Chapter 5

(J. F. D.; C. L.)

History.—The island of Ceylon was known to the Greeks and Romans under the name ofTaprobane, and in later times Serendib, Sirinduil and Zeylan have been employed to designate it by writers of the Western and Eastern worlds. Serendib is a corruption of the SanskritSinhaladvïpa. Like most oriental countries, Ceylon possesses a great mass of ancient records, in which fact is so confused with fable that they are difficult to distinguish. The labours of George Turnour (1799-1843), however, helped to dissipate much of this obscurity, and his admirable edition (1836) of theMahavamsafirst made it possible to trace the main lines of Sinhalese history.

The Sinhalese inscriptional records, to which George Turnour first called attention, and which, through the activity of Sir William Gregory in 1874, began to be accurately transcribed and translated, extend from the 2nd centuryB.C.onwards. Among the oldest inscriptions discovered are those on the rock cells of the Vessagiri Vihara of Anuradhapura, cut in the old Brahma-lipi character. The inscriptions show how powerful was the Buddhist hierarchy which dominated the government and national life. The royal decrees of successive rulers are mainly concerned with the safeguarding of the rights of the hierarchy, but a few contain references to executive acts of the kings, as in a slab inscription of Kassapa V. (c.A.D.929-939). In an edict ascribed to Mahinda IV. (c.A.D.975-991) reference is made to the Sinhalese palladium, the famous tooth-relic of Buddha, now enshrined at Kandy, and the decree confirms tradition as to the identity of the fine stone temple, east of the Thuparama at Anuradhapura, with the shrine in which the tooth was first deposited when brought from Kalinga in the reign of Kirti Sri Meghavarna (A.D.304-324).

The earliest inhabitants of Ceylon were probably the ancestors of the modern Veddahs, a small tribe of primitive hunters who inhabit the eastern jungles; and the discovery of palaeolithic stone implements buried in some of their caves points to the fact that they represent a race which has been in the island for untold ages. As to subsequent immigrations, the great Hindu epic, theRamayana, tells the story of the conquest of part of the island by the hero Rama and his followers, who took the capital of its king Rawana. Whatever element of truth there may be in this fable, it certainly represents no permanent occupation. The authentic history of Ceylon, so far as it can be traced, begins with the landing in 543B.C.of Vijaya, the founder of the Sinhalese dynasty, with a small band of Aryan-speaking followers from the mainland of India. Vijaya married the daughter of a native chief, with whose aid he proceeded to master the whole island, which he parcelled out among his followers, some of whom formed petty kingdoms. The Sinhalese introduced from the mainland a comparatively high type of civilization, notably agriculture. The earliest of the great irrigation tanks, near Anuradhapura, was opened about 504B.C.by the successor of Vijaya; and about this time was established that system of village communities which still obtains over a large part of Ceylon.

The island was converted to Buddhism at the beginning of the 3rd centuryB.C.by the preaching of Mahinda, a son of the great Buddhist emperor Asoka; a conversion that was followed by an immense multiplication ofdaghobas, curious bell-shaped reliquaries of solid stone, and of Buddhist monasteries. For the rest, the history of ancient Ceylon is largely a monotonous record of Malabar or Tamil invasions, conquests and usurpations. Of these latter the first was in 237B.C.when two officers in the cavalry and fleet revolted, overthrew the Sinhalese ruler with the aid of his own Tamil mercenaries, and reigned jointly, as Sena I. and Guptika, until 215. The Sinhalese Asela then ruled till 205, when he was overthrown by a Tamil from Tanjore, Elala, who held the reins of power for 44 years. In 161B.C.Elala was defeated and slain by Dutegemunu, still remembered as one of the great Sinhalese heroes of Ceylon. The ruins of the great monastery, known as the Brazen Palace, at Anuradhapura, remain a memorial of King Dutegemunu’s splendour and religious zeal. He died in 137B.C., and thenceforth the history of Ceylon is mainly that of further Tamil invasions, of the construction of irrigation tanks, and of the immense development of the Buddhist monastic system. A tragic episode in the royal family in the 5th centuryA.D.is, however, worthy of notice as connected with one of Ceylon’s most interesting remains, the Sīgiri rock and tank (seeSīgiri). InA.D.477 King Datu Sen was murdered by his son, who mounted the throne as Kasyapa I., and when he was driven from the capital by the inhabitants, infuriated by his crime, built himself a stronghold on the inaccessible Sīgiri rock, whence he ruled the country until in 495 he was overthrown and slain by his brother Mugallana (495-513), who at the time of his father’s murder had escaped to India.

