The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 116

CERRO DE PASCO, a town in Peru, 14,200 ft. above the sea-level, with the richest silver mine in S. America.

CERUTTI, a Jesuit, born at Turin; became a Revolutionary in France; p.r.o.nounced the funeral oration at the grave of Mirabeau in 1789.

CERVANTES-SAAVEDRA, MIGUEL DE, the author of "Don Quixote," born at Alcala de Henares; was distinguished in arms before he became distinguished in letters; fought in the battle of Lepanto like a very hero, and bore away with him as a "maimed soldier" marks of his share in the struggle; sent on a risky emba.s.sy, was captured by pirates and remained in their hands five years; was ransomed by his family at a cost which beggared them, and it was only when his career as a soldier closed that he took himself to literature; began as a dramatist before he devoted himself to prose romance; wrote no fewer than 30 dramas; the first part of the work which has immortalised his name appeared in 1605, and the second in 1615; it took the world by storm, was translated into all the languages of Europe, but the fortune which was extended to his book did not extend to himself, for he died poor, some ten days before his great contemporary, William Shakespeare; though carelessly written, "Don Quixote" is one of the few books of all time, and is as fresh to-day as when it was first written (1547-1616).

CERVIN, MONT, the French name for the Matterhorn, 705 ft., the summit of the Pennine Alps, between Valais and Piedmont.

CESAREWITCH, the eldest son and heir of the Czar of Russia.

CE'SARI, GIUSEPPE, sometimes called ARPINO, an eminent Italian painter; painted a series of frescoes in the Conservatorio of the Capitol, ill.u.s.trative of events in the history of Rome (1568-1640).

CESAROTTI, an Italian poet, translator of the "Iliad" and "Ossian"

into Italian (1730-1808).

CESTUS, a girdle worn by Greek and Roman women, specially the girdle of Aphrodite, so emblazoned with symbols of the joys of love that no susceptible soul could resist the power of it; it was borrowed by Hera to captivate Zeus.

CETINJE, the capital of Montenegro, in a valley 2000 ft. high; smallest of capital cities, with a population under 2000.

CETTE (36), a seaport, trading, and manufacturing town, on a tongue of land between the lagoon of Thau and the Mediterranean, 23 m. SW. of Montpellier, with a large safe harbourage.

CE'UTA (12), a port opposite Gibraltar belonging to Spain, on the coast of Morocco, guarded by a fort on one of the Pillars of Hercules, overlooking it; of importance as a military and convict station.

CeVENNES, a range of low mountains on the eastern edge of the central plateau of France, separating the basin of the Rhone from those of the Loire and Garonne; average height from 3000 to 4000 ft.; the chief scene of the dragonnades against the Huguenots under Louis XIV.

CEYLON (3,008), a pear-shaped island about the size of Scotland, separated from India, to which it geographically belongs, and SE. of which it lies, by Palk Strait, 32 m. broad; comprises a lofty, central tableland with numerous peaks, the highest Tallagalla, 8000 ft., and a broad border of well-watered plains. It was an ancient centre of civilisation; the soil is everywhere fertile; the climate is hot, but more equitable than on the mainland; the chief products are tea, cinnamon, and tobacco; the forests yield satin-wood, ebony, &c.; the cocoa-nut palm abounds; there are extensive deposits of iron, anthracite, and plumbago; precious stones, sapphires, rubies, amethysts, &c., are in considerable quant.i.ties; the pearl fisheries are a valuable government monopoly. The chief exports are tea, rice, cotton goods, and coals.

Two-thirds of the people are Singhalese and Buddhists, there are 6000 Europeans. The island is a crown colony, the largest in the British Empire, administered by a governor with executive and legislative councils; the capital and chief port is Colombo (127).

CHABAS, FRANcOIS, a French Egyptologist, born in Briancon; his works have contributed much to elucidate the history of the invasion and repulsion of the Hyksos in Egypt (1817-1882).

CHABOT, a member of the National Convention of France, a "disfrocked Capuchin," adjured "Heaven," amid enthusiasm, "that at least they may have done with kings"; guillotined (1759-1794).

CHACKTAW INDIANS. See CHOCKTAW.

CHAD, LAKE, a shallow lake in the Sahara, of varied extent, according as the season is dry or rainy, at its largest covering an area as large as England, and abounding in hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses, &c., as well as waterfowl and fish.

CHADBAND, REV. MR., a character in "Bleak House."

CHADWICK, SIR EDWIN, an English social reformer, born in Manchester, a.s.sociated with measures bearing upon sanitation and the improvement of the poor-laws, and connected with the administration of them (1801-1890).

CHaeRONEA, a town in Boeotia, where Philip of Macedon defeated the Athenians, and extinguished the liberties of Greece.

CHALAIS, COUNT DE, a favourite of Louis XIII., accused of conspiracy against Richelieu, arrested at Nantes, and beheaded (1599-1626).

CHALAZA, one of the two filaments attached to the ends of the yoke of an egg to steady it in the alb.u.men.

CHALCEDON, a city of Bithynia, at the entrance of the Thracian Bosphorus, where the fourth Council of the Church was held in 451, which defined the orthodox conception of Christ as G.o.d-man.

CHALCIDICe, the 3-fingered peninsula of the Balkan territory stretching into the aegean Sea.

CHALCIS, the ancient capital of Euboea or Negropont.

CHALDEA, ancient name for Babylonia.

CHALIER, a Piedmontese, head of the party of the Mountain at Lyons; his execution the signal for an insurrection at Lyons against the Convention (1747-1793).

CHALLENGER EXPEDITION, a scientific expedition sent out by the British Government in the _Challenger_ in 1872 in the interest of science, and under the management of scientific experts, to various stations over the globe, to explore the ocean, and ascertain all manner of facts regarding it open to observation, an expedition which concluded its operations in 1876, of which as many as 50 volumes of reports have been compiled.

CHALLIS, JAMES, an astronomer, born in Ess.e.x, noted the position of the planet Neptune before its actual discovery (1803-1882).

CHALLONER, RICHARD, a Roman Catholic bishop, born at Lewes; a zealous Catholic, author of "Garden of the Soul," a popular devotional book, as well as several controversial books (1691-1781).

CHALMERS, ALEXANDER, a miscellaneous writer, born at Aberdeen; settled in London; edited the "British Essayists" in 45 vols., and author of "A General Biographical Dictionary."

CHALMERS, GEORGE, an English publicist, born at Fochabers, author of "An Account, Historical and Topographical, of North Britain" (1742-1825).