Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 22.djvu/765

 S W A S W A 733 originally founded in 1099 by Henry Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, to secure possession of his lauds in the province of Gower, the principal remains are the keep, built by Bishop Gower of St David's after the castle had been for some time in ruins, a range of arched dungeons lit by loop- holes, and the hall, now fitted up for use as a volunteer drill hall. There are fragments of a wall with a Gothic window of the hospital of St David, founded by Bishop Gower in 1331. The church of St Mary's, founded by the same bishop, was rebuilt in 1739, with the exception of the tower and chancel. The modern public buildings include the guildhall, in the Italian style with Corinthian pillars and pilasters, erected in 1846, and comprehending the municipal offices, the crown and nisi prius courts, the council chamber, and the library of the Swansea and Neath Incorporated Law Society ; the royal institution of South Wales, established 1835, a building in the Ionic style, and embracing a library, a lecture hall, and a museum of geology, mineralogy, natural history, and antiquities ; the free public library, schools of art, and art gallery, a fine new building with about 30,000 volumes (including the library of the Rev. Rowland Williams, one of the authors of Essays and Reviews) and a large number of beautiful engravings ; the grammar school, founded by Hugh Gore, bishop of Waterford, in 1682; the market (1830); the cattle market (1864) ; the Albert hall for concerts (1864), with a smaller hall erected in 1881 ; the agricultural hall ; the working men's club (1875); the Prince of Wales hall (1882); and two theatres. The benevolent institutions include the general hospital, founded in 1817, and rebuilt with the addition of two wings in 1878 ; the Cambrian institution for the deaf and dumb, founded in 1847, and several times extended ; the Swansea and South Wales institute for the blind (1865) ; the nursing institution (1853); the provident dispensary (1876) ; the eye hospital (1878); the industrial home (1859) ; and the sailors' home (1864). Swansea is specially well supplied with parks and recreation grounds. They include Brynmill grounds be- tween Parkwern and Singleton (1872), 9 acres in extent, and containing a beautiful reservoir and ornamental lawns ; Cwmdonkin park, on the uplands, 13 acres, and command- ing fine views ; the new recreation ground, formed in 1883, 11 acres, situated between Brynmill and the Oysterniouth road ; Park Llewelyn, to the north of Swansea, 40 acres ; and the St Helen's Field, near the beach, about 20 acres, now being laid out. The population of the municipal borough (area 4363 acres) in 1871 was 51,702, and in 1881 it was 65,597. The population of the parliamentary borough in 1881 was 73,971. Its area then was 4777 acres, but in 1885, when Swansea received independent representation, the area was diminished, the population of this smaller area being 50,043 in 1881. Swansea owes its prosperity to its situation in the neighbourhood of extensive collieries and to its possession of great natural advant- ages as a harbour. With some exaggeration it has been called the "metallurgical centre of the world," but the title must at least be allowed in reference to copper, which is imported to be smelted from all parts of the world. The smelting of copper, which has been carried on in the district from the time of Elizabeth, is the distinctive and most important industry of the town, the others including tinplate manufacture, lead smelting, spelter and zinc manufacture, the extraction and manufacture of silver, nickel, and cobalt, iron smelting, Siemens steel manufacture, the manufacture of chemicals, of agricultural manure, and of patent fuel, and the construction of railway carriages and waggons. In Swansea Bay there are valuable oyster fisheries. The earliest harbour works on a large scale were those of the South Dock Company, begun in 1847 and opened in 1859. This dock, which has an area of about 13 acres, with a half-tide basin of 4 acres and a lock 300 feet long by 60 feet wide, is used principally for the export of coal. The north dock, completed in 1882, has an area of about 10^ acres, in addition to several other smaller docks. An important addition was made by the completion of the Prince of Wales Dock in October 1881, with an area of 23 acres ; and as yet this additional accommo- dation is more than sufficient for the trade of the port. In 1876 the number of sailing and steam vessels that entered with cargoes and