GIURGEVO, in Roumanian Giurgiu or Shursha, a town of Roumania (formerly of Lower Wallachia), at the head of the district of Vlashka, lies on the left or northern bank of the Danube, over against Rustchuk in Bulgaria, and is distant about 40 miles from Bucharest, with which it has been connected by railway since 1869. It presents on the whole rather a mean appearance, rising out of the mud embankments of the river, but its population is increasing, its commerical advantages as the port of Bucharest are becoming more generally recognized, and improvements are consequently being effected in the town itself. It is the seat of a court of primary instance, and has a normal school and a gymnasium. The fortifications to which it was formerly indebted for no small part of its importance were destroyed in 1829, and its only defence is a castle on the island of SIobosia, with which it communicates by a bridge. Giurgevo, or, as it was called by its founders, San Zorzo, • that is, San Giorgio, or St George’s, owes its origin to the Genoese of the 14th century. It has frequently figured in the wars whereby the lower Danube has so often been laid waste. The population in 1875 was about 15,000.