CIIEROKEES - CHERUSCI. 



175 



deep bay, an 1 was formerly a slation of some impor- 

 tance. 25,000 inhabitants. 



Cheribon Reef ; a reef in the East Indian sea, near 

 the north coast of Java ; lat. 6 9' S. ; Ion. 108 34' E. 



CHEROKEES or TSULLAKEES, the more pro- 

 per name. See Indians. 



CHERONEA. See Cheeronea. 



CHERRY. The cherry is a fruit of the prune or 

 plum tribe, the original stock of which is the wild 

 cherry (prunus cerasus). The gradual effect of cul- 

 tivation on the cherry has been the production of se- 

 veral kinds, which, both in size and flavour, greatly 

 exceed the fruit of the parent stock. The kinds that 

 are best known are the May-duke, white-heart, and 

 black-heart cherries. The trees are propagated by 

 grafting them usually upon the stocks of wild black 

 and red cherry-trees, which are reared for that pur- 

 pose. This agreeable fruit is eaten fresh or dried. 

 It is sometimes preserved with sugar as a sweet-meat, 

 made into jam, used in the preparation of the liquor 

 called cherry-brandy, and made into wine. From 

 wild black cherries the Swiss distil an ardent spirit, 

 by the sale of which to the French and Germans, 

 they derive considerable profit. The wood of the 

 cherry-tree, which is hard and tough, is much used, 

 particularly by turners and cabinet-makers, in many 

 places, for the manufacture of chairs and other fur- 

 niture. The gum that exudes from the bark is, in 

 many respects, equal to gum arabic, and is consid- 

 ered very nutritive. Hasselquist informs us that, 

 during a siege, more than 100 men were kept alive 

 for nearly two months, without any other sustenance 

 than a little of this gum, which they occasionally 

 took into their mouths, and suffered gradually to 

 dissolve. 



CHERRY-LAUREL. The cherry-laurel (prunus 

 lauro-cerasvs) is remarkable only as producing the 

 celebrated laurel-water. This is a most powerful 

 poison, the strength of which (like that of peach- 

 kernels, bitter-almonds, cherry-leaves, &c.) depends 

 upon the presence of prussic acid, now so well 

 known. Laurel-water is obtained from the leaves 

 and flowers, or the leaves only, of this plant, by dis- 

 tillation, and was formerly much used, and much 

 dreaded, as a poison. Of late years, it has gone out 

 of use. The German kirschwasser is a strong spirit, 

 possessing the same properties, in a less dei. ree, as 

 do noyau, and other similar cordials, which should 

 all be used with great caution. 



CHERSON, capital of the Russian government of 

 Cherson, on the Dnieper, about sixty miles from its 

 mouth, formerly the chief naval station on the Black 

 sea, founded in 1778, is well fortified, and contains 

 about 2000 houses, partly of stone, with 20,000 in- 

 habitants. The city consists of four parts: 1. the 

 fortress, with a church, a mint, an arsenal, and a 

 cannon foundery ; 2. the naval office, with extensive 

 naval magazines and dock-yards; 3. the Grecian 

 suburb, with a large warehouse ; and 4. the suburb 

 for soldiers. The naval office has been transferred 

 to Nikolajev (at the confluence of the Ingul with the 

 Bug), founded in 1789, the situation of which is 

 more convenient and healthy. The harbour is an- 

 nually entered by 400 Greek boats, besides several 

 Austrian and French vessels. Wherever large rivers 

 have but a slight descent towards their mouths, a 

 great quantity of mud accumulates, which renders 

 the bed gradually shallower, and, finally, rises above 

 (he surface of the water, forming morasses and islands, 

 which leave a narrower bed for the stream. Such 

 an accumulation takes place more rapidly, if two 

 rivers of considerable size, like the Dnieper and Bug, 

 empty into the same bay. A deep bed should, 

 therefore, be dug and embanked for the united 

 rivers, which will be kept free by the action of the 



current, at least for some time. This was overlook eJ 

 by Potemkin, when he formed the plan of this city ; 

 and large vessels are, therefore, obliged to discharge 

 part of their cargoes in the harbour of Otzakow, 

 which has seventeen feet of water; and those whic:i 

 are outward bound .complete their cargoes there. 

