Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/426

396 The Corfiot peasantry are reputed the idlest of all the lonians. The olive receives little or no culture from them, and the vineries alone are laboured by the broad heart-shaped hoe. The vintage, which begins on the festival of Santa Croce, or the 26th of September (O.S.), is neither a pretty nor a lively scene, and little care is taken in the various operations. None of the Corfu wines are prized. Cottagers cultivate no gardens for themselves ; they purchase their vegetables in the Corfu market, and a con siderable sum goes annually to buy in Apulia the garlic and onions so largely used by the people. The capital (noticed below) is the only city or town of much extent in the island ; but there are a number of villages, such as Benizze, Gasturi, Ipso, Glypho, with populations varying from 300 to 1000.

1em 1em 1em

, the capital of the above island, stands on the broad part of a peninsula, whose termination in the citadel is cut from it by an artificial fosse formed in a natural gulley, with a salt-water ditch at the bottom. Seen from the water, or from a height, it is picturesque in massss, but in detail it is not to be praised for either beauty or comfort. Having grown up within fortifications, where every foot of ground was precious, there is nothing spacious about it except the handsome esplanade between the town and the citadel. Indeed, it is still, in spite of recent improvements, a perfect labyrinth of narrow, tortuous, up-and-down streets, accommodating themselves to the irregularities of the ground, few of them lit for wheel carriages. The palace, built by Sir Thomas Maitland, is a large structure of white Maltese stone, but the exterior has no architectural merits, although internally its apartments are very stately. In several parts of the town may be found houses of the Venetian time, with some traces of past splendour, but they are few, and are giving place to structures in the modern and more convenient French style. Of the thirty-seven Greek churches the most important are the cathedral, dedicated to Our Lady of the Cave (rj Havayia 2 7777X1 omcro-a) ; St Spiri- dion s, with the tomb of the patron saint of the island ; and the suburban church of St Jason and St Sosipater, reputed the oldest in the island. The city is the seat of a Greek and a Roman Catholic bishop; and it possesses a gymnasium, a theatre, an agricultural and industrial society, and a library and museum preserved in the buildings formerly devoted to the university, which was founded by Lord Guildford in 1823, but disestablished on the cessation of the English protectorate. There are three suburbs of some importance Castrades, Manduchio, and San Rocco. The old fortifications of the town, being so extensive as to require a force of from 10,000 to 20,000 troops to man them, were in great part thrown down by the English, and a simpler plan adopted, limiting the defences to the island of Vido and the old citadel. Population about 25,000.  CORIANDER, the fruit, improperly called; seed, of an Umbelliferous plant (Coriandrum satimtm), a native of tho south of Europe and Asia Minor, but naturalized and cultivated in the south of England. The plant produces a stem rising about a foot in height, with bipinnate leaves and flowers in pink or whitish umbels. The fruit is globular and externally smooth, having five indistinct ridges, and the mericarps, or half-fruits, do not readily separate from each other. It is used in medicine as an aromatic and carminative, and on account of its pleasant and pungent flavour it is a favourite ingredient in hot curries and sauces. The fruit is also used in confectionery, and as a flavouring ingredient in various liqueicrs, The essential oil on which its aroma depends is obtained from it by distillation. The tender leaves and shoots of the young plant are used in soups and salads.  CORIGLIANO, a town of Italy, in the province of Calabria Citeriore and the district of Rossano, situated on a river of the same name, about four miles from the coast, on a steep hill, which is surmounted by an ancient castle and fringed at the foot by orange and lemon plantations. It is supplied with water by an extensive aqueduct, and carries on the manufacture of liquorice and a trade in timber. Population about 10,000.  CORINGA, a seaport town of British India, in the collpctorate of Godavery and presidency of Madras, is situated in 82 19 E. long, and 16 49 N. lat., on the estuary of a branch of the Godavery River. The harbour is protected from the swell of the sea by the southward projection of Point Godavery, and affords a shelter to vessels during the south-west monsoon. Across its entrance is a bar, which shows a depth of about 15 feet at spring tides. The repairing and building of small coasting ships 