CORENTYN CORFU 351 same year an American trading ship, the Gen- eral Sherman, ascended the Piengyang river, and was destroyed with all on board, in obedi- ence to orders from the regent, while lying dry on the shore, having departed from the proper channel during a period of floods. In 1871 a United States squadron under Admiral Rodgers sailed to Corea from Nagasaki, advanced up the river Han, and began to survey the river and forts in the direction of the capital. While thus occupied they were fired upon from the forts, and as a punishment for this action the Americans on June 11 captured and destroyed several of their river fortifications. Being un- able however to open negotiations with the king, Admiral Rodgers released the prisoners whom he had taken. COBENT1N, a river of South America, which rises in the Sierra Acaray, flows generally N M forming for its whole length the dividing line between British and Dutch Guiana, and enters the Atlantic by an estuary about 25 m. wide at its mouth. Sir R. Schomburgk ascended it in 1836 as far as lat. 4 21' 30" N., Ion. 57 35' 30" W., 150 m. from its mouth, where is a series of cataracts 900 yards across, beyond which it is only navigated by small vessels. CORFU. I. A nomarchy of the kingdom of Greece, comprising the islands of Corfu, Paxo, Leucadia, and several smaller islands; area, 427 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 96,940. II. One of the Ionian islands (anc. Corcyra), lying between lat. 39 21' and 39 51' N., and Ion. 19 36' and 20 8' E., off the S. part of the coast of Albania, from which it is separated by an ir- regular channel from 1 to 20 m. in width; length from N. W. to 8. E., 40 m. ; greatest breadth, 20 m. ; area, 227 sq. m. ; pop. in 1871, 75,466. From the north it tapers gradu- ally to its S. extremity, where it ends in Cape Branco. The surface is mountainous, especial- ly in the north, where Mt. Pantocratoras rises to upward of 3,000 ft. The high lands are rug- ged and bare, but the valleys are very fertile and watered by small streams, which in summer are mostly dry. The climate is mild, the an- nual range of the thermometer being from 31 to 88, but with sudden changes. Earthquakes are frequent. The principal products are olive oil, of which the yield in ordinary seasons is about 200,000 barrels, wheat, maize, oats, wine, cotton, flax, oranges, citrons, salt, honey, and wax. The island is divided into three eparchies, Corfu, Oros, and Mesi, and sends 12 members to the legislative assembly of Greece. Corfu is believed to be the Homeric Scheria, the domain of King Alcinous. About 734 B. C. it was colonized by the Corinthians, and soon after it became a leading maritime power, and a formidable rival of Corinth. In 665 the Corcy- rean fleet vanquished one sent against it by the mother city, and this engagement is said by Corfti View of Town and Citadel. Thucydides to be the first naval battle on record. In the Persian wars the Corcyreans, according to Herodotus, betrayed the national cause, and subsequently by calling in the aid of Athens against Corinth kindled the Pelopon- nesian war, during the progress of which they lost their power and importance through the ruinous struggles of the democratic and oli- garchical factions. In 229 B. C. the island fell into the hands of the Romans. It afterward belonged successively to the Eastern empire, the Normans, and the Venetians, and in 1797 was occupied by the French. Two years later it was taken by the Russians and Turks, snbse- 228 VOL. v. 23 quently united with the other Ionian islands, ceded to France, and captured by the English. With the rest of the Ionian islands it was placed under the protection of Great Britain by the congress of Vienna, but was ceded to Greece in 1864. A Greek garrison took pos- session on May 28 of that year. III. A city, capital of the nomarchy, situated on the E. coast of the island, 5 m. from the coast of Albania, and 212 m. N. W. of Athens; pop. in 1871, 15,452. It consists of two parts, the town and citadel, and has several suburbs. The cita- del is built upon a rocky point projecting into the sea, and between it and the town is an es-
