CANVASBACK:
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CAPE COLONY
throne o£ Denmark, and that of Norway soon followed. Canute gave England eighteen years of peace and order, but at his death nis kingdom fell to pieces, as it had depended upon his own personal greatness. A story is told of how this monarch rebuked the flattery of his courtiers, who had said that all things were possible to him. He had his chair placed on the seashore while the tide was rising, and when the water came near him, he ordered it to go back and not to wet him who was lord of the sea. But the water soon wet his feet, and turning to his courtiers,, he said: '* Let all men know how empty and worthless is the power of kings; for there is none worthy of the name but Him whom heaven, earth and sea obey."
Canvasback (Aythya Vallisneria), a North American freshwater duck, extensively found in marsh lands and river flats, where it can obtain its favorite food, the roots of the wild celery plant. It is largely found in Chesapeake Bay, in the Mississippi Valley and around the shores of Lake Huron and Lake Erie. Its breeding grounds are the far north, whence it comes southward late in autumn, and affords good game for the gunning sportsman, for it is expert in diving and rapid in its flight when pursued and shot at. A related bird is the redhead, often mistaken for the canvasback, though its plumage is brighter in color and it has not the latter's fondness for a celery diet. In length the canvasback is usually about 20 inches, with a blue-colored bill, the male bird having a reddish head, modified by dusky tints, with a dotted and lined coarse canvas-like back and sides. See DUCK.
Cape Breton (brit'un), a rocky island in the shape of a triangle, in the Canadian Dominion, at the eastern end of Nova Scotia, and forming part of that province, from which it is separated by the Gut of Canso, one mile broad. Its greatest length is 100 miles, its width 85 miles and its area 3,120 square miles. The coast is indented with bays. The Bras d'Or, an inlet on the east, forms a lake 50 miles long and 20 broad, so that most of the interior can be reached by_ water. This lake is now continued by a ship canal to St. Peter's Bay, on the south coast, dividing the island into two parts. The main exports are timber, fish, iron ore and coal, and the soil yields grains. At first held by the French, Cape Breton was taken by the English in 1745, and in 1820 became part of Nova Scotia. The towns are Sydney, North Sydney and Port Hood. The once famous Louisbourg 'is now a mere village. Cape Breton sends two members to the Nova Scotian legislature. Its exports consist of coal, timber (pine and oak) and fish. Population of the whole island, including the district of Cape Breton, Inverness, Richmond and Victoria, 97,605.
Cape Cod, a sandy peninsula reaching into the Atlantic, and forming the southeastern
extremity of Massachusetts. In form somewhat like the letter L, it is about 65 miles in length. There are many lighthouses upon the carje. On the northern end, called Race Point, is a revolving light, 155 feet above the sea. At the head of the cape are forests of pitch-pine and oak trees. The numerous bays furnish many harbors, where are thriving villages which are nurseries of seamen. Cape Cod was discovered May 15, 1602, by Bartholomew Gosnold, who gave it its name from the quantity of codfish taken off its shores. On November 9, 1620, the May -flower arrived at its coast, and the next day cast anchor in its harbor of Provincetown. Here was formed the famous compact which gave a government to the new colony. Bancroft called it the first of written constitutions. It, like our national constitution, was the creation of the people itself.
Cape Colony or Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, is a British possession at the southern extremity of Africa. It includes, East Griqualand, Bechuanaland and adjacent native territories, which have an area of 276,995 square miles. The area of the whole of British South Africa (including the now reannexed Transvaal and the Orange River Colony) together with Bechuanaland, Natal, Cape Colony and Rhodesia is estimated at 603,337 square miles.
Surface—Drainage. It has few navigable rivers or good ports. The principal harbor is Table Bay. Running parallel to the coast line and at an average distance from it of about 150 miles there is a range of mountains, forming the watershed of the country and known by various names as it stretches across the continent—Stormberg, Sneeuberg, Roggeveld Mountains. The eastern part of the colony is fairly well wooded and watered, and presents much beautiful scenery; the western part is covered with the karroo bush, which supports the large sheep farms.
Climate—Irrigation. The climate is one of the finest in the world, well suited to Europeans, and the Cape has long been known as a health resort. The scanty rainfall makes irrigation necessary. One vast reservoir, the largest in South Africa, draining 460 square miles, holds 35,000,000,000,000 gallons, and the extent of water surface is 19 square miles, with an average depth of ten feet. The climate and soil of the country are suited to the culture of vines, and in the southwestern part the vines produce heavier crops than are known almost anywhere else in the world. Dagga or wild hemp was smoked by the natives before tobacco was introduced, which is now widely grown.
Animals—Flora. The native animals were once numerous and varied, but are now nearly extinct. There still are a few ele^ phants and buffaloes, and the beautiful springbok and smaller antelopes are still found, with baboons, monkeys, wildcats, porcupines, leopards, jackals and ant-eaters.
