Part 28

2. _The Firth._--From Dumbarton, where the firth is commonly considered to begin, to Ailsa Craig, where it ends, the fairway measures 64 m. Its width varies from 1 m. at Dumbarton to 37 m. from Girvan to the Mull of Kintyre. The depth varies from a low-tide minimum of 22 ft. in the navigable channel at Dumbarton to nearly 100 fathoms in the Sound of Bute and at other points. The Cumbraes, Bute and Arran are the principal islands in its waters. The sea lochs all lie on the Highland shore, and comprise Gare Loch, Loch Long, Loch Goil, Holy Loch, Loch Striven, Loch Riddon and Loch Fyne. The only rivers of any importance feeding the Firth are the Ayrshire streams, of which the chief are the Garnock, Irvine, Ayr, Doon and Girvan. The tide ascends above Glasgow, where its farther rise is barred by a weir. The head-ports are Glasgow, Port Glasgow, Greenock, Ardrossan, Irvine, Troon, Ayr and Campbeltown. In addition to harbour lights, beacons on rocks, and light-ships, there are lighthouses on Ailsa Craig, Sanda, Davaar, Pladda, Holy Isle, and Little Cumbrae, and at Turnberry Point, Cloch Point and Toward Point. The health and holiday resorts on the lochs, islands and mainland coast are numerous.

CLYDEBANK, a police burgh of Dumbartonshire, Scotland, on the right bank of the Clyde, 6 m. from Glasgow. Pop. (1891) 10,014; (1901) 21,591. There are stations at Yoker, Clydebank, Kilbowie and Dalmuir, all comprised within the burgh since 1886, served by both the North British and the Caledonian railways. In 1875 the district was almost purely rural, but since that date flourishing industries have been planted in the different parts. At Clydebank are large shipbuilding yards and engineering works; at Yoker there is some shipbuilding and a distillery; at Kilbowie the Singer Manufacturing Company have an immense factory, covering nearly 50 acres and giving employment to many thousands of operatives; at Dalmuir are the building and repairing yards of the Clyde Navigation Trust. The important Rothesay Dock, under this trust, was opened by the prince and princess of Wales in April 1907. The municipality owns a fine town hall and buildings. Part of the parish extends across the Clyde into the shire of Renfrew.

CNIDUS (mod. _Tekir_), an ancient city of Caria in Asia Minor, situated at the extremity of the long peninsula that forms the southern side of the Sinus Ceramicus or Gulf of Cos. It was built partly on the mainland and partly on the Island of Triopion or Cape Krio, which anciently communicated with the continent by a causeway and bridge, and now by a narrow sandy isthmus. By means of the causeway the channel between island and mainland was formed into two harbours, of which the larger, or southern, now known as Port Freano, was further enclosed by two strongly-built moles that are still in good part entire. The extreme length of the city was little less than a mile, and the whole intramural area is still thickly strewn with architectural remains. The walls, both insular and continental, can be traced throughout their whole circuit; and in many places, especially round the acropolis, at the N.E. corner of the city, they are remarkably perfect. Our knowledge of the site is largely due to the mission of the Dilettanti Society in 1812, and the excavations executed by C. T. Newton in 1857-1858; but of recent years it has become a frequent calling station of touring steamers, which can still lie safely in the southern harbour. The agora, the theatre, an odeum, a temple of Dionysus, a temple of the Muses, a temple of Aphrodite and a great number of minor buildings have been identified, and the general plan of the city has been very clearly made out. The most famous statue by the elder Praxiteles, the Aphrodite, was made for Cnidus. It has perished, but late copies exist, of which the most faithful is in the Vatican gallery. In a temple-enclosure C. T. Newton discovered a fine seated statue of Demeter, which now adorns the British Museum; and about 3 m. south-east of the city he came upon the ruins of a splendid tomb, and a colossal figure of a lion carved out of one block of Pentelic marble, 10 ft. in length and 6 in height, which has been supposed to commemorate the great naval victory of Conon over the Lacedaemonians in 394 B.C. Among the minor antiquities obtained from the city itself, or the great necropolis to the east, perhaps the most interesting are the leaden [Greek: katadesmoi], or imprecationary tablets, found in the temple of Demeter, and copied in facsimile in the appendix to the second volume of Newton's work. Peasants still find numerous antiquities, and the site would certainly repay more thorough excavation.

