CAR 



582 



CAS 



Cartha- mercial relations, it exports annually of the produce 

 of native agriculture to the value of * 252,000 ster- 

 ling. The quantities of that produce are as folio ws : of 

 cotton 3,307,500lb. avoird. of sugar, 220,500 ditto 

 of indigo, 22,050 ditto of Brazil wood. 882,000 

 ditto of quinquina of New Grenada, 220,509 ditto 

 of balsam of Tolu, 2205 ditto and of ipecacuana, 

 13,230 ditto. Besides these articles, there is a con- 

 siderable exportation of the precious metals, which 

 are carried to Old Spain. The value of the impor- 

 tation amounts to j840,000 sterling annually. The 

 articles imported are brandy, wine, oil, almonds, 

 raisins, tobacco, confectionaries, &c. The bay of 

 Carthagena,, on which depends so much of its com- 

 mercial consequence, extends two leagues and a half 

 from north to south. It has a sufficient depth of 

 water, and good anchorage; and is so well sheltered, 

 that the ships are no more agitated than if they were 

 in a river. There are so many shallows, however, at 

 the entrance, and on some of these there is so very 

 little water, that a skilful pilot is always requisite to 

 steer the vessels into it with safety. The difficulty 

 of navigating vessels in it is also increased, by the ir- 

 regularity of the tides, which increase the danger of 

 striking, and by the slimy and tenacious consistence of 

 the bottom, which, when a vessel does run aground, 

 renders it often necessary to lighten her, before she 

 can be got off. In this bay there is great plenty and 

 variety of fish, both wholesome and agreeable to the 

 taste. The turtles are large, and of excellent flavour. 

 Sharks are here very common, large, voracious and 

 destructive. There are vast multitudes of craw-fish, 

 from which the country on this coast got from the 

 Indians the name of Calamari, signifying the land of 

 craw-fish. All along the coast, salt is produced in 

 great abundance. 



The importance and wealth of this place have 

 made it the object of frequent attacks. In 1544, it 

 was taken and pillaged by some French adventurers, 

 under the direction of a Corsican pilot. About 

 forty years afterwards, half of it was laid jn ashes by 

 Sir Francis Drake, and the rest was saved from de- 

 struction by the neighbouring colonies, who paid for 

 it a ransom of 120,000 silver ducats. It was a third 

 time invaded, in 1597, by the French under the 

 command of M. de Pointis, to whom it capitulated, 

 but whose avarice consigned it to plunder. It was 

 again besieged in 1740, by the English under Ad- 

 miral Vernon, but it held out successfully, and the 

 besiegers were obliged to retire after a great loss of 

 men and labour. The inhabitants of Carthagena con- 

 sist of various casts or tribes : whites, negroes, and 

 Indians, and the different classes produced by the 

 intermarriages of these. They drink brandy in the 

 forenoon, make use of a great deal of chocolate, and 

 are fond of smoking tobacco, which last practice is 

 indulged in equally by both sexes. The fandango is 

 the common amusement. This ball, or dance, which 

 is the ordinary mark of rejoicing on festivals and re- 

 markable days, is conducted with great propriety in 

 houses of distinction ; but among the lower orders it 

 is accompanied with hard drinking, indecency, and 

 quarrels. Their funeral ceremonies they observe with 

 great pomp and ostentation, lamenting for the de- 

 ceased in the most clamorous and frantic manner, and 



continuing their mourning in the house for nine days 

 after the interment. Their diseases are chiefly the 

 black vomit, with which the distemper that attacks 

 Europeans on their first landing frequently termi- 

 nates ; the leprosy, to which the people both in town 

 and country are very subject, and for the purpose of 

 stopping which, a hospital, called San Lazaro is 

 erected on the top of a hill in the neighbourhood, 

 where persons of both sexes infected ^with it are 

 strictly confined ; the cobrilla, or little snake, so cal- 

 led, from the general belief that it is one of these 

 animals which has introduced itself beneath the skin 

 of 'the patient ; and the spasm, or convulsion, which 

 is very prevalent, seldom comes alone, and always 

 proves mortal. The intense heat and moisture of the 

 climate, naturally lead to the conclusion, that the in- 

 habitants must be unhealthy ; yet it is a fact that in 

 general they enjoy good health, and it is not uncom- 

 mon for them to survive their eightieth year. The 

 profuse perspirations, however, occasioned by the 

 high temperature, render their complexions wan and 

 livid, and all their movements sluggish. The popu- 

 lation is said to be between 20,000 and 30,000, of 

 which above 9000 are in communion. West Long. 

 75 26' 45", North Lat. 10 26' 35". Juan and 

 Ulloa's Voyage to South America, by Adams, vol. i. j 

 Humboldt's Political Essay on New Spain, vol. iv. ; 

 Alcedo's Geographical Dictionary of America and 

 the West Indies, with Thompson's Additions, vol. i. ; 

 and Peuchet's Diction. Univers. de la Geograph. Com* 

 merf. torn. iii. (T) 



CARTHAMUS, a genus of plants of the class 

 Syngenesia, and order Polygamia ./Equalis. See BO- 

 TANY, p. 292. 



CARTILAGE. See ANATOMY, p. 727, 747. 



CARTONEMA, a genus of plants of the class 

 Hexandria, and order Monogyma. See BOTANY, 

 p. 195 ; and Brown's Prodronms Plant. Nov. Hol- 

 land. &c. p. 271. 



CARUM, a genus of plants of the class Pentan- 

 dria, and order Digynia. See BOTANY, p. 166. 



CARYOCAR, a genus of plant!* of the class 

 Polyandria, and order Tetragynia. See BOTANY, 

 p. 238. 



CARYOPHYLLUS, a genus of plants of the 

 class Icosandria, and order Monogyma. See BOTA- 

 NY, p. 233. 



CARYOTA, a genus of plants of the class Mo- 

 ncecia, and order Polyandria. See BOTANY, p. 326. 



CASAL, a town of France, in the department 

 of Marengo, and formerly the capital of Lower 

 Montferrat, is situated on the right bank of the Po. 

 It received the name of Casale /Sancti Evasii, after 

 the death of St Evasius, who was martyred by a 

 Duke called Astabolo. It is highly probable that 

 it was built not far from an ancient town called Se- 

 dula, and not, as some authors have imagined, on the 

 ruins of Bodincomago or Industrie, ; (see Pliny Nat. 

 Hist. lib. ii.) The few huts which were built by 

 the devotees over the place where the body of the 

 martyr was preserved, gradually assumed the form 

 of a town, while Liutprand, king of the Lombards, 

 built the church which still exiats, and which was 

 afterwards erected into a cathedral. In the year 

 1173, Casal was erected into a free city ; and, about 

 2 



Cartha* 

 gen a in 

 America 



II 

 Casal. 



