Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/812

 T96 GIAOUR GIBBON ing columns. This portion is about 100 yards in length, extending from high-water mark to within 20 ft. of the cliff. The other portions are more uneven, and the columns in them are not uniformly vertical, but slope outward along the sides. The name causeway is given to the group from the circumstance of the col- umns terminating at a nearly uniform height, and thus presenting a tolerably smooth area gently inclining to the water. The columns of basalt do not retain their articulated char- acter throughout the cliffs. At Fairhead they rise in single pieces, and, as measured by the officers of the ordnance trigonometrical sur- vey of Ireland, some are found to stand 317 ft. in height, with sides occasionally of 5 ft. in breadth. These are flat at their extremities. The formation is intersected by narrow dikes of columnar basalt, in which the prisms are piled horizontally, ranging across the line of the dikes. (See BASALT.) In this region it ap- pears to have been protruded after the period of the deposition of the lias and chalk, the strata of these formations being penetrated by its dikes and overlaid by its horizontal beds. GIAOUR, a term of insult applied by the Turks to all unbelievers in Mohammedanism, and especially to Christians. The sultan Mah- moud II. forbade his subjects to apply it to any European Christian. It is a corruption of the Arabic Ma/fir, and is equivalent to "heathen," "pagan," or "infidel." GIBBON (hylobates), a genus of apes, some- times called wood- walkers from their astonish- ing agility in swinging from tree to tree. They seem to form a connecting link between the Gibbon (Hylobates). apes and the baboons, having in a small degree the posterior callosities of the latter. The arms are of enormous length, the chest capa- cious, the legs short, the hair soft, and the voice very loud. They rarely exceed 4 ft. in height, and many are under 3 ; the arms reach to the ground, and when extended are twice the length of the body. The white-handed gibbon (H. lar) varies in color from black to brown, the hands being much lighter ; it is an inhabitant of Malacca and Siam. The agile gibbon (H. agilis) and the silvery gibbon (H. leuciscits), of the same countries, are nearly allied species, or perhaps mere varieties. The gibbons are the most active of the quadrumana in the trees, but very awkward on the ground ; very shy in their native haunts, in captivity they are the most docile and gentle of the apes ; they generally live in pairs. One vari- ety is sometimes called hoolock. GIBBON, Edward, an English historian, born in Putney, April 27, 1737, died in London, elan. 16, 1794. He was the eldest of a family of six sons and a daughter, all the rest of whom died in infancy, and he was so feeble in his youth that he seemed likely to share their fate. At the age of seven a domestic tutor, John Kirby, taught him the elements of Latin. In his ninth year, during "a lucid interval of health," as he says in his "Memoirs," he was sent to the grammar school of Kingston-upon-Thames, where he remained two years. His mother hav- ing died in 1747, he removed with his father and aunt to Buriton, Hampshire, where he began to read voluminously. In January, 1749, his aunt opened a boarding house for Westminster scholars, and Gibbon enjoyed her care while he attended the school, but, owing to delicate health, learned little. In his 16th year his health improved, a sudden change took place in his constitution, his mind seemed to gain new activity, and he read assiduously, chiefly on historical subjects. In 1752 he went to Ox- ford, and, neglected by his tutor, gave himself to general reading. He was then fond of ori- ental research, and bought the Bibliotheque orientate of D'Herbelot with his spare money. He began to write a treatise on the " Age of Sesostris," which was probably a crude effort, for he burned it 20 years afterward. He busied himself also with religious investigation, and having read Bossuet's " Variations of Protes- tantism" and "Exposition of Catholic Doc- trine," as well as other controversial writings, became a Roman Catholic. He went from Oxford to London, and there, before a Catholic priest, abjured Protestantism, and announced his act to his father in a long letter. The father revealed the secret, and Gibbon was ex- pelled from Oxford, after a residence there of 14 months. He was next consigned to Switz- erland in a kind of exile, and placed under the care of M. Pavillard, a Calvinistic minister at Lausanne, who it was hoped would recon- vert him. He lived in a plain manner in M. Pavillard's house, and at first lamented the loss of English luxury. But soon his passion for study revived; he read systematically the Latin, Greek, and French classics, Crousaz, Locke, and Grotius, and was especially delight- ed with the "Provincial Letters" of Pascal, from which he learned " to manage the weapon