Cnidus was a city of high antiquity and probably of Lacedaemonian colonization. Along with Halicarnassus and Cos, and the Rhodian cities of Lindus, Camirus and Ialysus it formed the Dorian Hexapolis, which held its confederate assemblies on the Triopian headland, and there celebrated games in honour of Apollo, Poseidon and the nymphs. The city was at first governed by an oligarchic senate, composed of sixty members, known as [Greek: amnêmones], and presided over by a magistrate called an [Greek: areotêr]; but, though it is proved by inscriptions that the old names continued to a very late period, the constitution underwent a popular transformation. The situation of the city was favourable for commerce, and the Cnidians acquired considerable wealth, and were able to colonize the island of Lipara, and founded the city of Corcyra Nigra in the Adriatic. They ultimately submitted to Cyrus, and from the battle of Eurymedon to the latter part of the Peloponnesian War they were subject to Athens. In 394 B.C. Conon fought off the port the battle which destroyed Spartan hegemony. The Romans easily obtained their allegiance, and rewarded them for help given against Antiochus by leaving them the freedom of their city. During the Byzantine period there must still have been a considerable population; for the ruins contain a large number of buildings belonging to the Byzantine style, and Christian sepulchres are common in the neighbourhood. Eudoxus, the astronomer, Ctesias, the writer on Persian history, and Sostratus, the builder of the celebrated Pharos at Alexandria, are the most remarkable of the Cnidians mentioned in history.

See C. T. Newton and R. P. Pullen, _Hist. of Discoveries at Halicarnassus, Cnidus, &c._ (1863).

CNOSSUS, KNOSSOS, or GNOSSUS, an ancient city of Crete, on the left bank of the Caeratus, a small stream which falls into the sea on the north side of the island. The city was situated about 3 m. from the coast, and, according to the old traditions, was founded by Minos, king of Crete. The locality was associated with a number of the most interesting legends of Greek mythology, particularly with those which related to Jupiter, who was said to have been born, to have been married, and to have been buried in the vicinity. Cnossus was also assigned as the site of the labyrinth in which the Minotaur was confined. The truth behind these legends has been revealed in recent years by the excavations of Dr Evans. As the historical city was peopled by Dorians, the manners, customs and political institutions of its inhabitants were all Dorian. Along with Gortyna and Cydonia, it held for many years the supremacy over the whole of Crete; and it always took a prominent part in the civil wars which from time to time desolated the island. When the rest of Crete fell under the Roman dominion, Cnossus shared the same fate, and became a Roman colony. Aenesidemus, the sceptic philosopher, and Chersiphron, the architect of the temple of Diana at Ephesus, were natives of Cnossus.

_The Site._--As the excavations at Cnossus are discussed at length in the article CRETE, it must suffice here briefly to enumerate the more important. The chief building is the Great Palace, the so-called "House of Minos," the excavation of which by Arthur Evans dates from 1900: a number of rooms lying round the central paved court, oriented north and south, have been identified, among them being the throne-room with some well-preserved wall paintings and a small bathroom attached, in the north-west quarter a larger bathroom and a shrine, and residential chambers in the south and east. The latter part of the palace is composed of a number of private rooms and halls, and is especially remarkable for its skilful drainage and water-supply systems.

In 1907 excavations on the south side of the palace showed that the plan was still incomplete, and a southern cryptoporticus, and outside it a large south-west building, probably an official residence, were discovered. Of special interest was a huge circular cavity under the southern porch into which the sub-structures of the palace had been sunk. This cavity was filled with rubbish, sherds, &c., the latest of which was found to date as far back as the beginning of the Middle Minoan age, and the later work of 1908 only proved (by means of a small shaft sunk through the débris) that the rock floor was 52 ft. below the surface. The first attempt to reach the floor by a cutting in the hill-side proved abortive, but the operations of 1910 led to a successful result. The cavity proved to be a great reservoir approached by a rock-cut staircase and of Early Minoan date.

