COLOCASIA 



1475 



COLOMBIA 



and The Moonstone, among his best-known 

 works, are masterpieces of baffling mystery, 

 and although the literary value of these and 

 others from his pen has often been questioned, 

 a number of his novels dramatized were at one 

 time popular on the American and the English 

 stage. He also wrote Armadale, After Dark, 

 The New Magdalen and The Evil Genius. 

 In 1873 Collins gave public readings in the 

 United States and Canada from his own short 

 stories. 



COLOCASIA, koloka'shia, a name given to 

 a family of plants more properly known as 

 caladium, the "elephant ears" so popular in 

 American gardens planted with cannas and 

 crotons. A native of the East Indies, the 

 colocasia is raised in the tropics as food, for 

 its starchy roots, when boiled, are much like 

 potatoes. The large, shield-shaped leaves, too, 

 are eaten roasted by the natives of the Ha- 

 waiian Islands. In most of the Pacific Islands 

 this plant is called taro; in Hawaii, poi; in 

 Japan, satoimo; in China, yu-tao, and in Cen- 

 tral America, oto. 



COLOGNE, kolohn', one of the most beauti- 

 ful and historically interesting cities of Rhenish 

 Prussia, on the left bank of the Rhine. It was 

 in ancient days a town of the tribe of Ubii, 

 but in A. D. 50 received the name of Colonia 

 Agrippina, in honor of the wife of the Roman 

 Emperor Claudius. It steadily grew in impor- 

 tance and eventually became one of the most 

 influential towns in the Hanseatic League 



(which see). In the sixteenth century its 

 power waned and it did not regain its im- 

 portance until the beginning of the nineteenth 

 century. The old portion of the city has 

 crooked, narrow streets, arranged without any 

 regard to symmetry. The modern portion is 

 laid out with the precision for which Germans 

 are famous. All public utilities are munici- 

 pally owned, and the city has extensive manu- 

 factures of sugar, tobacco, glue, machinery and 

 several factories producing the famous perfume 

 known as eau de Cologne. Population in 1910, 

 516,167. The German name is Koln. 



Cologne Cathedral, the chief ornament of the 

 city of Cologne and one of the most remark- 

 able specimens of Gothic architecture in the 

 world. The present structure was commenced 

 in the thirteenth century, on the site of an 

 earlier cathedral which had been destroyed by 

 fire. Early in the nineteenth century it was 

 thoroughly restored. It is in the form of a 

 cross and has the two loftiest towers in the 

 world, each 512 feet high. For many centuries 

 there existed a tradition to the effect that the 

 Three Wise Men who came from the East to 

 view the infant Christ were buried in Cologne 

 Cathedral. The three skulls were exhibited as 

 late as the eighteenth century and were credited 

 with miraculous healing powers. The cathedral 

 is noted for its stained glass windows, its 

 statuary and paintings, and many valuable 

 jewels are kept in the cathedral treasury. 



For illustration, see article CATHEDRAL. 



OLOMBIA, formerly known as NEW 

 GRANADA, a republic in the northwestern corner 

 of South America which for a long time in- 

 cluded within its area the present republic of 

 Panama. It is a vast land of plains, or llanos, 

 table-lands and mountains, the plains compris- 

 ing more than half of the territory. Colombia 

 is so called in honor of Christopher Columbus, 

 who explored a section of the country in 1502. 

 It has an almost unbroken coast line of over 

 3,600 miles, more than 1,600 of which are on 

 the Pacific. As the southern boundaries are 



disputed by the two neighboring countries, 

 Ecuador and Peru, the area of Colombia is 

 not definitely known, but 468,000 square miles 

 is the estimated figure. 



This republic of very irregular shape has an 

 area as large as that of the south-central por- 

 tion of the United States, consisting of Texas, 

 Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana; it contains 

 over 30,000 square miles more than the great 

 province of Ontario, after its enlargement in 

 1911. Still, in such a country, rich in natural 

 resources, live but 5,071,000 people, exclusive 



