Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/28

18 as a penal settlement for political oﬂ‘enders, who ﬁnd an ' easy subsistence on the ban.inas, Indian corn, and sweet potatoes which readily grow in the black fertile mud of the higher parts, and on the large herds, now become wild, of cattle, swine, and goats. The principal settlement, founded by General Vilamil in 1832, is situated in Charles Isl-and, and bears the name of La Floreana, in honour of 1-‘loris, the president of Ecuador. At one time it contained 200 or 300 inhabitants; but when the United States steamer “ IIassler” visited the Galapagos in 1871, there were little more than a dozen. In 1673 about 2000 cattle had perished in the island. The archipelago was formerly a frequent resort of vessels in quest of turtle ; and it is still visited by parties from Guayaquil in quest of a species of moss, which is sent to the English market under the name of orc/e-illa. Though the islands are under the equator, the climate is not intensely hot, as it is tempered by cold currents from the Antarctic Sea, which, having followed the barren coast of Peru as far as Cape Bl-anco, bear off to the N. W. towards and through the Galapagos. Very little rain falls,’-_ except during the short season from November to January. The clouds indeed hang low, and the nights are misty, but this beneﬁts those districts only which attain a height of over 800 or 1000 feet and enter the moist upper air; so that there alone, and chieﬂy on the side from which the winds oftenest blow, is there anything like a luxuriant vegetation. The low grounds are entirely parched and rocky, present- ing merely a few thickets of Peruvian cactus and stunted shrubs, and a shore as uiiinvitiiig as it well can be. The greatest interest attaches to the study of all the oceanic islands, for the elucidation of the origin and development of their fauna and ﬂora has an important bear- ing on the question of the genesis of species. The Galapagos archipelago possesses in this respect a rare advantage from its isolated situation, and from the fact that its history has never been interfered with by any aborigines of the human race, and that it is only very lately that the operations of man or of animals introduced by his means have disturbed, and that to a very limited extent only, the indigenous life. Many of the more remarkable animal and vegetable forms are conﬁned to one islet of the group, and are represented on the others by allied but different species. Of the indigenous gigantic tortoises there are ﬁve species at present known, each of which is an inhabitant of a different island, and it is believed that many others have become extinct. There are two species, one terrestrial, the other marine, of a peculiar genus of lizard. Nearly all the land birds are peculiar to the archipelago, and of these more than half belong to peculiar genera. The ﬂora of the Galapagos is most remarkable ; it differs by upwards of one half of its species from that of the rest of the globe. Both the fauna and ﬂora indicate affinity with the South American continent; and the peculiarities of their distribu- tion can be explained only by the supposition that species were transported to the islands by some accident at very rare and remote intervals, and have become changed through natural selection under the new conditions to which they have been exposed. That there should be so few species common to the different islands is accounted for by their separation from each other by deep channels scoured by rapid currents, the direction of which, and of the winds, rarely violent in this region, does not favour inter-migration. Many of the islands are yet but imperfectly known.

1em  GALASHIELS, a pai-liainentary burgh and manufacturing town of Scotland, built on both sides of the river Gala, about a mile above its confluence with the Tweed, and 33 miles south of Edinburgh. It is situated partly in lioxbnrghshire and partly in Selkirkshire, but for all judicial purposes it is held, by special Act of Parliament passed in 1867, as entirely within the county of Selkirk. The “forest-steading of Galashiels" is ﬁrst mentioned in history shortly after the beginning of the 15th century, when it was the occasional residence of the Douglases, who I at that time held the oflice of keeper of Ettrick forest. In The wool chieﬂy used is imported from Australia and the Cape of Good Hope. The manufacture was at one time of a more diversiﬁed character tliannow, and embraced tweeds, shawls, tartaiis, &c., but it is now almost exclusively devoted to the production of tweeds. The Galashiels manufacturers have long been united in a corporation called by their name, which was instituted in 1777, and of which the minutes during the whole intervening period are still preservetl. In addition to its woollen trade Galasliiels has also a large skinnery, capable of manufacturing into leather 35,000 skins per week. In recent years the external aspect of the town I has been very much improved by the erection of several handsome public buildings, and the introduction of a better style of architecture for shops and dwelling-liouscs. It was made a parliamentary burgh in 1868, and unites with Hawick and Selkirk in returning a member to parliament-. Municipally, it is governed by a provost, four bailies, and l ten councillors. In 1876 an Act was passed for the exten- I sion of the burgh and the introduction (since effected) of a water supply. As signiﬁcant of the rapid growth of Galasliiels it may be mentioned that, while in 1851 the population was only 5921, in 1871 it was 9678, ainl that of the extended burgh is now estimated to be nearly 15,000 ; while the annual assessable rental, which in 1861 was £21,000, is now .£~l9,000.  GALATIA, afterwards called also, in ancient geography, an inland division of Asia Minor, bounded on the N. by Bitliynia and Paplilagoiiia, E, by Pontus, S. by Cappadocia and Lycaoiiia, W. by 1’lirygi-.1. These boundaries, however, varied at different periods in the history of Galatia. The river Halys ﬂowed in a nortlierly direction through the centre of the province, the eastern half of which was watered by tributaries of that stream, while the Sangarius and its aﬂluents traversed the western half. Galatia originally formed a part of the extensive province of Phrygia ; after its separation it was occupied by three Gallic tribes, who still continued distinct in the time of Strabo—tlie Trocnii, who dwelt in the east, the Tectosages in the centre, and the Tolistobogii in the west. Each of, these tribes was subdivided into four parts, and these were I ruled over each by a tetrarcli of its own. The power of 1 the tetrarclis was limited by a senate of 300, before which