In 1904-1905 a paved way running due west from the middle of the palace was excavated, and found to lead to another building described as the "Little Palace" largely buried under an olive grove. The first excavations showed that this building was on the same general plan and belonged to the same period as the "House of Minos," though somewhat later in actual date (17th century B.C.). Large halls, which had subsequently been broken up into smaller apartments, were found, and among a great number of other artistic remains one seal-impression of special interest showing a one-masted ship carrying a thorough-bred horse--perhaps representing the first importation of horses into Crete. A remarkable shrine with fetish idols was also discovered. The sacred Double-Axe symbol is prominent, as in the greater palace. By the end of 1910 the excavation of this smaller palace was practically completed. It was found to cover an area of more than 9400 ft. with a frontage of more than 130 ft., and had five stone staircases. One object of special interest found in the course of excavation is a black steatite vessel in the form of a bull's head. The modelling is of a very high order, and the one eye which remains perfect is cut out of rock crystal, with the pupil and iris marked by colours applied to the lower face of the crystal.

The work of excavation in the palace has been complicated by the necessity of propping up walls, floors and staircases. In some instances it has been found necessary to replace the original wooden pillars by pillars of stone. Again in the "Queen's Megaron" in the east wing of the Great Palace it was found that the exposure of the remains to the violent extremes of Cretan weather must soon prove fatal to them. It was therefore decided to restore the columns and part of the wall, and to roof over the whole area.

For recent excavations see R. M. Burrows, _The Discoveries in Crete_ (1907); A. Mosso, _The Palaces of Crete_ (1907); Lagrange, _La Crète ancienne_ (1908); Dr. Evans's reports in _The Times_, Oct. 31, 1905, July 15, 1907, Aug. 27, 1908, and 1909 (Index); D. Mackenzie, _Cretan Palaces_.

COACH (through the Fr. _coche_, originally from the Magyar _kocsi_, an adjective from the Hungarian place named Kocs, between Raab and Buda, i.e. the sort of vehicle used there in the 15th century), a large kind of carriage for passengers (see CARRIAGE). As a general term it is used (as in "coach-building") for all carriages, and also in combination with qualifying attributes for particular forms (stage-coach, mail-coach, mourning-coach, hackney-coach, &c.); but the typical coach involves four wheels, springs and a roof. The stage-coach, with seats outside and in, was a public conveyance which was known in England from the 16th century, and before railways the stage-coaches had regular routes (stages) all over the country; through their carrying the mails (from 1784) the term "mail-coach" arose. Similar vehicles were used in America and on the European continent. The _diligence_, though not invariably with four horses, was the Continental analogue for public conveyance, with other minor varieties such as the _Stellwagen_ and _Eilwagen_.

The driving of coaches with four horses was a task in which a considerable amount of skill was required,[1] and English literature is full of the difficulties and humours of "the road" in old days. A form of sport thus arose for enterprising members of the nobility and gentry, and after the introduction of railways made the mail-coach obsolete as a matter of necessity, the old sport of coaching for pleasure still survived, though only to a limited extent. The Four-in-hand Club was started in England in 1856 and the Coaching Club in 1870, as the successors of the old Bensington Driving Club (1807-1852), and Four-Horse Club (1808-1829); and in America the New York Coaching Club was founded in 1875. But coaching remains the sport of the wealthier classes, although in various parts of England (e.g. London to Brighton, and in the Lake district), in America, and in Europe, public coaches still have their regular times and routes for those who enjoy this form of travel. The earliest railway vehicles for passengers were merely the road coaches of the period adapted to run on rails, and the expression "coaching traffic" is still used in England to denote traffic carried in passenger trains.

