572 



CROATIA 



CROCODILE 



the Liburnian Karst (5007 feet), along the coast 

 from Fiume to Novi, and the Velebit Mountains 

 to the south-east, with the peak of Sveto Brdo 

 (5751 feet) near the Dalmatian frontier. The 

 province belongs to the basin of the Danube, its 

 most important rivers being the Drave and Save, 

 with their affluents ; the Gatschka, Likka, and 

 others belong to the Karst, and the Zermanja, in 

 the south-west, flows into Dalmatia. In Slavonia 

 extensive marshes are found along the main rivers. 

 Warm mineral springs are numerous, and earth- 

 quakes, especially about A gram ( q. v. ), are frequent. 

 The Adriatic coast is poorly supplied with harbours, 

 and exposed to the blasts of the Bora (q.v. ). The 

 climate along the coast and in the north is mild, 

 Fiume and Agram having respectively a mean 

 temperature of 60 and 52 F. ; in the Karst the 

 yearly mean is from 43 to 46 F. 



The soil is in general very productive. Corn, 

 maize, pulse, millet, flax, hemp, tobacco, and 

 grapes are cultivated ; large quantities of wood 

 are exported, the rich forests being for this industry 

 recklessly despoiled ; and horses and cattle are 

 successfully raised, while the oak-forests of Slavonia 

 support great droves of swine. Silk-culture is 

 progressing, and bees are largely kept in the heath 

 districts. Only in ores and minerals is the pro- 

 vince poor ; iron, silver, copper, lead, zinc, sulphur, 

 and coal are all worked, out in small quantities. 

 Much of the weaving is done at home, and the 

 other manufactures are not important. The trade 

 is chiefly in land products, Slavonia exporting also 

 a brandy made from plums. The bulk of the 

 people are Slavs ; both Croats ( originally Chorvats, 

 'mountaineers,' from chora or gora, 'a mountain') 

 and Slovenes are tall and strong, honest, and good- 

 natured, holding much of their land in common, 

 and dwelling for the most part in scattered hamlets. 

 In the west the religion is Roman Catholic, em- 

 bracing 71 per cent, of the entire population ; in 

 the east, that of the Greek Church. Education 

 is very backward ; in 1890, 40 per cent, of the 

 male inhabitants could neither read nor write. 

 A number of railways, however, now penetrate 

 the country, and the interest in education and in 

 the national language and literature is visibly 

 increasing. 



Croatia and Slavonia were for the most part 

 included in the Roman province of Pannonia ; in 

 the 7th century the territory was taken possession 

 of by the Slavonic races. The Croats shook off the 

 Byzantine yoke about 900, and in the following 

 century extended their rule over Dalmatia, built 

 a strong fleet, which they employed first for piracy, 

 and afterwards for trade, and had their king, 

 Dirzislav, recognised by the Eastern court in 994. 

 His son, Crescimir Peter, one of the greatest 

 national heroes, was acknowledged as king of 

 Dalmatia, as were also his successors until 1091, 

 when the kingdom was taken over by Hungary. 

 Slavonia was made a province of Hungary about 

 the same date, but in the 17th century a great part 

 of the land was held by the Turks, who only in 

 1699 resigned all territory north of the Unna. 

 Croatia, Slavonia, and Dalmatia were united as 

 the kingdom of Illyria from 1767 to 1777. After- 

 wards Croatia and Slavonia were regarded as part 

 of the kingdom of Hungary ; but among the 

 Croatians a feeling of hostility to the Magyars grew 

 up, which asserted itself in 1848-49. In reward 

 for Croatia's services during the Magyar revolt, 

 it was declared independent of Hungary, and 

 practically so remained until 1868, when the con- 

 nection with Hungary was restored, Croatia send- 

 ing deputies to the Hungarian diet. There must 

 be a Croatian in the Hungarian ministry ; there is 

 a national diet at Agram, and the official language 

 is Croatian. In 1883 there was a popular move- 



ment, with riots, directed against the subordina- 

 tion to Hungary. The Military Frontier, estab- 

 lished along the Turkish border in the 16th 

 century, arose out of the necessity of perpetual 

 defence. It was inhabited by military colonists 

 who enjoyed special privileges, maintained regular 

 armed posts, and were able to raise a force of 

 100,000 men on the briefest notice. This region 

 was in 1881 finally incorporated with Croatia and 

 Slavonia. See BAN ; and for language, SERVIA. 



Crochet (Fr., 'a hook'), a species of fancy 

 work in worsted, cotton, or silk, which may be 

 described as an extensive system of looping, by 

 means of a small hook made for the purpose. 



Crocidolite. a mineral consisting of silicate 

 of iron and sodium, in asbestos-like fibres, and 

 sometimes called ' blue asbestos. ' See CAPE 

 COLONY, Vol. II. p. 735. 



Crockets are ornaments used in Gothic archi- 

 tecture since the 12th century, when they were 

 introduced on capitals of columns in the shape of 

 incurved bunches of leaves springing from stems in 

 place of the classic volutes employed before that 

 date. Similar projecting crockets were soon 

 applied to cornices, gables, spires, &c. In the 

 Early English style they stand up in a detached 

 manner, with the foliage at the point ; but in the 

 Decorated and Perpendicular styles the leaves are 

 more developed and cling to the copes or ramps, 

 to which they are applied as ornaments. Animal 

 forms, specially modified, are sometimes utilised 

 for crockets. See the articles on the various 

 styles. 



Crockett, SAMUEL RUTHERFORD, novelist, 

 was born of farmer stock near New Galloway in 

 Kirkcudbright in 1859, and educated at Castle- 

 Douglas and Edinburgh University, becoming in 

 1886 Free Church minister at Penicuik, near Edin- 

 burgh. He resigned his charge for a purely literary 

 career in 1895. From his college years, and during 

 a residence abroad as tutor, he contributed to the 

 periodicals, especially verse. A volume of poems, 

 Dulce Cor, appeared in 1886, and in 1893 their 

 author attained, to fame by the sketches collected 

 under the title of The Stickit Minister (illustrated 

 ed. 1894). The Galloway story of moors, mountains, 

 outlaws, kidnapping, and adventure, The Raiders, 

 achieved great success in 1894, and was followed by 

 Mad Sir Ughtred, The Lilac Sunbonnet, The Play 

 Actress, Bog Myrtle and Peat, The Men of the Moss 

 Hags (1895), Sweetheart Travellers, Cleg 'Kelly, The 

 Grey Man, Lad's Love, Lochinvar (1897), &c. He 

 is a copious contributor to the magazines. 



Crocodile (Crocodilus), a large saurian reptile, 

 the name being originally applied to the crocodile 

 of the Nile only. The term is now used for a whole 

 genus of reptiles, as well as for the small order 



Crocodile. 



(Crocodilia) to which it belongs. The order in 

 eludes the largest living reptiles viz. the crocodile 



