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# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Gandersheim

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​GANDERSHEIM, a town of Germany in the duchy of Brunswick, in the deep valley of the Gande, 48 m. S.W. of Brunswick, on the railway Böissum-Holzminden. Pop. (1905) 2847. It has two Protestant churches of which the convent church (Stiftskirche) contains the tombs of famous abbesses, a palace (now used as law courts) and the famous abbey (now occupied by provincial government offices). There are manufactures of linen, cigars, beet-root sugar and beer.
The abbey of Gandersheim was founded by Duke Ludolf of Saxony, who removed here in 856 the nuns who had been shortly before established at Brunshausen. His own daughter Hathumoda was the first abbess, who was succeeded on her death by her sister Gerberga. Under Gerberga’s government Louis III. granted a privilege, by which the office of abbess was to continue in the ducal family of Saxony as long as any member was found competent and willing to accept the same. Otto III. gave the abbey a market, a right of toll and a mint; and after the bishop of Hildesheim and the archbishop of Mainz had long contested with each other about its supervision, Pope Innocent III. declared it altogether independent of both. The abbey was ultimately recognized as holding directly of the Empire, and the abbess had a vote in the imperial diet. The conventual estates were of great extent, and among the feudatories who could be summoned to the court of the abbess were the elector of Hanover and the king of Prussia. Protestantism was introduced in 1568, and Magdalena, the last Roman Catholic abbess, died in 1589; but Protestant abbesses were appointed to the foundation, and continued to enjoy their imperial privileges till 1803, when Gandersheim was incorporated with Brunswick. The last abbess, Augusta Dorothea of Brunswick, was a princess of the ducal house, and kept her rank till her death. The memory of Gandersheim will long be preserved by its literary memorials. Hroswitha, the famous Latin poet, was a member of the sisterhood in the 9th century; and the rhyming chronicle of Eberhard of Gandersheim ranks as in all probability the earliest historical work composed in low German.
The Chronicle, which contains an account of the first period of the monastery, is edited by L. Wieland in the Monumenta Germ. historica (1877), and has been the object of a special study by Paul Hasse (Göttingen, 1872). See also “Agii vita Hathumodae abbatissae Gandershemensis primae,” in J. G. von Eckhart’s Veterum monumentorum quaternio (Leipzig, 1720); and Hase, Mittelalterliche Baudenkmäler Niedersachsens (1870).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Gandharva

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​GANDHARVA, in Hindu mythology, the term used to denote (1) in the Rig-Veda usually a minor deity; (2) in later writings a class of divine beings. As a unity Gandharva has no special attributes but many duties, and is in close relation with the great gods. Thus he is director of the sun’s horses; he is guardian of ​soma, the sacred liquor, and therefore is regarded as the heavenly physician, soma being a panacea. He is servant of Agni the god of light and of Varuna the divine judge. He is omnipresent: in the heavens, in the air and in the waters. He is the keeper of heaven’s secrets and acts as messenger between gods and men. He is gorgeously clothed and carries shining weapons. For wife he has the spirit of the clouds and waters, Apsaras, and by her became father of the first mortals, Yama and Yami. He is the tutelary deity of women and presides over marriage ceremonies. In their collective capacity the Gandharva share the duties allotted to the single deity. They live in the house of Indra and with their wives, the Apsaras, beguile the time by singing, acting and dancing. Sometimes they are represented as numbering twelve, sometimes twenty-seven, or they are innumerable. In Hindu law a Gandharva marriage is one contracted by mutual consent and without formality.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Gandamak

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​GANDAMAK, a village of Afghanistan, 35 m. from Jalalabad on the road to Kabul. On the retreat from Kabul of General Elphinstone’s army in 1842, a hill near Gandamak was the scene of the massacre of the last survivors of the force, twenty officers and forty-five British soldiers. It is also notable for the treaty of Gandamak, which was signed here in 1879 with Yakub Khan. (See Afghanistan.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Gamut