Towards the close of the 10th century Ceylon was invaded by Rajaraja the Great, the Chola king, and after a series of protracted campaigns was annexed to his empire in 1005. The island, did not, however, remain long under Tamil domination. In 1071 Vijaya Bahu succeeded in re-establishing the Sinhalese dynasty, and for a while Ceylon was freed from foreign intervention. The most notable of the successors of Vijaya Bahu, and indeed of all the long line of Sinhalese rulers, was Parakrama Bahu I. (1155-1180), whose colossal statue still stands near Polonnaruwa. He not only took advantage of the unaccustomedtranquillity of the country to restore the irrigation tanks and the monasteries, but he availed himself of a disputed succession to the Pandya throne of Madura to turn the tables on his Tamil enemies by invading India. According to theMahavamsahis generals met with immediate and unbroken success; according to the more probable account preserved in a long Chola inscription at Arpakkam near Kanchi, they were, though at first successful, ultimately driven out by a coalition of the southern princes (V.A. Smith,Early History of India, ed. 1908, p. 411). In any case, within thirty years of Parakrama Bahu’s death his work was undone; the Malabar invaders were once more able to effect a settlement in the island, and the Sinhalese capital was moved farther and farther south, till in 1410 it had become established at Kotta, now a suburb of Colombo. In 1408 a new misfortune had befallen the Sinhalese dynasty; in revenge for an insult offered to a Chinese envoy, a Chinese army invaded the island and carried away King Vijaya Bahu IV. into captivity. For thirty years from this date the Sinhalese kings of Ceylon were tributary to China.

When, in 1505, the Portuguese Francisco de Almeida landed in Ceylon, he found the island divided into seven kingdoms. Twelve years later the viceroy of Goa ordered the erection of a fort at Colombo, for which permission was obtained from the king of Kotta; and from this time until the advent of the Dutch in the 17th century the Portuguese endeavoured, amid perpetual wars with the native kings, who were assisted by Arab and other traders jealous of European rivalry, to establish their control over the island. They ultimately succeeded so far as the coast was concerned, though their dominion scarcely penetrated inland. Materially their gain was but small, for the trade of Ceylon was quite insignificant; but they had the spiritual satisfaction of prosecuting a vigorous propaganda of Catholicism, St Francis Xavier being the most notable of the missionaries who at this time laboured in the island.

The fanatical zeal and the masterful attitude of the Portuguese were a constant source of dissension with the native rulers, and when the Dutch, under Admiral Spilberg, landed on the east coast in 1602 and sought the alliance of the king of Kandy in the interior of the island, every inducement was held out to them to aid in expelling the Portuguese. Nothing seems to have come of this until 1638-1639, when a Dutch expedition attacked and razed the Portuguese forts on the east coast. In the following year they landed at Negombo, without however establishing themselves in any strong post. In 1644 Negombo was captured and fortified by the Dutch, while in 1656 they took Colombo, and in 1658 they drove the Portuguese from Jaffna, their last stronghold in Ceylon.

Pursuing a wiser policy than their predecessors, the Dutch lost no opportunity of improving that portion of the country which owned their supremacy, and of opening a trade with the interior. More tolerant and less disposed to stand upon their dignity than the Portuguese, they subordinated political to commercial ends, flattered the native rulers by a show of deference, and so far succeeded in their object as to render their trade between the island and Holland a source of great profit. Many new branches of industry were developed. Public works were undertaken on a large scale, and education, if not universally placed within the reach of the inhabitants of the maritime provinces, was at least well cared for on a broad plan of government supervision. That which they had so much improved by policy, they were, however, unable to defend by force when the British turned their arms against them. A century and a half had wrought great changes in the physical and mental status of the Dutch colonists. The territory which in 1658 they had slowly gained by undaunted and obstinate bravery, they as rapidly lost in 1796 by imbecility and cowardice.

The first intercourse of the English with Ceylon was as far back as 1763, when an embassy was despatched from Madras to the king of Kandy, without, however, leading to any result. On the rupture between Great Britain and Holland in 1795, a force was sent against the Dutch possessions in Ceylon, where the opposition offered was so slight that by the following year the whole of their forts were in the hands of the English commander.

The abiding results of the occupation of Ceylon by the Portuguese and Dutch is described by Sir Emerson Tennent (Ceylon) as follows:

“The dominion of the Netherlands in Ceylon was nearly equal in duration with that of Portugal, about 140 years; but the policies of the two countries have left a very different impress on the character and institutions of the people amongst whom they lived. The most important bequest left by the utilitarian genius of Holland is the code of Roman Dutch law, which still prevails in the supreme courts of justice, whilst the fanatical propagandism of the Portuguese has reared for itself a monument in the abiding and expanding influence of the Roman Catholic faith. This flourishes in every hamlet and province where it was implanted by the Franciscans, whilst the doctrines of the reformed church of Holland, never preached beyond the walls of the fortresses, are already almost forgotten throughout the island, with the exception of an expiring community at Colombo. Already the language of the Dutch, which they sought to extend by penal enactments, has ceased to be spoken even by their direct descendants, whilst a corrupted Portuguese is to the present day the vernacular of the lower classes in every town of importance. As the practical and sordid government of the Netherlands only recognized the interest of the native population in so far as they were essential to uphold their trading monopolies, their memory was recalled by no agreeable associations: whilst the Portuguese, who, in spite of their cruelties, were identified with the people by the bond of a common faith, excited a feeling of admiration by the boldness of their conflicts with the Kandyans, and the chivalrous though ineffectual defence of their beleaguered fortresses. The Dutch and their proceedings have almost ceased to be remembered by the lowland Sinhalese; but the chiefs of the south and west perpetuate with pride the honorific title Don, accorded to them by their first European conquerors, and still prefix to their ancient patronymics the sonorous Christian names of the Portuguese.”

