In the United States there has long been much important agricultural co-operation, and there have been many much-advertised attempts to establish Rochdale co-operation, but there have so often been failures and even dishonesties that co-operation has had a bad odour in the country, and the developments come and go with such rapidity that it is difficult to speak with confidence of its stability. The branch of co-operation which has been a great success in the United States consists of the great co-operative building societies, but building societies are not considered part of the co-operative movement in Great Britain.
Co-operation of all kinds is greatly developed in Italy, but one form is specially notable. TheSocietà di lavoroare co-operative labour gangs of great importance. They are counted by hundreds, and are found among navvies, builders, masons, carriers, stevedores, agricultural labourers and other workmen, and have carried out very great works in Italy and in foreign countries. They have, for instance, drained lands in the Campagna and made a railway in Greece. They differ from productive societies markedly in that they have comparatively little to do with capital or material, but contract mainly for labour.
The Slavonic races seem to have a special aptitude for grouping together co-operatively: it is said that men meeting casually on a journey will do so for the brief time they are together. In countries like Servia we see this ancient, and more or less customary, loose and unstable co-operation meeting the modern contractual, permanent co-operation of banks and other registered societies. So in Russia, where so large a part in the national organization is played by theArtel(seeRussia), which may be a transitory co-operative group of workmen undertaking a particular piece of work,e.g.to build a house, or a permanent association like that of the bank porters combined together to guarantee one another’s honesty.
While English and some other forms of co-operation have always repudiated state help, and probably rightly, so far as their own work is concerned, the state in almost all countries, and conspicuously in England, has in factState help.helped to the extent of providing special legislation, and waiving fees, so as to encourage the formation of co-operative societies. A second form of state help is very noticeable in the modern development of agriculture, as in Denmark, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland and very many countries, where the state has played a great part in performing or assisting functions which neither voluntary association nor individual enterprise could well perform alone; in providing technical education, expert advisers, exhibitions and prizes; in distributing information in all forms; in finding out markets, controlling railway rates, subsidizing steamboats, and even grading, branding, warehousing and freezing produce, and maintaining trade agents abroad. These things have not been done for co-operative societies alone, but for agriculture in general; but co-operation has chiefly benefited, and much has been done expressly to encourage the formation of associations of cultivators, and provincial and national federations of such associations; and government departments of agriculture are found acting through such bodies, and with their advice and assistance. The third and most questionableform of state help is by direct subventions, and we have seen how much has been done in this way for credit co-operation and particularly agricultural credit. Harm has undoubtedly been done in certain cases by forcing co-operative societies, whether from political motives or merely mistaken policy. Yet even as to money subventions, good authorities, while admitting the great dangers, remain convinced that the advantages overbalance them, self-help being evoked, and helped over initial difficulties which would otherwise be insuperable. Experience in fact shows that governments can do a very great deal, at least for agricultural co-operation, but only on condition that they encourage, and do not undermine, self-help and private initiative. Thus while voluntary association is sometimes advocated as a step towards, and sometimes on the other hand as a substitute for, and bulwark against, state socialism, we find in practice these two forces working each in its own sphere, and in ways complementary one to the other, while underlying and essential to both is the force of individual action and self-help.
We have now surveyed co-operation in its chief forms and in some of the countries where it is chiefly found. Some years ago it was roughly estimated that the members of one or other of its branches numbered six millions, representingConclusion.with their families a population of 25,000,000 people. This must be much within the truth to-day. In no other country so much as in Great Britain do we find the tendency for all branches of co-operation to federate in one union and to help one another by mutual trade. Yet everywhere the instinct of co-operative societies is to federate with others—at least with others of their own particular shade; so that Wholesales and other federations are found more and more in many countries. Since 1895 the co-operators and co-operative societies of many far-distant lands—almost of the whole world—have been drawn together by the International Co-operative Alliance, a body which, without attempting to interfere in their differences, collects information from all, and distributes it to all, keeps them all in touch, and every few years calls their delegates together in congress, to discuss their problems, and to remember their common ideals.
Bibliography.—International Co-operative Alliance,International Co-operative Bibliography(London, 1906); G. J. Holyoake,History of Co-operation(London, 1875-1879, new ed., 1906),History of the Rochdale Pioneers(London, 1893, new ed., 1900),Self-Help a Hundred Years Ago(London, 3rd ed., 1891),Co-operative Movement of To-day(London, 1891, new ed., 1896); Lloyd Jones,Life and Times and Labours of Robert Owen(London, 1890, new ed., 1895); F. Podmore,Robert Owen(London, 1906); E. T. Craig,History of Ralahine(London, 1882, new ed., 1893); Thomas Hughes and E. V. Neale,A Manual for Co-operators(Manchester, 1881, 1888); Catherine Webb (editor),Industrial Co-operation(Manchester, 1904); Beatrice Potter (Mrs Sidney Webb),Co-operative Movement in Great Britain(London, 1891, 1893, 1904); A. H. D. Acland and B. Jones,Working Men Co-operators(1898); Benjamin Jones,Co-operative Production(London, 1894); C. R. Fay,Co-operation at Home and Abroad(London, 1908); H. D. Lloyd,Labour Co-partnership(London and New York, 1898); D. F. Schloss,Methods of Industrial Remuneration(London, 2nd ed., 1894); N. P. Gilman,Profit Sharing(London, 1892); C. Robert,Guide pratique de la participation(Paris, 1892); Aneurin Williams,Twenty-eight Years of Co-partnership at Guise(Letchworth, 1908),Relations of Co-operative Movement to National and International Commerce(Manchester, 1896); Dallet-Fabre-Prudhommeaux,Le Familistère illustré(Paris, 1901); Bernadot,Le Familistère de Guise(Guise, 1892); E. O. Greening,The Co-operative Traveller Abroad(London, 1888); H. W. Wolff,People’s Banks(London, 1893, 1896),Co-operative Banking, its Principles and Practice, with a chapter on Co-operative Mortgage Credit(London, 1907); de Rocquigny,La Co-opération de production dans l’agriculture(Paris, 1896); Merlin,Les Associations ouvrières et patronales, &c. (Paris, 1900); Mabilleau and others,La Prévoyance sociale en Italie(Paris, 1898); Fr. Müller,Wesen, Grundsätze und Nutzen der Consumvereine(Basel, 1900). See also the annual Reports of the Government Labour Departments, and theMonthly Bulletinof the Internat. Co-op. Alliance.
