tains a theatre, a library, and a branch of the National Bank. Population, in 1903, about 9000. GUALEGUAYCHÚ, gwä'lå-gwi-choo'. A city in the Province of Entre Rios, Argentina, situated on the Gualeguaychú River, 12 miles from its junction with the Uruguay (Map: Argentina, F 10). The town has a library and a school, various milling establishments, important manufactures of beef extracts, and an active river trade. Population, in 1903, about 15,000. GUAM, gwäm, or GUAJÁN, gwå-Hän'. The largest of the Ladrone Islands (q.v.), lying in the Pacific Ocean, and belonging to the United States. It is the southernmost of the group, and is situated in latitude 13° 30′ N., and longitude 144° 45′ E., about 1500 miles east of Manila, and nearly the same distance southeast of Yokohama. It is 29 miles long and from 3 to 10 miles wide, and has an area of 150 square miles according to Wheeler's report, and 198.4 square miles according to Supan. The northern half consists of a level and barren plateau 250 feet above the sea, toward which it falls abruptly on all sides; the southern half is mountainous, and the whole island is surrounded by a coral reef, with here and there a break permitting entrance to the harbors, of which the largest and best is that of Apra, on the western coast. The climate is humid, with rain at all seasons, but not unhealthful. The indigenous flora is poor and little varied, the principal trees being the cocoanut-palm and the bread-fruit tree. Rice, maize, sugar, coffee, and cacao are also cultivated, and the farms are well stocked with domestic animals imported by the Spaniards. Agriculture and fishing are al most the only occupations of the inhabitants, who consist chiefly of aboriginal Chamorros intermixed with Tagalos and Malays. It is important as a naval station and port of transit between America and Asia, to which end the harbor of Apra is being extensively improved. The population, in 1901, was 9676, of whom more than half live in the capital, Agaña (q.v.). Guam was captured by the United States cruiser Charleston on June 21, 1898, and by the Treaty of Paris was ceded by Spain to the United States. Consult : Griffis, List of Books (with references to periodicals) on Samoa and Guam (Washington, 1901); Wheeler, Report on the Island of Guam (Washington, 1900); Guam (Washington, 1905). GUAN, gwän (South American name). A gallinaceous bird of Central and South America, often domesticated. It belongs to the same family (Cracidae) as the curassow, the guans constituting the subfamily Penelopinæ. They have been separated into seven genera, of which Penelope (16 species) and Ortalis (19 species) are the largest. All are rather large, varying from the body size of a grouse to that of a goose. Their plumage is mainly black, glossed with green, and varied with white and brown; nearly all have the throat bare, and many have pendent gular wattles. Their heads are often crested, and their tails are long and gracefully carried. They go about in large flocks, but separate into pairs during the breeding season, and spend most of their time in the high forest trees, descending to the ground in search of fallen fruits, insects, and the like. Their nests are placed in trees, on bushes, or on the ground. Only one species ranges sufficiently far north to enter the United States. This is the Texan guan or 'chachalaca' (Ortalis vetula, var. McCalli), which is a dark, glossy, olivaceous-green bird nearly two feet long; but one-half of the length is due to the graduated tail of twelve feathers. It is noisy in the breeding season (April), the name chachalaca being imitative of its notes, which are as harsh and loud as those of a guinea fowl; and all the guans of a neighborhood join in a stentorian chorus at sunrise each morning. These birds may be easily tamed, and to a certain extent are domesticated about the rural villages; but there seems little and useful fowl. See Plate of GROUSE, ETC. probability of their becoming a really widespread GUANABACOA, gwä'nå-Bȧ-kō'à. A town of Cuba, situated a few miles east of Havana, on the Havana-Matanzas Railway line (Map: Cuba, C 3). It is built chiefly on a range of hills, and is surrounded by groves of trees, watered by numerous springs. It has a theatre, a lyceum, and a hospital. It was formerly an ancient Indian town, but the Indians were supplanted by Spaniards before the end of the sixteenth century. It received its town charter on August 14, 1743. In 1762 it was sacked by the English. Population, in 1899, 20,080. Its American name huanaco, huanaca). The larger GUANACO, gwå-nä’kô (Sp., from the South of the two wild species of the camel family inhabiting South America, of