Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/688

674 they are exported in large numbers to Europe 134,000 skins having been imported into London during 1874 where they are made into muffs, tippets, and trimmings for ladies dresses. That they have not under such circum stances become rare, if not altogether extinct, is doubtless owing to their extraordinary fecundity, the female usually producing five or six young twice a year. They are exceedingly docile in disposition and cleanly in their habits, and are thus well fitted for domestication, and in this state, owing to the value of their furs, might no doubt be profitably reared.  CHINDWARA. See.  CHINGLEPUT, the principal town and fortress of a district of the same name, in the presidency of Madras, in British India, on the left bank of the Palar River, 36 miles S.S.W. of Madras in 12 41 N. lat. and 80 2 E. long. Chingleput was taken by the French in 1751, and was re taken in 1752 by Clive. During the wars of the British with Hyder Ali, it was one of the few strongholds which with stood his power, and afforded a secure refuge to the natives. In 1780, after the defeat of Colonel Baillie, the army of Sir Hector Munro sought protection under its walls. The town is noted for its manufacture of pottery, and it carries on a trade in rice. Population, 7500.  CHIN-HAE, or, a of, in the  of , at the  of the , 12 s N.E. of , in 29°58′N. . and 121°45′E. . It lies at the foot of a on a tongue of land, and is partly protected from the  on the N. by a  about three s long, composed entirely of large blocks of hewn. The are 20  high and 3 s in. The were formerly of considerable strength, and included a well-built but now dismantled  on a precipitous, 250  high, at the extremity of the tongue of land on which the  is built. In the neighbourhood an took place between the  and  in.  CHIN-KEANG-FOO, a of, in the  of, at the junction of the  with the , 48 s E.N.E. of. It was formerly a prosperous and important with a  of about half a million, well  by  s, in many places 35  high, and regarded as the key of  towards the. In it yielded to the   after a desperate resistance. Since then, however, it has not only suffered from the aberrations of the system of, but it has also been laid waste by  in. It was recaptured by the in, and has begun to recover its position.  CHINON (in the Middle Ages Castrum Caino), a town of France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Indre et-Loire, pleasantly situated on the right bank of the Vienne, 28 miles S.W. of Tours. It has a tribunal of primary instance, a communal college, a town house, and some trade in grain, dried fruits, wine, and brandy. Here Henry II. of England died in 1189 ; and on the rock above the town there are extensive ruins of the castle where Charles VII. of France resided after the occupation of Paris by the English, and first gave audience to Joan of Arc. In the castle-rock there are large quarries known as Les Valains, from which building materials have been obtained for ages. Rabelais was born in 1483 at the farm-house of La Deviniere in the vicinity, and his house is shown in the Rue de la Lamproie. Population in 1872, 6553.  CHINSURAH, a town of British India, situated on the western bank of the Hooghly River, 24 miles above Calcutta, and formerly the principal Dutch settlement in Bengal. It was among the cessions on the continent of India made by the king of the Netherlands in 1824 in exchange for the British possessions in the island of Sumatra. The Dutch erected a factory here in 1656, on a clear and healthy spot of ground, much preferable to that on which Calcutta is situated, and soon attracted a con siderable number of natives to settle in the vicinity. About thirty-five years after this they fell under the dis pleasure of one of the native potentates, who sequestrated their property and prohibited their traffic. In 1686 all their factories were re-established, and their trade long continued to flourish. In 1759, a British force under Colonel Forde was attacked by the garrison of Chinsurah on its march to Chandernagore. The action was short but decisive, for in less than half an hour the Dutch were entirely routed. In 1 795, when Holland became a province of France, the British offered to retain Chinsurah for the stadtholder, but the governor having declined to surrender, the settlement was reduced by a detachment from the military stations at Barrackpore, and was occupied by a British garrison during the whole war. At the general peace of 1814 it was restored to the Dutch. The town, which extends for half a mile along the banks of the river, is built neatly, and with great solidity, of brick and mortar; and the houses are plastered with fine lime, and have flat roofs and green Venetian windows. It is the seat of an extensive military establishment which has been consider ably increased since 1858, and is now capable of accommodating 5000 men. The hospital attached is on a large scale. An important educational institution known as Hooghly College is maintained by Government ; and there are a number of schools in the town, several of which are carried on by the missionaries of the Free Church of Scotland. Population, about 14,000.  CHIOGGIA, or, a town of Italy, in an island of the same name in the Gulf of Venice, 15 miles south of the city of that name. It is united to the mainland by a bridge of 43 arches, protected at the further extremity by Fort Malghera or Haynau ; and the port is likewise defended by Forts Caraman and San Felice. The cathedral of Longhera, founded in 1633, is its most remarkable building ; the church of S. Andrea was of much greater antiquity, but it was restored in 1734. From Chioggia to Malamocco stretches the great sea-wall of the Murazzi, which protects Venice from the inroads of the ocean. Chioggia is the Roman Fossa Claudia, and began to bear the name of Clugia in the 4th century. In 809 it was destroyed by Pepin, and in 901 by the Slavonic invaders. In 1100 it was chosen as his see by the bishop of Malamocco. With the exception of the years from 1379 to 1381, when it was held by the Genoese, it continued subject to Venice till the fall of the republic ; but in spite of its proximity and political connection, it has maintained to the present day some peculiarities of language and custom. Population, 26,336. <section end="CHIOGGIA" /> <section begin="CHIOS" />CHIOS. See. <section end="CHIOS" /> <section begin="CHIPPENHAM" />CHIPPENHAM, a parliamentary and municipal borough and market-town of England, in the county of Wiltshire, 30 miles N.N.W. of Salisbury, and 94 miles from London by the Great Western Railway, in a valley on the left bank of the Avon, which is here crossed by a handsome stone bridge of 22 arches. It consists mainly of one well- built street more than half a mile in length, and has a spacious Gothic church of considerable antiquity, a town- hall, a market-house, and a literary institution. Formerly the seat of an extensive broad-cloth manufacture, it is now mainly an agricultural town, with flour-mills and tanneries, and large cattle and cheese markets. The stone quarries in the neighbourhood give employment to three or four hundred workmen. The parliamentary borough, which in cludes the parishes of Chippenham, Hardenhuish, Langley- Burrell, and Pewsham, and had in 1871 a population of 6875, returns one member to Parliament; up till 1867<section end="CHIPPENHAM" />