'BRAILA, BRAILA, BRAIIILOW, or BnaiLow, a town, formerly of Wallachia, now of Roumania, situated on the left bank of the Danube, about 9 miles south of Galatz and 102 miles from the Salina mouth of the river. It has a railway station within a quarter of a mile to the north-west on the Bucharest and Galatz line - a branch line coming clown to the harbour; and it is the seat of a chamber of commerce, a tribunal of commerce, and an agency of the Danube Navigation Company. Most of the town lies about 45 or 50 feet above the level of the sea, there being only a very narrow strip of low-lying ground (some 60 or 100 feet) between the edge of the river and the steep and lofty bank by which at this part its course is defined. Ibraila is one of the most regular places in Roumania, standing, indeed, in this respect, next after Bucharest itself. Few of the houses, however, are more than two stories high. Towards the laud it has the shape of a crescent, the curve of the outer streets being controlled by the direction of the old fortifications, which were dismantled in 1828. A wide and tree-planted boulevard - the Strada Bulivardului - separates the town proper from the suburban portion. There is a public garden along the brow of the bank towards the river. Besides the cathedral of St Michael, a large but ungainly building of grey sandstone, there are seven Greek churches, a Roman Catholic church, a Protestant church, a Jewish synagogue, and a church belonging to the strange Russian sect of the Lipovani or Skoptsi. Ibraila has long had a large share in the trade of the Danube. In 1836 it was visited by 382 ships. In 1870 there entered 4936 vessels and 6697 cleared, with a respective total burden of 867,139 tons and 821,271 tons. In 1877 the exp arts included 87,002 quarters of wheat, 87,311 of maize, 80,938 of barley, 11,961 of rye, besides a large quantity of grain which appears under the returns for Galatz. The railway between ibraila and Galatz takes a wide circuit, instead of following the direct line of the river. The population, according to Henke (Rowinien, : Laiol oral IVA!, Leipsic, 1877), is 42,000, of whom 53 per cent. are Roumanians, 20 per cent. Greeks, 15 per cent, Jews, and the remainder Germans, &c. According to the Bulet. Geojr. Jimmie, 1876, the total is 28,000.

In the latter part of the 18th century Ibraila was several times taken by the Itussi ins, and on one occasion (1770) it was burned. By the peace of Bucharest (181'2) the Turks retained the right of garrisoning the fortress. In 1828 it was gallantly defended by Soliman Pasha, who, after holding out from the middle of May till the end ofJune, was allowed to march out with the honours of war. At the peace of Adrianople the place was definitively assigned to Wallachia. It was the spot chosen by Gortschakolf for crossing the Danube with his division in 1854.