the name of one of the principal angels in heaven. It signifies the strength of God. There are a few events, in which this exalted being was concerned, recorded in Scripture. He was sent to the prophet Daniel, to explain to him the vision of the ram and goat, and the mystery of the seventy weeks, which had been revealed to him. He was sent to Zecharias, to declare to him the future birth of John the Baptist. Six months after, he was sent to Nazareth to the Virgin Mary, to warn her of the birth of Jesus Christ.

The Orientalists add several particulars to what the Scriptures inform us concerning the angel Gabriel. The Mahometans call him the faithful spirit; and the Persians, by way of metaphor, the peacock of heaven. We read, in the second chapter of the Koran, that whoeverever is an enemy to Gabriel shall be confounded. It was Gabriel, they believe, who brought to Mahomet their false prophet the revelations which he published; and it was he who conducted him to heaven mounted upon the animal Borak.

St., an island lying in the great river La Plata, South America, which was discovered by the celebrated navigator Sebastian Cabot, in the year 1526.