C I T 



520 



C I V 



Vegetation *dUKi with eitnwrdinary rapidity, and in 

 the course of three month* the peatanU gather hay and 

 millrt. 



It U generally about the end of four month* that the 

 water* begin to return. They rush through the diffe- 

 rent opening* with great force, and in the space of about 

 24 hour., the lake it completely filled. Sometimet the lake 

 Ins emptied ittclf thrice in one year ; at other timea years 

 hwe ebpted without its having discharged its waters ; 

 but whenever the phenomenon does tike place, the wa- 

 ter* alway* return in leu than four months. The phe- 

 nomenon generally takes place about the end of June, or 

 the beginning of July. In 1729. the watera were ab- 

 sorbed twice, once in summer, and a second time in win- 



ter. 



A great variety of fish is found in this lake, such as 

 pike, trout, tench, eel*, carp, and perch. The pike somr- 

 limct weighs ten, twenty, and even forty pounds ; and 

 whenever the waters begin to retire, a bell is rung at 

 Cirknitz, to give notice of the event to the neighbouring 

 villages. Every thing is then prepared for fishing, and 

 if the ebb happens in the night-time, the peasants fish 

 even by candle light. Valvasor, in hi* description of Car- 

 niola, (Die Ehre des Herzogthtims Crain &c. durch, W. 

 Valvasor, 1689, * vols. folio,) informs us, that when the 

 water is entirely run off into its subterraneous caverns, the 

 peasants descend with lights into the cavity called Ribcs- 

 tajama, which is in a hard rock, three or four fathoms 

 under ground, to a solid bottom, where the water is car- 

 ried off through very small holes, as through a sieve ; the 

 fish being left behind in this natural net. 



The fishing of the lake belongs to the six lordships of 

 Hasberg, Stcenberg, Aucrsperg, Laas, Schnecberg, and 

 the convent of Sittich. Some pools are given to the fi-.h- 

 ermen for their trouble, and they sometimes sell their 

 chance before they cast their nets. The lord of Steen- 

 berg once gave a fisherman 30 guilders for his chance in 

 one pool, and the quantity offish caught on this occasion 

 amounted to fourteen cart loads. 



The lake of Cirknitz stands higher than the country 

 about Planiiu, which is on one side of it, and is a low 

 valley with several cavities. The other side of the lake 

 is surrounded with high mountains, so that the phenome- 

 non of the lake might be explained on the principles of 

 Hydrostatics. (*) 



CIRTIPUR. SeeNEPACL. 



CISSAMPELOS, a genus of plants of the clans 

 Dicccia, and order Munadelnhia. See BUT A NY, p. 339. 



CISSUS, a genus of plants of die class Tctrandria, 

 and order Monogynia. See DOT A NY. p. 1 '_'). 



CISTUS, a gcnun of plants ot the cl i- Polyandria, 

 and order Mouogy .ia. See BOTANY, p. 239. 



Cl'l HAREXYLUM, a genu of plants of the class 

 Didynamia, and order Angiotperruia. See BOTANY, p. 



CITRIC ACID. See CHEMISTKI . 



CITROSMA, a genus ot |, a tits of the class Dioecia, 

 aud ordir (cosaodna. See BOTANY, p. 



CITRUS, a genus of plant* of the class I'olyadel- 

 phia. and order Iccsindria. S* e BOTANY, p. 287- 



CITY (civilat), is dct'med by G.ke, and after him by 

 Bl ivk t lie, i town incorp >r*u-o, which is or has been 

 the tee of a b>sh >p ; and th..ngh the bishopric be dis- 

 solved, at at Wcttmiotcer, y -t still it remains a city. 

