Gunter’s Chain, the chain in common use for measuring land, is 22 yards long and is divided into 100 links. Its usefulness arises from its decimal or centesimal division, and the fact that 10 square chains make an acre.
Gunter’s Line, a logarithmic line, usually laid down upon scales, sectors, &c. It is also called the line of lines and the line of numbers, being only the logarithms graduated upon a ruler, which therefore serves to solve problems instrumentally in the same manner as logarithms do arithmetically.
Gunter’s Quadrant, an instrument made of wood, brass, or other substance, containing a kind of stereographic projection of the sphere on the plane of the equinoctial, the eye being supposed to be placed in one of the poles, so that the tropic, ecliptic, and horizon form the arcs of circles, but the hour circles are other curves, drawn by means of several altitudes of the sun for some particular latitude every year. This instrument is used to find the hour of the day, the sun’s azimuth, &c. , and other common problems of the sphere or globe, and also to take the altitude of an object in degrees.
Gunter’s Scale (generally called by seamen the Gunter) is a large plane scale, usually 2 feet long by about 1 inches broad, and en graved with various lines of numbers. On one side are placed the natural lines (as the line of chords, the line of sines, tangents, rhumbs, &c.), and on the other side the corresponding artificial or logarithmic ones. By means of this instrument questions in navigation, trigonometry, &c., are solved with the aid of a pair of compasses.
GÜNTHER, Johann Christian (1695–1723), German poet, was born at Striegau in Lower Silesia, on the 8th April 1695. After attending the academy at Schweidnitz, where he composed a number of verses of more than usual promise, he entered in 1715 the university of Wittenberg with the view of studying medicine ; but he became idle and dissipated, contracted heavy debts, and came to a com plete rupture with his father. In 1717 he went to Leipsic, where he obtained the friendship of Menck, and published a poem on the peace of Passarowitz, which acquired him an immediate reputation. Menck recommended him to the king of Poland, but unhappily the first time he appeared at court he was in a state of intoxication. From that time he led an unsettled and dissipated life, depending for an un certain subsistence partly on money obtained for occasional poems and partly on the charity of his friends. He died at Jena, 15th March 1723, when only in his 28th year. Goethe pronounces Giinther to have been a poet in the fullest sense of the term. As a lyrical poet he stands alone among his contemporaries for freedom, spontaneity, and sincerity of utterance ; and his works as a whole give evidence of deep and lively sensibility, fine imagination, clever wit, and a true ear tor melody and rhythm. An air of cynicism, how ever, which was the necessary consequence of his aimless life, is more or less present in most of his poems, and dull, vulgar, or impure witticisms are not unfrequently found side by side with the purest inspirations of his genius.
His collected poems were published in four volumes, Breslau, 1723-1735. They are also included in Tittmann s Deutsche Dichtcr deft IJten Jahrh., Leipsic, 1874. A pretended autobiography of Giinther appeared at Schweidnitz in 1732, and a life of him by Siebran 1 at Leipsic in 1738. See also Hoffman, /. Ch. GiintJicr, ein litcrarivch-historischer Versuch, Breslau, 1833 ; and Roquettc, Leben und Dichtcn J. Ch. Gunthcrs, Stuttgart, 1860.
GUNTOOR, a town in Kistna district, Madras, situated on the Grand Trunk road, about 46 miles from Masulipatam, 17 42 N. lat., 80 29 E. long. ; population 18,033. It is the headquarters of the sub-collector and the district judge of Kistna ; and there is a considerable trade in grain and cotton. Guntoor was formerly the capital of a Circar (SarkAr) under the Mahometans ; it was ceded to the French by the nizfim in 1753. At the time of the cession of the Circars to the English in 1766, Guntoor was specially exempted during the life of Basalat Jang, whose personal jdgir it was. In 1788 it came into British possession, and was finally confirmed in 1803.
