CHINGLEPUT. 



CHIPPENHAM. 



approaches to a point of the coast where the remainder of the cargo 

 is shot down the cliff into the hold of the vessel. This is managed as 

 follows : A deep inclosure capable of containing four or five hundred 

 tons of guano is formed on the top of the cliff with stakes firmly 

 bound together by strong iron chains ; it is made wide and open at 

 the upper end, and gradually slopes down to a point on the extreme 

 edge of the precipice, where a small opening is left fitted with a can- 

 vass shute or pipe, which extends down the rock to the deck of the 

 ship. Through this shute the guano is poured in a continuous stream 

 at the rate of about 350 tons a-day ; three days are generally sufficient 

 for loading the largest ship. The inclosure is filled during the night 

 by Indians, who sleep or smoke all day. On the north island about 

 200 men, and on the middle about 80, usually reside, the numbers 

 varying with the demand for guano. They are almost all Indians ; 

 they live in wretched huts, wear but little clothing, earn plenty of 

 money, and seem happy in their way, though everything about them, 

 food and all, is impregnated with guano. 



The chief countries engaged in the guano traffic are Great Britain 

 and the United States. The quantity imported into Great Britain in 

 1852 was 129,889 tons, which was much less than for some previous 

 years. The privilege of loading vessels is obtained from the Peruvian 

 government at a rate of about 41. sterling per ton. There are 

 frequently nearly 100 vessels waiting to load ; and some Peruvian 

 vessels of war are constantly stationed off the islands. 



CHINGLEPUT, a tract of country forming part of the grants 

 obtained by the East India Company in 1750 and 1763 from the 

 Nabob of Arcot, and known in the annals of the Indian govern- 

 ment as the Company's Jaghire. This tract is bounded N. by 

 Nellore district ; W. by the districts of northern and southern 

 Arcot ; S. by the southern division of Arcot ; and E. by the Bay 

 of Bengal ; it therefore forms part of the province of the Carnatic, 

 and i included in the presidency of Madras. The soil of the 

 Chingleput district is generally bad ; detached rocks of granite 

 are continually met with in the fields, and interfere with the pro- 

 cesses of cultivation. The district was invaded by Hyder Ali in 

 1768 and 1780 ; in the latter of these invasions the country was so 

 ravaged that many parts were wholly depopulated. In 1794 the 

 district was formed into a collectorate under Mr. Place, and a gradual 

 improvement was effected. The principal towns in the district, Chin- 

 gleput and Conjeveram, are described under CARNATIC. 



CHIOS (Khio, Scio), an island in the --Egean Sea near the west 

 coast of Asia Minor, opposite the peninsula on which Erythrao stood, 

 and which now separates the gulfs of Smyrna and Scala Nuova. 

 Chios lies at the entrance of the Gulf of Smyrna, and is separated 

 from the mainland by a channel (the Strait of Scio) about 5 miles 

 wide. Its greatest length from north to south is about 32 tnilt'S, and 

 its greatest breadth, which is across its northern part, about 18 miles; 

 but a little south of the central part of the island the breadth is only 

 about 8 miles. The circuit is about 110 miles and the area 400 

 square miles. The island is mountainous, especially in the northern 

 part, the principal summit of which, called Mount Pelinseus, consists of 

 a long line of bare rocks. Strabo reckoned 400 stadia from the northern 

 extremity of Chios to the nearest point of Lesbos, but the distance 

 between the nearest points of the two islands does not exceed 30 miles. 

 The point indicated by 38 80' N. lat., 26 0' E. long., is iu the island 

 of Chios. 



The oldest settlers, according to tradition once current in the island, 

 were Pelasgi from Thessaly. Chios was afterwards one of the twelve 

 Ionian states ; the population that settled there was not pure Ionian, 

 but mixed. (Strab. 633; Herod, i. 142.) The dialect of the inhabit- 

 ants is said by Herodotus to have been the same as that of the 

 people of Erythrse. In the great sea-fight between the Ionian Greeks 

 and the Persians off Miletus (B.C. 494), which resulted in the entire 

 defeat of the Greeks, the people of Chios furnished 100 ships, and 

 fought bravely. After the battle the Persians took possession of the 

 island : the cities and temples were burnt, and all the handsome 

 young females carried off. (Herod, vi. 8, 32.) 



After the close of the Persian war, B.C. 480, the island passed 

 successively under the dominions of the Athenians, the Macedonians, 

 the Romans, and the Byzantines. The Genoese took it in 1346, and it 

 was governed for a long time by the Genoese family of Giustiniani. 

 Solyman the Great took it in 1566. In 1694 it was taken by the 

 Venetians, but was soon after retaken by the Turks, by whom it was 

 treated with especial favour, being allotted as a kind of dowry to the 

 Sultana mother, who sent her officers to collect the mastic gum, which 

 is collected in great abundance from the lentiscus in the south of the 

 island, and which constitutes a valuable commodity, being much used 

 at Constantinople, and especially by the ladies of the seraglio, for 

 chewing. Under the protection of the Sultana, the people of Chios 

 were safe from the vexations of the pashas and other arbitrary chiefs ; 

 they had their own magistrates, and lived in comparative freedom 

 and security. The island accordingly prospered, and Tournefort and 

 other travellers agree in representing it as a garden inhabited by a 

 happy people. Its inhabitants amounted to more than 100,000, of 

 whom nearly 30,000 lived at Khio (sometimes also called Kattro), the 

 capital, a handsome town built in the Italian style, with a castle raised 

 by the Genoese, on the east coast of the island. Khio is at the foot 

 of Pelinaeus, and occupies the site of the ancient town of Chios. It 



had a college with 14 professors, in which between 400 and 500 

 youths of the various Greek islands received their education ; a 

 printing-office, and a good library. The establishment was supported 

 by contributions of the Chiote merchants, many of whom were 

 wealthy, and carried on an extensive commerce with Italy and other 

 countries. 