The British forces by which the island had been conquered were those of the East India Company, and Ceylon was therefore at first placed under its jurisdiction and administered from Madras. The introduction of the Madras revenue system, however, together with a host of Malabar collectors, led to much discontent, which culminated in rebellion; and in 1798 the colony was placed directly under the crown. By the treaty of Amiens, in 1803, this situation was regularized, from the international point of view, by the formal cession to Great Britain of the former Dutch possessions in the island. For a while the British dominion was confined to the coast. The central tract of hilly country, hedged in by impenetrable forests and precipitous mountain ranges, remained in possession of Sri Vikrama Raja Sinha, the last of the Sinhalese dynasty, who showed no signs of encouraging communication with his European neighbours.

Minor differences led in 1803 to an invasion of the Kandyan territory; but sickness, desertion and fatigue proved more formidable adversaries to the British forces than the troops of the Sinhalese monarch, and peace was eventually concluded upon terms by no means favourable to the English. The cruelty and oppression of the king now became so intolerable to his subjects that disaffection spread rapidly amongst them. Punishments of the most horrible kinds were inflicted, but failed to repress the popular indignation; and in 1815 the British, at the urgent request of many of the Adigars and other native chiefs, proceeded against the tyrant, who was captured near Kandy, and subsequently ended his days in exile. With him ended a long line of sovereigns, whose pedigree may be traced through upwards of two thousand years.

By a convention entered into with the Kandyan chiefs on the 2nd of March 1815, the entire sovereignty of the island passed into the hands of the British, who in return guaranteed to the inhabitants civil and religious liberty. The religion of Buddha was declared inviolable, and its rights, ministers and places of worship were to be maintained and protected; the laws of the country were to be preserved and administered according to established forms; and the royal dues and revenues were to be levied as before for the support of government.

With the exception of a serious outbreak in some parts of the interior in 1817, which lasted for upwards of a year, and of two minor attempts at rebellion easily put down, in 1843 and 1848,the political atmosphere of Ceylon has remained undisturbed since the deportation of the last king of Kandy.

Authorities.—Major Thomas Skinner,Fifty Years in Ceylon, edited by his son, A. Skinner (London, 1891); Constance F. Gordon Gumming,Two Happy Years in Ceylon(2 vols., Edinburgh, 1892); H.W. Cave,The Ruined Cities of Ceylon(London, 1897), andThe Book of Ceylon(London, 1908); Sir Emerson Tennent,Ceylon(2 vols. 4th ed., 1860); J. Ferguson,Ceylon in 1903(Colombo); J.C. Willis,Ceylon(Colombo, 1907). See also E. Müller,Ancient Inscriptions in Ceylon, published for the government (1883-1884), and the important archaeological survey inEpigraphia Zeylonica, part i., 1904, ii., 1907, iii., 1907, by Don Martino de Silva Wickremasinghe, who in 1899 was appointed epigraphist to the Ceylon government. Among other works on special subjects may be mentioned H. Trimen, F.R.S., director of Ceylon Botanic Gardens,Ceylon Flora, in 5 vols., completed by Sir Joseph Hooker; Captain V. Legge, F.Z.S.,History of the Birds of Ceylon(London, 1870); Dr Copleston, bishop of Colombo,Buddhism, Primitive and Present, in Magadha and in Ceylon(London, 1892); review by Sir West Ridgeway,Administration of Ceylon, 1896-1903; Professor W.A. Herdman,Report on the Pearl Oyster Fisheries, 1903-1904.

CHABAZITE,a mineral species belonging to the group of zeolites. It occurs as white to flesh-red crystals which vary from transparent to translucent and have a vitreous lustre. The crystals are rhombohedral, and the predominating form is often a rhombohedron (r) with interfacial angles of 85° 14′; they therefore closely resemble cubes in appearance, and the mineral was in fact early (in 1772) described as a cubic zeolite. A characteristic feature is the twinning, the crystals being frequently interpenetration twins with the principal axis as twin-axis (figs, 1, 2). The appearance shown in fig. 1, with the corners of small crystals in twinned position projecting from the facesrof the main crystal, is especially characteristic of chabazite. Such groups resemble the interpenetrating twinned cubes of fluorspar, but the two minerals are readily distinguished by their cleavage, fluorspar having a perfect octahedral cleavage truncating the corners of the cube, whilst in chabazite there are less distinct cleavages parallel to the rhombohedral (cube-like) faces. Another type of twinned crystal is represented in fig. 2, in which the predominating form is an obtuse hexagonal pyramid (t); the faces of these flatter crystals are often rounded, giving rise to lenticular shapes, hence the name phacolite (fromφακός, a lentil) for this variety of chabazite.

