CORK 



CORMORANT 



481 



are leather, twee, I, whisky, jMirtcr ; anil tlie chief 

 exports provisions. I 'op. (1841) 854,118; (isr.l) 

 653,180; (1871) 517,076; (1891) 430,041, of whom 

 90'8 per cent, are Catholics. Formerly <'ork 



.unity sent two members to parliament, liesides 

 two for the city, and four for minor boroughs. 



Since 1885 the county returns seven miters, the 



<ii\ t\\<>; and Bandon, Mallow, Kin-air, and 

 Yoiighal have been absorl>ed in the county. Tie 

 antiquities of Cork are stone circles and altars, two 

 round towers, circular earthworks or raths ; ruins 



it' ull>eyfl and churches, chieHy built by descendants 

 of the English invaders under Henry II. ; and 

 miiiiy ancient castles or square towers. 



Cork* a city und parliamentary borough of 

 Ireland, capital of County Cork, and a county in 

 itself, on the Lee, 11 miles alx>ve its mouth, and 

 166 S\V. of Dublin by rail. Standing in the centre 

 of a picturesque valley, it is built in part on an 

 island, or group of islands, formerly a swamp, 

 which the word Cork, Corcoch, or Corcaig implies; 

 in part, on the north and south slopes of the 

 river-banks. The houses are generally of old red 

 sandstone. Nine bridges cross the river to the 

 central islands. There is a spacious public park 

 of about 400 acres, the chief use of which is as 

 a racecourse, and a walk known as the Mar- 

 <iyke, above a mile long, lined by noble elms, on 

 the west of the city. There is also a beautiful 

 public cemetery. Cork has a pleasant picturesque- 

 ness from its uneven ground, irregular streets, 

 intersecting river, and overhanging heights. The 

 chief buildings are St Anne Shandon s Church, 

 with a tower 170 feet high ; the Protestant Cathe- 

 dral, Early English in style, erected since 1865 

 at a cost of 100,000 ; several Catholic churches ; 4 

 monasteries ; 2 nunneries ; the bishop's palace ; the 

 Queen's College, a fine Tudor-Gothic quadrangular 

 building, opened in 1849 ; the Schools of Science 

 and Art, erected mainly through the munificence of 

 A citizen, Mr W. H. Crawford. The banks of the 

 Lee above and below Cork are richly planted, and 

 studded with villas. The Lee in both branches 

 is navigable to about a mile above the city, and a 

 large sum has been expended on the improvement 

 of the navigation by the harbour commissioners. 

 The extent of the quays is now above 4 miles, and 

 ships of 2000 tons reach them. Cork harbour, 

 noted for its size and safety, is a basin of 10 

 sq. m., formed by the estuary of the Lee. It could 

 contain the whole British navy, and has been 

 the main source of the rise and progress of the 

 city. It is the port of call for the transatlantic 

 steamers plying between Liverpool and New York, 

 the vessels of seven different lines touching each 

 week to embark or discharge mails and passengers. 

 The estuary contains several large isles, rising 

 abruptly and high al>ove the water, with narrow 

 channels between them. The entrance is by a 

 channel two miles by one, defended by batteries. 

 Carlisle Fort on the east side, and Camden Fort 

 on the west, while Spike Island, now called Fort 

 Westmoreland, commands the entrance. In these 

 forts some of the heaviest ordnance in the king- 

 dom may be found, Camden in addition possessing 

 a torpedo and submarine battery of immense 

 destructive power. Spike Island has ceased to be 

 a convict establishment, and is used now as a 

 military depot. Adjoining the island of Haulbow- 

 line, on which are erected extensive government 

 stores, is a large government dock, where vessels of 

 the British fleet may be repaired. On the shores 

 of the estuary are the towns of Passage and 

 Queenstown, formerly Cove of Cork. Cork har- 

 bour is much frequented by wind-bound ships and 

 ships waiting orders. In the years 1894-98 inclu- 

 sive, an average of 2402 vessels, with a total ton- 

 nage of 563,319, entered the port annually, and an 

 135 



average of 2.382 vessel-, with a total tonnage of 

 619, 4 13, cleared. Thechief manufaotureHare leather, 

 iron, gloves, ginghams, friezes, Hour, malt liquont, 

 and whisky. The chief export* are grain, provisions, 

 butter, live-stock, leather, and tweeds, valued at 

 -\.-ial millions sterling yearly. Pop. (1871) 

 78,642; (1891) 75,070; parliamentary borough, 

 96,891, of whom five-sixths are Roman Catholics. 

 Cork returns two memliers to parliament. Cork 

 grew up around an abbey founded in 600 by 

 St Finbar. The Danes in the 9th century built 

 the city walls. Dermod Maccarthy, king of Cork 

 or Desmond, surrendered it to Henry II. in 1172. 

 Cromwell besieged and took it in 1649, and Marl- 

 borough in 1690. James II. landed at Cork in 

 1688. In Cork, William Penn, the founder of 

 Pennsylvania, became a Quaker. There is a statue 

 of Father Mathew (q.v. ), who laboured here many 

 years. See Miss Cusack's History of the City and 

 County of Cork (Dublin, 1875). For the Earls of 

 Cork, see BOYLE. 



Cork wing (Crenilabrus melops), a species of 

 Wrasse (q.v.). 



Corleo'ne, a town of Sicily, 21 miles S. of 

 Palermo. Pop. ( 1881 ) 15,441 ; ( 1891 ) 16,072. 



4 'or ill (Gr. kormos, 'a stump') sometimes 

 called a solid bulb the short and bulb-like subter- 

 ranean stem of many monocotyledonous plants, 

 e.g. crocus, gladiolus, tuberose, and arising through 

 the annual storing of starch to be consumed by 

 the next year's bud and flower. In functions, as 

 in general appearance, the conn resembles the 

 Bulb (q.v.); a vertical section, however, shows 

 that while in each we have indeed a stem and 

 leaves, the thickening is confined in the former 

 case to the stem, in the latter to the leaves. Tran- 

 sitional forms occur, indeed, in most bulbs; the 

 thickened leaves arise from a more or less thick- 

 ened and shortened i.e. corm-like base. While 

 a section of a corm shows the origin of its usually 

 membraneous leaves, and many corms produce 

 new subterranean buds in the axils of their leaves, 

 in either case they arise on the upper surface or 

 sides of the parent corm, and there thicken as new 

 corms. When borne on the upper surface, the 

 new corms then gradually approach the surface of 

 the ground as in crocus. 



Cormorant (Gr. Phalacrocorax, 'bald-headed 

 raven ' ), a genus of web-footed birds in the order 

 Steganopodes, beside pelicans, solan-geese, and 

 frigate-birds. They are familiar birds, frequenting 

 islands in most parts of the world. They vary 



\ 



Cormorant. 



greatly in size, but have the following characters 

 in common. The head is relatively small, and is 

 naked behind the eyes and at the root of the beak. 

 At the breeding season some forms exhibit a crest 



