CATALEPSY 378 CATAMABCA country, and are said to contain not less than 6,000,000 tombs. They consist of long, narrow galleries usually about 8 feet high and 5 feet wide, which branch off in all directions, forming a perfect maze of corridors. Different stories of galleries lie one below the other. Ver- tical shafts run up to the outer air, thus introducing light and air, though in small quantity. The graves or IocmH lie longwise in the galleries. They are closed laterally by a slab. The earliest that can be dated with any certainty be- longs to the year 111 a. d. In early times rich Christians con- structed underground burying-places for themselves and their brethren, which they held as private property under the protection of the law. But in course of time, partly by their coming under the control of the Church and partly by acci- dents of proprietorship, these private burying-grounds were connected with each other, and became the property, not of particular individuals, but of the Christian community. In the 3d century A. D. there were already several such common burying-places belonging to the Christian congregations, and their num- ber went on increasing till the time of Constantine, when the catacombs ceased to be used as burying-places. From the time of Constantine down to the 8th century they were used only as places of devotion and worship. During the siege of Rome by the Lombards in the 8th century the catacombs were in part destroyed, and soon became entirely inaccessible, so that they were forgotten, and only the careful and laborious in- vestigations of moderns, among whom De Rossi (Roma Sotterranea) and Par- ker (The Clatacombs) may be mentioned, have thrown anything like a complete light on the origin and history of the catacombs. There are extensive cata- combs at Paris, consisting of old quar- ries from which has been obtained much of the material for the building of the city. In them are accumulated bones re- moved from cemeteries now built over. CATALEPSY, a form of mental dis- order, akin to hysteria, which is char- acterized by the person affected falling down suddenly in a state of real or ap- parent unconsciousness, and, save for some occasional muscular twitchings of the face and body, remaining rigid and statue-like for a period of time which varies from one minute to some hours or even days, and then all at once recover- ing consciousness as if aroused from sleep — as a rule with no bad conse- quences to follow. Catalepsy almost in- variably affects hysterical people only, and it is the prolongation of the un- conscious condition to some days in cer- tain extreme cases which has given rise to the fear which some people have of being buried alive under such circum- stances. CATALONIA (ancient Hispania Tar- raconensi^) , an old province of Spain, bounded N. by France, E. and S. E. by the Mediterranean, S. by Valencia, and W. by Aragon. The country in general is mountainous, but intersected with fer- tile valleys, while the mountains them- selves are covered with valuable woods and fruit-trees, the slopes being cut in terraces and plentifully supplied with water by an artificial system of irriga- tion. Wheat, wine, oil, flax, hemp, veg- etables, and almost overy kind of fruit are abundant. There are mines of lead, iron, alum, etc. On the coast is a coral- fishery. Catalonia, though less fertile than most of Spain, stands pre-eminent for the industry of its inhabitants, who speak the Catalan dialect. Pop. about 2,150,000; area, 12,480 square miles. It comprises the modern provinces of Tar- ragona, Gerona, Lerida, and Barcelona. CATAMARAN, a kind of boat, vessel, or, more accurately, raft or float used by the Hindoos of Madras, the island of Ceylon, and the parts adjacent. It is formed of three logs of timber, secured together by means of three spreaders and cross lashings through small holes. The central log is much the largest, with a curved surface at the fore-end, which terminates upward in a point. The side logs are very similar in form, but smaller, and with their sides straight; these are fitted to the central log. The length of the whole is from 20 to 25 feet. The crew consists of two men. In the monsoons, where a catamaran is able to bear a sail, a small outrigger is placed at the end of two poles as a balance, with a bamboo mast and yard, and a mat or cotton sail. Frail as such a structure may appear, it can pierce through the surf on the beach at Madras and reach a vessel in the bay when a boat of ordinary construction would be sure to founder. CATAMARCA, a W. province of the Argentine Republic, sinking S. E. from the Andes to the salt marshes which sep- arate it from Cordoba. Almost two- thirds of its surface is mountain or waterless desert, where the rivers are lost in the sands; but the remainder is very fertile, and yields much wine and corn, besides supporting large herds of cattle. Only copper has been much mined. Area, 36,800 square miles; pop. about 106,000. Catamarca (pop. about 10,000), the capital, lies 82 miles N. E. of Rioja.