The hardness of chabazite is 4½, and the specific gravity 2.08-2.16. As first noticed by Sir David Brewster in 1830, the crystals often exhibit anomalous optical characters: instead of being uniaxial, a basal section may be divided into sharply-defined biaxial sectors. Heating of the crystals is attended by a loss of water and a change in their optical characters; it is probable therefore that the anomalous optical characters are dependent on the amount of water present.

Besides phacolite, mentioned above, other varieties of chabazite are distinguished. Herschelite and seebachite are essentially the same as phacolite. Haydenite is the name given to small yellowish crystals, twinned on a rhombohedron planer, from Jones’s Falls near Baltimore in Maryland. Acadialite is a reddish chabazite from Nova Scotia (the old French name of which is Acadie).

Chemically, chabazite is a complex hydrated calcium and sodium silicate, with a small proportion of the sodium replaced by potassium, and sometimes a small amount of the calcium replaced by barium and strontium. The composition is however variable, and is best expressed as an isomorphous mixture of the molecules (Ca, Na2) Al2(SiO4)2+ 4H2O and (Ca, Na2) Al2(Si3O8)2+ 8H2O, which are analogous to the felspars. Most analyses correspond with a formula midway between these extremes, namely, (Ca, Na2)Al2(SiO3)4+ 6H2O.

Chabazite occurs with other zeolites in the amygdaloidal cavities of basaltic rocks; occasionally it has been found in gneisses and schists. Well-formed crystals are known from many localities; for example, Kilmalcolm in Renfrewshire, the Giant’s Causeway in Co. Antrim, and Oberstein in Germany. Beautiful, clear glassy crystals of the phacolite (“seebachite”) variety occur with phillipsite and radiating bundles of brown calcite in cavities in compact basalt near Richmond, Melbourne, Victoria. Small crystals have been observed lining the cavities of fossil shells from Iceland, and in the recent deposits of the hot springs of Plombières and Bourbonne-les-Bains in France.

Gmelinite and levynite are other species of zeolites which may be mentioned here, since they are closely related to chabazite, and like it are rhombohedral and frequently twinned. Gmelinite forms large flesh-red crystals usually of hexagonal habit, and was early known as soda-chabazite, it having the composition of chabazite but with sodium predominating over calcium (Na2, Ca)Al2(SiO3)46H2O. The formula of levynite is CaAl2Si3O10+ 5H2O.

(L. J. S.)

CHABLIS,a town of north-central France, in the department of Yonne, on the left bank of the Serein, 14 m. E. by N. of Auxerre by road. Pop. (1906) 2227. Its church of St Martin belongs to the end of the 12th century. The town gives its name to a well-known white wine produced in the neighbouring vineyards, of which the most esteemed are Clos, Bouguerots, Moutonne, Grenouille, Montmaires, Lys and Vaux-Désirs. There are manufactures of biscuits.

CHABOT, FRANÇOIS(1757-1794), French revolutionist, had been a Franciscan friar before the Revolution, and after the civil constitution of the clergy continued to act as “constitutional” priest, becoming grand vicar of Henri Grégoire, bishop of Blois. Then he was elected to the Legislative Assembly, sitting at the extreme left, and forming with C. Bazire and Merlin de Thionville the “Cordelier trio.” Re-elected to the Convention he voted for the death of Louis XVI., and opposed the proposal to prosecute the authors of the massacre of September, “because among them there are heroes of Jemmapes.” Some of his sayings are well known, such as that Christ was the first “sans-culotte.” Compromised in the falsification of a decree suppressing the India Company and in a plot to bribe certain members of the Convention, especially Fabre d’Eglantine and C. Bazire, he was arrested, brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal, and was condemned and executed at the same time as the Dantonists, who protested against being associated with such a “fripon.”

CHABOT, GEORGES ANTOINE,known asChabot de l’Allier(1758-1819), French jurist and statesman, was president of the tribunal of Montluçon when he was elected as a deputysuppléantto the National Convention. A member of the council of the Ancients, then of the Tribunate, he was president of the latter when the peace of Amiens was signed. He had a resolution adopted, tending to give Napoleon Bonaparte the consulship for life; and in 1804 supported the proposal to establish a hereditary monarchy. Napoleon named him inspector-general of the law schools, then judge of the court of cassation. He published various legal works,e.g.Tableau de la législation ancienne sur les successions et de la législation nouvelle établie par le code civil(Paris, 1804), andQuestions fransitoires sur le code Napoléon(Paris, 1809).

