Giants
people of extraordinary stature. History makes mention of giants, and even of races of giants, but this in general occurs only at an early stage of civilization when the national anything unusual. The first mention of giants in the Bible is in Gen. vi: 4, where the Hebrew word used is nephilim, a word which occurs in only one other passage, where it is applied to the sons of Anak, who dwelt about Hebron, and who were described by the terrified spies as of such size that compared with them they appeared in their own sight as grasshoppers. A race of hoppers. A race of giants called the frequently mentioned in the Bible, and in Gen. xiv. and xv. appear as a distinct tribe, of whom Og, King been the last.
Other races of giants are mentioned, Zuzim, and the Zamzummim. The tales of old writers regarding gigantic human skeletons have GIARRETTA now no importance, it being mostly certain that these bones do not belong to giants, but to animals of the primitive atomy, were taken for human bones. A gigantic human skeleton, however, the which, from ignorance of anlargest ever recorded, was found in 1899, near Miamisburg, O., in a locality largest ever recorded, was found in builders. It is of prehistoric age and is which contains many relics of the mound fossilized. It must have belonged to a man well proportioned. The skull is of an 8 feet 1½ inches high, and extremely extremely low order and resembles that of the gorilla, the jaws yond the face. of the gorilla, the jaws projecting beare name from a legend that it was the com- GIANTS' CAUSEWAY (deriving its by giants across the channel to Scotmencement of a road to be constructed land), a natural pier nar basalt, projecting from the N. coast land), a natural pier or mole of columof Antrim, Ireland, into the North Channar basalt, projecting from the N. coast nel, 7 miles N. E. of Portrush. It is of basalt from 300 to 500 feet in thickness, which trim and the E. part of Londonderry. covers almost the whole county of An- It is exposed for 300 yards, and exhibits of the tops of 40,000 vertical closely fitting polygonal columns, which in onal columns, which in shape are The diameter of the pillars varies from 15 to 20 inches. Each pillar is divided into joints of unequal length, the concave hollow at the end of exactly into the con- Causeway is itself formed of three vex projection of the other. The Giants' causeways, the Little, Middle or Honeycomb, and the Grand Causeway. On the Little Causeway may be seen an octagon, gether; on the Middle Causeway is the pentagon, hexagon, and heptagon all topentagon, hexagon , and heptagon all tofamous Wishing Chair, with two arms and a back, on the platform where the columns rise to a height of about 10 feet.
At the starting point is the Giants' row of columns 30 feet high, each intersected by about 30 joints; to the left is the Giants' Well, ' Chair. the province of Catania, on the E. slope of Mount Etna . The surrounding district produces excellent wine.
Pop. about 18,000.
GIARRE (jär're), a town of Sicily, in GIARRETTA METO (sē-mātō), a river of Sicily, which, with its affluents, the Adriano, (jär-ret'tä), or SI- Trachino, Dettaino, and Chrisas, waters the plain of Catania, and the portion of the island W. of Mount Etna. It rises 20 miles S. E. of Caronia, and after the Mediterranean 6 miles S. of Catania. a very tortuous course of 50 miles enters GIBBET