monsoon renders entrance difficult, and not unfrequently drives vessels from their moorings.
The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, and the construction of a breakwater at Colombo, leading to the transfer of the mail and most of the commercial steamers to the capital of the island, seriously diminished the prosperity of Galle. Although a few steamers still call to coal and take in some cargo, yet the loss of the Peninsular and Oriental and other steamer agencies reduced the port to a subordinate position; nor has the extension of the railway from Colombo, and beyond Galle to Matara, very much improved matters. The tea-planting industry has, however, spread to the neighbourhood, and a great deal is done in digging plumbago and in growing grass for the distillation of citronella oil. The export trade is chiefly represented by coco-nut oil, plumbago, coir yarn, fibre, rope and tea. In the import trade cotton goods are the chief item. Both the export and import trade for the district, however, now chiefly passes through Colombo. Pop. (1901) 37,165.
Galle is mentioned by none of the Greek or Latin geographers, unless the identification with Ptolemy’s Avium Promontorium or Cape of Birds be a correct one. It is hardly noticed in the native chronicles before 1267, and Ibn Batuta, in the middle of the 14th century, distinctly states that Kali—that is, Galle—was a small town. It was not till the period of Portuguese occupation that it rose to importance. When the Dutch succeeded the Portuguese they strengthened the fortifications, which had been vigorously defended against their admiral, Kosten; and under their rule the place had the rank of a commandancy. In the marriage treaty of the infanta of Portugal with Charles II. of England it was agreed that if the Portuguese recovered Ceylon they were to hand over Galle to the English; but as the Portuguese did not recover Ceylon the town was left to fall into English hands at the conquest of the island from the Dutch in 1796. The name Galle is derived from the Sinhalese galla, equivalent to “rock”; but the Portuguese and Dutch settlers, being better fighters than philologists, connected it with the Latin gallus, a cock, and the image of a cock was carved as a symbol of the town in the front of the old government house.
GALLENGA, ANTONIO CARLO NAPOLEONE (1810–1895),
Italian author and patriot, born at Parma on the 4th of
November 1810, was the eldest son of a Piedmontese of good
family, who served for ten years in the French army under
Masséna and Napoleon. He had finished his education at the
university of Parma, when the French Revolution of 1830 caused
a ferment in Italy. He sympathized with the movement, and
within a few months was successively a conspirator, a state
prisoner, a combatant and a fugitive. For the next five years he
lived a wandering life in France, Spain and Africa. In August
1836 he embarked for New York, and three years later he
proceeded to England, where he supported himself as a translator
and teacher of languages. His first book, Italy; General Views
of its History and Literature, which appeared in 1841, was well
received, but was not successful financially. On the outbreak of
the Italian revolution in 1848 he at once put himself in communication
with the insurgents. He filled the post of Chargé
d’Affaires for Piedmont at Frankfort in 1848–1849, and for the
next few years he travelled incessantly between Italy and
England, working for the liberation of his country. In 1854,
through Cavour’s influence, he was elected a deputy to the Italian
parliament. He retained his seat until 1864, passing the summer
in England and fulfilling his parliamentary duties at Turin in the
winter. On the outbreak of the Austro-French War of 1859 he
proceeded to Lombardy as war correspondent of The Times.
The campaign was so brief that the fighting was over before he
arrived, but his connexion with The Times endured for twenty
years. He was a forcible and picturesque writer, with a command
of English remarkable for an Italian. He materially
helped to establish that friendly feeling towards Italy which
became traditional in England. In 1859 Gallenga purchased the
Falls, at Llandogo on the Wye, as a residence, and thither he
retired in 1885. He died at this house on the 17th of December
1895. He was twice married. Among his chief works are an
Historical Memoir of Frà Dolcino and his Times (1853); a History
of Piedmont (3 vols., 1855; Italian translation, 1856); Country
Life in Piedmont (1858); The Invasion of Denmark (2 vols., 1864);
The Pearl of the Antilles [travels in Cuba] (1873); Italy Revisited
(2 vols., 1875); Two Years of the Eastern Question (2 vols., 1877);
The Pope [Pius IX.] and the King [Victor Emmanuel] (2 vols.,
1879); South America (1880); A Summer Tour in Russia (1882);
Iberian Reminiscences (2 vols., 1883); Episodes of my Second
Life (1884); Italy, Present and Future (2 vols., 1887). Gallenga’s
earlier publications appeared under the pseudonym of Luigi
Mariotti.
