Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/683

 GENEVISVE GENGHIS KHAN 6T1 curious phenomenon of a rise and fall of from 2 to 5 ft. in the course of 25 minutes. These changes of level, called seiches, have never been fully accounted for, but are supposed to be ow- ing to the unequal pressure of the atmosphere upon different parts of the surface. They are independent of the wind, and most frequent when the clouds are low and heavy. The lake is never frozen over, though ice forms in win- ter near its lower extremity. Its waters are pure and bright blue, like those of the Medi- terranean. The Rhone enters it at the E. end a dark muddy stream, and leaves it near Ge- neva perfectly pellucid and of the finest azure hue. The debris brought down by this stream are deposited around the upper end, and have made considerable encroachments upon its ba- sin. Port Valais, 1-J- m. inland, was formerly situated on the shore, and the waters are said to have extended as far as Bex, 12 m. up the Rh6ne. About 40 small streams discharge themselves into this lake. It has fewer fish than other Swiss lakes, but contains excellent trout, pike, carp, and perch, and a kind of sal- mon. Steamers ply daily between Geneva at the W. and Villeneuve at the E. end. The scenery is an unfailing theme of admiration to travellers. On the north are beautiful vine- covered hills dotted with villages ; opposite, the abrupt cliffs of the Chablais rise 5,000 ft. above the lake. The majestic Alps are seen beyond them through the openings. On the east, between the lofty summits of the Dent de Morcles and the Dent du Midi, about 9,000 ft. high, a narrow pass opens into Valais, while at the W. end the lake narrows almost to a point, and terminates among the pleasant slopes on which stand the city and suburbs of Geneva. The lake is famous in literary history as the scene of the Nouvelle Helo'ise, and for the abode in its vicinity of many celebrated authors. GENE VIE VE. I. The patron saint of Paris, born in Nanterre about 422, died in Paris in 512. According to the most common tradition, her parents, Severus and Gerontia, were very poor, and Genevi&ve's early occupation was tending flocks. On the summit of Mont Valerien is a field which still bears her name, as well as a spring and grotto at its foot. In her 15th year she was dedicated to the divine service by St. Germanus of Auxerre. She predicted in 449 the invasion of the Huns under Attila, and when in 451 he threatened to attack Paris, her prayers were believed to have saved that city. Again, during the protracted siege of Paris by the Franks under Olovis, she animated the courage of the citizens, and contrived to in- troduce into the city a supply of provisions. When Paris fell, Genevieve's intercession saved the vanquished from harsh measures. She was revered by Clovis, and was buried near him in the church of Sts. Peter and Paul, which he had built, and which together with the ad- joining abbey bore her name. Her shrine, said to be the work of St. Eloi, was replaced in the 13th century by one much larger and richer, 350 VOL. vii. 43 which was long considered the palladium of Paris. It was sent to the mint in 1791, and the relics it contained were burned. A monumen- tal church, begun by the architect Soufflot in 1757, was named the Pantheon in 1791, and restored to public worship in 1852, under the title of St. Genevi&ve. The stone sarcophagus which formerly contained her remains has been transferred to the church St. tienne-du-Mont. The life of St. Genevieve, written by her con- temporary Genesius, was restored to its origi- nal simplicity by the Bollandists, and repub- lished in 1643 in the Acta Sanctorum. Her feast is celebrated on Jan. 3. II. A daughter of the duke of Brabant, born about 680. Ha- giographers and historians have spoken of Genevieve de Brabant sometimes as a canon- ized saint, sometimes as only beatified ; the Bollandists say her feast was kept in April ; but she was never acknowledged as a saint by Rome. Her history, the subject of so much romance and poetry, may thus be condensed from the best sources. She was married about 700 to Sigfrid, count palatine of Oftendick in the territory of Treves. He was summoned to attend Charles Martel on his expedition against the Saracens, leaving his wife and es- tates to the guardianship of one of his knights named Golo. The lady, whose pregnancy was not known to her husband, had now to resist the criminal solicitations of Golo, who after the birth of her boy accused her of adultery, and obtained from Sigfrid an order to put mother and child to death. Instead of execu- ting this order, Golo abandoned them in a for- est, where they subsisted for several years, until they were discovered by Sigfrid during a hunt, and carried back in triumph to his cas- tle of Hohen-Simmern. Genevieve, in thanks- giving for her preservation, had a chapel built on the spot which had sheltered her babe and herself. The ruins of this chapel, called Frau- enkirchen, are still visible, and contain, togeth- er with the despoiled tombs of Genevieve and Sigfrid, an altar on which are rudely sculp- tured the main facts of their history. GENGHIS (or Zingis) KHAN, an Asiatic con- queror, born about 1160, died in August, 1227. His father was the chief of a horde, consisting of numerous families or clans, and tributary to the khan of eastern Tartary. When born, the child had his hand full of blood ; and, pleased by the interpretation of this sign as a predic- tion of conquest and glory, the father procured for Genghis, or, as he was then called, Temud- jin, an able teacher, who soon developed in him a talent for government and war. Te- mudjin was only in his 14th year when he succeeded his father, and after some reverses he made himself master of the neighboring tribes, 70 of whose chiefs are said to have been thrown into kettles of boiling water at his command. Against a league of more numerous tribes he was also victorious, but was unable to subdue them, and compelled to invoke the protection of Vang or Ung, the great khan of