a province or intendency in the island of Sicily, comprehending, besides the Vale of Mazara on the continent, the islands of Pantalaria and of Lampedusa in the Mediterranean Sea. It is divided into the three districts of Girgenti, Bivona, and Sciacca, and contains 288,877 inhabitants. The capital, which bears the same name, is a city near the sea, on an elevated spot, but watered by the river whose name it has taken. It contains a cathedral and several other churches, 2844 houses, and 14,882 inhabitants. The haven, which is about four miles from the city, is neither deep nor capacious; but being the only one on the southern coast of Sicily, it is a considerable resort for vessels, who repair to it to procure cargoes of wheat, barley, almonds, pistachio nuts, soda, and sulphur, which commodities are abundantly produced in the vicinity. There are in the neighbourhood many remains of remote antiquity, illustrative of the ancient state of this city, which is said to have once contained 300,000 souls. Long. 13. 43. E. Lat. 37. 23. N.

GIRONDS, Sr., an arrondissement in the department of Ariège, in France, having an extent of 603 square miles. It is divided into six cantons and eighty-two communes, and contains 79,084 inhabitants. The chief place is a town of the same name, in a valley watered by the Salat.