which the llama and alpaca are domesticated varieties. This animal hornless goat-antelope than of a camel. (Lama guanaco) has more the appearance of a back is flat and straight, its legs in fair proportion, its head small and neat, with long, pointed, expressive ears, and its tail reduced to a bushy stump. A full-grown male stands about with a thick coat of long, almost woolly hair, four feet high at the shoulder, and is covered pale reddish in color, and longest and palest on the under parts. Domestication and artificial breeding with reference to the improvement of this coat has produced the alpaca (q.v.). The guanaco is distributed throughout South America wherever a temperate climate exists. It inhabits the valleys of the Andes as far north vicunias (the other species of the genus, Lama as Bolivia and Ecuador, in company with the vicunia), and there has habits very similar to its mountain-keeping relatives; but on the plains of Patagonia it ranges to the shores of the Atlantic and of Magellan's Straits, and moves about in herds. The pairing season comes in August and September, and the young are born in May and June. They feed upon the pungent herbage of the Patagonian deserts, as well as upon the bitter grasses of the Pampas, and furnish to the wandering natives their principal flesh food, and the only skins useful for clothing or tent-making, except those of the rheas. The Gauchos hunt them extensively also, and they form the principal prey of the puma, so that they take the place in South America of the antelopes of other plains regions. The guanaco also occurs on Tierra del Fuego and neighboring islands, and swims readily from one to the other. Over a large part of its habitat none but salt water is to be had, and this it drinks readily. One very curious circumstance in its history is its habit of resorting to certain places in river valleys when it feels ill, so that nearly all which die a natural death seem to do so at these spots. This has been plausibly explained as due to the influence of an instinct inherited from the time when the country was much colder, and whenever storms or other distress afflicted the animals, they were accustomed to seek a covert in the bushes which grew only alongside the sunken streams. Consult: Tschudi, Reisen durch Sud-Amerika (Leipzig, 1866-69); Darwin, A Naturalist's Voyage (London, 1860); Cunningham, Natural History of the Straits of Magellan (London, 1871); Hudson, The Naturalist in La Plata (London, 1892); Spears, Gold Diggings of Cape Horn (New York, 1895). See LLAMA; VICUÑA; Plate of CAMELS AND LLAMAS. GUANAHANI, gwa'nä-hä'ne. The name given by the natives to the island on which Columbus first landed, and which he called San Salvador. It is identified by some with Cat Island, one of the Bahamas, while others believe it to be the present Watling's Island, belonging to the same group. GUANAJAY, gwä'nå-HI'. The chief town of the department of the same name in the Province of Pinar del Rio, Cuba (Map: Cuba, C 3). It is situated a short distance from the Puerto del Mariel, 20 miles west of Havana, and is the terminus of the Havana and Guanajay Railroad. It is surrounded by hills, and is one of the best health resorts in the province. Population, in 1899, 8796. GUANAJUATO, gwä'nå-Hwä'to. An inland State of Mexico, bounded on the north by the State of San Luis Potosí, on the east by Queretaro, on the south by Michoacan, and on the west by Jalisco (Map: Mexico, H 7). Area, 10,951 square miles. The State lies entirely within the great central plateau of Mexico, Anahuac (q.v.), whose average elevation is 6000 feet above the sea. The surface is mountainous in the northern half, where it is traversed by the Sierra Gordo and Sierra de Guanajuato, while the southern half is more level. The chief rivers are the Lerma and its two tributaries, the Laja and the Turbio. There are a number of lakes in the southern part of the State, and mineral springs abound. The climate is moderate in the plains and somewhat cold in the mountains. In the valleys and plains the chief industries are agriculture and stock-raising, while in the mountainous regions mining ranks first. The chief agricultural products are corn, wheat, barley, tropical fruits, and red pepper. The mineral wealth of the State is very large, silver, gold, mercury, tin, lead, and copper being represented. The annual output of the mines is valued at over $9,000,000. Guanajuato has a large number of small cotton and woolen mills, flour-mills, potteries, breweries, distilleries, etc. The State is traversed in three directions by the Mexican Central Railway, and also by two other lines. Guanajuato is one of the most