in ballast from foreign countries, British possessions, and coastwise was 7799, of 1,068,062 tons ; the number that cleared being 7549, of 1,041,078 tons. In 1885 the entrances were 7447, of 1,461,248 tons, the clearances 7051, of 1,366,117 tons. The total average value of the imports of foreign and colonial produce during the five years ending 1885 was about 2,400,000, but has been decreasing ; and the total average value of the exports of the produce of the United Kingdom was about 1,500,000, but has been steadily in- creasing, and has reached over 2,000,000. There is a large trade with France, Portugal, Spain, and the Mediterranean ports. There is also considerable trade with South Africa, and the trade is greater with South than with North America. The exports consist chiefly of the various manufactures of the town, especially tin plates, the direct trade in which between Swansea and American ports has within the last two years attained great importance ; and the im- ports include chiefly metallic ores, timber, and various kind of pro- visions. Shipbuilding and ship-repairing are carried on, but the industry is of minor importance. Swansea owes its origin to the erection of the castle in 1099 by Henry Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, who introduced into it a gar- rison of English and Flemish colonists. The fortress was frequently assaulted in the 12th and 13th centuries, and in 1260 was burned down by Llewelyn ab Grwfydd, last prince of North Wales. During the insurrection of Owen Gleudower against Henry IV. it was again destroyed. Swansea was created a borough by a charter of King John, which is said to be preserved among the records of the Tower of London. The earliest charter in possession of the corporation is that granted by Henry III. in 1234, conferring upon it freedom from toll pontage and other customs. Its privileges were confirmed by Edward II. and Edward III. The town was during the Civil War alternately in the hands of both parties, but in 1647 the castle was dismantled by the Parliamentarians, after which Oliver Cromwell was made lord of Swansea, of the signiory of Gower, and of the manor of Kelvey. The corporation now consists of a mayor, 6 aldermen, and 18 councillors, and the borough has a commission of the peace. From the reign of Henry VIII. it contri- buted along with other boroughs to return a member to parliament. In 1658 it received a charter from Cromwell permitting it to return a member for itself, but after the Restoration it resumed its character as contributory. In 1832 it became the head of a new district of boroughs, and in 1885 it received separate representation, while a portion of its area was also included in a district of boroughs to which it gives the name. In the reign of Edward IV. the castle same by marriage to the Somerset family, and it is held by the duke of Beaufort, whose title of Baron Herbert of Gower dates from 1506. SWARTZ, OLOF (1760-1818), a celebrated Swedish botanist, was born in 1760. He commenced his botanical studies in Upsala, under Linnaeus and Thunberg, and began early to make excursions. He made a voyage to America in 1783, visited England in 1788, returned to Sweden in 1789, and was made professor of natural history in Stockholm. He was the author of many systematic works, and largely extended our knowledge of both flowering plants and cryptogams. He died in 1818. See Sachs, Geschichte d. Botanik. SWATOW (also, less frequently, SWAKTOW and SHAN- TOW), a port of China, in the province of Kwang-tung, opened to foreign trade in 1869. It is situated at the mouth of the main branch of the river Han, which 30 miles inlarid flows past the great city of Chow-chu or Tai-chu (Tie-chu), and the surrounding country is more populous and full of towns and villages than any other part of the province. English merchants settled on Double Island in the river as early as 1856 ; but the city, which is built on ground but recently recovered from the sea, was formerly a mere fishing village. The trade of the port has rapidly increased. In 1869 718 vessels of all nations entered or cleared (of 310,500 tons burden), in 1884 1387 vessels (1,282,936 tons) the total value of the trade being respectively 4,800,000 and 5,519,772. The surrounding country is a great sugar-cane district produc- ing annually about 2,000,000 piculs ( = 133 ft>) of sugar, and there is an extensive refinery in the town employing upwards of 600 workmen and possessing a reservoir for 7,000,000 gallons of water. Next in value comes the manu- facture of bean-cake, which is also imported in large quanti-