360 



COLOPHON 



COLORADO 



so as to constitute them ( witli other representatives 

 for the crown colonies) into a committee for the 

 general control of colonial affairs. 



A still more important step forward was taken 

 in 1887, when a conference was held in London, 

 under the presidency of the Colonial Secretary, at 

 which delegates specially appointed by all the 

 colonies were present. Many of the subjects dis- 

 cussed were of a commercial or legal character ; 

 but a large measure of agreement was also arrived 

 at with regard to the burning question of colonial 

 defence. Broadly speaking, the self-governing 

 colonies have undertaken to provide for their own 

 defence by land by maintaining a trained force of a 

 specified strength ; while England supplies ships 

 and guns for the protection of commerce and coal- 

 ing stiitions. Steamers connect Canada and Austral- 

 asia, and a telegraph is proposed. The ' Diamond 

 Jubilee ' celebrations (1897) helped to bring closer 

 the relation of the mother-country and the colonies. 

 The colonial premiers and colonial troops took a 

 conspicuous part, and were warmly received ; Canada 

 conferred fiscal favours on Britain, and Britain con- 

 ceded to Canada greater commercial autonomy. 

 During the Transvaal war in 1899-1900 the Aus- 

 tralian colonies, New Zealand, and Canada en- 

 thusiastically raised military corps to support the 

 mother country ; and the difficult problem of com- 

 bining colonial self-government with imperial unity 

 seems to be brought much nearer a solution. 



The colonies of the chief countries will be found 

 under GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE, GERMANY, SPAIN, &c. 

 The following are some of the more important books 

 on the subject: Heereu's Manual of the Political System 

 of Europe and its Colonies ( Eng. trans, in 2 vols. 1841 ) ; 

 Sir G. Cornevvall Lewis's Essay on the Government of 

 Dependencies (1841); Herman Meri vale's Lectures on 

 Colonisation (1841-42; new ed. 1861) ; Sir C. W. Dilke's 

 Greater Britain (186S); J. A. Doyle's The American 

 Colonies Previous to the Declaration of Independence 

 (1869); E. J. Payne's History of European Colonies 

 (1877) ; Colonies and Dependencies, by Mr Payne and the 

 present writer, in the 'English Citizen' series (1883); 

 Seeley's Expansion of England (1885) ; Froude's Oceana 

 (1886), and The English in the West Indies (1888); the 

 annual Colonial Office List, Colonial Year-book, and Year- 

 book of the Imperial Institute ; Silva White's Britannic 

 Confederation (1892) ; and C. P. "Lucas's Historical Geog- 

 raphy of the British Colonies ( vols. i.-iii. 1888-94 ). Also 

 see the articles on the various colonies. 



Colophon, an Ionian city of Asia, about 9 

 miles N. of Ephesus, and near the sea-coast. The 

 river Halesus, noted for the coolness of its water, 

 flowed past it. It was the native city of Mimner- 

 mus, the elegist, and claimed to be the birthplace 

 of Homer. In its neighbourhood was the famous 

 oracle of Apollo Clarius. The Greek proverb, ' to 

 put the colophon to it,' meaning to terminate an 

 affair, is explained by Strabo as arising from the 

 belief that the cavalry of Colophon was so excellent 

 that their charge always decided a battle. Hence, 

 in old printed books, any device, or printer's name, 

 or the place and year of printing, printed at the 

 end, was called a colophon (see BOOK). It gave 

 its name also to colophony, a kind of black resin. 

 See RESINS. 



Coloquiii tida. See COLOCYNTH. 



Colorado (Span, for 'red' or 'reddish'), a 

 remarkable river of North America, formed by the 

 union of the Grand and Green 

 rivers, in 39 17' N. lat., 109 50' 

 W. long. The Green River rises 

 in Wyoming, and drains the south-western por- 

 tion of that state ; it also receives affluents from 

 Utah and the north-west angle of the state of 

 Colorado. The Grand River rises in Colorado, 

 where its more common name is the Gunnison. Its 

 main tributaries in that state are the Bunkara, or 

 Blue, and the Dolores. Below the junction of the 



Copyright 1889, 1897, and 

 1900 in the U.S. by J. B. 

 Lippincott Company. 



Green and Grand rivers the main affluent in Utah 

 is the San Juan, which drains an interesting region 

 in the south-west of Colorado and the north-west of 

 New Mexico. In Arizona the main affluents are 

 the Colorado Chiquito or Flax River, the Bill 

 Williams, and the Rio Gila, all from the left. The 

 only important affluent the Colorado receives from 

 the right is the Rio Virgen. From the junction of 

 the Grand and Green, the general course of the 

 stream is to the south-west, through the southern 

 part of Utah and the north-west of Arizona ; and it 

 afterwards separates Arizona from Nevada and 

 California. The lower part of its course is in Mexi- 

 can territory, where it flows into the north extre- 

 mity of the Gulf of California. The most striking 

 features of the Colorado basin are its dryness, and 

 the deeply channelled surface of the greater part of 

 the country. Almost every stream and water- 

 course, and most of all the Colorado itself, has 

 cut its way through stratum after stratum of 

 rock, until now it flows, in a great part of it& 

 course, at the bottom of a deep trench or canon. 



Grand Canon of the Colorado, looking up. 

 (From a Photograph by E. Baer, ol Prescott, Arizona.) 



The main stream for nearly 400 miles below the 

 mouth of the Colorado Chiquito, thus flows through 

 a great plateau, forming what is called the Grand 

 Canon of the Colorado, the most extensive and 

 marvellous example of the kind anywhere known. 

 The canon- walls throughout the upper part of the 

 great canon are from 4000 to 7000 feet in height, 

 and are often nearly perpendicular, at some points 

 rising sheer from the water, while at others there 

 is a talus of fallen rock, or occasionally a strip of 

 fertile soil, on one or both banks. The fall averages 

 from 5 to 12 feet to the mile. The river basin is 

 240,000 sq. m. in area. Its former adaptedness. 