Bibliography.—International Co-operative Alliance,International Co-operative Bibliography(London, 1906); G. J. Holyoake,History of Co-operation(London, 1875-1879, new ed., 1906),History of the Rochdale Pioneers(London, 1893, new ed., 1900),Self-Help a Hundred Years Ago(London, 3rd ed., 1891),Co-operative Movement of To-day(London, 1891, new ed., 1896); Lloyd Jones,Life and Times and Labours of Robert Owen(London, 1890, new ed., 1895); F. Podmore,Robert Owen(London, 1906); E. T. Craig,History of Ralahine(London, 1882, new ed., 1893); Thomas Hughes and E. V. Neale,A Manual for Co-operators(Manchester, 1881, 1888); Catherine Webb (editor),Industrial Co-operation(Manchester, 1904); Beatrice Potter (Mrs Sidney Webb),Co-operative Movement in Great Britain(London, 1891, 1893, 1904); A. H. D. Acland and B. Jones,Working Men Co-operators(1898); Benjamin Jones,Co-operative Production(London, 1894); C. R. Fay,Co-operation at Home and Abroad(London, 1908); H. D. Lloyd,Labour Co-partnership(London and New York, 1898); D. F. Schloss,Methods of Industrial Remuneration(London, 2nd ed., 1894); N. P. Gilman,Profit Sharing(London, 1892); C. Robert,Guide pratique de la participation(Paris, 1892); Aneurin Williams,Twenty-eight Years of Co-partnership at Guise(Letchworth, 1908),Relations of Co-operative Movement to National and International Commerce(Manchester, 1896); Dallet-Fabre-Prudhommeaux,Le Familistère illustré(Paris, 1901); Bernadot,Le Familistère de Guise(Guise, 1892); E. O. Greening,The Co-operative Traveller Abroad(London, 1888); H. W. Wolff,People’s Banks(London, 1893, 1896),Co-operative Banking, its Principles and Practice, with a chapter on Co-operative Mortgage Credit(London, 1907); de Rocquigny,La Co-opération de production dans l’agriculture(Paris, 1896); Merlin,Les Associations ouvrières et patronales, &c. (Paris, 1900); Mabilleau and others,La Prévoyance sociale en Italie(Paris, 1898); Fr. Müller,Wesen, Grundsätze und Nutzen der Consumvereine(Basel, 1900). See also the annual Reports of the Government Labour Departments, and theMonthly Bulletinof the Internat. Co-op. Alliance.
(A. Wi.*)
1Holyoake,History of Co-operation(1906 edition), i. 34.
1Holyoake,History of Co-operation(1906 edition), i. 34.
COOPERSTOWN,a village and the county-seat of Otsego county, New York, U.S.A., where the Susquehanna river emerges from Otsego Lake; about 92 m. (by rail) W. of Albany. Pop. (1890) 2657; (1900) 2368; (1905) 2446; (1910) 2484. It is served by the Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley railway (owned and controlled by the Delaware & Hudson), and is on the line of the Oneonta & Mohawk Valley electric railway. The village lies in the midst of a hop-growing and dairying region, and has cheese factories and creameries. It has a public library, Thanksgiving hospital, a Y.M.C.A. hall, and the Diocesan orphanage (Protestant Episcopal). Cooperstown is a summer resort, Otsego Lake (9 m. long and with an average width of about 1 m.), the “Glimmerglass” of Cooper’s novels, being one of the most picturesque of the New York lakes. Cooperstown occupies the site of an old Indian town. In 1785 the site became the property of Judge William Cooper, who in the following year founded there a village which took his name and was incorporated in 1807. Judge Cooper himself settled here with his family in 1790. His son, James Fenimore Cooper, who lived here for many years and is buried in the Episcopal cemetery here, made the region famous in his novels.
See J. Fenimore Cooper,The Chronicles of Cooperstown(Cooperstown, 1838).
See J. Fenimore Cooper,The Chronicles of Cooperstown(Cooperstown, 1838).
