GUINEA, Gulf of, that portion of the At lantic on the coast of Africa, between Capes Lopez and Palmas. Two of its arms are 'the bights of Benin and Biafra. The Niger flows into this gulf south of the bight of Benin. A number of small streams enter from French Kongo and Kamerun. It contains a number of islands, chief of which are Saint Thomas, Fernando Po and Prince's Island. The gulf has two currents, one setting eastward into the bights of Biafra and Benin and the other com ing from the south; they meet in the bight of Biafra and unite in one stream which gradually expands as it flows northwest, then west and southwest.
a name given to durra. Sorghum vulgare, cultivated in the United States under the name of broom-corn. See DURRA ; BROOM-CORN.
a family of gallina ceous birds (Numididge) allied to the pheasants and turkeys, natives of Africa and Madagas. car. Twenty-three species are' known, the most familiar being the common guinea-fowl of our poultry yard (Numida meleagris). This bird
ranges in a wild state from Senegambia to the Niger River and is found also on the Cape Verde Islands. It is supposed to have been first brought to Europe by Portuguese explorers in the 16th century; but these fowls were domes ticated in Rome during the classic period. Of the other species the vulturine guinea-fowl (Acryllium vulturilum) is one of the hand somest, being striped with brilliant blue; while the black guinea (Phasidus' higer) and the turkey-like guinea (Agelastes meleagrides) are peculiar in possessing spurs.
a kind of grass (Pam: cum maximum), often 6 to 10 feet in height, a native of western Africa, which has been naturalized in Florida, Central America, South America and the West Indies, and is largely cultivated for fodder.