Page:LA2-NSRW-1-0423.jpg



CERRO GORDO

36l

CEYLON

earth. Her first temple in Rome was built in 496 B. C. to ward off a famine with which the city was threatened. A great festival with games, called Cerealia, was set up in her honor.

Cerro Qordo (s^r'ro gor'do), a mountain-pass in Mexico, on the main highway to the City of Mexico. Here was fought a battle between the Americans and Mexicans, April 18, 1847. General Scott's force was 8,500, and Santa Anna's over 12,000. The engagement lasted from sunrise until 2 P. M., the Americans conquering with a loss of but 431 killed and wounded. The Mexican loss was from 1,000 to 1,200, with 3,000 prisoners, including five generals. Stores and artillery were surrendered.

Cervantes Saavedra (ser-van'tez sd-d-vd-drd), Miguel de, the author of Don Quixote, was born in 1547* of an old and noble Castilian family. In 1569 we find some effusions of his on the death of the queen, that show he had begun to be a writer; but the next year we find him in Italy enlisted as a soldier and receiving three gunshot wounds at the battle of Lepanto. Coming home to Spain, he was captured by pirates, carried to Algiers and enslaved for five years. He made four daring attempts to free himself and his companions, but only regained his liberty by his family beggaring themselves to raise the large ransom demanded. He now began to write plays, which were not very successful and are all forgotten, except Numancia, which is acknowledged to be the most powerful tragedy in the Spanish language. In 1605 he brought out the first part of his great book, Don Quixote. It at once gained the greatest popularity, and the next year, in all the pageants throughout the country, men dressed to represent Don Quixote and his faithful Sancho Panza paraded the streets. Strange to say, Cervantes himself never thought it a great book; certainly no great book was ever written so carelessly. He worked at it by fits and starts, sending it to the printers without revising it and then laughing at their and his own blunders. Nor did he take the trouble to bring out the second part for ten years, though all this time he was a busy writer; and only at last published it because somebody else had written a false second part. Cervantes, who knew what real bravery was, wrote Don Quixote to make fun of the mock bravery that strutted about in the guise of chivalry; but he also, before the book was finished, took the liberty of laughing at a great many other foolish things. Cervantes died at Madrid, April 23, 1616.

Cervera (thdr-vd'rd), Pascual, a Spanish admiral who figured prominently at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, was born at Madrid, in 1832, of a family of naval heroes. Early in his career he Saw service in Morocco, in Cochin-China,

in the Philippines and in the Spanish blockade of Cuba in 1870. He was, for a time, a naval attache" of Spain at Washington, and subsequently rose to the rank of rear-admiral. When war broke out with Spain, Cervera, with an inefficient squadron was ordered by his government to Cuban waters, and in May, 1898, was blockaded in Santiago harbor by a United States fleet. Realizing that he could make no effective defense, he determined to run the blockade, but was overtaken and his ships were destroyed. His flagship, the Maria Teresa, took fire in the contest and had to be beached. Cervera, escaping on a life-raft, was rescued and taken on board the Gloucester, where he surrendered and was held a prisoner of war until the peace protocol was signed, in August, 1898. He died in 1909.

Cetewayo (kd-ckwa'yo), a noted Kafir chief, king of the Zulus, who in 1878 rebelled against British suzerainty, and in the following year annihilated a British regiment at Isandula, South Africa. Later in the same year Cetewayo was defeated by the British under Lord Chelmsford at the battle of Ulundi, taken prisoner and held captive till 1882. In that year he was brought to England, and there lionized by the Liberals, who were in favor of local autonomy in South Africa. The attempt was afterward made to reinstate him as king of Zululand; but having lost favor with his people, he was kept by the British at Ekove until 1884, when he died.

Ceylon (se-lon'}, an island and British colony in the Indian Ocean, southeast of India. Its greatest length is 266 miles; its greatest width 140 miles; area, 25,332 square miles. The sea of sapphire-blue beating against tall rocks and the rich evergreen forests towering above, till they are lost in the clouds, make a picture that can vie with any scenery in the world.

Surface and Drainage. Rolling plains cover the most of the island, and in the south mountains rise 8,000 feet in height. There are but one important river and two natural harbors; but the breakwater, which has been built at the capital, Colombo, has brought the bulk of commerce thither.

Plants and Animals. Most of the great tropical plants and trees are found here, noticeably tree-ferns often 25 feet high, scarlet flowering rhododendrons and tufted bamboos. The largest animal is the elephant, usually without tusks. Of the natives, the most numerous are the Singhalese, who are believed to be colonists from the valley of the Ganges.

Products and Resources. The great exports are tea, coffee and cinchona bark. The gems of Ceylon are well known. Here are found sapphires, rubies, topazes, garnets and amethysts, while the pearl-fisheries form a great British monopoly.

People and Religion. The men look very womanish, with their delicate features, their