COOPER UNION,a unique educational and charitable institution “for the advancement of science and art” in New York city. It is housed in a brownstone building in Astor Place, between 3rd and 4th Avenues immediately N. of the Bowery, and was founded in 1857-1859 by Peter Cooper, and chartered in 1859. In a letter to the trustees accompanying the trust-deed to the property, Cooper said that he wished the endowment to be “for ever devoted to the advancement of science and art, in their application to the varied and useful purposes of life”; provided for a reading-room, a school of art for women, and an office in the Union, “where persons may apply ... for the services of young men and women of known character and qualifications to fill the various situations”; expressed the desire that students have monthly meetings held in due form, “as I believe it to be a very important part of the education of an American citizen to know how to preside with propriety over a deliberative assembly”; urged lectures and debates exclusive of theological and party questions; and required that no religious test should ever be made for admission to the Union. Cooper’s most efficient assistant in the Union was Abram S. Hewitt. In 1900 Andrew Carnegie put the finances of the Union on a sure footing by gifts aggregating $600,000. For the year 1907 its revenue was $161,228 (including extraordinary receipts of $25,565, from bequests, &c.), its expenditures $161,390; at the same time its assets were $3,870,520, of which $1,070,877 was general endowment, building and equipment, and $2,797,728 was special endowments ($205,000 being various endowments by Peter Cooper; $340,000, the William Cooper Foundation; $600,000, the Cooper-Hewitt Foundation; $391,656, the John Halstead Bequest; $217,820, the Hewitt Memorial Endowment). The work has been very successful, the instruction is excellent, and the interest of the pupils is eager. All courses are free. The reading-room and library contain full files of current journals and magazines; the library has the rare complete old and new series of patent office reports, and in 1907 had 45,760 volumes; in the same year there were 578,582 readers. There is an excellent museum for the arts of decoration. Apart from valuable lecture courses, the principal departments of the Union, with their attendance in 1907, were: a night school of science—a five-year course in general science (667) and in chemistry (154), a three-year course in electricity (114), and a night school of art (1333); a day school of technical science—four years in civil, mechanical or electrical engineering—(237); a woman’s art school (282); a school of stenography and typewriting for women (55); a school of telegraphy for women (31); a class in elocution (96); and classes in oratory and debate (146). During the year 2505 was the highest number in attendance at any time, and then 3000 were on the waiting list.
In the great hall of the Union free lectures for the people are given throughout the winter; one course, the Hewitt lectures, in co-operation with Columbia University, “of a very high grade, corresponding more nearly to those given by the Lowell Institute in Boston”; six (in 1907) courses in co-operation with the Board of Education of New York city, which, upon Mayor Hewitt’s suggestion, made an appropriation for this work in1887-1888, and extended such lecture courses to different parts of the city, all under the direction (after 1890) of Henry M. Leipziger (b. 1854), and several courses dealing especially with social and political subjects, and including, besides lectures and recitals, public meetings for the discussion of current problems.
CO-OPTATION(from Lat.co-optare; less correctly “co-option”), the election to vacancies on a legislative, administrative or other body by the votes of the existing members of the body, instead of by an outside constituency. Such bodies may be purely co-optative, as the Royal Academy, or may be elective with power to add to the numbers by co-optation, as municipal corporations in England.
COORG(an anglicized corruption ofKodagu, said to be derived from the KanareseKudu, “steep,” “hilly”), a province of India, administered by a commissioner, subordinate to the governor-general through the resident of Mysore, who is officially also chief commissioner of Coorg. It lies in the south of the peninsula, on the plateau of the Western Ghats, sloping inland towards Mysore. It is an attractive field of coffee cultivation, though the greater part is still under forest, but the prosperity of the industry has declined since 1891. The administrative headquarters are at Mercara (pop. 6732). Coorg is the smallest province in India, its area being only 1582 sq. m. Of this amount about 1000 sq. m. consist of ghat, reserved and other forests. Coorg was constituted a province not on account of its size, but on account of its isolation. It lies at the top of the Western Ghats, and is cut off by them from easy communication with the British districts of South Kanara and Malabar, which form its western and southern boundaries, while on its other sides it is surrounded by the native state of Mysore. It is a mountainous district, presenting throughout a series of wooded hills and deep valleys; the lowest elevations are 3000 ft. above sea-level. The loftiest peak, Tadiandamol, has an altitude of 5729 ft.; Pushpagiri, another peak, is 5626 ft. high. The principal river is the Cauvery, which rises on the eastern side of the Western Ghats, and with its tributaries drains the greater part of Coorg. Besides these there are several large streams that take their rise in Coorg. In the rainy season, which lasts during the continuance of the southwest monsoon, or from June to the end of September, the rivers flow with violence and great rapidity. In July and August the rainfall is excessive, and the month of November is often showery. The yearly rainfall may exceed 160 in.; in the dense jungle tract it reaches from 120 to 150; in the bamboo district in the west from 60 to 100 in. The climate, though humid, is on the whole healthy; it is believed to have been rendered hotter and drier by the clearing of forest land. Coorg has an average temperature of about 60° F., the extremes being 52° and 82°. The hottest season is in April and May. In the direction of Mysore the whole country is thickly wooded; but to the westward the forests are more open. The flora of the jungle includesMichelia(Chumpak),Mesua(Ironwood),Diospyros(Ebony and other species),Cedrela toona(White cedar),Chickrassia tubularis(Red cedar),Calophyllum angustifolium(Poon spar),Canarium strictum(Black Dammar tree),Artocarpus,Dipterocarpus,Garcinia,Euonymus,Cinnamomum iners,Myristica,Vaccinium,Myrtaceae,Melastomaceae,Rubus(three species), and a rose. In the undergrowth are found cardamom, areca, plantain, canes, wild pepper, tree and other ferns, and arums. In the forest of the less thickly-wooded bamboo country in the west of Coorg the trees most common are theDalbergia latifolia(Black wood),Pterocarpus marsupium(Kino tree),Terminalia coriacea(Mutti),Lagerströmia parviflora(Benteak),Conocarpus lalifolius(Dindul),Bassia latifolia,Butea frondosa,Nauclea parviflora, and several acacias, with which, in the eastern part of the district, teak and sandalwood occur. Among the fauna may be mentioned the elephant, tiger, tiger-cat, cheetah or hunting leopard, wild dog, elk, bison, wild boar, several species of deer, hares, monkeys, the buceros and various other birds, the cobra di capello, and a few alligators. The most interesting antiquities of Coorg are the earth redoubts or war-trenches (kadangas), which are from 15 to 25 ft. high, and provided with a ditch 10 ft. deep by 8 or 10 ft. wide. Their linear extent is reckoned at between 500 and 600 m. They are mentioned in inscriptions of the 9th and 10th centuries. The exports of Coorg are mainly rice, coffee and cardamoms; and the only important manufacture is a kind of coarse blanket. Fruits of many descriptions, especially oranges, are produced in abundance, and are of excellent quality.