Of coaches possessing a history the two best known in the United Kingdom are the king's state coach, and that of the lord mayor of London. The latter is the oldest, having been built, or at least first used, for the procession of Sir Charles Asgil, lord mayor elect, in November 1757. The body of this vehicle is not supported by springs, but hung on leather straps; and the whole structure is very richly loaded with ornamental carving, gilding and paint-work. The different panels and the doors contain various allegorical groups of figures representing suitable subjects, and heraldic devices painted in a spirited manner. The royal state coach, which is described as "the most superb carriage ever built," was designed by Sir William Chambers, the paintings on it were executed by Cipriani, and the work was completed in 1761. During the later part of Queen Victoria's reign it was hardly ever seen, but on the accession of Edward VII. the coach was once more put in order for use on state occasions. The following is an official description of this famous coach:--

"The whole of the carriage and body is richly ornamented with laurel and carved work, beautifully gilt. The length, 24 ft.; width, 8 ft. 3 in.; height, 12 ft.; length of pole, 12 ft. 4 in.; weight, 4 tons. The carriage and body of the coach is composed as follows:--Of four large tritons, who support the body by four braces, covered with red morocco leather, and ornamented with gilt buckles, the two figures placed in front of the carriage bear the driver, and are represented in the action of drawing by cables extending round their shoulders, and the cranes and sounding shells to announce the approach of the monarch of the ocean; and those at the back carry the imperial fasces, topped with tridents. The driver's foot-board is a large scallop shell, ornamented with bunches of reeds and other marine plants. The pole represents a bundle of lances; the splinter bar is composed of a rich moulding, issuing from beneath a voluted shell, and each end terminating in the head of a dolphin; and the wheels are imitated from those of the ancient triumphal chariot. The body of the coach is composed of eight palm-trees, which, branching out at the top, sustain the roof; and four angular trees are loaded with trophies allusive to the victories obtained by Great Britain during the late glorious war, supported by four lions' heads. On the centre of the roof stand three boys, representing the genii of England, Scotland and Ireland, supporting the imperial crown of Great Britain, and holding in their hands the sceptre, sword of state, and ensigns of knighthood; their bodies are adorned with festoons of laurel, which fall from thence towards the four corners. The panels and doors are painted with appropriate emblematical devices, and the linings are of scarlet velvet richly embossed with national emblems."

See the Badminton _Driving_, by the duke of Beaufort (1888); Rogers's _Manual of Driving_ (Philadelphia, 1900); and "Nimrod's" _Essays on the Road_ (1876).

FOOTNOTE:

[1] The idea of "driving" was responsible for the use of the term "coach" and "coaching" to mean a tutor or trainer, for examinations or athletic contests.

COAHUILA, a northern frontier state of Mexico, bounded N. and N.E. by Texas, U.S.A., E. by Nuevo León, S. by San Luis Potosi and Zacatecas, and W. by Durango and Chihuahua. Area, 63,569 sq.m.; pop. (1895) 237,815; (1900) 296,938. Its surface is a roughly broken plateau, traversed N.W. to S.E. by several ranges of mountains and sloping gently toward the Rio Grande. The only level tract of any size in the state is the Bolsón de Mapimí, a great depression on the western side which was long considered barren and uninhabitable. It is a region of lakes and morasses, of arid plains and high temperatures, but experiments with irrigation toward the end of the 19th century were highly successful and considerable tracts have since been brought under cultivation. In general the state is insufficiently watered, the rainfall being light and the rivers small. The rivers flow eastward to the Rio Grande. The climate is hot and dry, and generally healthy. Stock-raising was for a time the principal industry, but agriculture has been largely developed in several localities, among the chief products of which are cotton--Coahuila is the principal cotton-producing state in Mexico--Indian corn, wheat, beans, sugar and grapes. The Parras district in the southern part of the state has long been celebrated for its wines and brandies. The mineral wealth of the state is very great, and the mining industries, largely operated with foreign capital, are important. The mineral products include silver, lead, coal, copper, and iron. The mining operations are chiefly centred in the Sierra Mojada, Sierra Carmen, and in the Santa Rosa valley. The modern industrial development of the state is due to the railway lines constructed across it during the last quarter of the 19th century, and to the investment of foreign capital in local enterprises. The first Spanish settlement in the region now called Coahuila was at Saltillo in 1586, when it formed part of the province of Nueva Viscaya. Later it became the province of Nueva Estremadura under the Spanish régime, and in 1824, under the new republican organization, it became the state of Coahuila and included Texas and Nuevo León. Later in the same year Nuevo León was detached, but Texas remained a part of the state until 1835. The capital of the state is Saltillo; Monclova was the capital from 1833 to 1835. Among the more important towns are Parras (pop. 6476 in 1900), 98 m. W. by N. of Saltillo in a rich grape-producing district, Ciudad Porfirio Diaz, and Monclova (pop. 6684 in 1900), 105 m. N. by W. of Saltillo, on the Mexican International railway.

