57 o C A A 
BZO'VIUS (Abraham), a learned Pulander,. laid to 
have compofed fo many books that it would occupy ieveral 
pages to contain the titles of them. The chief of his 
works is, A Continuation of Baronius’s Annals. He began 
at the year i-jjS, where that cardinal had ended: and 
compofed twelve volumes of annals of the church. He 
was defcended from a good family, and born in 1567- His 
parents dying when he was a child, he was educated by 
his grandmother in the city of Profovitz ; and. he made fo 
good ufe of the inftruftions of one of his uncles, that at 
ten years of age he could write Latin, compofe mufic, and 
make verfes. After this, he purfued Ids'Indies at Cra- 
C A A 
cow, and there took the habit of a dominican. Eein"- 
font into Italy, he read l’oine leftures of philofophy at 
Milan, and of divinity at Bologna. After he returned 
into his own country, lie preached in Pofnania, and in. 
Cracow, with the applaufe of all his hearers ; and taught 
philofophy and divinity. He was principal of a college 
of his own order ; and did feveral conliderable fervices to 
that and to his country. Afterwards he went to Rome ; 
where he was received with open arms by the pope, and 
lodged in the Vatican. Here he continued many years, 
and at length retired into the convent of Minerva, where 
he died in 1637, aged l'eventy. 
C. 
C THE third letter, and fecond confonant, of the al- 
5 pha-bet, is pronounced like k before the vowels a, 0, 
and u 3 and like s before e, i, and y, C is formed, according 
to Scaliger, from the v. of the Greeks, by retrenching the 
Hem or upright line; though others derive it from the 4 
of the Hebrews, which has in effeft the fame form ; al¬ 
lowing for this, that the Hebrews reading backwards, 
and the Latins, &c. forwards, each have turned the letter 
their own way. However, the C not being the fame as 
to found with the Hebrew caph, and it being certain the 
Romans did not borrow their letters immediately from the 
Hebrews or other orientals, but from the Greeks, the de¬ 
rivation from the Greek x is the more probable. Mont- 
f.iucon, in his Palscographia, gives us fome forms of the 
Greek which come very near that of cur C ; and Suidas 
calls the C the Roman kappa. The fecond found of C 
refombles that of the Greek 2 ; and many inftances occur 
of ancient inferiptions-, in which 2 has the fame form with 
our C. AH grammarians agree, that the Romans pro¬ 
nounced their QJike our C,. and their C like our K. F. 
Mabillon adds, that Charles the Great was the firft who 
wrote his name with a C ; whereas all his predeceflbrs 
©f the fame namfc wrote ir with a K ; and the fame diffe¬ 
rence is obferved in their coins. As an abbreviature, C 
Hands for Cains, Carolus, Caefa-r, condemno,.Scc, and CC 
for confulibus. As a numeral, C fignifies 106, CC 200, 
CCC 300, See. C, in mufic, placed after the cliff, intimates 
common time, which is either quick or How, as it is joined 
with allegro or adagio: if alone, it is ufually adagio. If 
the C be eroded or turned, the ffrll requires the air to be 
played quick, and the lad very quick. 
CAA'BA, or Caabah, denotes a fqttare buildings and 
is the name given by the Mahometans to the temple of 
Mecca, built, as they pretended, by Abraham and Ifh- 
mael his foil- Before the time of Mahomet, tliis temple 
was a place of worihip for the idolatrous Arabs, and is 
faid to have contained no lefs than 360 images, equalling 
in number the days of the Arabian year. They were all 
defiroyed by Mahomet, who fa net i fled the Caaba, and ap¬ 
pointed it to be the chief place of worfbip for all true be¬ 
lievers. The temple is in length from north to fouth about 
twenty-four cubits; its breadth from eafr to well is twenty- 
three 7 and its height twenty-feven. The door,, which is 
on the eaft fide, Hands about four cubits from the ground ; 
the floor being level with the bottom of the door. In the 
corner next this door is the black Jlone, fo much celebrated 
among the Mahometans-. On the north fide of the caaba,, 
within a femicircularinclofure fifty Cubits long lies the white 
Jloftc , faid to be the fepulchre of Ifhmaelp which receives 
the rain-water from the caaba by a fpout formerly of wood, 
but now of gold. The black Hone, according to the Ma¬ 
hometans, was brought down from heaven by Gabriel at 
the creation of the world ;• and originally of a- white co¬ 
lour ; but contracted the blacknefs that now appears on it 
from the guilt of thofe fins committed 1 by the fons of men. 