CHABOT, PHILIPPE DE,Seigneur de Brion, Count of Charny and Buzançais(c. 1492-1543), admiral of France. The Chabot family was one of the oldest and most powerful in Poitou. Philippe was a cadet of the Jarnac branch. He was a companion of Francis I. as a child, and on that king’s accession was loaded with honours and estates. After the battle of Pavia he was made admiral of France and governor of Burgundy (1526), and shared with Anne de Montmorency the direction of affairs. He was at the height of his power in 1535, andcommanded the army for the invasion of the states of the duke of Savoy; but in the campaigns of 1536 and 1537 he was eclipsed by Montmorency, and from that moment his influence began to wane. He was accused by his enemies of peculation, and condemned on the 10th of February 1541 to a fine of 1,500,000 livres, to banishment, and to the confiscation of his estates. Through the good offices of Madam d’Étampes, however, he obtained the king’s pardon almost immediately (March 1541), was reinstated in his posts, and regained his estates and even his influence, while Montmorency in his turn was disgraced. But his health was affected by these troubles, and he died soon afterwards on the 1st of June 1543. His tomb in the Louvre, by an unknown sculptor, is a fine example of French Renaissance work. It was his nephew, Guy Chabot, seigneur de Jarnac, who fought the famous duel with François de Vivonne, seigneur de la Châtaigneraie, in 1547, at the beginning of the reign of Henry II.

The main authorities for Chabot’s life are his MS. correspondence in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, and contemporary memoirs. See also E de Barthélemy, “Chabot de Brion,” in theRevue des questions historiques(vol. xx. 1876); Martineau, “L’Amiral Chabot,” in thePositions des thèses de l’École des Chartes(1883).

CHABRIAS(4th centuryB.C.), a celebrated Athenian general. In 388B.C.he defeated the Spartans at Aegina and commanded the fleet sent to assist Evagoras, king of Cyprus, against the Persians. In 378, when Athens entered into an alliance with, Thebes against Sparta, he defeated Agesilaus near Thebes. On this occasion he invented a manoeuvre, which consisted in receiving a charge on the left knee, with shields resting on the ground and spears pointed against the enemy. In 376 he gained a decisive victory over the Spartan fleet off Naxos, but, when he might have destroyed the Spartan fleet, remembering the fate of the generals at Arginusae, he delayed to pick up the bodies of his dead. Later, when the Athenians changed sides and joined the Spartans, he repulsed Epaminondas before the walls of Corinth. In 366, together with Callistratus, he was accused of treachery in advising the surrender of Oropus to the Thebans. He was acquitted, and soon after he accepted a command under Tachos, king of Egypt, who had revolted against Persia. But on the outbreak of the Social War (357) he joined Chares in the command of the Athenian fleet. He lost his life in an attack on the island of Chios.

See Cornelius Nepos,Chabrias; Xenophon,Hellenica, v. 1-4; Diod. Sic. xv. 29-34; and C. Rehdantz,Vitae Iphicratis, Chabriae, et Timothei(1845); art.Delian League, section B, and authorities there quoted.

CHABRIER, ALEXIS EMMANUEL(1841-1894), French composer, was born at Ambert, Puy de Dôme, on the 18th of January 1841. At first he only cultivated music as an amateur, and it was not until 1879 that he threw up an administration appointment in order to devote himself entirely to the art. He had two years previously written anopéra bouffeentitledL’Étoile, which was performed at the Bouffes Parisiens. In 1881 he was appointed chorus-master of the concerts then recently established by Lamoureux. In 1883 he composed the brilliant orchestral rhapsody entitledEspaña, the themes of which he had jotted down when travelling in Spain. His operaGwendolinewas brought out with considerable success at Brussels on the 10th of April 1886, and was given later at the Paris Grand Opéra. The following year 1887,Le Roi malgré lui, an opera of a lighter description, was produced in Paris at the Opéra Comique, its run being interrupted by the terrible fire by which this theatre was destroyed. His last opera,Briseis, was left unfinished, and performed in a fragmentary condition at the Paris Opéra, after the composer’s death in Paris on the 13th of September 1894. Chabrier was also the author of a set of piano pieces entitledPièces pittoresques, Valses romantiques, for two pianos, a fantasia for horn and piano, &c. His great admiration for Wagner asserted itself inGwendoline, a work which, in spite of inequalities due to want of experience, is animated by a high artistic ideal, is poetically conceived, and shows considerable harmonic originality, besides a thorough mastery over the treatment of the orchestra. The characteristics ofLe Roimalgré luihave been well summed up by M. Joncières when he alludes to “cette verve inépuisable, ces rythmes endiablés, cette exubérance de gaieté et de vigueur, à laquelle venait se joindre la note mélancolique et émue.” Chabrier’s premature death prevented him from giving the full measure of his worth.

CHACMA,the Hottentot name of the Cape baboon,Papio porcarius, a species inhabiting the mountains of South Africa as far north as the Zambezi. Of the approximate size of an English mastiff, this powerful baboon is blackish grey in colour with a tinge of green due to the yellow rings on most of the hairs. Unlike most of its tribe, it is a good climber; and where wooded cliffs are not available, will take up its quarters in tall trees. Chacmas frequently strip orchards and fruit-gardens, break and devour ostrich eggs, and kill lambs and kids for the sake of the milk in their stomachs.

