has been said to cause in snakes a state of stupor and torpidity; and Humboldt, who observed that the near approach of a rod steeped in guaco-juice was obnoxious to the venomous Coluber corallinus, was of opinion that inoculation with it imparts to the perspiration an odour which makes reptiles unwilling to bite. The drug is not used in modern therapeutics.
GUADALAJARA, an inland city of Mexico and capital of the
state of Jalisco, 275 m. (direct) W.N.W. of the Federal capital,
in lat. 20° 41′ 10″ N., long. 103° 21′ 15″ W. Pop. (1895)
83,934; (1900) 101,208. Guadalajara is served by a short
branch of the Mexican Central railway from Irapuato.
The city is in the Antemarac valley near the Rio Grande de
Santiago, 5092 ft. above sea-level. Its climate is dry, mild and
healthy, though subject to sudden changes. The city is well
built, with straight and well-paved streets, numerous plazas,
public gardens and shady promenades. Its public services
include tramways and electric lighting, the Juanacatlán falls
of the Rio Grande near the city furnishing the electric power.
Guadalajara is an episcopal see, and its cathedral, built between
1571 and 1618, is one of the largest and most elaborately
decorated churches in Mexico. The government palace, which
like the cathedral faces upon the plaza mayor, is generally
considered one of the finest specimens of Spanish architecture
in Mexico. Other important edifices and institutions are the
university, with its schools of law and medicine, the mint, built
in 1811, the modern national college and high schools, a public
library of over 28,000 volumes, an episcopal seminary, an
academy of fine arts, the Teatro Degollado, and the large modern
granite building of the penitentiary. There are many interesting
churches and eleven conventual establishments in the city.
Charitable institutions of a high character are also prominent,
among which are the Hospicio, which includes an asylum for
the aged, infirm, blind, deaf and dumb, foundlings and orphans,
a primary school for both sexes, and a girls’ training school,
and the Hospital de San Miguel de Belen, which is a hospital,
an insane asylum, and a school for little children. One of the
most popular public resorts of the city is the Paseo, a beautiful
drive and promenade extending along both banks of the Rio San
Juan de Dios for 114 m. and terminating in the alameda, or public
garden. The city has a good water-supply, derived from springs
and brought in through an aqueduct 8 m. long. Guadalajara
is surrounded by a fertile agricultural district and is an important
commercial town, but the city is chiefly distinguished as the
centre of the iron, steel and glass industries of Mexico. It is also
widely known for the artistic pottery manufactured by the
Indians of the city and of its suburb, San Pedro. Among other
prominent industries are the manufacture of cotton and woollen
goods, leather, furniture, hats and sweetmeats. Guadalajara
was founded in 1531 by Nuño de Guzman, and became the seat
of a bishop in 1549. The Calderon bridge near the city was the
scene of a serious defeat of the revolutionists under Hidalgo in
January 1811. The severe earthquake of the 31st of May 1818
partially destroyed the two cathedral steeples; and that of the
11th of March 1875 damaged many of the larger buildings. The
population includes large Indian and mestizo elements.
GUADALAJARA, a province of central Spain, formed in 1833
of districts taken from New Castile; bounded on the N. by
Segovia, Soria and Saragossa, E. by Saragossa and Teruel,
S. by Cuenca and W. by Madrid. Pop. (1900) 200,186; area,
4676 sq. m. Along the northern frontier of Guadalajara rise the
lofty Guadarrama mountains, culminating in the peaks of La
Cebollera (6955 ft.) and Ocejon (6775 ft.); the rest of the
province, apart from several lower ranges in the east, belongs
to the elevated plateau of New Castile, and has a level or slightly
undulating surface, which forms the upper basin of the river
Tagus, and is watered by its tributaries the Tajuña, Henares,
Jarama and Gallo. The climate of this region, as of Castile
generally, is marked by the extreme severity of its winter cold
and summer heat; the soil varies very much in quality, but
is fertile enough in many districts, notably the cornlands of the
Alcarria, towards the south. Few of the cork and oak forests
which formerly covered the mountains have escaped destruction;
and the higher tracts of land are mainly pasture for the sheep
and goats which form the principal wealth of the peasantry.
