(IUKNCE8TER 



CIVITA VECCHIA. 



m 



Kale, forming inaeeeasiMe gorges and defilea. All this region is 

 untraverscd by a single road, and some of the tribes here have been 

 able to maintain their independence against the Russians. 



There are no towns in Circassia, the habits of the people being 

 opposed to the concentration of a great number of houses or of people 

 oo one spot They live in small villages, the site of which is fre- 

 quently changed. They cultivate the fertile soil of their valleys, 

 which yield grain of excellent quality ; millet and barley are-the 

 favourite grains, but wheat and rye, with vegetables and tobacco, are 

 also raised. Agricultural operations are performed by the aid of 

 oxen ; mules and asses are the beasts of burden. The vine is culti- 

 vated on the sunny slopes, and good wine is made; but it is spoiled 

 by being kept in pitched skins. Every family possesses several hives 

 of bees : honey is consumed in vast quantities, and mead is a favourite 

 beverage. The country abounds with every description of timber, 

 which u left to decay for want of means of transit The Turks used 

 before the Russian occupation of the country to ship considerable 

 quantities of oak, valona, and box for Constantinople. The rearing of 

 cattle is more attended to than agriculture, as the mountain-plateaus 

 afford excellent and abundant pastures, and the banks of the nume- 

 rous brooks are fringed with luxuriant meadows. Their horses are 

 of a fine breed, and equally strong, swift, and beautiful ; the people 

 are proud of them, and, like the Bedouins, preserve the genealogies 

 of their breed : they are used only for the saddle. The sheep, which 

 are of the broad-tailed kind, are also much esteemed. Cattle are 

 small Milk, with millet, forms the principal food of the inhabitants, 

 and they make of it an inebriating beverage called ' kumiss.' As they 

 are Mohammedans they do not rear swine. Hunting is followed by 

 the chiefs as a diversion. Salt, gunpowder, fire-arms, calico, and 

 woollen cloths are the chief imports. 



The Circassians, or Tscherkeases, are the most numerous of the dif- 

 ferent nations that inhabit this country. They occupy the lower part 

 of the mountains and valleys from the river Suudsha or Sunja on the 

 east to near the shores of the Black Sea. They consist of eleven tribes, 

 independent of one another, and governed by their own hereditary 

 princes and hereditary nobility. Their internal government resembles 

 the feudal system. As the eastern portion of their country is called 

 Kabardah, they have been sometimes called Kabardians ; it is certain 

 that the Kabardians and Circassians belong to the same stock and speak 

 the same language. Kabardah being of easy access to the Russians, 

 has been subjected to them for a considerable time. The Terek divides 

 it into Great and Little Kabardah. To the east of the river Sunja 

 live the Midszeges, also called Kistes and Tchetchenes, who differ 

 entirely from the Circassians in language, but not much in character, 

 being, if possible, still greater robbers. West of them are some 

 smaller tribes, but the most western portion of the Caucasus is inha- 

 bited by the Abhasians, who are less addicted to war than the Circas- 

 sians, and more willingly submit to the Russians. [CAUCASUS.] 

 Many Tartars and Coseaka are settled in Circassia. The traffic in 

 female slaves has long been carried on between the Circassians and 

 Turks ; it was checked for a while by the Russians, but by a treaty 

 between them and the Circassian* in 1 845, the traffic was re-established 

 About 1000 young girls are sold yearly by their parents, and carried 

 to the Constantinople market 



(Pallas ; Reineggs ; The Cancanu, by Ivan Golovin ; Spencer, Trarel* 

 in H'erfmt Catuanu.) 



CIRENCESTER, Gloucestershire, colloquially called Cicester, an 

 ancient market-town, parliamentary borough, and the seat of a Poor- 

 Law Union, in the parish of Cirencester and hundred of Crowthorne 

 aadMintr, is situated on the river Churn, in 61 48' N. lat, 1" 58' 

 W. long. ; distant 17 miles 8.E. from Gloucester, 88 miles W.N.W. 

 from London by road, and 95 miles by the Great Western railway. 

 The town is governed by two constables and fourteen wardaraen, who 

 are elected annually ; and returns two members to the Imperial Parlia- 

 ment. The population of the borough in 1851 was 6096. The living 

 is a vicarage in the archdeaconry of Bristol and diocese of Gloucester 

 and Bristol. Cirencester Poor-Law Union contains 89 parishes and 

 townships, with an area of 86,170 acres, and a population in 1851 of 

 SI, Itt. 



CtraBeester occupies a portion of the site of an important Roman 

 military station. By Ptolomeus it is called Coriuium ; by Richard of 

 QI*SMBS<, Corinum; and liy Antoninus, Durocornovium. Three 

 Roman road* met here : the Foasway, the Ermine-street, and the 

 IdmUld Way. It is said that the walls of the town were 2 miles in 

 streuiufaranoe. The Roman remains which have at various times 

 I discovered at Ctr-neartsr are of uncommon extent, variety, and 

 reel. From the character of the villas which have been traced 

 Cormiam appears to have been the residence of a wealthy people. 

 HypoeaocU of elaborate) construction, teaselated pavements, some of 

 them of very superior design and execution, statuettes, pottery, filmlir, 

 braoalsts, beads, and other personal ornament*, coins, statara (a sort 

 of steel-yards), weight*, *< have been found, as well as sepulchral 

 inscriptions of much historical value. Home very important <li- 

 ooveria* WOT* mad* in the UtUr part of the year 1849, which, as well 

 a* the other antiquities found her*, are fully described in the work of 

 Piofsseuf Bookman referred to at the end of this article. 