In 1901 the population was 180,607, showing an increase of 4.4% in the decade. Of the various tribes inhabiting Coorg, the Coorgs proper, or Kodagas, and the Yeravas, or Eravas, both special to the country, are the most numerous. The Kodagas (36,091) are a light-coloured race of unknown origin. They constitute a highland clan, free from the trammels of caste, and they have the manly bearing and independent spirit natural in men who have been from time immemorial the lords of the soil. Their religion consists of ancestor- and demon-worship, with a certain admixture of Brahman cults. The men are by tradition warriors and hunters, and while they will plough the fields and reap the rice, they leave all menial work to the women and servants. They speak Kodagu, a dialect of Hala Kannada or old Kanarese, midway between that and Malayālam. It has been asserted that the institution of polyandry was prevalent among them, according to which the brothers of a family had their wives in common. But if this institution ever existed it no longer does so. The Yeravas (14,586) are a race of an altogether inferior type, dark-skinned and thick-lipped, resembling the Australian aborigines who possibly, according to one theory, may have sprung from the same Dravidian stock (seeAustralia:Aborigines). Though now nominally free, they were, before the establishment of British rule, the hereditary praedial slaves of the Kodagas. Some of them live a primitive life in the jungle, but the majority earn a livelihood as coolies. They are demon-worshippers, their favourite deity being Karingali (black Kali). Their language, a dialect of Malayālam, is peculiar to them. Among the other tribes or castes special to Coorg are the Heggades (1503 in 1901), cultivators from Malabar; the Ayiri (898), who constitute the artisan caste; the Medas (584), who are basket- and mat-makers, and act as drummers at feasts; the Binepatta (98), originally wandering musicians from Malabar, now agriculturists; the Kavadi (49), cultivators from Yedenālknād; all these speak the Coorg language, wear the Coorg dress, and conform, more or less, to Coorg customs. Other tribes are not special to Coorg. Of these the Holeyas (27,000) are the most numerous. They are divided into four sections: Badagas from Mysore, Kembattis and Māringis from Malabar, Kukkas from S. Kanara. They were formerly the slaves of the Kodagas and now act as their menials. The Lingayats (8700) are rather a religious sect than a tribe. Of the Tulu (farmer) class the Gaudas (11,900), who live principally along the western boundary, are the most important; they speak Tulu and wear the Coorg dress. Other castes and tribes are the Tiyas (1500) and Nayars (1400), immigrants from Malayālam; the Vellala (1300), who are Tamils; the Mahrattas (2400) and Brahmans (1100). Of the Mussulmans the most numerous are the Moplahs (6700) and the Shaikhs (4400), both chiefly traders. Of native Christians there are upwards of 3000. The official language of Coorg, which is that spoken by 45% of the population, is Kanarese (Kannada), the Coorg language (Kodagu) coming next. The Coorg dress is very picturesque, its characteristics being a long coat (Kupasa), of dark-coloured cloth, reaching below the knees, folded across and confined at the waist by a red or blue girdle. The sleeves are cut off below the elbow, showing the arms of a white shirt. The head-dress is a red kerchief, or a peculiar large, flat turban, covering the back of the neck. The Coorg also carries a short knife, with an ivory or silver hilt, fastened with silver chains and stuck into the girdle. A large, broad-bladed waist knife, akin to thekukriof the Gurkhas, worn at the back, point upwards, was formerly a formidable weapon in hand-to-hand fighting, but is now used only for exhibitions of strength and skill on festive occasions.
The chief crops are rice and coffee. Some abandoned coffee land has been planted with tea as an experiment. The cultivation of cinchona has proved unprofitable. There is no railway.There are no colleges, but twenty-four scholarships are given to maintain Coorg students at colleges in Madras and Mysore. There are secondary schools at Mercara and Virarajendrapet.
