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sheep ; and others are devoted to the growth of
corn. The sides of this long range are beautiful
as they sink into the vale, from the hills of Stinch-
comb and Nibley in the south, to that of Bredon
in the north, which has been celebrated in ancient
rhyme.
Cot.hen, a town of Upper Saxony, capital of the
principality of Anhalt-Cothen, with a castle. It
_ is 12 m. S. W. of Dessau. Long. 12. 9. E., lat.
51.48. N.
Cotignac, a town of France, in the department
of Var, on the River Argens, 33 m. N. N. E. of
Toulon.
Cotignola, a fortified town of Italy in the Fer-
rarese, 25 m. S. S. E. of Ferrara.
Cotopaxi, one of the highest peaks of the An-
des, remarkable for the frequency and violence
of its volcanic eruptions. It is about 25 m. S. E.
of the city of Quito.
This mountain is the most elevated of those
volcanoes of the Andes, from which, at recent
periods, there have been eruptions. Its absolute
height is 12,392 English feet: it would conse-
quently exceed by more than 2,550 feet the height
nf mount Vesuvius, even supposing that it were
piled on the summit of the Peak of Teneriffe.
Cotopaxi is likewise the most formidable of all
the volcanoes of the kingdom of Quito; and it
is also from it that explosions have been the most
frequent and the most destructive. The cinders
and fragments of rocks that have been ejected
by this volcano, cover the neighbouring valleys
to an extent of several square leagues. In 1753,
the flames of Cotopaxi xe2x96xa0 shot up to a height of
2,700 feet above the edge of the crater. In 1744,
the roaring of this volcano was heard as far as
Honda, a town situated on the banks of the river
Magdalena, a distance of two hundred leagues.
On the 4th April, 1768, the quantity of cinders
vomited up from the mouth of Cotopaxi was so
great that the sky continued as dark as night until
the third hour after mid-day. The explosion
which took place in the month of January, 1803,
was preceded by a frightful phenomenonxe2x80x94the sud,
den melting of the snows that covered the moun-
tain. For more than twenty years, neither smoke
nor any distinguishable vapour had issued from
the crater, and yet. in one single night, the
subterranean fire bad become so active that at
sun-rise, the external walls of the cone, strong-
ly heated, had become naked, and had acquired
the black colour which is peculiar to vitrified
scoria. At the port of Guayaquil, fifty-two
leagues in a straight line from the edge of the
crater, M. de Humboldt heard day and night the
roaring of this volcano, like repeated discharges
of artillery. " -
Were it an established fact that the proximity |
of the ocean contributes to feed volcanic fire, wo
should be astonished to see that the most active
volcanoes of the kingdom of Quito, Cotopaxi,
Tungurahua, and Sangay, appertain to the eastern
chain of the Andes, and, consequently, to that
which is farthest removed from the coast. Coto-
paxi is more than fifty leagues from the nearest
shore.
Cotdan, a seaport of Hindoostan, in Travancore
with a good harbour, and a navigable river. It
stands on a peninsula 60 m. N. W. cf Travancore
Long. 76.24. E., lat. 8. 51. N.
COupee Point. See Point Coupee.
Courland, a duchy of Europe, bounded on the
west and north by the Baltic, east by Livonia,
and south hy Poland. It is divided into Courland
Proper and Semigallia, and is 250 miles long and
40 broad. The country swells into gentle hills
and is fertile in corn, hemp, and flax. It is most-
ly open, but in some parts there are forests of pine
and fir, and groves of oak. It wins formerly a
feudatory province of Poland, hut was annexed
to the dominions of Russia in 1795 by an act of liie
states. Mittau is the capital. Population about
500,000.
Courtray, a town of the Netherlands, in Flan-
ders, celebrated for its trade and manufactures of
table linen and woolen cloths., It is seated on
both sides the River Lis, 12 m. east of Ypres.
Coutanees, a seaport of Erance, capital of the
department of Manche, and a bishop’s see, with a
fine cathedral. It is 37 m. S. W. of Bayeux, and
185 AV. of Paris. It is the seat of a prefect. Pop.
in 1826, 9,015.
Coutras. a town of France, in the department
of Gironde, at the conflux of the Illp and Dronne,
25 m. N. E. of Bourdeaux.
Cove. See Cork, Cote of,
Coventry, City and County of, is insulated with-
in the County of Warwick. The city, in 1821,
contained a population of 21,242, and the remain
der of the county, which comprises nine adjoin-
ing parishes and hamlets, 8,138. It is a place of
considerable antiquity, and was formerly sur
rounded with strong walls which were 3 miles
in circumference, having 26 towers and 12 gates,
but few vestiges of which now remain ; having
been demolished by order of King Charles II.
in 1662, in revenge for the resistance made to the
troops of his predecessor. A parliament was held
here in the reign of Henry IV. called Parliament-
urn Indoetum, or the unlearned parliament, because
the lawyers were excluded. Leofric, Earl of
Mercia, who was lord of the place about 1040, is
said to have loaded the inhabitants with heavy
taxes, on account of some provocation he had
received from them; and beinng importuned
hy his lady, Godivia, to remit them, lie consented
upon condition that she would ride naked through
the town, which condition she accepted and per-
formed ; for, being possessed of a long flowing
head of hair, she contrived to dispose of her tres-
ses so as preserve her decency; and at the same
time enjoined the citizens on pain of death, not
to look out as she passed. The curiosity of a
poor tailor, however, prevailed over his fears, and
he ventured to take a single peep, but was struck
blind, and was ever after called Peeping Tom.
This improbable story is annually commemorated
by the citizens of Coventry with great splendour,
and a female, closely habited in fine linen of flesb
colour, rides through the towin, attended byMTf
very numerous and elegant procession The
window through which the tailor is said to t<tve |
