Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/256

242 forces it was one of the richest and most beautiful cities of Spanish America, possessing about 100 churches and con- vents and more than 60,000 inhabitants. The ruins are still almost majestic, and many of the buildings appear as if they had been fortresses. Among those best preserved are the ancient residence of the Spanish governors, now occupied by the administration, and the university building, now the national college. Great damage was done to the place by the earthquake of September 1874. The popula- tion is about 20,000. An older Guatemala was situated at Ciudad Vieja or Almalonga, but seventeen years after it was founded by Alvaredo it was carried away by the great inundation to which the Volcan de Agua owes its name.  GUAVA (from the Mexican guayaba) is the name applied to the fruits of species of Psidium, a genus belong- ing to the natural order Wyrtacee. The species which produces the bulk of the guava fruits of commerce is Psidium Guayava, Radd., a small tree from 15 to 20 feet high, a native of the tropical parts of America and the West Indies, It bears short-stalked egg-shaped or oblong leaves, with strongly marked veins, and covered with a soft tomentum or down. The flowers are borne on axillary stalks, and the fruits vary very much in size, shape, and colour, numerous forms and varieties being known and cultivated. The variety whose fruits are most valued is that which is sometimes called the white guava (P. Guayava, var. pyriferum). The fruits are pear-shaped, about the size of a hen’s egg, covered with a thin bright yellow or whitish skin filled with soft pulp, also of a light yellowish tinge, and having a pleasant sweet-acid and somewhat aromatic flavour. P. Guayava, var. pomiferum, produces a more globular or apple-shaped fruit, sometimes called the red guava. The pulp of this variety is mostly of a darker colour than the former and not of so fine a flavour, there- fore the first named is most esteemed for eating in a raw state ; both, however, are used in the preparation of two kinds of preserve known as guava jelly and guava cheese, which are made in the West Indies, and imported thence to England ; the fruits are of much too perishable a nature to allow of their importation in their natural state. The two varieties here mentioned have been described by some botanists as distinct species. They have both been introduced into various parts of India, as well as in other countries of the East, where they have become perfectly naturalized. Though of course much too tender for outdoor planting in England, the guava thrives there in hot-houses or stoves. Psidium Cattleyanum, Sab., a tree of from 10 to 20 feet high, supposed to be a native of Brazil, but originally brought to Europe from China, is known as the purple guava. The fruit, which is very abundantly produced in the axils of the leaves, is large, spherical, of a fine deep claret colour ; the rind is pitted, and the pulp is soft, fleshy, purplish, reddish next the skin, but becoming paler towards the middle, and in the centre almost or quite white. It has a very agreeable acid-sweet flavour, which has been likened to that of a strawberry.  GUAYAQUIL, or, the principal seaport of the republic of Ecuador, South America, is situated on the western bank of the Guayaquil river, about 20 miles from its mouth, in 2° 12’ 24” §. lat. and 79° 51’ 24” W. long. The site forms part of a low and level tract of ground bounded on the north by the hills of Santa Ana ; and the streets are for the most part laid out with great regularity. To the north lies the old town, mainly inhabited by the poorer classes; to the south the new town. As the houses are generally built of wood or bamboo and mud, the risk of conflagrations is unusually great; and a strong fire-brigade is maintained. Since 1870 the town has been drained, the river has been dredged, and an abundant supply of good water has been brought from a distance. The principal streets are lighted with gas. None of the public buildings are of any architectural interest. All the churches, with the exception of Santo Domingo, are built of wood. There are two colleges (San Vicente and San Ygnacio), a civil hospital (De la Caridad), a new and commodious military hospital, municipal buildings, and a custom-house.

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1em  GUAYRA, LA, or, a town of Venezuela, in the province of Caracas, about 8 miles from the city of Caracas, in 10° 36’ N, lat. and 71° 46’ W. long. It is situated on a low-lying strip of coast, but at the same time has a certain amount of picturesqueness as seen against the background of the Cordilleras, Being one of the four principal ports (puertos habilitados) of the country, it enjoys a degree of commercial prosperity ; but its trade, which is mainly in the hands of Germans, is almost exclusively of the transit description. Its imports are principally from Hamburg and Bremen. There is regular steamboat communication with Puerto Cabello, Maracaibo, and St Thomas. The population is about 4000. The railway to Caracas, though contracted for, has been stopped. The municipality maintains 19 schools, in which 370 boys and 260 girls are educated free of expense.  GUBBIO, a city of Italy, in the province of Umbria, about 20 miles N. of Perugio. Built along the western ledges of Monte Calvo, it shares alike in the grandeur of the inountains and the beauty of the plain, and its churches and palaces are brought into relief by the varying elevation of the site. Its ancient walls are still retained, and a certain medizval impress lingers about the place. Besides the cathedral of SS. Mariano and Giacomo, which consists of a small single nave and has a fine wheel window, San Francisco may be mentioned for the sake of the Conception by Fr. Signorelli, 8. Agostino for a Madonna del Soccorse by Ottaviano Nelli, and §, Maria Nova with the same artist’s finest work—a votive fresco. Portions still remain of the old palace of the dukes of Urbino, built for Federigo by Luciano Lauranna. The palazzo municipale or del commune is a fine building erected between and 1846 after the designs of Matteo Giovanello, surnamed Gattapone.