The early accounts of Coorg are purely legendary, and it was not till the 9th and 10th centuries that its history became the subject of authentic record. At this period, according to inscriptions, the country was ruled by the Gangas of Talakād, under whom the Changalvas, kings of Changa-nād, styled later kings of Nanjarayapatna or Nanjarajapatna, held the east and part of the north of Coorg, together with the Hunsurtalūkin Mysore. After the overthrow, in the 11th century, of the Ganga power by the Cholas, the Changalvas became tributary to the latter. When the Cholas in their turn were driven from the Mysore country by the Hoysalas, in the 12th century, the Changalvas held out for independence; but after a severe struggle they were subdued and became vassals of the Hoysala kings. In the 14th century, after the fall of the Hoysala rule, they passed under the supremacy of the Vijayanagar empire. During this period, at the beginning of the 16th century, Nanja Raja founded the new Changalva capital Nanjarajapatna. In 1589 Piriya Raja or Rudragana rebuilt Singapatna and renamed it Piriyapatna (Periapatam). The power of the Vijayanagar empire had, however, been broken in 1565 by the Mahommedans; in 1610 the Vijayanagar viceroy of Seringapatam was ousted by the raja of Mysore, who in 1644 captured Piriyapatna. Vira Raja, the last of the Changalva kings, fell in the defence of his capital, after putting to death his wives and children.
Coorg, however, was not absorbed in Mysore, which was hard pressed by other enemies, and a prince of the Ikkeri or Bednur family (perhaps related to the Changalvas) succeeded in bringing the whole country under his sway, his descendants continuing to be rajas of Coorg till 1834. The capital was removed in 1681 by Muddu Raja to Madikeri or Mercara. In 1770 a disputed succession led to the intervention of Hyder Ali of Mysore in favour of Linga Raja, who had fled to him for help, and whom he placed on the throne on his consenting to cede certain territories and to pay tribute. On Linga Raja’s death in 1780 Hyder Ali interned his sons, who were minors, in a fort in Mysore, and, under pretence of acting as their guardian, installed a Brahman governor at Mercara with a Mussulman garrison. In 1782, however, the Coorgs rose in rebellion and drove out the Mahommedans. Two years later Tippoo Sultan reduced the country; but the Coorgs having again rebelled in 1785 he vowed their destruction. Having secured some 70,000 of them by treachery, he drove them to Seringapatam, where he had them circumcised by force. Coorg was partitioned among Mussulman proprietors, and held down by garrisons in four forts. In 1788, however, Vira Raja (or Vira Rajendra Wodeyar), with his wife and his brothers Linga Raja and Appaji, succeeded in escaping from his captivity, at Periapatam and, placing himself at the head of a Coorg rebellion, succeeded in driving the forces of Tippoo out of the country. The British, who were about to enter on the struggle with Tippoo, now made a treaty with Vira Raja; and during the war that followed the Coorgs proved invaluable allies. By the treaty of peace Coorg, though not adjacent to the East India Company’s territories, was included in the cessions forced upon Tippoo. On the spot where he had first met the British commander, General Abercromby, the raja founded the city of Virarajendrapet.
Vira Raja, who, in consequence of his mind becoming unhinged, was guilty towards the end of his reign of hideous atrocities, died in 1809 without male heirs, leaving his favourite daughter Devammāji as rani. His brother Linga Raja, however, after acting as regent for his niece, announced in 1811 his own assumption of the government. He died in 1820, and was succeeded by his son Vira Raja, a youth of twenty, and a monster of sensuality and cruelty. Among his victims were all the members of the families of his predecessors, including Devammāji. At last, in 1832, evidence of treasonable designs on the raja’s part led to inquiries on the spot by the British resident at Mysore, as the result of which, and of the raja’s refusal to amend his ways, a British force marched into Coorg in 1834. On the 11th of April the raja was deposed by Colonel Fraser, the political agent with the force, and on the 7th of May the state was formally annexed to the East India Company’s territory. In 1852 the raja, who had been deported to Vellore, obtained leave to visit England with his favourite daughter Gauramma, to whom he wished to give a European education. On the 30th of June she was baptized, Queen Victoria being one of her sponsors; she afterwards married a British officer who, after her death in 1864, mysteriously disappeared together with their child. Vira Raja himself died in 1863, and was buried in Kensal Green cemetery.
The so-called Coorg rebellion of 1837 was really a rising of the Gaudas, due to the grievance felt in having to pay taxes in money instead of in kind. A man named Virappa, who pretended to have escaped from the massacre of 1820, tried to take advantage of this to assert his claim to be raja, but the Coorgs remained loyal to the British and the attempt failed. In 1861, after the Mutiny, the loyalty of the Coorgs was rewarded by their being exempted from the Disarmament Act.
See “The Coorgs and Yeravas,” by T. H. Holland in theJournal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. lxx. part iii. No. 2 (1901); Rev. G. Richter,Castes and Tribes found in the Province of Coorg(Bangalore, 1887);Imperial Gazetteer of India(Oxford, 1908), vol. xi. s.v., where, besides an admirable account of the country and its inhabitants, the history of Coorg is dealt with in some detail.
See “The Coorgs and Yeravas,” by T. H. Holland in theJournal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. lxx. part iii. No. 2 (1901); Rev. G. Richter,Castes and Tribes found in the Province of Coorg(Bangalore, 1887);Imperial Gazetteer of India(Oxford, 1908), vol. xi. s.v., where, besides an admirable account of the country and its inhabitants, the history of Coorg is dealt with in some detail.
