with the parallel 22. The area is estimated at about 425,000 square miles, or more, than twice the area of France, and the greater portion is still unexplored. It all belongs to the La Plata basin and in general terms may be described as a plain inclining towards the S.E. and watered by the Pilcomayo, the Vermejo, and other tributaries of the Para guay. The northern portion, I/ing within the region of tropical rains, has a profusion of marshes and lakes, while the southern portion is a dry cactus-growing steppe, except in the neighbourhood of the rivers, which annually sub merge large areas with the surplus water they bring from the north. The whole of the Gran Chaco is still in the hands of the Indians, who are just beginning to learn a little agriculture, to grow pumpkins, water melons, and maize ; but the richness and extent of its forests and pas tures will certainly secure the country a prosperous future. It possesses more timber suitable for every purpose than the whole of Europe; it already exports large numbers of cattle to the neighbouring states ; and, according to Major Host, it will be able to furnish abundant supplies of petroleum. "At the foot of the western slope of the Santa Barbara range, 25 leagues from the confluence of the San Francisco O O river and the Vermejo, there is an extensive petroleum basia called the Laguna de la brea de San Miguel del Ristro, capable of yielding 2000 gallons per day."
See Von Reden, " Die Staaten im Strom-Gebiet des La Plata," in Petermann s Mitth., 1856; Petermann and Burmeister, Die Stcd- tonerikaniscken R^publiken, Argentina, &c., 1875 ; Major Host in la Plata Monatschrift, 1873.
GRAND'COMBE, a town of France, in the department
of Gard and arrondissement of Alais, is situated on the
Garden, 35 miles N.W. of Nimes, In the neighbourhood
thare are very extensive coal-mines, and the town possesses
manufactures of zinc, lead, and glass. The population in
1876 .was 5342.
GRAND HAVEN, a city of the United States, capital
of Ottawa county, Michigan, is situated on Lake Michigan,
at the mouth of Grand River, opposite Milwaukee, to
which, as well as to the principal other towns on the lake,
several steamers ply daily. It is a station of the Grand
Haven Railway, and the terminus of the Detroit, Grand
Haven, and Milwaukee line. On account of its fine situa
tion and its medicinal springs, Grand Haven is becoming a
favourite summer resort. It his saw and shingle mills,
and manufactories of agricultural implements, of sashes
and blinds, and of windmills. Shipbuilding is also carried
on. In ths neighbourhood there are extensive peach forests.
Lumber and fruit are the principal shipments. Grand
Haven was laid out in 1836, and became a city in 1867.
Population (1870) 3147, now about 5000.
GRANDIMONTANES, or Grammontines (Ordo Grandimontensis), a small religious order confined almost entirely
to France. Its origin, which can be traced to about the
close of the llth century, is involved in some obscurity.
The founder, St Stephen of Tigerno or Thiers, was born
at Chateau Thiers, in Auvergne, in 1046, was educated for
the church partly at Benevento and partly at Rome, and,
returning home about 1073, in obedience to the solicitations
of an inner voice which had been making itself heard for
years, embraced a life of solitary asceticism. The scene of
his retreat was the lonely glen of Muret, about a league
eastward from Limoges ; as his reputation for piety ex
tended, his cell became a favourite resort with many like-
minded persons, and ultimately a community large enough
to excite public attention was formed. The nature of the
rule observed by them at that time is not accurately known ;
a reply which, according to tradition, Stephen gave to the
papal legates when asked to give some account of himself,
forbids alike the belief that he identified himself with any
of the religious orders then in existence and the assumption
that he had already received permission to establish a new
one, Shortly after his death, which occurred on the 8th of
February 1124, the lands at Muret were claimed by the neigh
bouring Augustinian friars of Ambazac, a circumstance
which in 1154 compelled the followers of Stephen to remove
their abode, under the leadership of their second "corrector,"
some miles further eastward, to Grammont or Grandmont,
whence the order subsequently took its name. So far as
can be ascertained, the rule by which the community was
governed was not reduced to writing until the time of
Stephen of Lisiac, its fourth corrector. This rule, which
was confirmed by Urban III. in 1186, was characterized by
considerable severity, especially in the matters of silence,
fasting, and flagellation ; its rigour, however, was mitigated
by Innocent IV. in 1247, and again by Clement V. in 1309.
Under Stephen of Lisiac the order greatly flourished in
Aquitania, Anjou, and Normandy, where the number of its
establishments in 1 170 is said to have exceeded sixty. The
first Grandimontane house within the dominions of the king
of France was that founded at Vincennes near Paris by
Louis VII. in 1164; it soon acquired a position of con
siderable importance. Stephen of Thiers was, at the re
quest of Henry II. of England, canonized by Clement III.
in 1189; and the bestowal of this honour seems to have
marked a culminating point in the history of the order
which he had originated. The Grandimontanes (sometimes
also like the followers of Francisco de Paola called Les bons-
hommes), owing to an almost endless series of internal dis
putes at once symptomatic and productive of disunion and
disorganization, failed to achieve any considerable place in
history, and were finally pensioned off and disbanded in
1769. To them belonged, until 1463, the priory of Cres-
well in Herefordshire, and also until 1441 that of Alber-
bury or Abberbury in Shropshire.
The Annalcs of the order were published at Troyes in 1662; and the Regula, sometimes attributed, though erroneously, to Stephen of Thiers, was first printed in the 17th century. A collection of maxims or instructions, professedly by the same author, lias also been largely circulated in France since 1704. See Helyot, Histoire dcs Ordrcs Monastiqucs, vol. vi.
GRAND RAPIDS, a city of the United States, capital
of Kent county, Michigan, is picturesquely situated on both
sides of the Grand River near the rapids, 30 miles E. of
Lake Michigan. The river is navigable up to this point,
and steamers connect the city with Grand Haven and the
navigation of Lake Michigan. The city is also the point
of intersection of six railways. It possesses two public
parks, a county jail, a central school, a large public library,
and a scientific institute. It is the seat of the United
States circuit and district courts for the western district of
Michigan. The manufactures include a great variety of
woodware (especially furniture, carriages, and waggons),
agricultural implements, machinery, chemical substances,
leather, beer, fruit, bricks of a very fine quality, and
gypsum, which is very abundant in the neighbourhood.
There is also a very extensive trade in lumber. The fall
of the river at the rapids is about 18 feet in 1*- miles, and
this water power has been taken advantage of lor many of
the manufactories. Grand Rapids was settled in 1833 and
incorporated, in 1850. The population has been rapidly
increasing ; while in 1850 it was only 2686, it was 16,507
in 1870, of whom 5725 were foreigners.
GRANDSON. See Granson.
GRANDVILLE. See Gérard, Jean I. I.
GRANET, FRANCOIS MARIUS (1777-1849), was the first
painter who felt and attempted to render the aesthetic charm
of Middle Age and Renaissance architecture. He was born
at Aix in Provence, on the 17th December 1777 ; his father
was a small builder, but the boy s own strong desires led
his parents to place him after some preliminary teaching
from a passing Italian artist in a free school of art directed