GURDÁSPUR, a British district in the lieutenant- governorship of the Punjab, lying between 32 30 and 31 36 N. lat., and between 74 56 and 75 45 E. long. Bounded on the N". by the native Himalayan states of Kashmir and Chamba, on the E. by Kdngra district and the river Bias, on the S.W. by Amritsar district, and on the W. by Sialkot, the district of Gurdaspur occupies the submontane portion of the Bari Doab or tract between the Bias and the Ravi. An intrusive spur of the British dominions runs northward into the lower Himalayan ranges, to include the mountain sanatarium of Dalhousie. This station crowns the most westerly shoulder of a magnificent snowy range, the Dhdola Dhdr, between which and the plain two minor ranges intervene. Below the hills stretches a picturesque and undulating plateau covered with abundant timber and made green by a copious rainfall, arid watered by the streams of the Bari Dodb, which, diverted by dams and embankments, now empty their waters into the Bias directly, in order that their channels may not interfere with the Bari Doab canal. The district contains several large and important jliils or swampy lakes. Few facts can now be recovered with regard to the early annals of Gurdaspur. Our first distinct historical knowledge begins with the rise of the Sikh confederacy. The whole of the Punjab then was distributed to the chiefs who triumphed over the imperial governors. In the course of a few years, how ever, the famous Ranjit Sinh acquired all the territory which those chiefs had held. Pathankot and the neighbour ing villages in the plain, together with the whole hill portion of the district, formed part of the area ceded by the Sikhs to the East India Company after the first Sikh war in 1846. In 1861-62, after receiving one or two additions, the district was brought into it-j present shape, having its headquarters at Gurdaspur.
Owing to the numerous transfers of territory which took place between the census of 1855 and 1868, it is impossible to give a de tailed comparison of their results. The enumeration of 1868 was taken over an area of 1822 square miles, and it disclosed a total population of 906,126 persons, males, 501,247 ; females, 404,879. Classified according to religion there are Hindus, 303,107 ; Mahometans, 422,196; Sikhs, 79,387; and "others," 101,436. Only six towns have a population exceeding 5000, namely, Batala, 26,897; Deni Manak, 7199 ; Dinanagar, 6626 ; Sujanpur, 6556 ; Kalanaur, 6030 ; and Siigovindpur, 5531. Gurdaspur, the chief town and administrative headquarters of the district, had only 4137 inhabitants in 1875. The sanatarium of Dalhousie, 7687 feet above sea-level, though only returned as containing 2019 inhabitants, has a large fluctuating population during the warmer months. The district possesses throughout an excellent soil, except in some small patches on the Bias side, where sand covers the surface. The chief agricultural staples comprise wheat, barley, and gram for the spring harvest, with rice, pulses, cotton, and sugar-cane for the autumn crop. Abundant means of irrigation exist where required, either from canals, wells, or mountain streams; but in no part of the Punjab province can better crops be produced without such artificial aid. In 1875-76 the total cultivated area amounted to 855,675 acres, of which 140,639 acres were protected by irrigation against the effects of drought. The trade of the district consists mainly in the export of its agricultural produce. The imports are insig nificant, English piece-goods, salt, and fancy articles forming the main items. The local traffic centres on Batala. The principal road of the district connects Amritsar with Pathankot, at the foot of the hills, and passes through Batala, Gurdaspur, and Dinanagar. The total mileage of highways in 1875-76 showed 54 miles of metalled and 507 miles of unmetalled road. The total revenue in 1876 was 123,608. In 1875-76 the district contained 12 civil and revenue judges ; and 14 officers exercised magisterial powers. In the same year the police force numbered 596 men, supplemented by a large body of rural watchmen. In 1875-76 there were 112 schools, having an aggregate roll of 6708 pupils. The climate of Gurdaspur is not unhealthy, but large swamps and excessive irri gation expose some neighbourhoods to malarious fevers and ague. The mean temperature for 1871 was 86 85 in May and 53 8 in December at Gurdaspur, and 67*8 in May and 46 96 in December at Dalhousie. The average annual rainfall for eight years ending 1873-74 was 30 "96 inches. Seven charitable dispensaries afforded relief (1875-76) to 80,614 persons.
lieutenant-governorship of the Punjab, between 27 39 and 28 30 45" N. lat., and 76 20 45" and 77 35 E. long. Bounded on the N. by Rohtak, on the W. and S.W. by
portions of the Ulwar, Ndbha, and Jind native states, on the
