GEOGRAPHY, TRAVEL. ARCHITECTURE 



of the trade between Europe and Asia. The 

 city was taken and destroyed by the Romans, 

 about the middle of the Second Century before 

 Christ. It was afterwards, in the First Century 

 of our era, made into a Roman colony, and re- 

 gained much of its former wealth, which led to 

 its population becoming once more famed for 

 their luxuriousness and licentiousness. Little 

 now remains of the city except the ruins of a 

 Doric temple, believed to be one of the earliest 

 existing specimens of that style of architecture. 

 The modern town is of no importance. 



Cossacks, a people inhabiting those parts 

 of the Russian Empire which border on the 

 northern dominions of Turkey, Poland, and 

 the southern confines of Siberia. Both the name 

 ami the origin of this people are involved in 

 great uncertainty, but they are believed to be 

 of a mixed Caucasian and Tartar race. The 

 country of the Don Cossacks, or Cossacks of 

 the Don, to the north of the Sea of Azov and 

 Caucasia, lias an area of about 62,000 square 

 miles, with a population of about 1,100,000. 

 They pay no taxes to the government, but, in 

 lieu of this, every Cossack of the Don, from 

 fifteen to sixty years of age, is bound to render 

 military service. Every Cossack is obliged to 

 equip, clothe, and arm himself at his own ex- 

 pense, and to keep his horse. The number of 

 Don Cossacks in military service is computed 

 at 66.000; and there are, besides, the Cossacks 

 on the Black Sea, the Great Russian Cossacks 

 on the Caucasian Line, the Ural Cossacks, the 

 Orenburg Cossacks, the Siberian Cossacks, and 

 the Bashkir Cossacks, the total number of Cos- 

 sacks in military service being estimated at 

 about 330,000, all of whom are fully organized, 

 and are supposed to be prepared to enter the 

 field, on being summoned, in the course of ten 

 days. They are thus the most important part 

 of the irregular troops of Russia, but otherwise 

 they maintain considerable independence. 



Ootopaxl (k&-td-p&x'i), the most remark- 

 able volcanic mountain of the Andes, in Ecua- 

 dor, about sixty miles northeast of Chimborazo; 

 latitude 43' south; longitude 78 40 7 west; 

 altitude 19,613 feet. It is the most beautiful 

 of the colossal summits of the Andes, being a 

 perfectly symmetrical, truncated cone, present- 

 ing a uniform, unfurrowed field of snow of 

 n-pli-ndent brightness. Several terrific erup- 

 of it occurred in the course of the 

 Eighteenth and the beginning of the Nineteenth 

 Century. 



Coventry (kuSen-tri), a city in England, 

 unity of Warwick, eighty-five miles north- 

 weal of London. It was formerly surrounded 

 with lofty walls and had twelve gates, and was 

 the see of a bishop early mnjoined with Lirh- 

 fi*-M. Parliaments were convened here by the 

 earlier monan-i^ <>t Knu'land. Pageants and 

 processions were celebrated in old times, and a 

 n Militant of these still exists in the processional 

 -how in honor of Lady Godiva. Population, 

 69,877. 



Cracow (Jkra'An5), the old capital of Poland, 

 in 1815-1846 capital of a republic of the name 

 Tiaiin- now i'< inning part of Austrian Galicia; 

 is on the left bank of tin- where it be- 



comes navigable, and consists of Cracow proper 



I or the old city, and several suburbs. It is the 



i see of a bishop, is well built and regularly forti- 



j fied. The cathedral, a fine old Gothic edifice, 



contains monuments of many Polish kings, of 



Kosciusko, etc. The university was founded 



1 in 1364, but gradually fell into decay, and was 



| reorganized in 1817. It has a library of 300,000 



volumes. On a hill near the town stands the 



| monument of Kosciusko, 120 feet high. Popu- 



I lation, 100,520. 



Crecy (kre'se), or Cressy, a small town 

 of France, in the department of Somme, about 

 twelve miles northeast of Abbeville, celebrated 

 on account of the Battle of Crecy, won by Ed- 

 ward III., of England, over the French, under 

 the Count t>f Alencon, August 26, 1346. In this 

 battle the Prince of Wales (the Black Prince) 

 greatly distinguished himself; and the crest 

 now used by the Princes of Wales (three ostrich 

 feathers, with the motto, " Ich dien, " I serve) 

 is commonly said to have been adopted by the 

 Black Prince after this victory, in which the 

 King of Bohemia, to whom the crest belonged, 

 was slain. At present, the town of Crecy nas 

 only about 1,300 inhabitants. 



Cronstadt (krdn'stat), a maritime fortress 

 of Russia, about twenty miles west of St. Peters- 

 burg, in the narrowest part of the Gulf of Fin- 

 land, opposite to the mouth of the Neva, on a 

 long, narrow, rocky island, forming, both by its 

 position and the strength of its fortifications, 

 the bulwark of the capital, and being the most 

 important naval station of the Empire. It was 

 founded by Peter the Great, in 1710, and used 

 to be the commercial port of St. Petersburg, 

 but since the construction of a canal, giving 

 large vessels direct access to the capital, it has 

 lost this position. 



Cuba, the largest and most westerly of the 

 West Indies. It stretches in the west, with a 

 breadth varying from thirty miles to 160 miles. 

 a coast-line of 1 ,976 miles, and an area of about 

 45,872 square miles, including adjacent islands 

 (of which the Isle of Pines is the largest) and 

 bays. Only about one-third of the coastline is 

 accessible to vessels, the remainder being beset 

 by reefs and banks. The shores, low and flat, 

 are liaMo to inundations, but there are numerous 

 excellent havens. A watershed running length- 

 \\ :-' through the islands, rises into mountainous 

 heights only in the southeast, where are the 

 Sierra de Msstra, shooting up in th< 1 

 Tanjuinto to 8,400 feet, and the Sierra del Cobre 

 (copper). The mountains, composed of granite 

 overlaid with calcareous rocks, and cont 

 minerals, especially copper and iron, at 

 in almost perennial verdure, wooded to tlie sum- 

 mits. The limestone rocks abound in 

 with magnificent stalactites. Mineral waters 

 I are plentiful. The rivers, running north and 

 south, are navigable for only a few mites by 

 small boats, but are very serviceable for irriga- 



: the plantation/ and supply C\< 

 drinking w.r elimato. more temperate 



than in the other West Indian Nan K is nalubri- 

 ous in the elevated interior, but the coasts are 

 the haunt of fever and ague. No month of the 

 year is free from rain, the greatest rainfall being 

 In May I -July. Earthquakes are fre- 



quent in the east. Hurricanes, less frequent 