densely populated States of Mexico; its population in 1900 was 1,061,724 or nearly 94 inhabitants per square mile. The capital is Guanajuato (q.v.). GUANAJUATO, or SANTA FÉ DE GUANAJUATO, sän'tå fa' dâ gwä'nȧ-нwä'tô. The capital of the State of Guanajuato, Mexico, situated in the Cañada de Marfil, 6200 feet above sealevel and 165 miles northwest of Mexico (Map: Mexico, H 7). It is Oriental in general appear. ance; its streets are deep and tortuous, but the houses are well built, and the city contains many fine public buildings, the chief of which are the cathedral, the monasteries (eight in number), the college, the gymnasium, the theatre, and the mint. In the vicinity are numerous silvermines, among the richest in all Mexico. It has manufactures of soap, chemicals, pottery, and some silverware. It has a fine system of waterworks. Population, in 1900, 41,486. Guanajuato was founded in 1554, and under Spanish rule numbered over 100,000 inhabitants, receiving the title of city in 1741. It is one of the most historic spots in Mexico, having been originally distinguished by the heroic struggle of the natives of the region against Spanish conquest. In the great war for liberation against the mother country the city was the scene of the first great battle at the storming of the Alhóndiga de Granaditas (q.v.) in 1810. It was repeatedly sacked during the long war. GUANARE, gwȧ-nä'râ. Capital of the Venezuelan State of Zamora, situated near the River Guanarito (Map: Venezuela, D 2). It is a place of great importance in the cattle trade of the country. Its population is estimated at 11,000. Guanare was founded in 1593. GUANCHOS, gwän'chôz (native Guanchinet, from guan, man + Chinet, Teneriffe). A Hamitic people, formerly numerous in the Canary Islands, associated with the ancient Canarii and Kamnurieh. Their subjugation by the Spaniards was completed about 1496, and they are now almost extinct. In craniological characters they approach the Cro-Magnon race of France, with subdolichocephalous skull, low forehead, and projecting jaws. Those who first described them say that they were a handsome people, tall, well built, athletic, and agile. Their complexion and hair were blond, but mixture with Arabs changed these characteristics in different islands. By their language and inscriptions they ally themselves with the Berbers of North Africa, and the ancient Numidians. Consult Wallach, in Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol. xviii. (London, 1887-88). GUANE, gwä'nå, or GUANES, gwä'nâs. An inland town of Cuba, in the Province of Pinar del Rio, and judicial seat of its district, about 20 miles southwest of Pinar del Rio (Map: Cuba, B 4). It is a centre of tobacco and cotton production, cattle-raising, and cedar lumbering. Population, in 1899, 14,760. GUANIDIN, gwä'ni-din (from guano), CH N. An organic substance obtained in small quantities by the direct oxidation of proteids, and readily converted into urea; it is therefore possibly one of the intermediate products of the gradual disintegration of proteids in the animal body. Guanidin is a crystalline solid substance soluble in water and alcohol; it acts as a powerful base, forming crystalline salts by combination with one molecule of acid. Chemically guanidin is an imido-urea, its constitution being represented by the following structural formula: NH, C=NH NH2 Guanidin It may be prepared synthetically by the action of ammonium chloride on cyan-amide in alcoholic solution. The most important derivatives of guanidin are kreatin and kreatinin (qq.v.), the GUANIN, gwä'nin, C,H,NO. A yellowishwhite amorphous substance, which derives its name from its being a constituent of guano. It also forms, however, the chief constituent of the excrement of spiders, has been found attached to the scales of fishes, and seems to be a normal constituent of the mammalian liver and pan creas. former being methyl-guanidin-acetic acid, the lat- forms the guano deposits, consists essentially of ter an anhydride of kreatin. nitrogenous and phosphatic compounds, the former being chiefly ammonia salts and nitrates derived from the decomposition of the uric acid and urates which exist in the fresh excrements of the birds, as well as of undecomposed or partially decomposed uric acid and urates and other orThe ammoniacal salts and ganic compounds. nitrates, and some of the phosphates, are soluble in water, and are readily washed away by rain. In dry climates, where very little rain falls, as in some parts of Bolivia and Peru, on the western coasts of South America, the deposit of excreta suffers very little from the action of the atmosphere, and retains nearly the whole of its