Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/462

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CARAVAN (Cych) — There are four regular caravans which go yearly to Mecca ; the firft from Damafcus, compofed ol the pilgrims from Europe and Afia; the fecond from Cairo, for theMahometans of Barbary ; the third fromZibith, a place near the mouth of the Red Sea, where thofe of Arabia and In- dia meet; thefcurth fromBabylon,whercthePerfians aflemble. Moft of the inland commerce in the Eaft is carried on by ca- ravans. The late czar, Peter the Great, eftablifhcd a trade between RuflJa and China by means of a caravan '. M. BoUg- non\ geographer of the duke of Lorraine, has given a treatife of the caravans of merchants in Aha, wherein hefliewsof what they arc compofed; how many forts there are ; the feveral ules of the different forts of animals in them ; the price given for them ; the officers and men appointed to conduct them ; and the pay of each ; with their manner of marching, halting, fighting, treating, &c. — [ a Atlas Marit p. 128. b Bo"gnon, Relation exacle concernant les Caravanms des marchants d'Afie, Nunc '711. 12°.]

Caravans of this kind are large convoys of armed men, mer- chants, and travellers, with divers forts of animals, for the car riage of their provifions.

To form a caravan, the permiffion of the fovereign muft be obtained in writing, which pcrmiflion is to exprefs the num- ber of men and carriages, and the quantity of merchandizes it is to be compofed of, and muft alfo be legalized by at leaft two other neighbouring fovcreigns : this is called the commijfion of the caravan, a term borrowed from the military ufage. There are commonly four chief officers of a caravan ; viz. the caravan back:, or chief'; the captain guide ; captain of reft ; and captain of diftribuiion.

The firft has an abfolute command over all the reft ; the fe cond is abfolute in the march ; the office of the third only commences when the caravan flops, and makes a ftay ; to the fourth it belongs to difpofe of every part of the corps, in cafe of an attack, or battle ; he has alfo the infpedtion over the dis- tribution of provifions, which is made under him by feveral dis- tributers, who give fecurity to the mafler of the caravan, and have each of them a certain number of perfons, elephants, d. medarles, &c. to take care of at their own peril. The treafurer of the caravan makes the fifth officer, who has under him feveral agents and interprets, who keep journals of all that panes, for the fatisfa&ion of thofe concerned in fit- ing out the caravan. Another fort of officers are the Arab ma- thematicians, who, to the number of three, in large caravans, do the office of quarter-mafters, as well as aids de camp, in cafe the caravan be attacked. There are five forts of caravans, viz. Heavy Caravan, compofed of elephants, dromedaries, camels,

and horfes. Light Caravan, in which there are but few elephants. Ordinary Caravan, that in which there are no elephants. Caravan of horfes, that in which there are neither camels nor

dromedaries, but only horfes. Sea Caravans, are companies of merchant vefTels, loaden with goods, and conveyed by fhips of war.

In the heavy caravans, to five hundred elephants there are a thoufand dromedaries, and at leaft two thoufand horfes, ef- corted by four thoufand cavaliers. Two men are required to lead each elephant ; five to three dromedaries ; and faven to twelve camels. Such a number of fervants joined with the of- ficers and paftengers, the number whereof is not limited, ren- ders the body very formidable ; the paftengers indeed are not obliged to fight, but in cafe they refufe, provifion will fcarce be allowed them afterwards, even for their money. As few of the Arab princes have any other fubfiftance than what they can get by pillage, they keep continually fpies on foot, to give them intelligence of the departure and motions of caravans, which they frequently attack with fuperior forces: in cafe of repulfe they come to an accommodation ; but if the caravan be beaten, it is abfolutely plundered, and the whole guard made fiaves ; though more indulgence is fhewed to ftraiio-ers. The taking of a fingle caravan fometimes enriches a prince fpr ever.

The profits to be made in a caravan, during its march, are of- ten incredible ; Mr.Bougnon gives inftances where, by repeated bargains and exchanges, a perfon has made twenty thoufand crowns out of a fingle gold watch, and 30 louis d' ors. Relat. de carav. d' Afie. Savar. Di£t. Comm. Supp. p. 118, feq. Jour, des Scav. T. 49. p. 88, feq.

Any dealer is at liberty to form a company, in order to make a caravan. He inwhofe name it is railed, is confidercd as the caravan-lachi, or chief of the caravan, unlefs he appoint fome other in his place. If there be feveral merchants equally con- cerned, they eleel: a caravan bachi, after which they appoint of- ficers to conduit the caravan,am\ decide all controverfies which may arife during the journey. Bougnon, Relat. des caravan, ap. Jour, des Scav. T.49. p. 88. CARAV ANSERA (Cycl.)— Mcninfki writes the word karwaan ferai, and derives It from the Turkifli karwan, or kerwan, a ca- ravan, and farai, houfe or palace. Trev. Dicl. Univ. T. 1. p. 144c-

