G TJ A

648

G U A

GUAIACUM, LIGNUM YULE, or POCKWGOD, inbotany, a genus of the monogynia order, and decandria class ofplants; natural order, Gruinates. Calyx five-cleft, unequal; pe-tals five, inserted into the receptacle ; capsule angular, five-celled.There are four species.

G. Officinale, the Common Lignum Yit;e used in medi-cine, is a native of the West India islands and the warmer parts ofAmerica . There it becomes a large tree, having a hard, brittle,brownish bark, not very thick. The wood is firm, solid, ponder-ous, very resinous, of a blackish yellow colour in the middle, andof a hot aromatic taste. See Plate I,. XV. From this species is ob-tained a resin which exudes spontaneously, and is also driven outartificially by means of heat. This substance has been longknown and celebrated as a medicine in various cases; and in theTransactions of the Royal Society for the year 180G, we have avery complete analysis of it: by distillation 100 parts yielded

Acidulous water. 5.5

Thick brown oil.24.5

Thin empyreumatic oil. 29.0

Charcoal.30.5

Gases consisting of carbonic acid and? .carbureted hydrogen.$ ' J

100.0

GUALF.OR, GUALIOR, or GOWAL1ER, a province ofAsia , situated in the middle of Ilindostan.

Gualeor, or Gualior, a large town of the above province,with a celebrated fortress of great strength. It is 8 miles fromReypour, and 80 S. of Agra.

GUALTEIRI, or GUALTF.RO.'a town of the late Cisalpinerepublic , in the department of Crostolo, and late duchy of Reggio,13 miles N. of Reggio. ,'

GUAM, or GUAHAN , the largest of the Ladrone islands.It is about 120 miles in circumference; and is the only one amongthe innumerable islands in the South Sea, which has a town builtin the European style, with a regular fort, a church, and civilizedinhabitants. See Ladrone.

GUAMANCA, or GUAMANGA, a province of Peru , whichbegins 240 miles E. of Lima , and extends along the centre of theCordilleras. The air is temperate ; the soil fertile ; and the minesabound with gold, silver, copper, lead, iron, quicksilver, loadstone,and sulphur.

Guamanga, the capital of the above province.

GUANZAVELICA, a town of South America in Peru , andin the audience of Lima . It abounds in mines of quicksilver.Lou. 71.59. W. Lat. 12. 40. S.

GUARANTEE, or WARRANTEE, in law, a term signify-ing him whom the warranter undertakes to indemnify or securefrom damage.

Guarantee, or Guaranty, in matters of polity, the en-gagement of neutral states, whereby they plight their faith that cer-tain treaties shall be inviolably observed, or that they will makewar against the aggressor.

GUARD, in a general sense, signifies the defence or preserva-tion of any thing; the act of observing what passes, to preventsurprise ; or the care used to prevent any thing from happeningcontrary to our intentions or inclinations.

Guard, in fencing, a posture proper to defend the body fromthe sword of the antagonist.

Guard, in the military art, is a duty performed by a body ofmen, to secure an army or place from being surprised by an ene-my. In garrison the guards are relieved every day : hence everysoldier mounts guard once every day in time of peace, and muchoftener in time of war. See Honours.

Guard, Advanced, or Van-guard. See Advance-guard.

Guard, Artillery. See Artillert.

Guard, Artillery Quarter, is frequently a non-commis-sioned officer’s guard from the royal regiment of artillery, whosecorps de garde is always in the front of their incampment.

Guard, Artillery Rear, consists in a corporal and six men,posted in the rear of the park.

Guard, Baggage, is always an officer’s guard, who has thecare of the baggage on a march. The wasgons should be num-

8

bered by companies, and follow one another regularly: vigilanceand attention in the passage of hollow-ways, woods, and thickets,must be strictly observed by this guard.

Guard, Forace, a detachment sent out to secure the foragers,and who are posted at all places, where either the enemy’s partymay come to disturb the foragers, or where they may spread toonear the enemy, so as to be in danger of being taken. It consistsboth of horse and foot, who must remain on their posts till the fo-ragers are all come oil the ground.

Guard, Grand, three or four squadrons of horse, command-ed by a field-officer, posted at about a mile or a mile and a halffrom the camp, on the right and left wings, towards the enemy, forthe better security of the camp.

Guard, Main, is that from which all other guards are detach-ed. Those who are mounting guard assemble at their respectivecaptain’s quarters, and march from thence to the parade in goodorder ; where, after the whole guard is drawn up, the small guardsare detached to their respective posts: then the subalterns throwlots for their guards, who are all under the command of the cap-tain of the main-guard. This guard mounts in garrison at differenthours, as the governor pleases.

Guard, 1’iq.uet, a number of horse and fool, always in readi-ness in case of an alarm : the horses are generally saddled, and theriders booted. The foot drawn up at the head of the battalion,frequently at the beating of the tat-too; but afterwards returnto their tents, where they hold themselves in readiness to march.T his guard is to resist in case of an attack, until the army getsready.

Guard, Provost, is always an officer’s guard that attends theprovost in his rounds, either to prevent dissertion, or marauding,rioting, &c. See Provost.

Guard, Quarter, is a small guard commanded by a subal-tern officer, posted in the front of each battalion, 222 feet beforethe front of the regiment.

Guard, Rear, that part of the army which brings up therear on a inarch, generally composed of all the old grand guardsof the camp. The rear-guard of a party is often eight or ten horse,about 500 paces behind. Hence the advance-guard going outupon a party, form the rear-guard in their retreat. Rear-guard isalso a corporal's guard placed in the rear of a regiment, to keepgood order.

Guard, Standard, a small guard under a corporal, out ofeach regiment of horse, who mount on foot in the front of eachregiment, at the distance of 20 feet from the streets, opposite themain street.

Guard, Trench, only mounts in the time of a siege, andsometimes consists of three, four, or six battalions, according tothe importance of the siege. This guard must oppose the besiegedwhen they sally out, protect the workmen, &c.

Guards also imply the troops kept to guard the king’s person,and consist both of horse and foot.

Guards, Foot, are regiments of foot appointed for the guardof his majesty and his palace. There are three regiments of them,numerically titled.

Guards, Horse, in Britain , are gentlemen chosen for theirbravery, to be entrusted with the guard of the king’s person ; andwere formerly divided into four troops named numerically.

Guards, Extraordinary, or Detachments, are only com-manded on particular occasions; either for the security of thecamp, to cover the foragers, or for convoys, escorts, or expedi-tions.

GUARDA, or GUARDIA, a strong city of Portugal , in theprovince of Beira, 18 miles S. W. of Almeida.

GUARDAMAR, a sea-port town of Spain, in Valencia , on theSegura, 17 miles S. S. \V. of Alicant.

GUARD-BOAT, a boat appointed to row the rounds amongstthe ships of war which are laid up in any harbour, &c. to observethat their officers keep a good looking-out, calling to the guard-boat as she passes, and not suffering her crew to come on board,without having previously communicated the watch-word of thenight.

GUARDIA ALFEREZ, a town of Naples, in the province otMolise, 21 mile-. N. E. of Molise . .

GUARDIAN , in law, signifies one who has the custody andeducation of such persons as have not sufficient discretion to take

care