GALLERY (through Ital. galleria, from Med. Lat. galeria, of which the origin is unknown),[1] a covered passage or space
outside a main wall, sometimes used as a verandah if on the
ground floor, and as a balcony if on an upper floor and supported
by columns, piers or corbels; similarly the upper seats in a
theatre or a church, on either side as in many 17th-century
churches, or across the west end under the organ. The word is
also used of an internal passage primarily provided to place
various rooms in communication with one another; but if
of narrow width this is usually called a corridor or passage.
When of sufficient width the gallery is utilized to exhibit pictures
and other art treasures. In the 16th century the picture gallery
formed the largest room or hall in English mansions, with
wainscoted walls and a richly decorated plaster ceiling; the
principal examples are those of Audley End, Essex (226 ft. by
34 ft.); Hardwick, Derbyshire (166 ft. by 22 ft.); Hatfield, Hertfordshire
(163 ft. by 19 ft. 6 in.); Aston Hall, near Birmingham
(136 ft. by 18 ft.); Haddon Hall, Derbyshire (116 ft. by 17
ft.); and Montacute in Somersetshire (189 ft. by 22 ft.).
Hence the application of the term to art museums (the National
Gallery, &c.) and also to smaller rooms with top-light in which
temporary exhibitions are held.
GALLEY (derived through the O. Fr. galee, galie, from the
Med. Lat. galea, Ital. galea, Port. galé, of uncertain origin; from
the Med. Lat. variant form galera are derived the Mod. Fr.
galère, Span. and Ital. galera), a long single or half decked vessel of
war, with low free-board, propelled primarily by oars or sweeps;
but also having masts for sails. The word is used generally of the
ancient war vessels of Greece and Rome of various types, whose
chief propelling power was the oar or sweep, but its more specific
application is to the medieval war vessel which survived in the
navies of the Mediterranean sea-powers after the general adoption
of the larger many-decked ship of war, propelled solely by sail-power.
Lepanto (1571) was the last great naval battle in which
the galley played the principal part. The “galleass” or
“galliass” (Med. Lat. galeasea, Ital. galeazza, an augmented form
of galea) was a larger and heavier form of galley; it usually
carried three masts and had at bow and stern a castellated
structure. The “galliot” (O. Fr. galiot, Span. and Port. galeota,
Ital. galeotta, a diminutive of galea) was a small light type of
galley. The “galleon” (formerly in English “galloon,” Fr.
galion, derived from the Med. Lat. galio, galionis, a derivative
of galea) was a sailing ship of war and trade, shorter than the
galley and standing high out of the water with several decks,
chiefly used by the Spaniards during the 16th century in the
carrying of treasure from America. The number of oars or sweeps
varied, the larger galley having twenty-five on each side; the
galleass as many as thirty-two, each being worked by several men.
This labour was from the earliest times often performed by slaves
or prisoners of war. It became the custom among the Mediterranean powers
to sentence condemned criminals to row in the
war galleys of the state. Traces of this in France can be found as
early as 1532, but the first legislative enactment is in the Ordonnance
d’Orléans of 1561. In 1564 Charles IX. forbade the
sentencing of prisoners to the galleys for less than ten years.
The galley-slaves were branded with the letters Gal. At the end
of the reign of Louis XIV. the use of the galley for war purposes
had practically ceased, but the corps of the galleys was not
incorporated with the navy till 1748. The headquarters of the
galleys and of the convict rowers (galériens) was at Marseilles.
The majority of these latter were brought to Toulon, the others
were sent to Rochefort and Brest, where they were used for work
- ↑ Du Cange, Glossarium, s.v. “Galeria,” suggests an origin from galera, a galley, on the analogy of “nave,” from navis, the galley being a long and narrow ship; but, he adds, alii alia opinantur.