COORNHERT, DIRCK VOLCKERTSZOON(1522-1590), Dutch politician and theologian, youngest son of Volckert Coornhert, cloth merchant, was born at Amsterdam in 1522. As a child he spent some years in Spain and Portugal. Returning home, he was disinherited by his father’s will, for his marriage with Cornelia (Neeltje) Simons, a portionless gentlewoman. He took for a time the post of major-domo to Reginald (Reinoud), count of Brederode. Soon he settled in Haarlem, as engraver on copper, and produced works which retain high values. Learning Latin, he published Dutch translations from Cicero, Seneca and Boetius. He was appointed secretary to the city (1562) and secretary to the burgomasters (1564). Throwing himself into the struggle with Spanish rule, he drew up the manifesto of William of Orange (1566). Imprisoned at the Hague (1568), he escaped to Cleves, where he maintained himself by his art. Recalled in 1572, he was secretary of state for a short time; his aversion to military violence led him to return to Cleves, where William continued to employ his services and his pen. As a religious man, he wrote and strove in favour of tolerance, being decidedly against capital punishment for heretics. He had no party views; the Heidelberg catechism, authoritative in Holland, he criticized. The great Arminius, employed to refute him, was won over by his arguments. He died at Gouda on the 29th of October 1590. His Dutch version of the New Testament, following the Latin of Erasmus, was never completed. His works, in prose and verse, were published in 1630, 3 vols.
See F. D. J. Moorrees,Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert(1887); N. Delvenne,Biog. des Pays-Bas(1829); A. J. van der Aa,Biog. Woordenboek der Nederlanden(1855).
See F. D. J. Moorrees,Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert(1887); N. Delvenne,Biog. des Pays-Bas(1829); A. J. van der Aa,Biog. Woordenboek der Nederlanden(1855).
(A. Go.*)
COOT,a well-known water-fowl, theFulica atraof Linnaeus, belonging to the familyRallidaeor rails. The word coot, in some parts of England pronounced cute, or scute, is of uncertain origin, but perhaps cognate with scout and scoter—both names of aquatic birds—a possibility which seems to be more likely since the name “macreuse,” by which the coot is known in the south of France, being in the north of that country applied to the scoter (Oedemia nigra) shows that, though belonging to very different families, there is in popular estimation some connexion between the two birds.1The LatinFulica(in polite French,Foulque) is probably allied tofuligo, and has reference to the bird’s dark colour.2The coot breeds abundantly in many of the larger inland waters of the northern parts of the Old World, in winter commonly resorting, and often in great numbers, to the mouth of rivers or shallow bays of the sea, where it becomes a general object of pursuit by gunners whether for sport or gain.At other times of the year it is comparatively unmolested, and being very prolific its abundance is easily understood. The nest is a large mass of flags, reeds or sedge, piled together among rushes in the water or on the margin, and not unfrequently contains as many as ten eggs. The young, when first hatched, are beautiful little creatures, clothed in jet-black down, with their heads of a bright orange-scarlet, varied with purplish-blue. This brilliant colouring is soon lost, and they begin to assume the almost uniform sooty-black plumage which is worn for the rest of their life; but a characteristic of the adult is a bare patch or callosity on the forehead, which being nearly white gives rise to the epithet “bald” often prefixed to the bird’s name. The coot is about 18 in. in length, and will sometimes weigh over 2 ℔. Though its wings appear to be short in proportion to its size, and it seems to rise with difficulty from the water, it is capable of long-sustained and rather rapid flight, which is performed with the legs stretched out behind the stumpy tail. It swims buoyantly, and looks a much larger bird in the water than it really is. It dives with ease, and when wounded is said frequently to clutch the weeds at the bottom with a grasp so firm as not even to be loosened by death. It does not often come on dry land, but when there, marches leisurely and not without a certain degree of grace. The feet of the coot are very remarkable, the toes being fringed by a lobed membrane, which must be of considerable assistance in swimming as well as in walking over the ooze—acting as they do like mud-boards.
In England the sport of coot-shooting is pursued to some extent on the broads and back-waters of the eastern counties—in Southampton Water and Christchurch Bay—and is often conducted battue-fashion by a number of guns. But even in these cases the numbers killed in a day seldom reach more than a few hundreds, and come very short of those that fall in the officially-organizedchassesof the lakes near the coast of Languedoc and Provence, of which an excellent description is given by the Vicomte Louis de Dax (Nouveaux Souvenirs de chasse, &c., pp. 53-65; Paris, 1860). The flesh of the coot is very variously regarded as food. To prepare the bird for the table, the feathers should be stripped, and the down, which is very close, thick and hard to pluck, be rubbed with powdered resin; the body is then to be dipped in boiling water, which dissolving the resin causes it to mix with the down, and then both can be removed together with tolerable ease. After this the bird should be left to soak for the night in cold spring-water, which will make it look as white and delicate as a chicken. Without this process the skin after roasting is found to be very oily, with a fishy flavour, and if the skin be taken off the flesh becomes dry and good for nothing (Hawker’sInstructions to Young Sportsmen; Hele’sNotes about Aldeburgh).
The coot is found throughout the Palaearctic region from Iceland to Japan, and in most other parts of the world is represented by nearly allied species, having almost the same habits. An African species (F. cristata), easily distinguished by two red knobs on its forehead, is of rare appearance in the south of Europe. The Australian and North American species (F. australisandF. americana) have very great resemblance to the English bird; but in South America half-a-dozen or more additional species are found which range to Patagonia, and vary much in size, one (F. gigantea) being of considerable magnitude. The remains of a very large species (F. newtoni) were discovered in Mauritius, where it must have been a contemporary of the dodo, but like that bird is now extinct.
(A. N.)
1It is owing to this interchange of their names that Yarrell in hisBritish Birdsrefers Victor Hugo’s description of the “chasse aux macreuses” to the scoter instead of the coot.2Hence also we haveFulixorFuligulaapplied to a duck of dingy appearance, and thus forming another parallel case.
