CANALETTO CANCER. 



4 feet deep, and extends from bayou St John to a 

 basin in the rear of the city of New Orleans. Thi 

 canal is without locks. Through it the tide flow 

 into the basin. Lafourche canal passes from the 

 river Lafourche, 16 miles below its efflux from the 

 Mississippi. It is opened from the right bank into a 

 small creek, uniting with lake Verret. It is through 

 this channel, at high water, that boats are taken to 

 and from the lower part of Attaceapas into the Mis- 

 sissipi, or from the latter stream ; navigable only in 

 times of liigh flood. Plaquemine canal passes from 

 the Mississippi into bayou Plaquemine, at its efflux 

 from the Mississippi. The mouth of the Plaquemine 

 is closed by a raft of timber, and the canal (a short 

 cut of about 400 yards) was made across the point, 

 below the bayou. It is only navigable in times of 

 high flood. 



CANALETTO; 1. a Venetian painter, born in 

 1687, whose true name was Antonio Canale. He is 

 celebrated for his landscapes, which are true to na- 

 ture, and his architectural paintings. He died at 

 London, in 1768. There is a bird's-eye view of Ve- 

 nice painted by him. He is also said to have first 

 used the camera obscura for perspective. 2. Bernardo 

 Bellotti, who was likewise a good artist, and painted 

 at Dresden many Italian landscapes, also goes by this 

 name. He lived in Dresden, where he was a mem- 

 ber of the academy of painters, and died in 1770. 



CANARIES ; a cluster of islands in the Atlantic, 

 considered as belonging to Africa, the most easterly 

 being about 150 miles from cape Non. They are 13 

 in number, 7 of which are considerable, viz., Palma, 

 Ferro, Gomera, Teneriffe, Grand Canary, Fuerteven- 

 tura, and Lancerota. The other 6 are very small ; 

 Graciosa, Roca or Rocca, Allegranza, Sta. Clara, In- 

 ferno, and Lobos. Lon. 13 20' 18 10 7 W. ; lat. 

 27 30f 29 30' N. The extent and population of 

 the seven largest, according to Ledni, are given in 

 the following table : 



Tencriffe, 



Fuerteventura, 



<vrand Canary 



Palma, 



Lancerota, 



Gomera, 



Ferro, 



Pop. 

 70,000 



fl.iIOO 

 50,000 

 22,600 

 10,000 



7,400 



Pop. to gq, /. 

 P.itf 

 142 

 833 

 837 

 384 

 528 

 714 



270 174,000 



Hassel states the population of the whole at 181,000, 

 and the square miles at 3213. The soil of these 

 islands is very fertile, and produces all kinds of grain, 

 fruits, and pulse in great abundance; so that the 

 name of Fortunate Islands, which the ancients gave 

 them, was well deserved ; but the method of cultiva- 

 tion practised by the natives tends very little to its 

 improvement. All the islands furnish good wine ; 

 but the preference is given to the wines of Palma and 

 Teneriffe. The situation of the Canaries, the salu- 

 brity of their climate, the fertility of their soil, 

 and the quality of their productions, all conspire to 

 render them tne most valuable of the Spanish colo- 

 nies. The exports amount to 242,000 dollars annually, 

 and consist of wine, raw silk, soda, and fruits. One 

 of the most recent works on these islands, and pro- 

 bably the most valuable one, is Leopold Von Buch's 

 Physikalitche Beschreibung der Canarischen Inseln, 

 (Physical Description of the Canary Islands,) by Leo- 

 pold Von Buch; Berlin, 1825, 4to. They are of 

 volcanic origin, and were, as has been stated, known 

 to the ancients. Juba II., king of Mauritania, de- 

 scribed them first with some degree of accuracy. He 

 graced a triumphal entry of Caesar into Rome, was 

 instructed in all branches of liberal knowledge, and 

 became a highly accomplished prince. Pliny followed 

 his description of the islands. Juba called the Ca- 

 naries Proper Fortunatce, but Madeira and Porto San- ! 



