Except the vague report of a voyage undertaken by him iu 1499, nothing more appears relative to Sebastian until 1512, when he is found living at Seville, engaged in revising the Spanish king s maps and charts. The death of Ferdinand put an end to a design to renew the search for a north-west passage to Cathay, and Cabot, who was to have commanded, returned to England. In 1517 he undertook, with Sir Thomas Perte, another voyage, whether of discovery or conquest in Spanish America is uncertain. In 1518 Sebastian revisited Spain, and was appointed pilot-major. After the conference of Badajos, a squadron was fitted out under Cabot to pursue Spanish discovery in the Pacific. It set sail in August 1526, but some of his chief officers having spread disaffection in the fleet, Cabot abandoned the original plan as impracticable, and put into the La Plata. He sailed up this river 350 leagues, built a fort at one of the mouths of the Parana, which stream he ascended in boats, and also penetrated some distance up the Paraguay. Failing to obtain the aid he solicited, and weakened by the assaults of the natives, Sebastian was forced to leave the coast for Spain.
He now, for the second time, returned to England, and notwithstanding a demand by the emperor that "he might be sent over to Spain," settled at Bristol. Edward VI., in 1549, granted the now aged seaman a pension of two hundred and fifty marks. Hakluyt states that the office of Grand Pilot of England was created for him. It was at this period that he explained to the king the phenomenon of the variation of the needle. He was active in promoting the expedition of 1553 to Russia, the success of which gave him the life appointment of Governor of the Muscovy Company.
Cabot is supposed to have died in London, in 1557, sixty-one years subsequent to the date of his first commis sion from Henry VII., and not far from eighty years old. The place of his burial is unknown, and we are indebted to Eden for the death-bed scene of this intrepid navigator, who saw the American continent before Columbus or Amerigo Vespucci. His character is^ extolled by contem poraries, and was distinguished for lofty courage and unflagging perseverance in the execution of his designs. Few lives exhibit such incessant activity in the pursuit of an idea. The maps and discourses drawn and written by himself would, if in existence, have shed much light on an illustrious career ; but, with the exception of a map said to have been recovered in Germany, and another existing in France, no trace of them remains. The memoir by Richard Biddle, London and Philadelphia, 1831, though faulty in arrangement, is still the best.
CABRA, a town of ; Spain, in the province of Cordova, about 28 miles S.E. of that city, situated in a fertile valley near the source of the river of the same name. It contains a Cathedral church (de la Asuncion) which was formerly a mosque, and has also a theatre, a hospital, a college, and several monasteries. There still remains a part of its old castle called the Tower of Homage; and the abyss into which Don Quixote s Knight del Bosque precipitated himself is pointed out. The fields of clay in the neighbour hood afford materials for a considerable trade in bricks and pottery ; and there is an abundant supply of wine, vinegar, oil, and flour from the surrounding districts. The manu facture of coarse linen, woollen, and hempen stuff s is con siderable. There are some interesting Moorish remains to be seen in the town and suburbs. Cabra is a town of great antiquity and is identified with the Boebro or J^gabro of Pliny, which was probably of Punic origin. It was delivered from the Moors by Ferdinand III. in 1240, and entrusted to the order of Calatrava, but in 1331 it was recaptured by the king of Granada. In the reign of Henry IV. it was bestowed on the count of Baena. For several centuries it was the seat of a bishop. Population 11,076.
CABUL, or Kabul, in modern days the capital of Afghanistan (q. v.) The city stands on the right bank of the river called after it, on the fork made by the junction of the Loghar Iliver, where the productive plain, which extends north to the foot of Hindu Kush, narrows rapidly into the gorges from which the streams issue. The city stands in 34 30*- N. lat., 69 6 E. long., at an altitude of C396 feet above the sea.
Cabul is about 3 miles in circuit ; it was formerly walled, but now is not so. The mountains surround it pretty closely except where the plain opens to the N.E. It is triangular in form, the Bala-Hissar or Acropolis, in which the Amir resides, forming the S.E. angle, and rising about 150 feet above the plain. The old wall had seven gates, of which two alone remain, viz., the Lahori and the Sirdar.
The city is divided into six mahalas or quarters, and these again into kiichas or sections, which are enclosed and have gates. In tumult these enclosures form small separate fortresses. The streets hardly merit the name, and nowhere could admit wheel carriages ; they are narrow passages, frightfully dirty after rain. The houses are of sun-dried brick and wood, seldom more than two stories in height. There are no public buildings of any moment; some mosques are spacious, but none have any magnificence. There are thirteen or fourteen sarais for foreign traders, but they bear no comparison with those of Persia. The public baths lack cleanliness, and the odour of the filth which is used as fuel is most offensive. The greatest ornament of the city was the arcaded and roofed bazaar called Chihdr C/tdtd, ascribed to Ali Mardan Khan, a noble of the 17th century, who has left behind him many monuments of his munificent public spirit both in Cabul and in Hindustan. Its four arms had an aggregate length of about 600 feet, with a breadth of 30. The display of goods was remark able, and in the evening it was illuminated. This edifice was destroyed by Sir G. Pollock on evacuating Cabul, as a memento of the treachery of the city. The several crafts, such as saddlers, drapers, braziers, armourers, congregate together, as is usual in the East and to some extent in the south of Europe. Itinerant traders also parade the bazaars, each with his peculiar cry. The old-clothesman of London is represented by the Moghul of Cabul, with his cry of "Old bullion, old clothes!"
Including the Bala Hissar, Cabul contains about 9000 houses, giving a probable population of 50,000 to 60,000. In summer the population is more dense. Without the limits of the old city to the westward is the fortified quarter of Chandol, once a detached village, now a large suburb occupied by the Kizilbashes (see Afghanistan), and con taining 1500 to 2000 houses. It has independent bazaars, baths, mosques, &c.
The river of Cabul is traditionally said to have several times flooded or swept away the city. There is but one bridge within the city limits, but there are others above and below in the vicinity. The city is well supplied with water, chiefly by canals drawn from the two rivers, and the streets are frequently intersected by covered aqueducts. There are also many wells, water being found at moderate depth throughout the valley.
Though there is some malarious influence in autumn from the marshy ground north of the city, Cabul is on the whole healthy. In addition, to good water it has at most seasons a fine atmosphere, and an excellent supply of food. The children are chubby and ruddy. Vast supplies of fruit of fine quality are brought into the markets from the gardens of the Koh-daman and adjoining valleys. And the shops for the sale of fruit, fresh and dried, are a notable feature in the bazaars.
