301 



CANDIA. 



CANTAL. 



of the Minotaurus, Theseus and Ariadne. Idomeneus, a grandson of 

 Minos, one of the Cretan chiefs who went to the siege of Troy, 011 his 

 return was driven away by his subjects and went to found the colony 

 of Salentum on the coast of lapygia. After the expulsion of the 

 dynasty of Minos, Gortys, a town built in the centre of the island 

 near the foot of Mount Ida, became a powerful rival to Cnossus. 

 Greta had once many flourishing cities, some say a hundred ; the 

 principal, besides Cnossus and Gortys or Gortyna, were Cisamus, 

 Cydonia now Canea, Amphimalla, Rithymna, now Retimo, Heracleum 

 the port of Cnossus, and Miletus, all on the north coast, Phalasanui 

 on the west coast, Lyctus, Phoenixportus, and Hierapetra on the south 

 coast, and Ampelos on the east coast. Strabo, whose maternal ances- 

 tors were from Cnossus, although he himself was born in Pontus, 

 gives a pretty full account of the Cretans, their laws, their towns, and 

 the wars between them ; and Aristotle in his ' Politic ' (book ii.) has 

 described the peculiar institutions of the ancient Cretans. The east 

 part of the island had been colonised by the Dorians, tho west part 

 was inhabited by the Cydouians, and the south by the Eteocretes. It 

 was two days' sail from the south coast of Greta to Cyrenaica and four 

 to Egypt. 



The Cretans were often at war among themselves or with their 

 neighbours the Cilicians, and with the kings of Syria and of Egypt. 

 They materially assisted Demetrius II. Nicator to recover the throne 

 of Syria, over the usurper Alexander Balas, B.C. 148 (Justin xxxv. 2). 

 The Cretans were celebrated for their archery, and in the later period 

 of their political history were often employed as mercenary troops by 

 other nations. 



Creta was conquered by the Romans, B.C. 67, under the proconsul 

 Quintiih Metelluo, after an obstinate defence. It became a Roman 

 province and a colony was sent to Cnossus. The Cretans seem to 

 have been notorious for dishonesty and lying. ' Cretizare cum 

 Cretenmbus ' was a common proverb, meaning ' to deceive the 

 deceiver.' St. Paul in his epistle to Titus, whom he had appointed to 

 preach the gospel to the Cretans, alludes to the bad reputation of the 

 people. 



Creta remained subject to the Roman emperors and afterwards to 

 the Byzantines till A.D. 823, when it was conquered by the Saracens, 

 who built the town of Candia, which has ever since been considered 

 the capital of the island. Nicephorus Phocas retook it in 961. After 

 the taking of Constantinople by the Franks Baldwin I. gave the island 

 of Candia to Boniface, marquis of Montferrat, who sold it to the 

 Venetians in 1204. The Venetians kept possession of Candia more 

 than four centuries ; it was one of their chief possessions in the east, 

 and the first of the three subject kingdoms (the other two were 

 Cyprus and the Morea) whose flags waved over the square of St. Mark. 

 The island was governed by a proveditor-general from Venice, who 

 had under him the four proveditors of Canea, Candia, Retimo, and 

 Sittia. For judicial matters there were rettori, or judges, sent also 

 from Venice, each of whom was assisted by two councillors who were 

 natives of the island. The municipal administration was in the 

 hands of the Candiotes. The taxes were very moderate. The native 

 nobility enjoyed feudal privileges, and they were bound to have a 

 certain number of militia from among their vassals and tenants ready 

 when called. The whole of this militia was reckoned at 60,000 men. 

 Although most of the natives were of the Greek Church and had their 

 own clergy, there was an archbishop of the Latin or Western Church 

 who was sent from Venice. In 1645 the Turks landed 60,000 men, 

 besieged and took Canea ; in the following year they took Retimo, 

 and in 1648 laid siege to Candia the capital of the island. This siege, 

 the longest in modern history, lasted 20 years. The Venetians 

 strained every nerve for the defence of the place. The order of Malta, 

 the Pope, the Duke of Savoy, Louis XIV., all sent auxiliaries to the 

 relief of Candia. The vizier Achmet Coprougli was at Uwt sent in 

 1667 by the sultan with great reinforcements to carry the place ; 

 Francesco Morosini conducted the defence. In September 1669 the 

 Venetians, having exhausted every means, surrendered Candia to the 

 by a convention in which they retained the forts of Suda, 

 Spiimlonga, and Carabusa, on the coast of the island. The wars of 

 Candia cost the senate 25 millions of ducats. In the last three years 

 of the siege 29,000 Christians and 70,000 Turks were killed. The 

 Turks made 69 assaults and the Venetians made 80 sorties ; the 

 number of mines exploded on both sides was 1364. Since the capture 

 nidia, Crete has remained in the hands of the Turks, under 

 whom it has been perhaps the worst governed country in the world, 

 all its former prosperity has vanished, and its population dwindled to 

 a fourth of what it was under the Venetians. In 1821 and for several 

 subsequent years the native Greek population maintained a sangui- 

 nary warfare with their Turkish masters in the Tiopa of shaking off 

 their oppressive yoke. In this struggle they failed. According to a 

 decision of the allied powers the island was made over to Mehemet 

 Ali of Egypt in 1830, to indemnify him for his losses in the revolu- 

 tionary war in the Morea. He made some improvement in the 

 trading regulations of the island, but the oppressed raya obtained 

 little relief by a change of masters. Mehemet Ali held it till 1840, 

 when by a convention of the great European powers (except France) 

 it was restored to Turkey, from which another insurrection in 1841 

 and 1842 failed to set it free. In ancient times the forests upon 

 Mount Ida supplied wood for smelting and forging iron, though no 



trace of ancient mining operations has been discovered on the island. 