nitrogenous and phosphatic compounds. Guanos, on the other hand, found in regions where rain falls freely, lose a great part of their soluble constituents, but remain rich in their less soluble constituents -the phosphates of lime and magnesia. Guanos may, therefore, be divided, according to their composition, into three classes: (1) Those which have suffered little from atmospheric action, and which retain nearly the whole of their original constituents, such as the Angamos and Peruvian guanos; (2) those which have lost a considerable portion of their soluble constituents, such as the which have lost nearly all their ammonia, and Ichaboe, Bolivian, and Chilean guanos; (3) those contain but little more than the earthy phosphates of the animal deposit. Many of these are largely contaminated with sand. In this class belong the African (excepting Ichaboe), West Indian, Kuria Muria, Sombrero, Patagonian, and Shark's Bay guanos. With regard to its occurrence in guano, as it has not been found in the recent excrement of sea-birds, there is every reason to believe that it is formed by slow oxidation (from atmospheric action) of uric acid, much as uric acid can be made to yield urea and oxalic acid. In the pancreas and liver it probably represents one of those transitory stages of disintegrated nitrogenous tissues which are finally excreted by the kidneys in the more highly oxidized form of urea. Guanin may be best prepared from Peruvian guano, which is for this purpose finely powdered and boiled with lime until the filtrate becomes colorless; the residue is then boiled with sodiumcarbonate solution, the liquid is filtered and precipitated with acetic acid. To purify the guanin thus obtained, it is boiled with dilute hydrochloric acid, from which it is subsequently freed by the use of concentrated ammonia. Guanin is insoluble in water, ether, alcohol, and ammonia. By the action of oxidizing agents it is converted into guanidin, parabanic acid, and carbon dioxide. The presence of guanin may be analytically detected with the aid of concentrated solutions of potassium chromate and potassium ferrocyanide, the former reagent producing an orange-colored, the latter a yellowish-brown, crystalline precipitate, in solutions of guanin. When treated with nitrous acid, guanin is transformed into xanthin. The chemical constitution of guanin has been determined by the German chemist, Emil Fischer. GUANO, gwä'no (Sp. guano, huano, from Peruvian huanu, dung). A name applied to the excrementitious deposits of sea-fowl, such as pelicans, penguins, and gulls, which are found on certain coasts and islands where the climate is dry and the rainfall slight. The deposits sometimes contain, in addition to excrementitious matter, the remains of the birds themselves, as well as of seals, walruses, and various other animals. Although the use of guano as a manure is comparatively recent, dating from about the middle of the nineteenth century, its value in agriculture was well known to the Peruvians long before they were visited by the Spaniards, probably as early as the twelfth century. Alexander von Humboldt first brought specimens of guano to Europe in 1804, and had them analyzed. Since then numerous analyses have been reported. The most noted deposits of guano are those found in the vicinity of Peru, but valuable beds have been discovered in many other parts of the worldviz. in North America, West Indies, Australia, Asia, Africa, and certain islands of the Pacific. The deposits, however, occur mainly within 10° to 20° north and south of the equator. The quality and value of the guano commercially depend almost wholly upon the amount of decomposition to which it has been subjected by the action of the atmosphere. The fecal matter of the fish eating birds, which by its long accumulation Aikman classes guanos as nitrogenous and phosphatic, and gives the following data as to the composition of the deposits which were reported as still being worked in 1894: Of the more important deposits of nitrogenous guanos which have been exhausted, Angamos contained nitrogen 20 per cent., phosphoric acid 5 per cent.; Chincha, nitrogen 14 per cent., phosphoric acid 13 per cent.; Ballestas, 12 per cent. each of nitrogen and phosphoric acid; Macabi, nitrogen 11 per cent., phosphoric acid 12 per cent.; Corcovao, nitrogen 11 per cent., phosphoric acid 15; Independence Bay, nitrogen 7 per cent., phosphoric acid 12. Among the phosphatic deposits now exhausted, but of historical interest, were Maracaibo, or Monks, with 42 per cent. of phosphoric acid; Raza Island and Curacao, 40 per cent.; Starbuck, 38 per cent.; Fanning Island and Howland, 34 per cent.; Mejil |