C A I, 



<*lbra. mish church, their hand is considered as the highest 



in- to which an Alban- an aspire; and 



il has been observed, that the mo--t l>- -mt-.t..! <: 

 women are generally conferred ikj>on ' In 



., the- AUi.inese possess only six villages, 

 containing l-.Wl inhabitants, who bate ill c..ul nned 

 to the Latin ntiril ; but they are much DBore nume- 



in Calabria Citra, win -re t 'hirty villages, 



contaiiiin.- .. Hants, H),17^ of whom still 



re to the Greek church. 



This province has in all ages been desolated l.y 

 earthquakes. It was almost utterly destroyed by 

 awful visitations in H>:'S, ;<i..l 1:1 !()'."-!); and in 



, the whole of Calabria Ultra, from (Jape Spar- 

 tivL-nto to Amantea, above the gulf of St Entemia, 

 was so completely convulsed, that not one stone was 

 left upon another south of the narrow isthmus of 

 Squillacv. The earthquake of 1638 is feelingly de- 

 scribed by Kircher, who was an eye witness, in the 

 preface to his Manilas Su/.-lirrancus ; and a parti- 

 cular account of the last most disastrous and calami- 

 tous catastrophe, is given by Sir William Hamilton, 

 who was then English minister at the court of Naples, 

 in a letter which is inserted in the " Philosophical 

 Transactions" tor 1783. The most violent shocks 

 happened on the 5th and 7th of February and the 

 ^8th of March ; and it is worthy of observation, that 

 the first week of February had been formerly twice fa- 

 tal to this country, and the '27th of March was thrice 

 marked with a similar calamity previous to 1783 : 

 and, upon comparing the dates of the great earth- 

 quakes that have afflicted Calabria since the eleventh 

 century, Mr Swinburne found that seven of them 

 happened in the four first months of the year, one in 

 August, and four in November and December. The 

 .miseries to which the Calabrians were reduced upon 

 this unfortunate occasion, cannot be conceived except 

 by those who have witnessed the rum and desola- 

 tion which these terrible ministers of destruction 

 have scattered over a populous and fertile country. 

 Above 30,000 inhabitants miserably perished, being 

 either buried in the waves, destroyed by the falling 

 of their houses, or swallowed up by the opening of 

 the earth. The re t, deprived of the necessaries of 

 life, and without habitations, during an inclement 

 season ; their fortunes ruined ; their friends and fami- 

 lies destroyed ; and famine, disease, aud pain, their 

 only expectation ; their condition called for the most 

 speedy and humane assistance. Their Sicilian majes- 

 ties were wanting neither in exertions nor liberality on 

 this occasion ; and to their honour let it be recorded, 

 that all that could be done by a benevolent sove- 

 reign, actuated by a true paternal affection for his 

 subjects, was done for the relief and accommodation 

 of the distress d Calabrians. Vessels loaded with 

 every thing necessary were immediately dispatched ; 

 and the king ordered au officer to take all the money 

 which the royal treasury could supply or borrow ; 

 and eve::, if required, his own plate, and the very fur- 

 niture of his palace. All ranks were interested in 

 the miserable fate of this province ; and we are in- 

 fotmed that the officers and porters belonging to 

 the custom-house of Naples, who were employed 



ding the vessels, universally refused to accept 

 of pay for their labour. " Stupendous altera- 



VOL. V. PART I. 



C A L 



tions," say* Mr Swinburne, ' m-ere occasioned io 



i-rs choked up by the 



falling in of the hills, were converted into takes, 

 which, if not speedily drained by some future con- 

 vulsion, or opened by human labour, will 611 the air 

 with pestilential vapours, and destroy the remnants 

 of population. Whole acres of ground, with houses 

 and trees upon them, were broke off from the plains, 

 and washed many furlongs down the deep hollows, 

 which the course of the rivers had woni ; there, to 

 the astonishment arid terror of beholders, they found 

 a new foundation to fix upon, either in an upright or 

 an inclining position. In short, every species of phe- 

 nomenon incident to the&e destructive commotions of 

 the earth, was to be seen in its utmost extent aod va- 

 riety in this ruined country." See Swinburne's 

 Tun-els in the I no A/. Hie*; Bartels Voyage dan* I* 

 ( alii/in-, ffc. ; Marafiotti Crunic/ie cd antichita di 

 Ctilnbria ; Phil. Tram. vol. Ixxri. p. 367 ; and An* 

 iialcs dcs i >]. i. and lii. (p\ 



CALADEN1A, a genus of plants of the clau 

 Gynandriu, and order Monandria. S-c BOTANY, \>. 

 318 and Brown's Prodromut Plant. ,\'c/t. I Ml. &c. 

 p. 323. 



CALADIUM, a genus of plants of the cla*e 

 Monoccia, and order Polyandria. See BOTANY, p. 

 325. 



CALAIS, a sea-port town of France, and th.- 

 chief place of a district in the department of the Pai 

 de Calais, is situated in marshy ground, which, by 

 means of sluices, may be overflowed at pleasure. It 

 is nearly surrounded by a moat and a wall, which is 

 used as a public promenade. Calais is defended by 

 a citadel on the north-west side, near the sea, and 

 nearly as large as the town. Fort Nieule, which is 

 an oblong square, and was built in 1680, is supported 

 by piles, and is connected with the citadel by a mole. 

 The town has the form of a parallelogram, with the 

 long side towards the sea. The streets are strait, well 

 paved, and tolerably clean, and ihe houses are well built. 

 The principal public buildings are the arsenal, built by 

 Cardinal Richelieu, several churches and monasteries, 

 a tolerably good theatre, and the hotel at the Lion 

 D'Argent, which resembles a small town in the 

 middle of Calais. The harbour of Calais is formed 

 by a small rivulet ; but is now in a great measure 

 obstructed with sand. It commences at the gate of 

 the town, where a large solid quay terminates in two 

 long wooden piers, which stretch into the sea. It 

 is dry at ebb tide, and with a common flow has three 

 fathoms at high water. Nearly opposite to the head 

 of the west pier, there is a bank on which are two 

 fathoms; but between the pier head and the bank is 

 a channel, which has three fathoms at half flood. 

 At spring tides, it is high water at 1 1 h. 30min., 

 and the flood sets in N. E. by E. Proposals have 

 repeatedly been made to improve and deepen the har- 

 bour of Calais ; but these have never been listened 

 to, though the expencc would i.ot exceed 1,500,000 

 livres. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, 

 thib harbour admitted frigates of 4X) guns. Vessels 

 of 300 and 400 tons entered it at high water, and 

 vessels of 200 and 300 tons at all times ; and if it 

 were properly deepened, it would still afford the 

 same accommodation. The shore towards Dunkirk 

 2 F 



