CAITHNESS 283 CALAIS formerly applied to the ammunition- wagon itself. Also a wooden box con- taining shells and loose powder, which was buried in the ground and ignited by means of a fuse when the enemy was passing over it. In engineering a cais- son is a wooden, metal, or concrete case or frame sunk in the beds of rivers, etc., to keep out the water during the laying of the foundations of a bridge, etc. It is constructed of strong timbers, or other material, firmly and closely joined together. The term in architec- ture is applied to sunk panels of various geometrical forms symmetrically dis- posed in flat or vaulted ceilings, or in soffits generally. CAITHNESS, a county of Scotland, forming the northernmost part of that country. It has an area of 697 square miles. For the most part it is bare and level and without trees. The sea-coast is indented and has many bays and in- lets. The chief products are grain, bar- ley, and vegetables. It has also a con- siderable fishing industry. The county town is Wick. Pop. about 35,000. CAJAMABCA (ka-ha-mar'ka), a de- partment in the N. W. of Peru, between the W. chain of the Andes and the Amazon. A railway connects it with the Pacific, and there is a large farming and cattle-raising industry. Area, 12,538 square miles; pop. about 500,000. The capital is Cajamarca; pop., 10,000. CALABAR, a maritime district of west Africa on the bight of Biafra, in- tersected by two rivers, called respec- tively Old and New Calabar, under English protection. A large portion of the population are employed in the palm-oil trade. Old Calabar or Bongo river is situated about 90 miles nearly due W. from New Calabar river, with a wide estuary opening into the bight of Biafra. This river enters the bight of Biafra at Ion. 1° T E., and is believed to be one of the numerous terminating branches of the Niger. Duke Town and Creek Town, the chief towns on Old Calabar river, are stations of British missionaries. CALABASH, a tree, the Crescentia Cujete, the typical one of the order Crescentiaceae, or crescentiads. It is a tree about 30 feet high, found in some places wild, in others cultivated, in the West Indies and other tropical parts of America. Its flowers are variegated with green, purple, red, or yellow; its leaves are narrowly elliptical. Its fruits are oval or globular, and are so hard externally that where th^^' grow they are used as household utensls. such as basins, water bottles, and even kettles. They are not easily broken by rough usage or burnt by exposure to fire. The pulp is purgative, and consid- ered useful in chest diseases; when roasted, it is employed as a poultice for bruises and inflammations. The fruit of the tree is inclosed in a shell used by the natives of the Caribbee Islands for drinking cups, pots, musical instru- ments, and other domestic utensils. CALABB.IA, a name anciently given to the peninsula at the S. E. extremity of Italy, but now applied to the S. W. peninsula in which Italy terminates, from about lat. 40° N. to the Strait of Messina; area, 5,819 square miles; pop. about 1,500,000. It is divided into three provinces — Cosenza, Reggio, and Catan- zaro. The central region is occupied by the great Apennine ridge, to which whole colonies with their cattle migrate in the summer. The flats near the coast are marshy and unhealthy, but the val- leys at the foot of the mountains are rich with the most luxuriant vegetation. The country is subject to earthquakes and suffered severely in 1905 and 1908. Wheat, rice, saffron, anise, liquorice, madder, flax, hemp, olives, almonds, and cotton are raised in abundance. The sugar-cane also comes to perfection here. Sheep, horned cattle, and horses are numerous. Silkworms are exten- sively raised. The minerals include ala- baster, marble, gypsum, alum, chalk, rock-salt, lapis-lazuli, etc. The fisheries are valuable. CALADIUM, a genus of endogenous plants, the typical one of the family caladieje. They are cultivated in green- houses here, and flourish in warmer parts of the world. The leaves of the Cakidiuvi sagittifolium are boiled and eaten as a vegetable in the West Indies. The rootstocks or rhizomes of others are eaten there and in the Pacific, the process of cooking destroying the dan- gerous acridity. CALAIS, a city, port of entry, and county-seat of Washington county, Me.; on the St. Croix river, opposite St. Ste- phen, N. B., and on the St. Croix and Penobscot and the Canadian Pacific rail- roads; 120 miles E. of Bangor. It is the extreme N. E. seaport of the United States and is connected by steamship lines with Boston, Poi'tland, and St. John, N. B. It has a large lumber trade and numerous foundries, machine shops, shipyards, and other extensive mechan- ical industries; a national bank, several newspapers, high and grammar schools, electric lights, a public library, etc. Pop. (1910) 6,116; (1920) 6,084.
