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* CARRER. 232 CARRIAGE. read work is L'ancllo di settv gemmc, in •which he tells in verse the history and daily lite of Venice. A colleetion of his prose works, I'rose, appeared in 1855, his Odi politiche c sonetti in 1808. For his biography, consult: Veludo (Venice, 1851); Venanzio (Venice, 1854) ; and Crespan (Venice, 1809). CARRERA, kUr-ra'ra, Josfi Miguel de (1785- 1S21). A Chilean politician and revolutionist, the first President of Chile, born in Sautiafjo de Chile. He served in Europe in the Spanish Army, rose to the rank of major, went to Chile iipon" the outbreak there of the revolutionary movement, and bcianie a member of the junta formed on September 10, 1810. Dissatisfied with the methods of the first Congress, which had con- vened on July 4, 1811, he established a new gov- ernment, and with the support of the army, him- self usurped the Presidency. On December 2, 1811, he dissolved the Congress, and thenceforth ruled as a military dictator. In 1813 he was forcibly removed fiom authority by the Junta, which "appointed Bernardo U"Uiggins to succeed him. This change he bitterly resisted, and al- though he made pretense of cooperating with O'Higsins at the battle of Eancagua (October 1 and Ir 1814), he really rendered that officer no assistance. He then tied to Buenos Ayres, and thence to the Cnitcd States. In IS 10 he returned to Buenos Avres, where he organized an outlaw band, and sought to arouse a revidution against the Government. He was finally caiitured, and was executed at ilendoza, September 5, 1821. CARRERA, Rafael (1814-05). A Guate- malan revolutionist and politician. He ^vas of Indian and negro descent and entirely without education. He first came into prominence in 1837, when he succeeded in placing himself at the head of a band of insurgents against Jlorazan and the Federalists. In 1838 he captured the city of Guatemala, and in 1839 again held it by force. In 1847 he was elected President of the Republic, and in 1851 was reelected for life. He was sup- ported bv the landed proprietors and the Church party, and recalled the .Jesuits, who had been excluded for nearly a century. He always op- posed the federation of the Central American States, and was a thorough-going absolutist. In 1803 he made war on San Salvador, took the capital, and expelled the President. CARRERA, Vale.n-tin-o (1834—). An Ital- ian dramatist, born in Turin. Until his retire- ment from office in 1878, he was connected with the Italian customs department. His earliest notable success was the comedy La (iiiadrriiiti di Xaiuii (1870), an interesting depiction of life in Florence. The long list of his works includes fur- ther Galateo nuomssimo (1875) ; Bastoni fra le mote (1884); and La fdosofia di Giannina (1885). A collective edition appeared in Turin in 1887-90 (4 vols.). CARRIACOTJ. kiir'r6-i-koo'. One of the Brit- ish West Indies, belonging to the Cirenadine group of the Windward Islands (q.v.) (Map: West Indies, R 8). It lies nearly 20 miles northeast of the island of Grenada, and is 7 miles long by about 3 miles wide. Population, about 3000. Cotton is the chief product. CARRIAGE (OF. cartage, from caricr, to carry, fripin l.at. carrux, car. from Ir. rnrr. car). A wheeled vehicle of any kind. The word is com- juonly used in a more restricted sense to apply to vehicles for carrying jH'rsons as distinguished from those for carrying freight; in this article, however, the term is used in its broader sense. Probably the first instrument employed for draw- ing burdens was the skdijt:. In Egjpt, where we have the earliest recorded deyelo]iment of the arts, we find sledges pictured upon the monu- ments. For the conveyance of enormous loads, such as the blocks reiiuired for the Egyptian monuments, rollers must also have been used. Possibly it was the combination of the sledge and rol'ler which formed the first rude carri.-ige. The next step in the evolution of the carriage would be the substitution of wheels connected by an axle for the rollers extending all the way across the box or platform. As the rollers were simply hewn tree-trunks, so the first wheels were thin "slices cut transversely from these trunks and connected by another of much smaller diam- eter. These primitive wheels revolved with their axles, like the wheels of railway trucks. The next step in advance was to mount the two wheels so that they revolved on their axle, while the latter either remained fixed, or moved from side to side only, in a horizontal plane. Another marked improvement was the substitution of wheels with spokes for the clumsy solid wheels. The use of vehicles drawn by animals was prob- ably introduced very soon after the domestica- tion of the horse and ox. (See Cart.) How rapidly the various improvements in the con- struction of these vehicles were made is uncer- tain; but they must have been completed at a veiy early period in the history of civilization. In the writings of Homer and in the early books of the Bible, the terms naves, felloes, tires, and spokes are used. Covers are said to have been introduced by the Etruscans. Homer tells us that Hera's car was suspended by cords, so as to decrease the jolting. In the later Roman car- riages the seat was sometimes placed on long poles, midway between the wheels, to lessen the jar, on muchthe same plan as the modem buck- board. During the Middle Ages vehicles were slung upon leather straps for the same purpose. Steel sjirings were not introduced until alxmt 1700, and the elliptic spring was invented in 1804. The simplest and earliest form of wheeled vehicle was the cart, or two-wheeled carriage. To its axle a pole was secured when it wiis destined to be drawn by two animals, or a pair of shafts when it vas to be drawn by one animal. The chariots of ancient times, however elabo- rately ornamented, were of this simple construc- tion.' These chariots were used for war, for state purposes, for races, and for hunting; they were rarely used simply as a means of conveyance. War chariots were often armed with scythes, and on their sides were cases to hold the bow, sheafs of arrows, and other weapons of war. The bodies of chariots were small, usually hold- ing but two persons. They were open for en- trance at the back and had no seats. At first the wheels were very low, from 3 to 4 feet in diameter. As the chariot was adopted by differ- ent nations its primitive form was greatly changed. The wheels were enlarged, it was made to hold many persons, and finally four wheels were used. " Little remained of the original chariot but its name. The chariot used by the Britons at the time of the Roman Conquest possessed certain char-