Grain, olive oil, wine, saffron, silk and flax are produced, but
agriculture makes little progress, owing to defective communications
and unscientific farming. In 1903, the only
minerals worked were common salt and silver, and the total
output of the mines was valued at £25,000. Deposits of iron,
lead and gold also exist and were worked by the Romans; but
their exploitation proved unprofitable when renewed in the
19th century. Trade is stagnant and the local industries are
those common to almost all Spanish towns and villages, such as
the manufacture of coarse cloth and pottery. The Madrid-Saragossa
railway traverses the province for 70 m.; the roads
are ill-kept and insufficient. Guadalajara (11,144) is the capital,
and the only town with more than 5000 inhabitants; Molina
de Aragon, a fortified town built at the foot of the Parameras
de Molina (2500–3500 ft.), and on the right bank of the Gallo,
a tributary of the Tagus, is of some importance as an agricultural
centre. Siguënza, on the railway, is an episcopal city, with a
fine Romanesque cathedral dating from the 11th century. It
is probably the ancient Segontia, founded in 218 B.C. by refugees
from Saguntum. The population of the province, which numbers
only 42 per sq. m., decreased slightly between 1870 and 1900,
and extreme poverty compels many families to emigrate (see
also Castile).
GUADALAJARA, the capital of the Spanish province of
Guadalajara, on the left bank of the river Henares, and on
the Madrid-Saragossa railway, 35 m. E.N.E. of Madrid. Pop.
(1900) 11,144. Guadalajara is a picturesque town, occupying
a somewhat sterile plain, 2100 ft. above the sea. A Roman
aqueduct and the Roman foundations of the bridge built in
1758 across the Henares bear witness to its antiquity. Under
Roman and Visigothic rule it was known as Arriaca or Caraca;
its present name, which sometimes appears in medieval chronicles
as Godelfare, represents the Wad-al-hajarah, or “Valley of
Stones,” of the Moors, who occupied the town from 714 until
1081, when it was captured by Alvar Yañez de Minaya, a comrade
of the more famous Cid. The church of Santa Maria contains
the image of the “Virgin of Battles,” which accompanied
Alphonso VI. of Castile (1072–1109) on his campaigns against
the Moors; and there are several other ancient and interesting
churches in Guadalajara, besides two palaces, dating from the
15th century, and built with that blend of Christian and Moorish
architecture which Spaniards call the Mudéjar style. The more
important of these is the palace of the ducal house del Infantado,
formerly owned by the Mendoza family, whose panteon, or
mausoleum, added between 1696 and 1720 to the 13th-century
church of San Francisco, is remarkable for the rich sculpture
of its tombs. The town and provincial halls date from 1585,
and the college of engineers was originally built by Philip V.,
early in the 18th century, as a cloth factory. Manufactures of
soap, leather, woollen fabrics and bricks have superseded the
original cloth-weaving industry for which Guadalajara was long
celebrated; there is also a considerable trade in agricultural
produce.
GUADALQUIVIR (ancient Baetis, Moorish Wadi al Kebir, “the
Great River”), a river of southern Spain. What is regarded as
the main stream rises 4475 ft. above sea-level between the
Sierra de Cazorla and Sierra del Pozo, in the province of Jaen.
It does not become a large river until it is joined by the Guadiana
Menor (Guadianamenor) on the left, and the Guadalimar on the
right. Lower down it receives many tributaries, the chief being
the Genil or Jenil, from the left. The general direction of the
river is west by south, but a few miles above Seville it changes
to south by west. Below Coria it traverses the series of broad
fens known as Las Marismas, the greatest area of swamp in the
Iberian Peninsula. Here it forms two subsidiary channels, the
western 31 m., the eastern 12 m. long, which rejoin the main
stream on the borders of the province of Cadiz. Below Sanlúcar
the river enters the Atlantic after a total course of 360 m.
It drains an area of 21,865 sq. m. Though the shortest of the great
rivers of the peninsula, it is the only one which flows at all seasons
