CABOT 



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CACTUS 



and proved the soundness of Field's ideas. 

 Since then many other cables have been added 

 to these pioneers, as the accompanying map 

 shows. See FIELD, CYRUS W. 



The Pacific Cables. Not until 1902 was there 

 direct cable connection between the two shores 

 of the Pacific Ocean. In that year Canada, 

 Australia and New Zealand were joined. The 

 total length of the cable is nearly 8,000 miles, 

 but it is divided into several sections, touch- 

 ing at the Fiji Islands and other less impor- 

 tant places. In 1903 a second Pacific cable was 

 put in operation between San Francisco, the 

 Hawaiian Islands and Manila; branches of it 

 have since been extended to Japan and the 

 East Indies. In some of the depths of the 

 Pacific, cable-layers found the waters to be six 

 miles deep. 



Cutting Cables in War. International law 

 recognizes the right of a nation at war to cut 

 the cables belonging to its enemies, but most 

 nations agree that neutral cables should not 

 be harmed. A cable connecting a neutral coun- 

 try with the enemy may be cut within terri- 

 tory occupied by the enemy, but some author- 

 ities maintain that it should not be cut in 

 the open sea. The United States cut the Brit- 

 ish cable at Manila in 1898, when Dewey's 

 fleet fought the Battle of Manila Bay, but 

 denied responsibility for damages. C.H.H. 



CABOT, kab'ut, JOHN (1450-1498) and SE- 

 BASTIAN (1476-1557), two well-known naviga- 

 tors, father and son, whose names are promi- 

 nently connected with the discovery of the 

 continent of North America. They were na- 

 tives of Italy, but when Columbus made his 

 voyage to the New World they were living at 

 the port of Bristol, England. The wonderful 

 information carried back to Europe by Colum- 

 bus inspired them to seek a shorter route to 

 the Spice Islands of the East Indies, which 

 they expected to reach by sailing westward on 

 a course that lay to the north of the route 

 followed by Columbus. 



John Cabot headed the expedition, for which 

 King Henry VII granted the letters of author- 

 ity, and it is probable, though not certain, 

 that Sebastian accompanied him. The ship, 

 very similar to the boats used by Columbus, 

 sailed in May, 1497, and on June 24 of the 

 same year Cabot landed on the North Ameri- 

 can coast in the neighborhood of Cape Breton. 

 The land he claimed for the king of England, 

 convinced that it was a part of Asia. This 

 discovery approaches in importance the great 

 achievement of Columbus in 1492, for the 



Cabot voyage of 1497 gave England its claim 

 to the mainland of North America, and pre- 

 pared the way for a long period of exploration 

 and later founding of the English colonies in 

 the New World. 



In 1498, John Cabot, possibly accompanied 

 by his son, made a second voyage westward 

 in the attempt to find a shorter route to the 

 East, sailing up the west coast of Greenland 

 until he was blocked by icebergs and passing 

 over Davis Strait to the modern Baffin Land 

 (see NORTHWEST PASSAGE). His homeward 

 route led him as far south as North Carolina. 

 Shortly after his return to. England he died. 

 Sebastian Cabot was for several years in the 

 service of the Spanish king, and visited Brazil 

 and the River La Plata in 1525. Later he was 

 appointed chief pilot for England, and in 1554 

 became governor of the Company of Merchant 

 Adventurers which obtained for England an 

 important trade with Russia. 



CABRAL, kahbrahl', PEDRO ALVAREZ (1460- 

 1526), a Portuguese navigator whose fame rests 

 on one voyage. He landed in what is now 

 Brazil during the winter of 1500-1501, and took 

 possession in the name of the king of Portu- 

 gal. He had sailed for India by way of the 

 Cape of Good Hope, but was driven from his 

 course by adverse winds and the equatorial 

 current. A Spaniard had reached this coast 

 earlier in the year, and had taken possession in 

 the name of Spain, but Spain could not make 

 good its claim, because according to the line 

 of demarcation the new territory fell within 

 Portuguese limits. Cabral finally reached 

 India, where he made important commercial 

 treaties with native princes. For the imme- 

 diate effects of Cabral's enterprise, see BRAZIL, 

 subhead History; DEMARCATION, LINE OF, with 

 map. 



CACAO , ka ka ' o, the tree from the seeds 

 of which are prepared cocoa, chocolate and 

 cocoa butter. It grows almost everywhere in 

 warm countries, although it is native to tropical 

 America, and is not to be confused with the 

 palm which bears cocoanuts; this is a very 

 different tree. See COCOA and CHOCOLATE, for 

 a discussion of the important products of this 

 tree. 



CACTUS, kack'tus, a group of interesting 

 plants found in warm, arid regions, whose pe- 

 culiarities of structure and habits furnish a 

 striking example of adaptation to climatic con- 

 ditions. The problem of these plants is to 

 secure and retain as much moisture as possible. 

 To prevent loss of moisture by evaporation, 