CHACO,a territory of northern Argentina, part of a large district known as the Gran Chaco, bounded N. by the territory of Formosa, E. by Paraguay and Corrientes, S. by Santa Fé, and W. by Santiago del Estero and Salta. The Bermejo river forms its northern boundary, and the Paraguay and Paraná rivers its eastern; these rivers are its only means of communication. Pop. (1895) 10,422; (1904, est.) 13,937; area, 52,741 sq. m. The northern part consists of a vast plain filled with numberless lagoons; the southern part is slightly higher and is covered with dense forests, occasionally broken by open grassy spaces. Its forests contain many species of trees of great economic value; among them is thequebracho, which is exported for the tannin which it contains. The capital, Resistencia, with an estimated population of 3500 in 1904, is situated on the Paraná river opposite the city of Corrientes. There is railway communication between Santa Fé and La Sabana, an insignificant timber-cutting village on the southern frontier. In the territory there are still several tribes of uncivilized Indians, who occasionally raid the neighbouring settlements of Santa Fé.

CHACONNE(Span.chacona), a slow dance, introduced into Spain by the Moors, now obsolete. It resembles the Passacaglia. The word is used also of the music composed for this dance—a slow stately movement in ¾ time. Such a movement was often introduced into a sonata, and formed the conventional finale to an opera or ballet until the time of Gluck.

CHAD[Ceadda],SAINT(d. 672), brother of Cedd, whom he succeeded as abbot at Lastingham, was consecrated bishop of the Northumbrians by Wine, the West Saxon bishop, at the request of Oswio in 664. On the return of Wilfrid from France, where he had been sent to be consecrated to the same see, a dispute of course arose, which was settled by Theodore in favour of Wilfrid after three years had passed. Chad thereupon retired to Lastingham, whence with the permission of Oswio he was summoned by Wulfhere of Mercia to succeed his bishop Jaruman, who died 667. Chad built a monastery at Barrow in Lincolnshire and fixed his see at Lichfield. He died after he had held his bishopric in Mercia two and a half years, and was succeeded by Wynfrith. Bede gives a beautiful character of Chad.

See Bede’sHist. Eccl.edited by C. Plummer, iii. 23, 24, 28; iv. 2, 3 (Oxford, 1896); Eddius,Vita Wilfridi, xiv., xv. edited by J. Raine, Rolls Series (London, 1879).

CHAD,a lake of northern Central Africa lying between 12° 50′ and 14° 10′ N. and 13° and 15° E. The lake is situated about 850 ft. above the sea in the borderland between the fertile and wooded regions of the Sudan on the south and the arid steppes which merge into the Sahara on the north. The area of the lake is shrinking owing to the progressive desiccation of the country, Saharan climate and conditions replacing those of the Sudan. The drying-up process has been comparatively rapid since the middle of the 19th century, a town which in 1850 was on the southern margin of the lake being in 1905 over 20 m. from it. On the west the shore is perfectly flat, so that a slight rise in the water causes the inundation of a considerable area—a fact not without its influence on the estimates made at varying periods as to the size of the lake. Around the north-west and north shores is a continuous chain of gently sloping sand-hills covered with bush. This region abounds in big game and birdsare plentiful. In the east, the country of Kanem, the desiccation has been most marked. Along this coast is a continuous chain of islands running from north-west to south-east. But what were islands when viewed by Overweg in 1851, formed in 1903 part of the mainland and new islands had arisen in the lake. They are generally low, being composed of sand and clay, and lie from 5 to 20 m. from the shore, which throughout its eastern side nowhere faces open water. The channels between the islands do not exceed 2 m. in width. Two principal groups are distinguished, the Kuri archipelago in the south, and the Buduma in the north. The inhabitants of the last-named islands were noted pirates until reduced to order by the French. The coast-line is, in general, undefined and marshy, and broken into numerous bays and peninsulas. It is also, especially on the east, lined by lagoons which communicate with the lake by intricate channels. The lake is nowhere of great depth, and about midway numerous mud-banks, marshes, islands and dense growths of aqueous plants stretch across its surface. Another stretch of marsh usually cuts off the northernmost part of the lake from the central sections. The open water varies in depth from 3 ft. in the north-west to over 20 in the south, where desiccation is less apparent. Fed by the Shari (q.v.) and other rivers, the lake has no outlet and its area varies according to the season. The flood water brought down by the Shari in December and January causes the lake to rise to a maximum of 24 ft., the water spreading over low-lying ground, left dry again in May or June. But after several seasons of heavy rainfall the waters have remained for years beyond their low-water level. Nevertheless the secular shrinking goes on, the loss by evaporation and percolation exceeding the amount of water received; whilst, on the average, the rainfall is diminishing. In 1870 the lake rose to an exceptional height, but since then, save in 1897, there has been only the normal seasonal rise. The prevalent north-east wind causes at times a heavy swell on the lake. Fish abound in its waters, which are sweet, save at low-level, when they become brackish. The lagoons are believed to act as purifying pans in which the greater part of the salt in the water is precipitated. In the south-west end of the lake the water is yellow, caused by banks of clay; elsewhere it is clear.