It is fet in filver, and fixed in the fotith-eafl: corner of the 
caaba, looking towards Bufra, about feven fpans from the 
ground. This Hone, upon- which there is the figure of &■ 
human head, is held in the highefi eftimation among the 
Arabs; all the pilgrims killing it with great devotion, 
and fome even-calling it the right hand of God. Its black- 
nefs, which is only f'uperficial, is probably owing to the 
kiffes and touches of fo many people. After the Karma- 
tians had taken Mecca, they carried away this precious 
Hone, and could by no means be prevailed upon to refiore 
it 3 but, finding at lafi that they were unable to prevent the 
concourfe of pilgrims to Mecca, they fent it back of their 
own accord, after having kept it twenty-two years. The 
double roof of the caaba is iupported within by three oc¬ 
tagonal pillars of aloes-wood ; between which, on a bar 
of iron, hang fome filver lamps. The outfide is covered 
with rich black dantafk, adorned witli an embroidered- 
band of gold, which is changed every year, and was for¬ 
merly fertt by the khaliffs, afterwards by the foltans of’ 
Egypt,-and is now provided by the Turkilh emperors* 
The caaba, at fome diffance, is almoft furrounded by ?. 
circular inclofure of pillars, joined towards the bottom by 
a low balluftrade, and towards the top by bars of filver. 
Juft without tliis inner inclofure, on the fouth, north, and 
weft,' rides of the caaba, are three buildings, which are 
the oratories or places where three of the orthodox lefts- 
affemble to perform their devotions. Towards the fouth- 
eafl (lands an edifice which covers the well Zemzen, the 
treafury, and the cupola of A 1 Abbas. Formerly there- 
was another cupola, that went under the name of the he mi- 
cycle, or cupola of Judea ; but whether or not any remains 
of that are now to be feen is unknown ; nor is it ealy to 
obtain information.in this refpeft, all Chriftians being de¬ 
nied accefs to-this facred place. At a fraall diftanee from 
the caaba, on the eafl fide, is the (lation or place of Abra¬ 
ham ; where is another (lone much refpefted by the Ma¬ 
hometans; and where they pretend to (hew the footfteps- 
of the patriarch, telling ns lie Hood on it when he built 
the caaba. Here the fourth feft of Arabs, viz. that of 
Ak Shafei,., affemble for religious purpoles. The fqtiare 
colonnade, or great piazza, that at a conliderable diffance 
inclofes thefe buildings, confifts,according to A 1 Jannabi, 
of 448 pillars, and has no-lefs than thirty-eight gates. 
Mr. Sale compares this piazza to that of the Royal Ex¬ 
change at London, but thinks it is much larger. It is co¬ 
vered with final 1 domes or cupolas, from the four corners 
of which rife as many minarets or fteeples, with double 
galleries, and adorned with gilded fpires and crefcents af¬ 
ter the Turkilh manner,, as are alfo the cupolas which co¬ 
ver the piazza and other buildings. Between the columns 
of both inclofures hang a great number of lamps, which 
are conftantly lighted at night. The firft foundations of: 
this fecond inclofure were laid by Omar the fecond k ha lit,, 
who built no more than a low wall, to prevent the court 
of the caaba from being incroached upon by private build¬ 
ings ;. but by the liberality of fuceeeding princes, the 
w hole has been railed to that date of magnificence in which- 
it appears at prefent. This temple Is an afylum for all 
forts of criminals, and is remarkable for the pilgrimages- 
3 made 
