GEFLE  , a seaport of

Sweden on an inlet of the Gulf of Bothnia, chief town of the district (lan) of Gefleborg, 112 M . N.N.W. of Stockholm by rail . Pop . (1900) 29,522 . It is the chief port of the district of Kopparberg, with its iron and other mines and forests . The exports consist principally of timber and wood-pulp, iron and steel . The harbour, which has two entrances about 20 ft. deep, is usually ice-bound in mid-winter . Large vessels generally load in the roads at Gr..berg, 6 m. distant . There are slips and shipbuilding yards, and a manufacture of sail-cloth . The town is an important industrial centre, having tobacco and leather factories, electrical and other mechanical works, and breweries . At Skutskar at the mouth of the Dal river are wood-pulp and saw mills, dealing with the large quantities of timber floated down the river; and there are large wood-yards in the suburb of Bomhus . Gefle was almost destroyed by fire in 1869, but was rebuilt in good style, and has the ad-vantage of a beautiful situation .

The

principal buildings are' a castle, founded by King John III . (1568–1592), but rebuilt later, a council-house erected by Gustavus III., who held a diet here in 1792, an exchange, and schools of commerce and navigation .