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​GAMUT (from the Greek letter gamma, used as a musical symbol, and ut, the first syllable of the medieval hymn Sanctus Johannes), a term in music used to mean generally the whole compass or range of notes possessed by an instrument or voice. Historically, however, the sense has developed from its stricter musical meaning of a scale (the recognized musical scale of any period), originating in the medieval “great scale,” of which the invention has usually been ascribed to Guido of Arezzo (q.v.) in the 11th century. The whole question is somewhat obscure, but, in the evolution of musical notation out of the classical alphabetical system, the invention of the medieval gamut is more properly assigned to Hucbald (d. 930). In his system of scales the semitone was always between the 2nd and 3rd of a tetrachord, as G, A ͡♭ B, C, so the ♮ B and ♯ F of the second octave were in false relation to the ♭ B and ♮ F of the first two tetrachords. To this scale of four notes, G, A, ͡♭ B, C, were subsequently added a note below and a note above, which made the hexachord with the semitone between the 3rd and 4th both up and down, as F, G, A, ͡♭ B, C, D. It was at a much later date that the 7th, our leading note, was admitted into a key, and for this the first two letters of the last line of the above-named hymn, “Sanctus Johannes,” would have been used, save for the notion that as the note Mi was at a semitone below Fa, the same vowel should be heard at a semitone below the upper Ut, and the syllable Si was substituted for Sa. Long afterwards the syllable Ut was replaced by Do in Italy, but it is still retained in France; and in these two countries, with whatever others employ their nomenclature, the original Ut and the substituted Do stand for the sound defined by the letter C in English and German terminology. The literal musical alphabet thus accords with the syllabic:
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G |
| La, | Si, | Ut or Do, | Re, | Mi, | Fa, | Sol. |
In Germany a remnant of Greek use survives. A was originally followed in the scale by the semitone above, as the classical Mesē was followed by Paramesē, and this note, namely ♭ B, is still called B in German, English ♮ B (French and Italian Si) being represented by the letter H. The gamut which, whenever instituted, did not pass out of use until the 19th century, regarded the hexachord and not the octachord, employed both letters and syllables, made the former invariable while changing the latter according to key relationship, and acknowledged only the three keys of G, C and F; it took its name from having the Greek letter gamma with Ut for its lowest keynote, though the Latin letters with the corresponding syllables were applied to all the other notes.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Gando

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​GANDO, a sultanate of British West Africa, included in the protectorate of Nigeria, situated on the left bank of the Niger above Borgu. The sultanate was established, c. 1819, on the death of Othman Dan Fodio, the founder of the Fula empire, and its area and importance varied considerably during the 19th century, several of the Fula emirates being regarded as tributaries, while Gando itself was more or less dependent on Sokoto. Gando in the middle of the century included both banks of the Niger at least as far N.W. as Say. The districts outside the British protectorate now belong to France. Since 1884 Gando has been in treaty relations with the British, and in 1903 the part assigned to the British sphere by agreement with France came definitely under the control of the administration in Nigeria. Gando now forms the sub-province of the double province of Sokoto. The emir was appointed under British authority after the conquest of Sokoto in 1903. Since that date the province has been organized for administration on the same system as the rest of the protectorate of Northern Nigeria. Provincial and native courts of justice have been established, roads have been opened, the slave trade has been abolished, and the country assessed under the new scheme for taxation. British garrisons are stationed at Jegga and Ambrusa. The chief town is Gando, situated on the Sokoto, the first considerable affluent of the Niger from the east, about 60 m. S.W. of the town of Sokoto.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Game

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​GAME, a word which in its primary and widest significance means any amusement or sport, often combined in the early examples with “glee,” “play,” “joy” or “solace.” It is a common Teutonic word, in O. Eng. gamen, in O.H.G. gaman, but only appears in modern usage outside English in Dan. gammen and Swed. gamman. The ulterior derivation is obscure, but philologists have identified it with the Goth. gaman, companion or companionship; if this be so, it is compounded of the prefix ga-, with, and the root seen in “man.” Apart from its primary and general meaning the word has two specific applications, first to a contest played as a recreation or as an exhibition of skill, in accordance with rules and regulations; and, secondly, to those wild animals which are the objects of the chase, and their flesh as used for food, distinguished as such from meat, fish and poultry, and from the flesh of deer, to which the name “venison” is given. For “game,” from the legal aspect, and the laws relating to its pursuit and capture see Game Laws. The athletic contests of the ancient Greeks (ἀγῶνες) and the public shows (ludi) of the arena and amphitheatre of the ancient Romans are treated below (Games, Classical); the various forms of modern games, indoor and outdoor, whether of skill, strength or chance, are dealt with under their specific titles. A special use (“gaming” or “gambling”) restricts the term to the playing of games for money, or to betting and wagering on the results of events, as in horse-racing, &c. (see Gaming and Wagering). “Gamble,” “gambler” and “gambling” appear very late in English. The earliest quotations in the New English Dictionary for the three words are dated 1775, 1747 and 1784 respectively. They were first regarded as cant or slang words, and implied a reproach, either as referring to cheats or sharpers, or to those who played recklessly for extravagant stakes. The form of the words is obscure, but is supposed to represent a local variation gammle of the M.E. gamenian. From this word must, of course, be distinguished “gambol,” to sport, frisk, which, as the older forms (gambald, gambaud) show, is from the Fr. gambade, leap, jump, of a horse, It. gambado, gamba, leg (Mod. Fr. jambe).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Gandak