Garavunferas are places of feeker, erected in the habitable parts of Turky and Perfia, where caravans are fecured from the enemy and the weather. There :ire car avanfera's where moft things may be bad with

money; and as the profits of thefc are confidcrablc, the mat- urates of thecities to whofe jurifdiftion they belong, takecare to ftore themwell. There is an infpc&or, who, at the de- parture of each caravan, fixes the price of the night's lodging, from which there is no appeal. Bougnon, ubi fupra, Jour. des Scav T. 49. p. 92, feq. CARAUNA, in zoology, the name of a fmall Rrafilian fifth, in many rcfpect,s approaching to the turdus kind, and much re- fembling the itacara of the fame place ; its mouth is of a femi- lunar figure ; and its teeth very fmall, and extremely iriarp ; its covering of the gills arc- terminated behind by a iharp prickle; the eyes are fmall, and ftand very clofe together in the upper part of the head ; its fcales are all of a femilunar figure, and its colour a fine bright red, nil over fpotted with very fmall black fpots. A'/arggrave's Hift. Brafil. CARBASA caryflia, a term ufed by many of the antient writers to exprefs pieces of cloth made of the limmi hicomSuJlibile, or Afheftus ^ione, which being found plentifully about Caryftium, Was thence called by the name of the place. Paufanias calls it linum Carpafium, for the fame fort of rcafon, Carpafus, a town in the ifland of Cyprus, being a place famous for affording large quantities of the ftone in its neighbourhood. Paufanias ex- prefly fays of his, that being thrown into the fire, it fullered nothing by it; wherever therefore the words caryftium or carpafium is added to the word linum, it is to be underftood of this fort of manufacture, and the word carbafa, which is indeed but a derivative of carpafium, being added to the other epithet caryftium, exprefles the fame thing; but when the word car- bafa is ufed without this epithet of place, it generally fignifies no more than linum, flax, or linen made of flax. CARBENSIS aqua, in the materia medica, the name of a mine- ral water of Germany, of which Hoffman from Petzlerus has given the following account : All about the place of its origin, and along the canals through which it pafles, it depofitjran earthy and ferruginous matter, which concretes into a ftony hardnefs. When any alcaline liquor, whether fixed or volatile, is added to thefe waters, they become turbid, and precipitate a whitifh earthy matter to the bottom of the veiled; after the evaporation of the water they leave a fal enixum, and an alka- line earth ; two quarts of them yield two fcruples and ten grains of the earth, and twelve grains of the fait. If it be kept for any time in a glafs, or earthen vefTel, it depofits a fediment of a yellow ochrcous earthy matter, and when immediately taken from the fpring, it changes to a blueifh brown colour, on being mixed with galls. It contains a very large portion of a fubtile mineral fpirit; for if a long necked veiTel be filled half full with it, and the orifice flopped with the thumb, the whole on a little making, fends up a froth to the top ; and when the thumb is taken oft', the water fpirts out to feveral foot diftance. It makes an effervefcence on mixing oil of vitriol with it; but this lafts but a very little time. From the whole it feems to contain a large quantity of calcareous earth, and fome fmall portion of ferruginous matter ; whence it purges both by ftool and urine, though moftly the latter way ; the former operation which is pretty conftant, is owing to this alkaline eartli meet- ing with an acid in the prima via, and being by it changed in- to a bitter purging fait, of die nature of Glaubers. CARBONADE, or Carbonado, in cookery, flefh, fowl, or

the like, feafoned, and broiled on the coals. CARBUNCLE(Cy/.J — Thenameof a gem very commonly ufed, but very little underftood. The diitinguifhing character of the carbuncle is, that it is a gem of great hardnefs, and of a deep red with an admixture of fcarlet. It was known among the antients bytbenamea.Op^ which wasufed metaphorically to fignify that this gem was in fome lights of afire colour,the proper Signification of the word being a piece of lighted charcoal. The Latin name is a translation of the Greek, and moft nations have agreed to call it by a name of the fame Signification. Our jewellers, among whom it is very rare, know it by no pe- culiar name, and not only now, but for many a^es back, this has been the cafe; and while the genuine carbuncle was often feen, it was yet generally thought not to exift, and this merely from an error : its name importing a refcmblance to a burning charcoal, the world, in general, grew into an opinion of its having the properties of a burning coal,one of which is the Alin- ing in the dark; and fuppofing that property ilrongly comme- morated in the name, and finding no gem which had it, they took it for granted that the carbuncle no longer edified ; nay, the fertile imaginations of fome travellers have gone fo far as to affirm,that a gem with this property is yet to be iccn in fome places, and have given a thoufand ahfurd relations about it. To all this it is only to be anfwered, that the whole is an ab- furd error; for that the antients never attributed any fuch qua- lity to their carbuncle, but that the whole reafon of their a;ivino- the name anthrax to that gem, was, that it was of itfelf of a very deep and ftrong red, but when held up againft the fun, or when fetupon a bright pale foil, It was exa&y of that fort of red colour which is feen in burning charcoal. Theophraftus, the greateftnaturalift of antiquity, afTertsthis in plain words, and calls the gem that had this property anthiax. Other of the antients have called it the Garamantine or Car- thaginian carbuncle ; and it has been fuppofed by the better writers among the moderns to be the feme ftone with the true garnu; this, however, on comparing-the Hones, appears to be