1It is owing to this interchange of their names that Yarrell in hisBritish Birdsrefers Victor Hugo’s description of the “chasse aux macreuses” to the scoter instead of the coot.
2Hence also we haveFulixorFuligulaapplied to a duck of dingy appearance, and thus forming another parallel case.
COOTE, SIR EYRE(1726-1783), British soldier, the son of a clergyman, was born near Limerick, and entered the 27th regiment. He saw active service in the Jacobite rising of 1745, and some years later obtained a captaincy in the 39th regiment, which was the first British regiment sent to India. In 1756 a part of the regiment, then quartered at Madras, was sent forward to join Clive in his operations against Calcutta, which was reoccupied without difficulty, and Coote was soon given the local rank of major for his good conduct in the surprise of the Nawab’s camp. Soon afterwards came the battle of Plassey, which would in all probability not have taken place but for Coote’s soldierly advice at the council of war; and after the defeat of the Nawab he led a detachment in pursuit of the French for 400 m. under extraordinary difficulties. His conduct won him the rank of lieutenant-colonel and the command of the 84th regiment, newly-raised for Indian service, but his exertions seriously injured his health. In October 1759 Coote’s regiment arrived to take part in the decisive struggle between French and English in the Carnatic. He took command of the forces at Madras, and in 1760 led them in the decisive victory of Wandiwash (January 22). After a time the remnants of Lally’s forces were shut up in Pondicherry. For some reason Coote was not entrusted with the siege operations, but he cheerfully and loyally supported Monson, who brought the siege to a successful end on the 15th of January 1761. Soon afterwards Coote was given the command of the East India Company’s forces in Bengal, and conducted the settlement of a serious dispute between the Nawab Mir Cassim and a powerful subordinate, and in 1762 he returned to England, receiving a jewelled sword of honour from the Company and other rewards for his great services. In 1771 he was made a K.B. In 1779 he returned to India as lieutenant-general commanding in chief. Following generally the policy of Warren Hastings, he nevertheless refused to take sides in the quarrels of the council, and made a firm stand in all matters affecting the forces. Hyder Ali’s progress in southern India called him again into the field, but his difficulties were very great and it was not until the 1st of June 1781 that the crushing and decisive defeat of Porto Novo struck the first heavy blow at Hyder’s schemes. The battle was won by Coote under most unfavourable conditions against odds of five to one, and is justly ranked as one of the greatest feats of the British in India. It was followed up by another hard-fought battle at Pollilur (the scene of an earlier triumph of Hyder over a British force) on the 27th of August, in which the British won another success, and by the rout of the Mysore troops at Sholingarh a month later. His last service was the arduous campaign of 1782, which finally shattered a constitution already gravely impaired by hardship and exertions. Sir Eyre Coote died at Madras on the 28th of April 1783. A monument was erected to him in Westminster Abbey.
For a short biography of Coote seeTwelve British Soldiers(ed. Wilkinson, London, 1899), and for the battles of Wandewash and Porto Novo, consult Malleson,Decisive Battles of India(London, 1883). An account of Coote may be found in Wilk’sHistorical Sketches of Mysore(1810).
For a short biography of Coote seeTwelve British Soldiers(ed. Wilkinson, London, 1899), and for the battles of Wandewash and Porto Novo, consult Malleson,Decisive Battles of India(London, 1883). An account of Coote may be found in Wilk’sHistorical Sketches of Mysore(1810).
COPAIBA,orCopaiva(from Braziliancupauba), an oleo-resin—sometimes termed a balsam—obtained from the trunk of theCopaifera Lansdorfii(natural order Leguminosae) and from other species ofCopaiferafound in the West Indies and in the valley of the Amazon. It is a somewhat viscous transparent liquid, occasionally fluorescent and of a light yellow to pale golden colour. The odour is aromatic and very characteristic, the taste acrid and bitter. It is insoluble in water, but soluble in absolute alcohol, ether and the fixed and volatile oils. Its approximate composition is more than 50% of a volatile oil and less than 50% of a resin. The pharmacopoeias contain the oleo-resin itself, which is given in doses of from a half to one drachm, and theoleum copaibae, which is given in doses of from five to twenty minims, but which is inferior, as a medicinal agent, to the oleo-resin. Copaiba shares the pharmacological characters of volatile oils generally. Its distinctive features are its disagreeable taste and the unpleasant eructations to which it may give rise, its irritant action on the intestine in any but small doses, its irritant action on the skin, often giving rise to an erythematous eruption which may be mistaken for that of scarlet fever, and its exceptionally marked stimulant action on the kidneys. In large doses this last action may lead to renal inflammation. The resin is excreted in the urine and is continually mistaken for albumin since it is precipitated by nitric acid, but the precipitate is re-dissolved, unlike albumin, on heating. Its nasty taste, its irritant action on the bowel, and its characteristic odour in the breath, prohibit its use—despite its other advantages—in all diseases but gonorrhoea. For this disease it is a valuableremedy, but it must not be administered until the acute symptoms have subsided, else it will often increase them. It is best given in cachets or in three times its own bulk of mucilage of acacia. Various devices are adopted to disguise its odour in the breath. The clinical evidence clearly shows that none of the numerous vegetable rivals to copaiba is equal to it in therapeutic value.
