in length, by 40 at its utmost breadth, and contains the greatest diversity of scenery — mountain, lake, and stream. There is no mineral wealth and hardly any industry, hence the inhabitants are almost entirely concerned with tilling the soil, sheep and cattle rearing, and fishing. The province owes its name to the fact that the natives were called Gall-Gael, or foreign Gaels, at first because of their falling under the foreign rule of the Anglians; but as the Picts of Galloway they continued to be known so late as the Battle of the Standard in 1138. Their geographical position had shut them off from their N. congeners, and they con- tinued under their ancient name a dis- tinct people till the 12th century, and preserved their language — which was substantially identical with Gaelic — till the 16th, when it finally disappeared be- fore the Reformation and the use of Lowland Scotch in the parish churches and schools. GALLOWS, an instrument or appara- tus on which criminals are executed by hanging. It is usually constructed of two posts with a cross-beam on the top, from which the criminal is hanged by a rope passing round his neck. In agri- culture, the central core of four Indian cornstalks, interlaced diagonally and bound at the intersection, forming a stool or support for cut corn, which is bound around it to form a shock. In printing, the rest for the tympan when open. Also the frame supporting the beam of a steam engine. GALLUS. TBEBONIANUS. a Roman emperor; the successor of the ill-fated Decius. He is memorable only for the dishonorable peace with the Goths, in permitting them to retain their plunder and captives and promising them a fixed annual tribute, and by a dreadful pesti- lence in Italy. He was murdered by his own soldiers in 253 or 254 A. D. GALOP ABO (gal-6-par5), or CAPO DI FARO (ka'po de fa'ro), the Cha- rybdis of the ancients. It forms the whirlpool on the outside of the harbor of Messina, in the strait separating Italy from Sicily. Opposite, on the Italian coast, is the rock Scylla. GALSWORTHY, JOHN, an English writer. Born in 1867, his early writings excited but slight attention. It was not until he turned to modern social prob- lems that his power as a dramatist and novelist was revealed. His novels deal with many phases of English life chiefly for the purpose of satire. Such for ex- ample is his first work that attracted attention, "The Island Pharisees" (1904, revised 1908) and later (1906) "The Man of Property." Likewise in his dramas he pays particular attention to the injustices of the present social scheme. "The Silver Box" (1906) is a JOHN GALSWORTHY drama with the theme of the different legal justice for the rich and poor. "Strife" (1909) is written to illustrate the war between capital and labor which features modern society. His most recent work is the drama entitled "The Mob" published in the year in which the World War opened. GALT, a city of Ontario, Canada, in Waterloo co. It occupies both sides of the Grand river, and is on the Grand Trunk and the Canadian Pacific rail- roads. The river is spanned by several bridges. The city is important as an in- dustrial center. The manufactured prod- ucts include edged tools, underwear, agricultural implements, boilers, engines, leather, safes, stoves, etc. The city has four parks, a collegiate institute and a mechanics' institute. It is connected by electric railway with the neighboring towns of Kitchener, Paris, Waterloo, and Brantford. Pop. (1919) 12,434. GALT. JOHN, a Scotch novelist; born in Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland, May 2,