 Some, bo*cv r, have disputed the accuracy of this cha- 

 racU-rittic difiVicncc between cilie* and otiuT towns, the 

 word c<Vy having, a^ coidii.g to them, obuined in this 

 itlaud .,nly since the conquest, though bishops, and their 

 tee*, were certainly kn ..*i. i<, . It n.ay be re- 



marked alto, M 4 very strung, or rather decisive authority 



in favour of this opinion, that Ingulph, in his History of CiviUd 

 the Abbey of Croyland, has related, that at the great J 

 council assembled in 1078, to settle the claim of precedence * ""Y"" 1 

 between the two Knglit.li archbishops, it was decreed that 

 bishops' sees should be Iransfrrredyrom /owns lo r-lics ; 

 and to this circumstance William of Mulimbury also re- 

 fers ; cimcttsum ett, says he. v de villis Iranxire in 

 t, Yc-t though, originally, there thus appears to 

 have been no necessary connection between cities and the 

 eei of bishops, certain it is that for a long time the ap- 

 pellation has been confined to such towns only as either 

 now are, or have been at some former period, honoured 

 with that ecclesiastical distinction. 



For a very distinct and probable account of the pro- 

 grets of cities, towns, &c. in wealth and consequence, sec 

 the Wealth of Nations, book 3. cap. .'!. and Robertson's 

 Charles V. vol. 1. See also Madox's Firms linrai and 

 Brady's Historical Treatise of Cities and Burs/is* (j. o ) 

 C1V1DAD RODR1GO, or RodericopoUs, a forti- 

 fied town in the kingdom of Leon in Spain, was built 

 in the 13th century, on the scite of the ancient Mirobri- 

 ga. It in situated on the river Agucda, in a flat and 

 good country, which produces grain of all kinds, wine, 

 oil, honey, and almonds. 



Cividad Rodrigo is well fortified, and has seven gates. 

 The castle, though of a common construction, is very 

 strpng, and the ditch which surrounds the walls has been 

 dug anew. The wall around the town is weak, but its 

 platf rm forms an agreeable promenade. The streets 

 are tolerably regular, and the public buildings are nume- 

 rous. There is one cathedral, one collegiate church, 

 six parish churches, five convents of monks, four of nuns, 

 oue seminary, and two hospitals. The cathedral, which 

 was built in ttie lime of Ferdinand 1 1. of Leon, is of free- 

 stune, but is riot finished. The church is Gothic, as 

 well as the two parts of the cloister, but the other two 

 parts are modern. There are three gates, to the chapel, 

 which is adorned with Corinthian columns. The finest 

 piece of architecture is the chapel of Ctrralvo, found- 

 ed in 1588. Its form is square, and the body of it is in 

 the torm of a cross ; the exterior decorations are of the 

 Doric order, and the interior of the Ionic, with pilasters 

 and a dome. There is nothing remarkable in any of the 

 otliLr churches, except that of the Augnstines, which it 

 well built, and adorned with five orders of architecture. 

 In the church of St Francis in the Fauxburg, there is a 

 handsome chapel, containing the tomb of a bishop of Za- 

 mara. The seminary was begun in 175, and finished ia 

 1769. Anoth.r building, larger than the first, and of 

 the Doric order, was afterwards added, in which there 

 was a church with vaulted roots and a cupola. The 

 principal altar is of stucco, and is of the Composite or- 

 der. On the Plaza-Mayor there are three Roman co. 

 lumns on a triangular plinth, with two inscriptions on 

 the cornice. The old Roman aqu. duct isdt-stroyed, but 

 another has been erected for supplying the town with 

 water. 



There is in this town an agricultural society, who at- 

 tend to the cultivation of the land, to the discovery of 

 mines and quarries, and even to the instruction of youth. 

 About ^ ot a league from the town is the bvantiful con- 

 vent ot N;>rberlins. The cloister is magn fioent, and 

 charmitigiy situated near the river. Cividad Rodrigo 

 was once famous for its manufactures of tapestries, em- 

 broideries, laces, and leather ; but these are now gone, 

 and there is only a small tannery and a manufactory for 

 hard soap. Some of the in habitants employ thems -Ives in 

 searching for grains of gold in the sands of the Agueda. 

 The population ot the town is 10,000. See BRITAIN, 

 Vol. IV. p. 783, 739. (n) 