COPAL(Mexicancopalli, incense), a hard lustrous resin, varying in hue from an almost colourless transparent mass to a bright yellowish-brown, having a conchoidal fracture, and, when dissolved in alcohol, spirit of turpentine, or any other suitable menstruum, forming one of the most valuable varnishes. Copal is obtained from a variety of sources; the term is not uniformly applied or restricted to the products of any particular region or series of plants, but is vaguely used for resins which, though very similar in their physical properties, differ somewhat in their constitution, and are altogether distinct as to their source. Thus the resin obtained fromTrachylobium Hornemannianumis known in commerce as Zanzibar copal, or gum animé. Madagascar copal is the produce ofT. verrucosum. FromGuibourtia copalliferais obtained Sierra Leone copal, and another variety of the same resin is found in a fossil state on the west coast of Africa, probably the produce of a tree now extinct. From Brazil and other South American countries, again, copal is obtained which is yielded byTrachylobium Martianum,Hymenaea Courbaril, and various other species, while the dammar resins and the piney varnish of India are occasionally classed and spoken of as copal. Of the varieties above enumerated by far the most important from a commercial point of view is the Zanzibar or East African copal, yielded byTrachylobium Hornemannianum. The resin is found in two distinct conditions: (1) raw or recent, called by the inhabitants of the coast sandarusiza miti or chakazi, the latter name being corrupted by Zanzibar traders into “jackass” copal; and (2) ripe or true copal, the sandarusi inti of the natives. The raw copal, which is obtained direct from the trees, or found at their roots or near the surface of the ground, is not regarded by the natives as of much value, and does not enter into European commerce. It is sent to India and China, where it is manufactured into a coarse kind of varnish. The true or fossil copal is found embedded in the earth over a wide belt of the mainland coast of Zanzibar, on tracts where not a single tree is now visible. The copal is not found at a greater depth in the ground than 4 ft., and it is seldom the diggers go deeper than about 3 ft. It occurs in pieces varying from the size of small pebbles up to masses of several ounces in weight, and occasionally lumps weighing 4 or 5 ℔ have been obtained. After being freed from foreign matter, the resin is submitted to various chemical operations for the purpose of clearing the “goose-skin,” the name given to the peculiar pitted-like surface possessed by fossil copal. The goose-skin was formerly supposed to be caused by the impression of the small stones and sand of the soil into which the soft resin fell in its raw condition; but it appears that the copal when first dug up presents no trace of the goose-skin, the subsequent appearance of which is due to oxidation or inter-molecular change.
COPALITE,orCopaline, also termed “fossil resin” and “Highgate resin,” a naturally occurring organic substance found as irregular pieces of pale-yellow colour in the London clay at Highgate Hill. It has a resinous aromatic odour when freshly broken, volatilizes at a moderate temperature, and burns readily with a yellow, smoky flame, leaving scarcely any ash.
COPÁN,an ancient ruined city of western Honduras, near the Guatemalan frontier, and on the right bank of the Río Copán, a tributary of the Motagua. For an account of its elaborately sculptured stone buildings, which rank among the most celebrated monuments of Mayan civilization, seeCentral America:Archaeology. The city is sometimes regarded as identical with the Indian stronghold which, after a heroic resistance, was stormed by the Spaniards, under Hernando de Chaves, in 1530. It has given its name to the department in which it is situated.
COPARCENARY(co-, with, andparcener,i.e.sharer; from O. Fr.parçonier, Lat.partitio, division), in law, the descent of lands of inheritance from an ancestor to two or more persons possessing an equal title to them. It arises either by common law, as where an ancestor dies intestate, leaving two or more females as his co-heiresses, who then take as coparceners or parceners; or, by particular custom, as in the case of gavelkind lands, which descend to all males in equal degrees, or in default of males, to all the daughters equally. These co-heirs, or parceners, have been so called, says Littleton (§ 241), “because by writ the law will constrain them, that partition shall be made among them.” Coparcenary so far resembles joint tenancy in that there is unity of title, interest and possession, but whereas joint tenants always claim by purchase, parceners claim by descent, and although there is unity of interest there is no entirety, for there is nojus accrescendior survivorship. Coparcenary may be dissolved (a) by partition; (b) by alienation by one coparcener; (c) by all the estate at last descending to one coparcener, who thenceforth holds in severalty; (d) by a compulsory partition or sale under the Partition Acts.
The term “coparcenary” is not in use in the United States, joint heirship being considered astenancy in common.
COPE, EDWARD DRINKER(1840-1897), American palaeontologist, descended from a Wiltshire family who emigrated about 1687, was born in Philadelphia on the 28th of July 1840. At an early age he became interested in natural history, and in 1859 communicated a paper on the Salamandridae to the Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia. He was educated partly in the University of Pennsylvania, and after further study and travel in Europe was in 1865 appointed curator to the Academy of Natural Sciences, a post which he held till 1873. In 1864-67 he was professor of natural science in Haverford College, and in 1889 he was appointed professor of geology and palaeontology in the University of Pennsylvania. To the study of the American fossil vertebrata he gave his special attention. From 1871 to 1877 he carried on explorations in the Cretaceous strata of Kansas, the Tertiary of Wyoming and Colorado; and in course of time he made known at least 600 species and many genera of extinct vertebrata new to science. Among these were some of the oldest known mammalia, obtained in New Mexico. He served on the U.S. Geological Survey in 1874 in New Mexico, in 1875 in Montana, and in 1877 in Oregon and Texas. He was also one of the editors of theAmerican Naturalist. He died in Philadelphia on the 12th of April 1897.