COAL. In its most general sense the term "coal" includes all varieties of carbonaceous minerals used as fuel, but it is now usual in England to restrict it to the particular varieties of such minerals occurring in the older Carboniferous formations. On the continent of Europe it is customary to consider coal as divisible into two great classes, depending upon differences of colour, namely, _brown coal_, corresponding to the term "lignite" used in England and France, and _black_ or _stone coal_, which is equivalent to coal as understood in England. Stone coal is also a local English term, but with a signification restricted to the substance known by mineralogists as anthracite. In old English writings the terms pit-coal and sea-coal are commonly used. These have reference to the mode in which the mineral is obtained, and the manner in which it is transported to market.

The root _kol_ is common to all the Teutonic nations, while in French and other Romance languages derivatives of the Latin _carbo_ are used, e.g. _charbon de terre_. In France and Belgium, however, a peculiar word, _houille_, is generally used to signify mineral coal. This word is supposed to be derived from the Walloon _hoie_, corresponding to the medieval Latin _hullae_. Littré suggests that it may be related to the Gothic _haurja_, coal. Anthracite is from the Greek [Greek: anthrax], and the term _lithanthrax_, stone coal, still survives, with the same meaning, in the Italian _litantrace_.

It must be borne in mind that the signification now attached to the word coal is different from that which formerly obtained when wood was the only fuel in general use. Coal then meant the carbonaceous residue obtained in the destructive distillation of wood, or what is known as charcoal, and the name collier was applied indifferently to both coal-miners and charcoal-burners.

The spelling "cole" was generally used up to the middle of the 17th century, when it was gradually superseded by the modern form, "coal." The plural, coals, seems to have been used from a very early period to signify the broken fragments of the mineral as prepared for use.

Physical properties.

Coal is an amorphous substance of variable composition, and therefore cannot be as strictly defined as a crystallized or definite mineral can. It varies in colour from a light brown in the newest lignites to a pure black, often with a bluish or yellowish tint in the more compact anthracite of the older formations. It is opaque, except in exceedingly thin slices, such as made for microscopic investigation, which are imperfectly transparent, and of a dark brown colour by transmitted light. The streak is black in anthracite, but more or less brown in the softer varieties. The maximum hardness is from 2.5 to 3 in anthracite and hard bituminous coals, but considerably less in lignites, which are nearly as soft as rotten wood. A greater hardness is due to the presence of earthy impurities. The densest anthracite is often of a semi-metallic lustre, resembling somewhat that of graphite. Bright, glance or pitch coal is another brilliant variety, brittle, and breaking into regular fragments of a black colour and pitchy lustre. Lignite and cannel are usually dull and earthy, and of an irregular fracture, the latter being much tougher than the black coal. Some lignites are, however, quite as brilliant as anthracite; cannel and jet may be turned in the lathe, and are susceptible of taking a brilliant polish. The specific gravity is highest in anthracite and lowest in lignite, bituminous coals giving intermediate values (see TABLE I.). As a rule, the density increases with the amount of carbon, but in some instances a very high specific gravity is due to intermixed earthy matters, which are always denser than even the densest form of coal substance.