When the Greek insurrection broke out, the Chiotes, a peaceful 

 race, and far from the theatre of war, remained quiet, until a party 

 of turbulent Samiotes and other Greeks from Candia, half partisans, 

 half pirates, landed upon the island in 1822, and excited or rather 

 obliged the people to join the insurrection. The sequel is well 

 known. The capitan pasha came with a large force, the Samiotes 

 escaped by sea, the poor Chiotes made hardly any resistance, but were 

 slaughtered by thousands, their wives and children were carried away 

 and sold as slaves, and the town of Khio was burnt. In the town and 

 the villages of the island in 1828 there were only about 15,000 Greeks, 

 who had escaped from the slaughter and had returned under the 

 assurance of protection of the new pasha. 



The island is recovering from this terrible chastisement. It is 

 naturally one of the most beautiful of the Greek islands ; its surface 

 presents varied and charming scenery ; and its products are abundant 

 and valuable, comprising besides mastic, wine of excellent quality, 

 silk, wool, figs, lemons, oranges and other fruits, and cheese. The corn 

 grown on the island does not suffice for the consumption. There is a 

 marble quarry near the town of Khio. 



The principal towns of -the island in ancient times were Chios, 

 Delphinium, Bolissus, Phanse, which had a good port and a temple of 

 Apollo, and Leuconium. Cardamyle, where the Athenians landed to 

 attack the people of Chios (Thucyd. viii. 24), is now Khardamli, on 

 the north-east coast of the island. Ion, the dramatic writer, the 

 historian Theopompus, and the sophist Theocritus, were natives of 

 this island. Chios was one of the places that claimed to be the birth- 

 place of Homer, and the natives still show a Bpot on the north coast 

 which they call Homer's School 



CHIPPENHAM, Wiltshire, a municipal and parliamentary borough, 

 and the seat of a Poor-Law Union, in the parish and hundred of 

 Chippenham and northern division of the county, is built principally 

 in a valley on the left bank of the Bristol or North Wilts Avon in 

 51 27' N. lat., 2 6' W. long.; distant 10 miles N.W. by N. from 

 Devizes, 94 miles W. by S. from London by road, and 93J miles by 

 the Great Western railway. The population of the municipal borough 

 of Chippenham in 1851 was 1707; that of the parliamentary borough 

 was 6283. The borough is governed by four aldermen and twelve 

 councillors, one of whom is mayor ; and returns two members to the 

 Imperial Parliament. The living is a vicarage, with the rectory of 

 Tytherton Lucas annexed, in the archdeaconry of Bristol and diocese 

 of Gloucester and Bristol. Chippenham Poor-Law Union contains 29 

 parishes and townships, with an area of 56,371 acres, and a population 

 in 1851 of 21,407. 



Chippenham received its first charter of incorporation from Queen 

 Mary, but there can be little doubt that it was an important town 

 prior to the Conquest. The taking of th town by the Danes about 

 the year 880 is said to have been the cause of the retreat of Alfred 

 the Great to the Isle of Athelney in Somersetshire. The name of the 

 town occurs several times in Anglo-Saxon history, aud is thought to 

 have been derived from the Saxon term for market ; the market at 

 this place was from a very early period an important one. Chippen- 

 ham sent representatives to Parliament as early as the time of 

 Edward I. At Chippenham the Avon is crossed by a handsome 

 stone bridge of 21 arches, which has been widened and improved, and 

 is kept in repair and lighted with gas, from the proceeds of landed 

 property given to the borough by Queen Mary on its incorporation. 

 Near the stone bridge is a wooden bridge for foot passengers only. 

 The town consists chiefly of one street, more than half a mile in 

 length, which runs eastward from the bridge, and forms a part of the 

 coach road. The streets are well pavea and are lighted with gas. 

 In the High-street the houses are generally built of freestone or of 

 brick. The market-house, in the High-street, erected by Joseph 

 Neeld, Esq., one of the members for the borough, is a spacious and 

 handsome structure; it has been recently greatly enlarged at the 

 expense of Mr. Neeld. In the upper part of it is the new hall, a com- 

 modious room used for public meetings. The palish church, a vener- 

 able gothic structure, is in the centre of the town ; it is partly of the 

 decorated and partly of the perpendicular style. It has been recently 

 repewed. The Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists, Independents, 

 and Baptists have places of worship. The Free school in Chippenham 

 is for the education of twelve poor boys, and is managed by the charity 

 trustees. There are National and British schools, and a literary and 

 scientific institution. 



From its position on a leading high road, and the importance of its 

 fairs and markets, Chippenham has generally secured a good share of 

 traffic. The river Avon is not navigable till it reaches the city of 

 Bath, but a branch of the Wilts and Berks Canal is brought to Chip- 

 penham, and by it a considerable trade is still carried on, chiefly in 

 coals. A branch line of railway connects Chippenham with the neigh- 

 bouring towns of Melksham, Trowbridge, and Westbury. Broad- 

 cloths and kerseymeres were at one time woven to a great extent in 

 Chippenham, but the general introduction of superior and costly 



