CARAT 



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CARAVEL 



are the capitol, the university, the cathedral, 

 the national library, the opera house, the Ma- 

 sonic Temple, the Pantheon and the arch- 

 bishop's palace. 



Caracas was founded in 1567, and named San- 

 tiago de Leon de Caracas. It was almost de- 

 stroyed by an earthquake in 1812. The city 

 is famous as the birthplace of Simon Bolivar, 

 the greatest of South American heroes, and as 

 the cradle of South American independence. 

 It contains a statue of James Monroe, fifth 

 President of the United States, whose memory 

 is revered in Venezuela because of the Monroe 

 Doctrine (which see). F.ST.A. 



CAR 'AT, a weight of 3.17 troy grains, used 

 by jewelers in weighing precious stones and 

 pearls. The term is derived from the Arabic 

 carat, meaning a bean or seed. In ancient 

 times the seeds of the coral and carob trees 

 were used as weights for precious stones, which 

 were described as being of so many "beans 

 weight" or "carats." The carat is divided into 

 4 carat grains, which, in turn, are divided into 

 2, 4, 8 or 16 parts for more accurate measure- 

 ments. The term is also used to express the 

 amount of gold in an alloy, a carat being %4 

 of the total weight. So, if l %4 of an alloy is 

 pure gold, it is said to be 18 carats fine, and 

 when it is 24 carats fine it is pure, or solid gold. 

 See ALLOT; DIAMOND. 



CARAVAGGIO, kahravah'jo, MICHELANGELO 

 MERISI DA (1565-1609), a celebrated Italian 

 painter, founder and leader of the naturalistic 

 school of painting in Italy. The name Cara- 

 vaggio, by which he is generally known, is the 

 name of his birthplace. After studying in 

 Milan and Venice, he went to Rome, where he 

 made great progress in his art and became 

 widely known as the painter who followed 

 nature and disregarded tradition. His fiery 

 temper and quarrelsome disposition proved a 

 greater hindrance to him than the opposition 

 of his rivals, and he was forced to leave Rome 

 after killing a comrade in a brawl. Thereafter 

 he painted in Naples, in Malta and in various 

 cities of Sicily. In 1609, having obtained par- 

 don for his crime from the Pope, he started 

 back to Rome but was waylaid on the road and 

 fatally wounded. 



Caravaggio was a pioneer in the movement 

 for naturalness in painting and his influence 

 extended far beyond his native land. He 

 painted two groups of pictures scenes from 

 everyday life and religious subjects. Of the 

 former, good examples are his Card Players, 

 The Gipsy Fortune Teller and Love Con- 



quered. . The figures in his religious canvases 

 are painted with such boldness and realism 

 that they were highly displeasing to the people 

 of his time, who preferred idealistic treatment 

 of the saints. His masterpiece, The Burial of 

 Christ, now in the Vatican, is one of the great 

 pictures of the world. Another well-known 

 canvas is The Supper at Emmaus. 



CAR 'A VAN, a Persian word meaning people 

 or army, is taken over into the English lan- 

 guage to mean a very special group of people 

 one of the large companies which travel to- 

 gether across the deserts of Asia or Africa. 

 For the most part these travelers are mer- 

 chants who dare not set out alone for fear of 

 robbers and the beasts of the desert, but there 

 are also each year, at certain holy seasons, 

 caravans of pilgrims who journey from Cairo 

 or Damascus to Mecca (see MOHAMMEDANISM). 

 Whatever the purpose, camels are used as the 

 means of conveyance, for only camels could 

 travel for days or even weeks across the desert 

 lands (see CAMEL). 



Centuries ago, when the cities about the 

 eastern Mediterranean shores were the great 

 trade centers of the world, immense caravans 

 journeyed to them every year from more 

 easterly parts of Asia, bringing the rugs and 

 spices of Persia, the embroideries, tea and silks 

 of China, the jewels and shawls of India, and 

 sometimes there were in one of these great 

 trains from 1,000 to 5,000 camels. The caravan 

 might thus be several miles in length, and the 

 camping spots populous villages. To-day 

 throughout much of the Orient railways have 

 made the old-time caravans unnecessary, but 

 no railroad has as yet made its way into the 

 interior of the deserts to which the camel 

 easily penetrates. 



The thought of these great caravans, moving 

 noiselessly across the sands, without haste yet 

 without rest, has always been a fascinating one 

 to Western minds, and allusions to them in 

 literature are numerous. Bryant in his Thana- 

 topsis speaks of 



The innumerable caravan which moves 



To that mysterious realm where each shall take 



His chamber in the silent halls of death. 



Milnes, with less figurative meanirig, writes: 



While o'er the neighboring bridge the caravan 

 Winds slowly in one line interminable 

 Of camel after camel. 



CAR'AVEL, the name given to the type of 

 ship used by Columbus on his first voyage 

 across the Atlantic, and in general by the Span- 

 ish and Portuguese seamen of the fifteenth 