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​GANDAK, a river of northern India. It rises in the Nepal-Himalayas, flows south-west until it reaches British territory, where it forms the boundary between the United Provinces and Bengal for a considerable portion of its course, and falls into the Ganges opposite Patna. It is a snow-fed stream, and the surrounding country in the plains, lying at a lower level than its banks, is endangered by its floods. The river is accordingly enclosed by protective embankments.
The Little Gandak rises in the Nepal hills, enters Gorakhpur district about 8 m. west of the Gandak, and joins the Gogra just within the Saran district of Bengal.
The Burhi (or old) Gandak also rises in the Nepal hills, and follows a course roughly parallel to and east of that of the Gandak, of which it represents an old channel, passing Muzaffarpur, and joining the Ganges nearly opposite to Moughjr. Its principal tributary is the Baghmati, which rises in the hills N. of Kathmandu, flows in a southerly direction through Tirhut, and joins the Burhi Gandak close to Rusera.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Kara-Kul

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​KARA-KUL, the name of two lakes (“Great” and “Little “) of Russian Turkestan, in the province of Ferghana, and on the Pamir plateau. Great Kara-kul, 12 m. long and 10 m. wide (formerly much larger), is under 39° N., to the south of the Trans-Alai range, and lies at an altitude of 13,200 ft.; it is surrounded by high mountains, and is reached from the north over the Kyzyl-art pass (14,015 ft.). A peninsula projecting from the south shore and an island off the north shore divide it into two basins, a smaller eastern one which is shallow, 42 to 63 ft., and a larger western one, which has depths of 726 to 756 ft. It has no drainage outlet. Little Kara-kul lies in the north-east Pamir, or Sarikol, north-west of the Mustagh-ata peak (25,850 ft.), at an altitude of 12,700 ft. It varies in depth from 79 ft. in the south to 50 to 70 ft. in the middle, and 1000 ft. or more in the north. It is a moraine lake; and a stream of the same name flows through it, but is named Ghez in its farther course towards Kashgar in East Turkestan.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Kara Mustafa

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​KARA MUSTAFA (d. 1683), Turkish vizier, surnamed “Merzifunli,” was a son of Uruj Bey, a notable Sipahi of Merzifun (Marsovan), and brother-in-law to Ahmed Kuprili, whom he succeeded as grand vizier in 1676, after having for some years held the office of Kaimmakam or locum tenens. His greed and ostentation were equalled by his incapacity, and he behaved with characteristic insolence to the foreign ambassadors, from whom he extorted large bribes. After conducting a campaign in Poland which terminated unfortunately, he gave a ready response to the appeal for aid made by the Hungarians under Imre Thököly (q.v.) when they rose against Austria, his hope being to form out of the Habsburg dominions a Mussulman empire of the West, of which he should be the sultan. The plan was foiled in part by his own lack of military skill, but chiefly through the heroic resistance of Vienna and its timely relief by John Sobieski, king of Poland. Kara Mustafa paid for his defeat with his life; he was beheaded at Belgrade in 1683 and his head was brought to the sultan on a silver dish.
Another Kara Mustafa Pasha (d. 1643), who figures in Turkish history, was by birth a Hungarian, who was enrolled in the Janissaries, rose to be Kapudan Pasha under Murad IV., and after the capture of Bagdad was made grand vizier. He was severe, but just and impartial, and strove to effect necessary reforms by reducing the numbers of the Janissaries, improving the coinage, and checking the state expenditure. But the discontent of the Janissaries led to his dismissal and death in 1643.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Kara Sea

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​KARA SEA, a portion of the Arctic Ocean demarcated, and except on the north-west completely enclosed, by Novaya Zemlya, Vaygach Island and the Siberian coast. It is approached from the west by three straits—Matochkin, between the two islands of Novaya Zemlya, and Kara and Yugor to the north and south of Vaygach Island respectively. On the south-east Kara Bay penetrates deeply into the mainland, and to the west of this the short Kara river enters the sea. The sea is all shallow, the deepest parts lying off Vaygach Island and the northern part of Novaya Zemlya. It had long the reputation of being almost constantly ice-bound, but after the Norwegian captain Johannesen had demonstrated its accessibility in 1869, and Nordenskiöld had crossed it to the mouth of the Yenisei in 1875, it was considered by many to offer a possible trade route between European Russia and the north of Siberia. But the open season is in any case very short, and the western straits are sometimes ice-bound during the entire year.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Karaiskakis, Georges

