22 



CANOBUS CANON. 



talents. He bore the torture with silent fortitude. 

 The king pardoned liim. He became a priest, and 

 was made a racionero (resident) of Grenada, where 

 be passed the remainder of his life in a pious and 

 exemplary manner, and died in ll>7(>. 



CANOBUS. See Canopus. 



CANOE, also CANOA ; the term generally used 

 to designate the small vessels which ondvlltad peo- 

 ple, living near the water, use. In the East Indies, 

 there is a kind of boat which goes by tliis name, 

 sometimes from 40 to 50 feet long, and 5 or 6 broad. 

 The North American Indians generally impel their 

 canoes with paddles, whicli have a very large blade, 

 and are managed perpendicularly. The canoes of 

 Canada are otthe most fragile texture, and of so 

 little weight, that, in passing from one river to ano- 

 ther, the ooatmen carry them on their heads across 

 their portages. They are mostly covered with bark, 

 the pieces of which are sewed together with a kind 

 of grass. This bark is generally not more than a 

 quarter of an inch in thickness ; yet, in these frail 

 vessels, the Indians and Canadians do not hesitate to 

 descend very dangerous rapids. The Esquimaux 

 are exceedingly dexterous in the management of 

 their canoes. These consist of a light, wooden 

 frame, covered with seal-skins, sewed together with 

 sinews. The skins are not only extended round the 

 bottom and sides, but likewise over the top, forming 

 a complete deck, and having only one opening to 

 admit the Indian to his seat. To this hole a flat 

 hoop, rising about four inches, is fitted, to which is 

 fastened the surrounding skin. The paddle is about 

 10 feet long, light, and flat at each end. In the 

 Esquimaux language, the canoe is called a kaiak, or 

 man's boat, to distinguish it from umiak, the woman s 

 boat,vrhicl\ latter is a large boat for transporting the 

 women, with their families and possessions. The 

 Greenlanders and Esquimaux use the same kind of 

 canoes, and it is astonishing, when we consider their 

 insignificant construction, at what a distance from 

 the regions they commonly inhabit, these people, 

 especially the former, are found in them. In the 

 islands of the South sea, the natives liave a double 

 canoe, united by a strong platform, serving, in this 

 way, as one vessel. Such a canoe is capable of 

 carrying a number of persons, and a considerable 

 lading. Captain Cook gives us a long account of 

 the different kinds of canoes used in Otaheite. 



CANON ; a person who possesses a prebend, or 

 revenue allotted for the performance of divine service 

 in a cathedral or collegiate church. 



CANON, in the arts. When art has succeeded in 

 producing beautiful forms, the question arises, with 

 wliat proportions beauty of form is united. Artists 

 of genius first started this question, and imitators, 

 inferior to them in talents, scrupulously followed 

 their results, and naturally exalted some existing 

 work into a model for every performance. Among 

 the Greeks, the celebrated statuary Polycletas (q. v.) 

 first instituted such inquiries ; and, as he generally 

 represented youthful, pleasing figures, it is probable 

 that he fixed the standard of beauty in the youthful 

 form. The canon (the model statue) of Polycletus 

 was accordingly a statue, which was made principally 

 for the purpose of showing the beautiful proportions 

 of the human form in a youth just ripening into man- 

 hood. No copy of it is known to exist ; the artist 

 probably gave his model of proportion a quiet, sim- 

 ple attitude, without any strong, distinguishing 

 marks. His successors imitated it without deviation. 

 Polycletus was not the only Greek artist who pur- 

 sued such investigations respecting the proportions 

 of form. Euphranor, for instance (in the 10th Olym- 

 piad), is celebrated hi the same way. Among the 

 ntoderns, Dnrpr and Leonardo da Vinci have devoted 



themselves to similar inquiries. See A. Hirt's Ab- 

 handlung uber den Canon in der bildenden Kunst in 

 the Abhandl. der Histor-philolog. Classe der konigl. 

 Akad. der Wiss. in Berlin (1814 and 1815), a table 

 annexed to which gives the average proportions 

 (ascertained by careful measurements) of the best 

 ancient statues. 



CANON, in music, signified, with the ancient 

 Greeks, wliat now is called monochord. At present, 

 ii signifies a composition in which the several voices 

 begin at fixed intervals, one after the other, ami in 

 which each successive voice sings the verse or the 

 strain of the preceding one. In Italian, therefore, it 

 is called fuga di conseguenza ; in Latin, canon per- 

 petuus, or continuous fugue ; in German, Kreis-fuge 

 (circulating fugue). Sometimes each voice begins 

 with the same, sometimes with different notes. 

 Canons may be finite or infinite. The former end, 

 like any other compositions, with a cadence, while 

 the infinite canon is so contrived, tliat the theme in 

 begun again before the parts which follow are con- 

 cluded. By this means, the performance might be 

 continued to an indefinite length. A canon may 

 consist of two, three, four, or more voices. Gene- 

 rally only one voice of a canon is written, and a sign 

 shows the place where the other voices are to begin. 

 Formerly, at the beginning of canons, it was the 

 custom to place the directions by which they were to 

 be deciphered and sung. These directions were 

 called the rule or canon, and thence arises the title 

 which such compositions liave since retained. Canons 

 differ from ordinary fugues ; for, in the latter, it is 

 sufficient that the subject be occasionally repeated 

 and imitated according to the laws of counterpoint ; 

 but, in the former, it is essential that the subject be 

 strictly repeated by all the succeeding parts ; which 

 repetition may be made in the unison or octave, the 

 fourth, or the fifth, or any other interval of the scale. 

 There are several other canons, as canon polymor- 

 phus, canon pertonos, canon per diminutionem, and 

 canon per augmentationem, which to explain, would 

 exceed our limits. Sometimes, also, a musical pas- 

 sage of a composition, in which one voice repeats, 

 for a short time, another, is called, improperly, a 

 canon. 



CANON (Greek) properly a measure, a rule, a 

 standard ; thence canon is used to denote the rule or 

 standard of primitive Christianity. The same term 

 Is employed to designate the collection of books 

 containing this rule ; that is, the canonical books of 

 the Holy Scriptures, whose divine origin the church 

 acknowledges. The canon of the books of the Old 

 Testament, as drawn up by the Jews in the 4th cen- 

 tury before Christ (see Hebrew Language and Litera- 

 ture), receives in this form equal respect among all 

 Christians, because Christ and the apostles have ex- 

 pressly appealed to them, and pronounced them 

 writings inspired by God. The apocryphal books of 

 the Old Testament, whose canonical character the 

 Jews did not acknowledge, the Eastern church has 

 never received; but the Western church declared 

 them canonical, hi the African council, about the end 

 of the 4th century. Nevertheless, the opinions of 

 the clergy respecting the canonical authority of the 

 apocryphal books of the Old Testament remained 

 for a long time divided. Jerome, one of the fathers 

 of the church, denied it, and many theologians coin- 

 cided with him. (See the following article.) The 

 Protestant churches reject the Apocrypha as books 

 not belonging to the rule of faith. Respecting the 

 value and the number of the books belonging to the 

 canon of the New Testament, the opinions of Chris- 

 tians were much divided till the 6th century. As 

 early as the 2d century, the separation was made 

 jnto the Evangelicon (the four evangelists) and the 