The southern basin of Chad is described under the Shari, which empties its waters into the lake about the middle of the southern shore, forming a delta of considerable extent. Beyond the south-east corner of the lake is a depression known as the Bahr-el-Ghazal (not to be confounded with the Nile affluent of the same name). This depression is the termination of what is in all probability the bed of one of the dried-up Saharan rivers. Coming from the Tibesti highlands the Bahr-el-Ghazal has a south-westerly trend to Lake Chad. Near the lake the valley was formerly swampy, and at high-water the lake overflowed into it. There was also at one time communication between the Shari and the Bahr-el-Ghazal, so that the water of the first-named stream reached Chad by way of the Bahr-el-Ghazal. There is now neither inlet nor outlet to the lake in this direction, the mouth of the Ghazal having become a fertile millet field. There is still, however, a distinct current from the Shari delta to the east end of the lake—known to the natives, like the depression beyond, as the Bahr-el-Ghazal—indicative of the former overflow outlet.

Besides the Shari, the only important stream entering Lake Chad is the Waube or Yo (otherwise the Komadugu Yobe), which rises near Kano, and flowing eastward enters the lake on its western side 40 m. north of Kuka. In the rains the Waube carries down a considerable body of water to the lake.

Lake Chad is supposed to have been known by report to Ptolemy, and is identified by some writers with the Kura lake of the middle ages. It was first seen by white men in 1823 when it was reached by way of Tripoli by the British expedition under Dr Walter Oudney, R.N., the other members being Captain Hugh Clapperton and Major (afterwards Lieut.-Colonel) Dixon Denham. By them the lake was named Waterloo. In 1850 James Richardson, accompanied by Heinrich Barth and Adolf Overweg, reached the lake, also via Tripoli, and Overweg was the first European to navigate its waters (1851). The lake was visited by Eduard Vogel (1855) and by Gustav Nachtigal (1870), the last-named investigating its hydrography in some detail. In 1890-1893 its shores were divided by treaty between Great Britain, France and Germany. The first of these nations to make good its footing in the region was France. A small steamer, brought from the Congo by Emile Gentil, was in 1897 launched on the Shari, and reaching the Chad, navigated the southern part of the lake. Communication between Algeria and Lake Chad by way of the Sahara was opened, after repeated failures, by the French explorer F. Foureau in 1899-1900. At the same time a French officer, Lieut. Joalland, reached the lake from the middle Niger, continuing his journey round the north end to Kanem. A British force under Colonel T.L.N. Morland visited the lake at the beginning of 1902, and in May of the same year the Germans first reached it from Cameroon. In 1902-1903 French officers under Colonel Destenave made detailed surveys of the south-eastern and eastern shores and the adjacent islands. In 1903 Captain E. Lenfant, also a French officer, succeeded in reaching the lake (which he circumnavigated) via the Benue, proving the existence of water communication between the Shari and the Niger. In 1905 Lieut. Boyd Alexander, a British officer, further explored the lake, which then contained few stretches of open water. The lake is bordered W. and S.W. by Bornu, which is partly in the British protectorate of Nigeria and partly in the German protectorate of Cameroon. Bagirmi to the S.E. of the lake and Kanem to the N.E. are both French possessions. The north and north-west shores also belong to France. One of the ancient trade routes across the Sahara—that from Tripoli to Kuka in Bornu—strikes the lake at its north-west corner, but this has lost much of its former importance.

See the works of Denham, Clapperton, Barth and Nachtigal cited in the biographical notices;Geog. Journal, vol. xxiv. (1904); Capt. Tilho inLa Géographie(March 1906); Boyd Alexander,From the Niger to the Nile, vol. i. (London, 1907); A. Chevalier,Mission Chari-Lac Tchad 1902-1904(Paris 1908); E. Lenfant,La Grande Route du Tchad(Paris, 1905); H. Freydenberg,Étude sur le Tchad et le bassin du Chari(Paris, 1908).

CHADDERTON,an urban district of Lancashire, England, within the parliamentary borough of Oldham (q.v.). Pop. (1901) 24,892. Cotton and chemical works, and the coal-mines of the neighbourhood, employ the large industrial population.

CHADERTON, LAURENCE(?1536-1640), Puritan divine, was born at Lees Hall, in the parish of Oldham, Lancashire, probably in September 1536, being the second son of Edmund Chaderton,a gentleman of an ancient and wealthy family, and a zealous Catholic. Under the tuition of Laurence Vaux, a priest, he became an able scholar. In 1564 he entered Christ’s College, Cambridge, where, after a short time, he formally adopted the reformed doctrines and was in consequence disinherited by his father. In 1567 he was elected a fellow of his college, and subsequently was chosen lecturer of St Clement’s church, Cambridge, where he preached to admiring audiences for many years. He was a man of moderate views, though numbering among his friends extremists like Cartwright and Perkins. So great was his reputation that when Sir Walter Mildmay founded Emmanuel College in 1584 he chose Chaderton for the first master, and on his expressing some reluctance, declared that if he would not accept the office the foundation should not go on. In 1604 Chaderton was appointed one of the four divines for managing the cause of the Puritans at the Hampton Court conference; and he was also one of the translators of the Bible. In 1578 he had taken the degree of B.D., and in 1613 he was created D.D. At this period he made provision for twelve fellows and above forty scholars in Emmanuel College. Fearing that he might have a successor who held Arminian doctrines, he resigned the mastership in favour of John Preston, but survived him, and lived also to see the college presided over successively by William Sancroft (or Sandcroft) and Richard Holdsworth. He died on the 13th of November 1640 at the age of about 103, preserving his bodily and mental faculties to the end.