 Among the forest-trees in ancient times nourished the fruit-bearing 

 poplar, the evergreen plane, the cypress, and the cedar. The wines of 

 Crete, and especially ita raisin wine, were celebrated in ancient times. 

 Among its simples grew the dictamnus or dittany, famous among 

 physicians and poets. The island was free from all wild beasts and 

 noxious animals ; its dogs were a match for those of Sparta, and its 

 wild goat is the supposed origin of all our domestic varieties. 



(Dam, Hixtoire de Venise; Botta, Storia d' Italia; Macgregor, 

 Commercial Statistics ; Dr. Bowring, Reports ; Dictionary of Greek and 

 Roman Geography.) 



CANDY. [KANDY.] 



CANEA. [CABDIA.] 



CANFRANC. [AjLAaow.l 



CANNES. [VAB.] 



CAN NSTADT, properly KANNSTADT, a town in the Neckar-Kreis 

 in the kingdom of Wurtemburg, is famous for its mineral springs, its 

 healthy climate, and its beautiful situation on the right bank of the 

 Neckar, nearly in the centre of the kingdom, and in the heart of a 

 fertile country. It is a station on the railroad from StuttgarJt to 

 Esslingeu and within 4 or 5 miles of the former city, and contains 

 about 5350 inhabitants. Independently of its trade, for it is the 

 staple town for the traffic in the Neckar, and has manufactures of 

 woollens, cottons, tobacco, &c., there are 37 mineral springs in the 

 neighbourhood and a regular establishment of baths, with grounds 

 laid out for visiters. The Kursaal is decorated with fresco paintings 

 and is otherwise an elegant 'building. It is erected a quarter of a 

 mile from the town, at the foot of a hill from which the springs 

 arise. Kannstadt is frequented in the season by large numbers of 

 people from Stuttgardt. There are horse-races in summer. The 

 Seelberg, an adjoining hill, 640 feet in height, contains many curious 

 fossil remains. Vases, coins, and other Koman antiquities have of 

 late years been found near Kannstadt. The two royal seats, Bellevue 

 and Roseustein, are in its vicinity. 



CANO'PUS or CANO'BUS (Kdvafas), a city of Egypt, on the coast 

 near the outlet of the western or Canopic branch of the Nile. It was 

 120 stadia from Alexandria by land, with which it was connected by 

 a canal. In the time of Strabo (p. 801) it contained a great temple of 

 Serapis. 



CANOSA. [BABI, TERRA DL] 



CA'NTABRI, a people of ancient Spain, who lived east of the 

 Asturians in tho region now called Las Montanas de Santander. To 

 the east they bordered on the Autrigones and the Varduli, or Bis- 

 cayans. To the south the Cantabri sem to have extended beyond 

 the mountains into the north part of the present province of Palencia, 

 where they bordered on the Vaccaci (Maunert, ' Geographic der 

 Griechen und Rbmer '). They were a brave, secluded, half wild race, 

 who long resisted the Romans, and were only finally subdued together 

 with the Asturians by Augustus, B.C. 25. They revolted again after 

 some years but were defeated and nearly exterminated by Agrippa, 

 B.C. 1 9. In the division of Spain made by that emperor the Cantabri 

 were included in the Taraconensis province. They gave their name 

 to the Sinus Cantabricus, now Gulf of Biscay. 



CANTAL, a department in France, lies between 44 37' and 45 25' 

 N. lat, 2 2' and 3 20' E. long., and is bounded N. by the depart- 

 ments of Correze and Puy-de-Ddme, E. by those of Haute-Loire and 

 Lozere, S. by Aveyron, and W. by Lot and Correze. It is formed 

 out of Upper Auvergne, and is named from the highest of its moun- 

 tains, the Plomb-du-Cantal, which stands nearly in the centre of the 

 department. The department measures 68 miles from north-east to 

 south-west, and 57 miles from south-east to north-west. The area is 

 about 2000 square miles ; and the population in 1851 was 253,329, 

 which gives 12ti'66 to the square mile, being 48'05 below the averagj 

 per square mile for the whole of France. 



The department is almost entirely covered with the mountains of 

 AUVERGNE, the principal chain of which crosses it from north-north- 

 east to south-west. In this chain, and within a range of 7 miles 

 diameter, are the volcanic summits of Plomb-du-Cantal, Col-de-Cabre, 

 Puy-Mary, and Puy-Violent, which rise to the respective heights of 

 6095, 5541, 5443, and 5229 feet above the sea. These peaks are of 

 conical shape, bare, rugged, and from their steepness almost inacces- 

 sible. The whole range is of volcanic origin and contains many 

 craters distinguished by the local name Puy. In the neighbourhood 

 of this central region are many ancient valleys filled up with lava, 

 which has flowed at several unknown and long distant epochs. The 

 mountains are covered with snow during several months of the year. 

 In the spring the lower heights abound with verdant pastures, inter- 

 mixed with numerous wild flowers, especially violets, hyacinths, 

 lily-of-the-valley, pinks, daisies, &c. ; they also produce medicinal 

 plants and orchil abundantly. The only human habitations met 

 with in this wild region are the burons, or little huts, which serve as 

 temporary dwellings for th& cow-herds, who drive their cattle hither 

 in the fine season, and manufacture large quantities of butter and 



At the lower extremities of tho high plains and in the valleys 

 which separate them are found the towns, villages, and cultivated 

 lands of the department. Here also the flocks and herds come to 

 pass the winter in vast buildings, the upper story of which is used as 