Daring the Heptarchy, CiraocMr was mcceasjvely included in the 

 * Weaws and of Mercia. In 879 it was stormed and 



taken by the Danes, and was the seat of a great council held by 

 Canute. It waa again stormed and completely dismantled in the civil 

 war between Henry HI. and the barons. A magnificent abbey for 

 black canons was built in 1117 by Henry I., on the foundation of a 

 college for prebendaries, which was established by the Saxons long 

 before the Conquest The revenue of this abbey at the dissolution 

 u 1051/. 7s. Id. ; its mitred abbot had * seat in Parliament 

 Cirencester parish church is a fine old structure, partly of the 18th 

 and partly of the 15th centuries. The building is especially interest- 

 ing on account of its magnificent porch-house and mortuary chapels. 

 ItH embattled tower contains a peal of twelve bells. In the interior 

 are several interesting monuments. A new oh arch, dedicated to St 

 John the Baptist, has been recently erected. The Independents, 

 Baptist*, Wesleyan Methodists, Quakers, and Unitarians have places 

 of worship. The Free Grammar school, founded in 1750, has an 

 income of 28t a year, and had 42 scholars in 1852. There are an 

 Endowed parochial school, three hospitals supported from endow- 

 ments, almshouses, a savings bank, a museum, a public library, and a 

 dispensary. A county court is held. An agricultural college of a com- 

 plete and important character was established at Cirencester in 1846. 

 Cirencester is not a place of much trade ; its appearance is that of 

 a very respectable and opulent country town. The town is paved 

 and lighted, and well supplied with water. The market days are 

 Monday and Friday. Fairs are held on Easter Tuesday, on July 18th, 

 on the Monday before and after Michaelmas, and on November 8th, 

 chiefly for agricultural stock and produce. In the vicinity is the 

 handsome mansion of Oakley Park, the seat of Earl Battiurst Oakley 

 Park and woods are celebrated both on account of their picturesque 

 character and of the frequent mention of them in the letters of Pope, 

 Swift, and their correspondents. 



(Atkyns, Oioucefterthire ; Rudder, Cirencaler ; Lysons, Rcliquitr 

 Jii-itannico-Romanit ; Professor Buckman and C. H. New-march, lUut- 

 tration* of the Remain* of Roman Art in Cirencetter ; Communication 

 from Cirencetter.) 



CiTEAUX. [Cor-D'OR.] 

 CITTA VECCHIA. [MALTA.] 

 CIUDAD REAL. [CASTILLA LA NUIVA.] 

 CIUDAD RODRIGO. [LEON.] 

 CIVITA-DI-PENNE. [Annum).] 

 CIVITA-DUCALE. [Annuzzo.] 

 < 'I V ITA-SA X-ANGELO. [ABBUZZO.] 



CI'VITA VE'CCHIA, a town and sea-port in the Papal States, the 

 capital of the Delegation of Civita Vecchia, and the port of Rome, is 

 situated on the Mediterranean, 40 miles N.W. from Rome, and has a 

 population of about 7000. Its harbour is formed by two piers, or 

 moles, of marble blocks, first raised by Trajan and afterwards restored 

 under the popes. At the entrance between the extremities of the two 

 moles is another mole, or breakwater, formed of large pieces of rock 

 thrown into the sea, under the reign of the same emperor. On the 

 southern extremity of the breakwater is the lighthouse, which stands 

 in 42" 4' 6" N. lat ; 11 45' E. long. Pliny the Younger (' Epist' 31) 

 describes the manner in which the breakwater and the piers were 

 made. There is from 14 to 1 8 feet depth of water in the harbour, 

 which is the only safe one on the south coast of the Papal States ; it 

 is frequented by about 1000 vessels of various sizes, most of them 

 coasting vessels, in the course of the year. There is a lazaretto for 

 ships coming from infected countries. There are docks also, and a 

 prison for galley-slaves. The lighthouse and the citadel were built 

 after designs by Michael Angelo. The present town of Civita Vecchia 

 was built by Pope Leo IV., and is regularly fortified. The massive 

 architecture of the buildings round the harbour gives the place an 

 imposing appearance from the sea. The streets are regular and the 

 houses well built The town has a cleanly and bustling appearance. 

 The air, although not very good in summer, is not altogether unwhole- 

 some, but the country around is subject to the malaria, and has a dfftolate 

 appearance like the rest of the lowlands on this coast Several lines 

 of steamers plying between Marseille, Genoa, Leghorn, and Naples put 

 into the harbour, and many thousand travellers land here during the 

 year. A large quantity of the produce of the Pontifical States is 

 brought here for export, including wheat, alum, cleese, skins, bark, 

 staves, Ac. The imports consist of woven goods, chiefly tnmi Km-l-iml, 

 salt provisions, wine, colonial produce, salt, drugs, and haberdashery. 



Trajan had a villa here, called Centum CdUf, around which and the 

 port a town of the same name sprung up, and gradually became of 

 considerable importance, as the harbour at the mouth of tin- Tiber 

 became choked up with sand. Centum Celbo was of importance 

 also as a fortress. It was captured by Belisarins, afterwards by 

 Tntila, but soon recovered by Names; and it continued to flourish 

 till A.D. 812, when the Saracens utterly destroyed it. The inhabitants 

 who escaped founded a new settlement in the interior, and the site of 

 the ancient city began to be spoken of as Civita Vecchia (Old City), a 

 name which it has retained ever since. Besides the substructions of 

 Trajan's mole there are remains of an aqueduct and numerous frag. 

 mente of Roman buildings. .Since tin- nmirrection of 1849 the French 

 have garrisoned the citadi-l of <Vit Vecohia. 



The Delegation of Civita Vecchia bus an area of 878 square 

 and had a imputation of 21.312 in 1843. It is inclosed from imrth- 

 j west to north-east by the Delegation of Viterbo; south-east by the 



