CURAÇAO, or Curaçoa, an island in the Dutch West Indies. It lies 40 m. from the north coast of Venezuela, in 12° N. and 69° W., being 40 m. long from N.W. to S.E., with an average width of 10 m. and an area of 212 sq. m. The surface is generally flat, but in the south-west there are hills attaining an elevation of 1200 ft. The shores are in places deeply indented, forming several natural harbours, the chief of which is that of St Anna on the south-west coast. Curaçao consists of eruptive rocks, chiefly diorite and diabase, and is surrounded by coral reefs. Streams are few and the rainfall is scanty, averaging only 16 in. per annum. Although the plains are for the most part arid wastes, sugar, aloes, tobacco and divi-divi are produced with much toil in the more fertile glens. Salt, phosphates and cattle are exported. The commerce is mainly with the United States, and there is a large carrying trade with Venezuela. The famous Curaçoa liqueur (see below) was originally made on the island from a peculiar variety of orange, the Citrus Aurantium curassuviensis. Willemstad (pop. about 8000), on the harbour of St. Anna, is the principal town. It bears a strong resemblance to a Dutch town, for the houses are built in the style of those of Amsterdam, and the narrow channel separating it from its western suburb of Overzijde and the waters of the Waigat, which intersect it, recall the canals. The narrow entrance leading to the Schottegat or Inner Harbour is protected by forts. The negroes of the island speak a curious dialect called Papaimento, composed of Spanish, Dutch, English and native words. Curaçao gives name to the government of the Dutch West Indies, which consists of Aruba, an island lying W. of Curaçao, with an area of 69 sq. m. and a population of 9591; Buen Ayre, lying 20 m. N.E., with an area of 95 sq. m. and a population of 4926; together with St Eustatius, Saba and part of St Martin. The governor is assisted by a council of four members and a colonial council of eight members nominated by the crown. The island of Curaçao has a population of 30,119; and altogether the Dutch West Indies have a population of 51,693.
Curaçao was discovered by Hojeda about 1499 and occupied by the Spaniards in 1527. In 1634 it fell into the hands of the Dutch, who have held it ever since, except during the year 1798 and from 1806 to 1814 when it passed into the possession of Great Britain.
See Wynmalen, “Les Colonies néerlandaises dans les Antilles,” Revue colon. internat. (1887), ii. p. 391; K. Martin, West-Indische Skizzen (Leiden, 1887); De Veer, La Colonie de Curaçoa (Les Pays Bas, 1898). Also several articles on all the islands in Tijdschrift v. h. Ned. Aardr. Genootschap (1883–1886).
CURAÇOA, a liqueur, chiefly manufactured in Holland. It
is relatively simple in composition, the predominating flavour
being obtained from the dried peel of the Curaçoa orange.
The method of preparation is in principle as follows. The peel
is first softened by maceration; then a part of the softened peel
is distilled with spirit and water, and the remainder is macerated
in a portion of the distillate so obtained. After two or three days
the infusion is strained and added to the remainder of the original
distillate. This simple method is subject to variations in manufacture,
and the addition of a small quantity of Jamaica rum,
in particular, is said to much improve the flavour. Dry Curaçoa
contains about 39%, the sweet variety about 36% of alcohol.
A lighter variety of Curaçoa, made with fine brandy, is known
as “Grand Marnier.”
CURASSOW (Cracinae), a group of gallinaceous birds forming one of the subfamilies of Cracidae, the species of which are
among the largest and most splendid of the game birds of South America, where they may be said to represent the pheasants of the Old World. They are large, heavy birds, many of them rivalling the turkey in size, with short wings, long and broad tail, and strong bill. In common with the family to which they
belong, they have the hind toe of the foot placed on a level with
the others, thus resembling the pigeons, and unlike the majority
of gallinaceous birds. With the exception of a single species
found north of Panama, the curassows are confined to the
tropical forests of South America, east of the Andes, and not
extending south of Paraguay. They live in small flocks, and
are arboreal in their habits, only occasionally descending to the
ground, while always roosting and building their nests on the
branches of trees. Their nests are neat structures, made of
slender branches interlaced with stems of grass, and lined
internally with leaves. They feed on fruits, seeds and insects.
They are often tamed in several parts of South America, but have
never been thoroughly domesticated anywhere. Large numbers
of these birds were, according to K. J. Temminck, brought to
Holland from Dutch Guiana towards the end of the 18th century,
and got so completely acclimatized and domesticated as to
breed in confinement like ordinary poultry; but the establishments
in which these were kept were broken up during the
troubles that followed on the French Revolution. Their flesh
is said to be exceedingly white and delicate, and this, together
with their size and the beauty of their plumage, would make the
curassows an important gain to the poultry yards of Europe,
if they were not such bad breeders. The subfamily of curassows
contains four genera and twelve species, all confined to South
America, with the exception of Crax globicera—a Central
American species, which extends northward into Mexico. This
bird is about 3 ft. in length, of a glossy black colour over the
whole body, excepting the abdomen and tail coverts, which are
white. In common with the other species of this genus its head
bears a crest of feathers curled forward at the tips, which can
be raised or depressed at will. The female is of a reddish-brown
colour, although varying greatly in this respect, and was formerly
described as a separate species—the red curassow. In another species, Crax incommoda, the greater part of the black plumage is beautifully varied with narrow transverse bars of white. The galeated curassow (Pauxi galeata) is peculiar in having a large blue tubercle, hard and stony externally, but cellular within, and resembling a hen’s egg in size and shape, situated at the base of the hill. It only appears after the first moulting, and is much larger in the male than in the female.
CURATE (from the Lat. curare, to take care of), properly a presbyter who has the cure of souls within a parish. The term is used in this general sense in certain rubrics of the English Book of Common Prayer, in which it is applied equally to rectors and vicars as to perpetual curates. So, on the continent of Europe, it is applied in this sense to parish priests, as the Fr. curé, Ital. curato, Span. cura, &c. In a more limited sense it is applied in the Church of England to the incumbent of a parish who has no endowment of tithes, as distinguished from a perpetual vicar, who has an endowment of small tithes, which are for that reason sometimes styled vicarial tithes. The origin of such unendowed curacies is traceable to the fact that benefices were sometimes granted to religious houses pleno jure, and with liberty for them to provide for the cure; and when such appropriations were transferred to lay persons, being unable to serve themselves, the impropriators were required to nominate a clerk in full orders to the ordinary for his licence to serve the cure. Such curates, being not removable at the pleasure of the impropriators, but only on due revocation of the licence of the ordinary, came to be entitled perpetual curates. The term “curate” in the present day is almost exclusively used to signify a clergyman who is assistant to a rector or vicar, by whom he is employed and paid; and a clerk in deacon’s orders is competent to be licensed by a bishop to the office of such assistant curate. The consequence of this misuse of the term “curate” was that the title of “perpetual curate” fell into desuetude in the Anglican Church, and an act of parliament (1868) was passed to authorize perpetual curates to style themselves vicars (see Vicar). The term is in use in the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland to designate an assistant clergyman, and also to a certain extent in the American Episcopal Church, though “assistant minister” is usually preferred.
CURATOR (Lat. for “one who takes care,” curare, to take care of), in Roman law the “caretaker” or guardian of a spendthrift (prodigus) or of a person of unsound mind (furiosus), and, more particularly, one who takes charge of the estate of an adolescens, i.e. of a person sui juris, above the age of a pupillus, fourteen or twelve years, according to sex, and below the full age of twenty-five. Such persons were known as “minors,”