Chaderton published a sermon preached at St Paul’s Cross about 1580, and a treatise of hisOn Justificationwas printed by Anthony Thysius, professor of divinity at Leiden. Some other works by him on theological subjects remain in manuscript.

CHADWICK, SIR EDWIN(1800-1890), English sanitary reformer, was born at Longsight, near Manchester, on the 24th of January 1800. Called to the bar without any independent means, he sought to support himself by literary work, and his essays in theWestminster Review(mainly on different methods of applying scientific knowledge to the business of government) introduced him to the notice of Jeremy Bentham, who engaged him as a literary assistant and left him a handsome legacy. In 1832 he was employed by the royal commission appointed to inquire into the operation of the poor laws, and in 1833 he was made a full member of that body. In conjunction with Nassau W. Senior he drafted the celebrated report of 1834 which procured the reform of the old poor law. His special contribution was the institution of the union as the area of administration. He favoured, however, a much more centralized system of administration than was adopted, and he never ceased to complain that the reform of 1834 was fatally marred by the rejection of his views, which contemplated the management of poor-law relief by salaried officers controlled from a central board, the boards of guardians acting merely as inspectors. In 1834 he was appointed secretary to the poor law commissioners. Finding himself unable to administer in accordance with his own views an act of which he was largely the author, his relations with his official chiefs became much strained, and the disagreement led, among other causes, to the dissolution of the poor law commission in 1846. Chadwick’s chief contribution to political controversy was his constant advocacy of entrusting certain departments of local affairs to trained and selected experts, instead of to representatives elected on the principle of local self-government. While still officially connected with the poor law he had taken up the question of sanitation in conjunction with Dr Southwood Smith, and their joint labours produced a most salutary improvement in the public health. His report on “The Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population” (1842) is a valuable historical document. He was a commissioner of the Board of Health from its establishment in 1848 to its abolition in 1854, when he retired upon a pension, and occupied the remainder of his life in voluntary contributions to sanitary and economical questions. He died at East Sheen, Surrey, on the 6th of July 1890. He had been made K.C.B. in 1889.

See a volume onThe Evils of Disunity in Central and Local Administration ... and the New Centralization for the People, by Edwin Chadwick (1885); alsoThe Health of Nations, a Review of the Works of Edwin Chadwick, with a Biographical Introduction, by Sir B.W. Richardson (1887).

CHAEREMON,Athenian dramatist of the first half of the 4th centuryB.C.He is generally considered a tragic poet. Aristotle (Rhetoric, iii. 12) says his works were intended for reading, not for representation. According to Suidas, he was also a comic poet, and the title of at least one of his plays (Achilles Slayer of Thersites) seems to indicate that it was a satyric drama. HisCentaurusis described by Aristotle (Poet.i. 12) as a rhapsody in all kinds of metres. The fragments of Chaeremon are distinguished by correctness of form and facility of rhythm, but marred by a florid and affected style reminiscent of Agathon. He especially excelled in descriptions (irrelevantly introduced) dealing with such subjects as flowers and female beauty. It is not agreed whether he is the author of three epigrams in the Greek Anthology (Palatine vii. 469, 720, 721) which bear his name.

See H. Bartsch,De Chaeremone Poëta tragico(1843); fragments in A. Nauck,Fragmenta Tragicorum Graecorum.

CHAEREMON,of Alexandria (1st centuryA.D.), Stoic philosopher and grammarian. He was superintendent of the portion of the Alexandrian library that was kept in the temple of Serapis, and as custodian and expounder of the sacred books (ἱερογραμματέύςsacred scribe) belonged to the higher ranks of the priesthood. InA.D.49 he was summoned to Rome, with Alexander of Aegae, to become tutor to the youthful Nero. He was the author of aHistory of Egypt; of works onComets, Egyptian Astrology, andHieroglyphics; and of a grammatical treatise onExpletive Conjunctions(συνδεσμοὶ παραπληρωματικοί). Chaeremon was the chief of the party which explained the Egyptian religious system as a mere allegory of the worship of nature. His books were not intended to represent the ideas of his Egyptian contemporaries; their chief object was to give a description of the sanctity and symbolical secrets of ancient Egypt. He can hardly be identical with the Chaeremon who accompanied (c. 26B.C.; Strabo xvii. p. 806) Aelius Gallus, praefect of Egypt, on a journey into the interior of the country.

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