 In 1823, however, the bed of the Ingul, which dis- 

 charges its waters into the Black sea, was deepened 

 to 18i feet, so that, in 1826, a ship of 110 guns 

 could be launched at Nikolajev. 



The province of Cherson or Nikolajev (containing 

 25,500 square miles, and 371,000 inhabitants) is a 

 dry heath, rising gradually towards the south, con- 

 taining rich meadows here and there, and, along the 

 rivers, about eighteen limens, or marshy lakes. The 

 soil along the shores is everywhere impregnated 

 with iron, and produces salt plants in abundance. 

 It is, therefore, suitable for raising sheep. The cli- 

 mate, in summer, is hot; in winter, cold. The 

 mulberry-tree, which loves a soil impregnated with 

 salt, thrives here luxuriantly ; but the inhabitants do 

 not turn it to advantage by the cultivation of silk- 

 worms: agriculture is yet in its infancy here. In 

 1787, the emperor Joseph r.nd the empress Catha- 

 rine II. met at Cherson, and, amid the splendid fes- 

 tivities of that occasion, formed an alliance against 

 the Porte. The tomb of Potemkin is in the city, 

 and that of Howard a few miles from it. The cities 

 of Odessa and Oczakow, and the ruins of Olbia, at 

 the mouth of the Bug, are in the government of 

 Cherson. 



CHERSONESUS (Greek; a peninsula). This 

 name has been given to several peninsulas ; as, 1 . the 

 Cimbrian chersonesus (chersonesus Cimbrica), now 

 Jutland, &c. (see Cimbri); 2. the Taurian cherso- 

 nesus (ch. Taurica, also called Magna), the penin- 

 sula formed by the Black sea and the sea of Azof 

 the Crimea ; 3. the Thracian chersonesus (ch. Thra- 

 cica, or merely Chersonesus), the. great peninsula in 

 Thrace, now the peninsula of the Dardanelles. 



CHERUB, in the Scriptures ; an angel of the se- 

 cond choir of the first hierarchy. Cherubim is the 

 Hebrew plural of cherub, as seraphim is of seraph. 

 The former signifies, as children ; the latter, as 

 flames of fire. The church has assigned to them 

 their rank in the heavenly hosts. Painters and 

 sculptors commonly represent the cherubim by a 

 child's head, between wings. Raphael's paintings 

 are beautifully adorned with these lovely creations 

 of fancy. 



CHERUSCI ; the most celebrated German tribe 

 among the Istasvones. They inhabited both sides 

 of the Hartz mountains, between the south-western 

 part of the Thuringian forest, where the Catti were 

 then 1 neighbours, and the Saale. Drusus, on his re- 

 treat from the Saale to the Rhine, passed through 

 the southern part of their country. But, hi advanc- 

 ing from the territory of Paderborn, over the Weser, 

 towards the Elbe, he took his course .through the 

 northern part. Here the Aller seems to have been 

 their northern and eastern boundary. They also 

 possessed some territory on the west bank of the 

 Weser. Their national league comprised all the 

 tribes between the Weser, the Rhine, and the Lippe 

 the Cattuarii, Ansibarii, Dulgumnii, Marsi, Cha. 

 maveri, &c. The Romans first became acquainted 

 with the Cherusci in the year 10 B. C., when Drusus 

 forced his way as far as the Weser, but, for want of 

 provisions, was obliged to return. In the following 

 year, he advanced from the Weser towards the Elbe, 

 on the north side of the, Hercynian forest, through the 

 midst of the Cherusci. At that time, they were not 

 very formidable. In the year 7.B. C., they even 

 entered into an alliance with the Romans, and served 

 in their armies. But when Yarns attempted to 