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​KARAISKAKIS, GEORGES (1782–1827), leader in the War of Greek Independence, was born at Agrapha in 1782. During the earlier stages of the war he served in the Morea, and had a somewhat discreditable share in the intrigues which divided the Greek leaders. But he showed a sense of the necessity for providing the country with a government, and was a steady supporter of Capo d’Istria. His most honourable services were performed in the middle and later stages of the war. He helped to raise the first siege of Missolonghi in 1823, and did his best to save the town in the second siege in 1826. In that year he commanded the patriot forces in Rumelia, and though he failed to co-operate effectually with other chiefs, or with the foreign sympathizers fighting for the Greeks, he gained some successes against the Turks which were very welcome amid the disasters of the time. He took a share in the unsuccessful attempts to raise the siege of Athens in 1827, and made an effort to prevent the disastrous massacre of the Turkish garrison of fort S Spiridion. He was shot in action on the 4th of May 1827. Finlay speaks of him as a capable partisan leader who had great influence over his men, and describes him as of “middle size, thin, dark-complexioned, with a bright expressive animal eye which indicated gipsy blood.”
See G. Finlay, History of the Greek Revolution (London, 1861).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Kara-Kalpaks

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​KARA-KALPAKS (“Black Caps”), a Mongolo-Tatar people, originally dominant along the east coast of the Aral Sea, where they still number some thousands. They thus form geographically the transition between the northern Kirghiz and the southern Turkomans. Once a powerful nation, they are scattered for the most part in Astrakhan, Perm, Orenburg, in the Caucasian province of Kuban, and in Tobolsk, Siberia, numbering in all about 50,000. These emigrants have crossed much with the alien populations among whom they have settled; but the pure type on the Aral Sea are a tall powerful people, with broad flat faces, large eyes, short noses and heavy chins. Their women are the most beautiful in Turkestan. The name of “Black Caps” is given them in allusion to their high sheepskin hats. They are a peaceful agricultural folk, who have suffered much from their fierce nomad neighbours.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Kara-Kum

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​KARA-KUM (“Black Sands”), a flat desert in Russian Central Asia. It extends to nearly 110,000 sq. m., and is bounded on the N.W. by the Ust-urt plateau, between the Sea of Aral and the Caspian Sea, on the N.E. by the Amu-darya, on the S. by the Turkoman oases, and on the W. it nearly reaches the Caspian ​Sea. Only part of this surface is covered with sand. There are broad expanses (takyrs) of clay soil upon which water accumulates in the spring; in the summer these are muddy, but later quite dry, and merely a few Solanaceae and bushes grow on them. There is also shor, similar to the above but encrusted with salt and gypsum, and relieved only by Solanaceae along their borders. The remainder is occupied with sand, which, according to V. Mainov, assumes five different forms. (1) Barkhans, chiefly in the east, which are mounds of loose sand, 15 to 35 ft. high, hoof-shaped, having their gently sloping convex sides turned towards the prevailing winds, and a concave side, 30° to 40° steep, on the opposite slope. They are disposed in groups or chains, and the winds drive them at an average rate of 20 ft. annually towards the south and south-east. Some grass (Stipa pennata) and bushes of saksaul (Haloxylon ammodendron) and other steppe bushes (e.g. Calligonium, Halimodendron and Atraphaxis) grow on them. (2) Mounds of sand, of about the same size, but irregular in shape and of a slightly firmer consistence, mostly bearing the same bushes, and also Artemisia and Tamarix; they are chiefly met with in the east and south. (3) A sandy desert, slightly undulating, and covered in spring with grass and flowers (e.g. tulips, Rheum, various Umbelliferae), which are soon burned by the sun; they cover very large spaces in the south-east. (4) Sands disposed in waves from 50 to 70 ft., and occasionally up to 100 ft. high, at a distance of from 200 to 400 ft. from each other; they cover the central portion, and their vegetation is practically the same as in the preceding division. (5) Dunes on the shores of the Caspian, composed of moving sands, 35 to 80 ft. high and devoid of vegetation.
A typical feature of the Kara-kum is the number of “old river beds,” which may have been either channels of tributaries of the Amu and other rivers or depressions which contained elongated salt lakes. Water is only found in wells, 10 to 20 m. apart—sometimes as much as 100 m.—which are dug in the takyrs and give saline water, occasionally unfit to drink, and in pools of rain-water retained in the lower parts of the takyrs. The population of the Kara-kum, consisting of nomad Kirghiz and Turkomans, is very small. The region in the north of the province of Syr-darya, between Lake Aral and Lake Chalkarteniz, is also called Kara-kum.  (P. A. K.; J. T. Be.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Irbit

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​IRBIT, a town of Russia, in the government of Perm, 110 m. N.E. of Ekaterinburg, and on the Irbit river. Pop. (1860) 3408, (1897) 20,064. It is famous for a great fair, held since 1643, which lasts from the 1st of February to the 1st of March (O.S.), and at which are sold (to an average annual value of over £4,000,000) cottons, woollens, flax and hemp, silks, leather, metals, metallic and other manufactured goods, furs, hides, felt, raw wool and tea.