Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/253

 CHAMOMILE CIIAMOUNI 245 Anthemis nobilis. It is also the least profitable, so rare is the beast becoming even in his most difficult and remotest haunts, so small are the chances of success, and so little the value of the game when taken. CHAMOMILE (Gr. #a//at, on the ground, and fifaov, apple; anthemis nobilis, Linn.), a plant of the family composite, indigenous in the south of England, and widely culti- vated in gardens for medicinal use. Its leaves and daisy-like flowers emit a strong per- fume when trod- den upon. The flowers have long been famous as an Aromatic bitter. A tepid infusion of them, known as 'chamomile tea, is often employed as an emetic. They are used external- ly as fomentations in colic and intesti- nal inflammation. 'Chamomile is naturalized in many parts of Eu- rope, and in the state of Delaware. Anthemis cotula, wild chamomile, and matricaria cha- momilla, German chamomile, a plant of the .same family, have similar properties. < II VMORKO. Froto, a Central American states- man, born in Guatemala in 1806, died March .12, 1855. He belonged to an old and wealthy ^Spanish family, but joined the national cause 'and became a member of the legislature of Ni- caragua and of the con- stituent assembly, and a senator (1838-'42) ; and when in 1843 an at- tempt was made for a partial confederation of San Salvador, Hondu- ras, and Nicaragua, he was chosen supreme delegate with execu- tive power. He re- tired in 1844, after hav- ing averted a war de- clared against Guate- mala. Subsequently he became civil and military governor of S. Nicaragua, and in 1851 secretary of the treas- ury ; and after the out- break in August which drove Pineda from power, he succeeded him as general-in-chief. He was chief magistrate, or supreme director, in 1853-'4, and was defeated by a body of in- surgents, and besieged for nearly 300 days at Granada, the besiegers retiring Feb. 10, 1855. ( I1AMOIM, Chaiiiouny, or Chamonix, a pictu- resque Alpine valley of France, between the Graian and Pennine Alps, in the department of Haute-Savoie, over 3,000 feet above the Mediterranean, and about 2,000 feet above the lake of Geneva, watered by the river Arve. It is more than 13 m. long and 2 m. broad, and is bounded N. by Mont Brevent and the Aiguilles Rouges, N. E. by the Col de Balme, S. W. by Monts Lacha and Vandagne, and S. by the chain of Mont Blanc, whence rise enormous glaciers. The largest of these, the Mer de Glace, is broken by many deep crevices disclosing the remark- able purity and deep blue coloring of the frozen mass. The winter, which lasts from October to May, is very severe ; snow lies three feet deep in the lowest part, and the routes over the mountains are altogether impassable. The short summer, however, is warm. In July commences the dangerous labor of driving cat- tle across the Montanvert and the Mer de Glace, to pasture on the mountains beyond ; and the occasion is made a holiday. One man is left on the other side of the glacier, to guard the cattle till autumn. The soil, though naturally barren, yields when carefully cultivated good crops of grain and fruit, and affords pasturage for cattle. The rearing of bees is one of the principal industries of the valley, and the white aromatic honey of Chamouni is renowned. Fancy articles of carved wood are manufac- tured, and the inhabitants are also engaged in spinning and weaving. Numerous excursions are made from Chamouni to the Montanvert, leading to the Mer de Glace; to the Pierre Pointue and glacier des Bossons, the Flegere, and the Brevent; to the Jardin, a flowery island in the midst of a sea of ice; to the Chamouni, with Mont Blanc in the distance. Grands Mulcts, and to Mont Blanc. The finest views of the latter mountain chain, of Mont Maudit and Mont Blanc du Tacul, and other conspicuous scenery, are from the Bre-