to, Purpnrece. Of the island of Ferro, which he calli 

 Ombrios, and of the others, he gives an interesting 

 account. The loss of this work is the more to be 

 regretted, as we might reasonably hope to find in it 

 some information respecting that mysterious tribe who 

 originally inhabited these islands. This people un- 

 derstood how to embalm their dead, who were sewed 

 in goatxskins, put into coffins of one piece of wood, and 

 placed in grottoes. These mummies smell agreeably, 

 but fall to dust if they are taken out of their goat- 

 skin coverings. The Spaniards relate strange tilings 

 of the civilization of these tribes, called Guanches, of 

 their respect for women, of their chastity, and aristo- 

 cratic constitution. Their language resembled that 

 spoken on the neighbouring continent ; but we know 

 too little of it to be able to give any opinion respect- 

 ing it. Between 1316 and 1334, the Spaniards, 

 pressed by the Moors, discovered and conquered 

 these islands ; and they are laid down with accuracy 

 in the old map which Andreas Bianco published in 

 Venice, 1436. The Spaniards seem, however, not to 

 have esteemed these islands much ; for the infante of 

 Portugal, Henry the Navigator (q. v.), ordered them 

 to be taken possession of, and prosecuted his discove- 

 ries from them to the coast of Guinea. In 1478, the 

 Spaniards undertook again the conquest of the Ca- 

 naries. At the end of the 15th century, they had 

 subdued the original inhabitants entirely ; and they 

 extirpated them at a later period. At present, the 

 islands are inhabited almost entirely by Spaniards: 

 only a few Portuguese reside there. Teneriffe (q. 

 v.), is an island of basaltic formation, thrown up by 

 internal convulsions. The fortified capital is the seat 

 of the governor, has 8400 inhabitants, and an excel- 

 lent harbour on the eastern side of the island. Ano- 

 ther city, Laguna (8800 inhabitants), is the seat of the 

 bishop (who has an income of about 6000 sterling), 

 and of the tribunals. The island Lancerota, or Lan- 

 celotta, contains three volcanoes, and, in 1823, expe- 

 rienced violent eruptions. Five islands of this cluster 

 are uninhabited. The people of the Canaries are 

 rigid Catholics. 



CANARY-BIRD, or CANARY FINCH. See 

 Finch. 



CANARY, GRAND, or CANARIA ; an island 

 in the Atlantic ocean, about 180 miles from the coast 

 of Africa. It is the most fertile and important of the 

 Canary islands, to which it gives name. Canary, or 

 Cividad de Palmas, is the capital of the island. See 

 Canaries. 



CANCER, in astronomy; the fourth sign in the 

 zodiac (q. v.), marked thus 25, which the sun enters 

 on the 21st day of June, thence called the summer 

 solstice. It consists, according to Kepler, of 17, ac- 

 cording to Bayer, of 35 stars, two of which are of the 

 third magnitude. Flamstead made a catalogue of 83 

 stars, the comparative brightness of several of which 

 will be found estimated l>y doctor Herschel (Phil. 

 Tran. Ixxxvii., 311). The tropic of cancer is a small 

 circle of the sphere, parallel to the equator, from 

 which it is 235 distant, and marks the sun's greatest 

 northern declination. It is so called because it passes 

 through the beginning of the sign Cancer. 



CANCER. In medicine, this name is given to a 

 roundish, unequal, hard, and livid tumour, generally 

 seated in the glandular texture. Though this is the 

 texture in which it is believed always to originate, it 

 may extend to others. This is doubted by some ; and 

 the disease which is often met with in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of advanced cancer, and in different 

 textures, is, by them, ascribed to mechanical pressure 

 of the cancerous tumours, aided by the acrid dis- 

 charges which accompany its ulceration. The name 

 was derived from a supposed resemblance of the tu- 

 mour to a crab, and furnishes a good example of the 



