CAR 
tion of muriatic acid from common salt 
and green vitriol. 
CARABINE, afire-arm, shorter than a 
musket, carrying a ball of twenty-four in 
tlie pound, borne by the light horse, hang- 
ing at a belt over the left shoulder. The 
barrel is two feet and a half long, and is 
sometimes furrowed spirally within, which 
is said to add to the range of the piece. 
CARABUS, in natural history, a genus 
of insects of the order Coleoptera. Gene- 
ric character ; antennae filiform ; feelers 
mostly six ; the last joint obtuse and trun- 
cate; thorax flat, margined; shells mar- 
gined. Tliis is an exceedingly numerous 
genus, and the insects of it are extremely 
active and quick in running ; tliey devour 
the larvae of other insects, and all the 
weaker animals they can overcome; the 
legs are long; thighs compressed; shanks 
rounded and ciliate within, the fore ones 
spinous before the tip : the larvae are found 
under ground, or in decayed wood. Many 
species are to be found in our own country, 
among which one of the largest is the 
C. hortensis, so named from its being fre- 
quently seen in gardens and pathways. 
Among the smaller species is the C. cu- 
preus, a very frequent insect, being seen 
almost every where during the summer 
months in gardens, dry pathways, &c. ge- 
nerally running, like the rest of the genus, 
with a very brisk motion ; its usual length 
is about half an inch, and its colour varying 
from the copper to the gold green. Of the 
British species more than a hundred have 
been enumerated. On the continent the 
C. crepitans is the most remarkable ; so 
named from the power which it possesses 
of discharging from behind, several times 
in succession, on being pursued, a fetid 
and penetrating vapour, accompanied by a 
very smart explosion, thus escaping by ter- 
rifying its pursuers. 
CARACT, CARAT, CAHRAT, the name of 
that weight which expresses the degree of 
fineness that gold is of. The mint-master, or 
custom, have fixed the purity of gold at 24 
caracts ; though it is not possible so to pu- 
rify and refine that metal, but it will want 
still about one-fourth part of a caract in ab - 
solute purity and perfection. These de- 
grees serve to distinguish the greater or 
lesser quantity of alloy therein contained : 
for instance, gold of 22 caracts is that wliich 
has two parts of silver, or of any other me- 
tal, and 22 of fine gold. The caract is di- 
vided into i, i, and 
Caract is also a certain weight which 
CAR 
goldsmiths and jewellers use wherewith to 
weigh precious stones and pearls. Tlie ca- 
ract by which jewellers estimate the weight 
of diamonds and peai'ls is about 5 of an 
ounce troy; hence the caract is about 
31 grains troy. 
CARAVAN, in the East, signifies a com- 
pany or assembly of travellers and pilgrims, 
and more particularly of merchants, who 
for their greater security, and in order to 
assist each other, march in a body through 
the deserts, and other dangerous places, 
which are infested with Arabs or robbers. 
There is a chief, or aga, who commands the 
caravan, and is attended by a certain num- 
ber of janizaries, or other militia, according 
to the countries from whence the caravans 
set out ; which number of soldiers must be 
sufficient to defend them, and conduct them 
with safety to the places for which they are 
designed, and on a day appointed. The 
caravan encamps every evening near such 
wells or brooks as their guides are acquaint- 
ed with ; and there is a strict discipline ob- 
served upon this occasion, as in armies in 
time of war. Their beasts of burden are 
partly horses, but most commonly camels, 
who are capable of undergoing very great 
fatigue. The Grand Signior gives one-fourth 
of the revenues of Egypt to defray the ex- 
pense of the caravan that goes yearly to 
Mecca to visit Mahomet’s tomb : the devo- 
tees in this caravan are from forty to seventy 
thousand, accompanied with soldiers to pro- 
tect them from the pillage of the Arabs, 
and followed by eight or nine thousand 
camels, laden with all necessary provisions 
for so long a passage across deserts. 
Caravan is also used for the voyages or 
campaigns which the knights of Malta ai-e 
obliged to make at sea against the Turks 
and Corsairs, that they may arrive at the 
commandaries or dignities of the order. The 
reason of their being thus called, is because 
the knights have often seized the caravans 
going from Alexandria to Constantinople. 
CARAVANSERA, or Karavans^ra, a 
large public building, or inn, appointed for 
receiving and lodging the caravans. It is 
commonly a large square building, in the 
piddle of which there is a very spacious 
court ; and under the arches or piazzas that 
surround it there runs a bank, raised some 
feet above the ground, where the merchants, 
and those who travel with them in any ca- 
pacity, take up their lodgings as well as they 
can ; the beasts of burden being tied to the 
foot of the bank. Over the gates that lead 
into the court there are sometimes little 
G2 
