being sometimes found where the water is brackish. They generally associate in herds, and spend most of the day in covert on the banks, feeding in the evening and morning. When disturbed they make for the water, in which they swim and dive with expertness, often remaining below the surface for several minutes. Their usual food consists of water-plants and bark, but in cultivated districts they do much harm to crops. Their cry is a low, abrupt grunt. From five to eight is the usual number in a litter, of which there appears to be only one in the year; and the young are carried on their parent’s back when in the water. Extinct species of capybara occur in the tertiary deposits of Argentina, some of which were considerably larger than the living form. Capybaras belong to the family Caviidae, the leading characteristics of which are given in Rodentia. When full-grown the entire length of the animal is about 4 ft., and the girth 3 ft. Their geographical range extends from Guiana to the river Plate. Capybaras can be easily tamed; numbers are killed on land by jaguars and in the water by caimans—the alligators of South America.
CAR (Late Lat. carra), a term originally applied to a small two-wheeled vehicle for transport (see Carriage), but also to almost anything in the nature of a carriage, chariot, &c., and to the carrying-part of a balloon. With some specific qualification (tram-car, street-car, railway-car, sleeping-car, motor-car, &c.) it is combined to serve as a general word instead of carriage or vehicle. From Ireland comes the “jaunting-car,” which is in general use, both in the towns, where it is the commonest public carriage for hire, and in the country districts, where it is employed to carry the mails and for the use of tourists. The gentry and more well-to-do farmers also use it as a private carriage in all parts of Ireland. The genuine Irish jaunting-car is a two-wheeled vehicle constructed to carry four persons besides the driver. In the centre, at right angles to the axle, is a “well” about 18 in. deep, used for carrying parcels or small luggage, and covered with a lid which is usually furnished with a cushion. The “well” provides a low back to each of the two seats, which are in the form of wings placed over each wheel, with foot boards hanging outside the wheel on hinges, so that when not in use they can be turned up over the seats, thus reducing the width of the car (sometimes very necessary in the narrow country roads) and protecting the seats from the weather. The passengers on each side sit with their backs to each other, with the “well” between them. The driver sits on a movable box-seat, or “dicky,” a few inches high, placed across the head of the “well,” with a footboard to which there is usually no splash-board attached. A more modern form of jaunting-car, known as a “long car,” chiefly used for tourists, is a four-wheeled vehicle constructed on the same plan, which accommodates as many as eight or ten passengers on each side, and two in addition on a high box-seat beside the driver. In the city of Cork a carriage known as an “inside car” is in common use. It is a two-wheeled covered carriage in which the passengers sit face to face as in a wagonette. In remote country districts the poorer peasants still sometimes use a primitive form of vehicle, called a “low-backed car,” a simple square shallow box or shelf of wood fastened to an axle without springs. The two wheels are solid wooden disks of the rudest construction, generally without the protection of metal tires, and so small in diameter that the body of the car is raised only a few inches from the ground.
CARABINIERS, originally mounted troops of the French army, armed with the carabine (carbine). In 1690 one company of carabiniers was maintained in each regiment of cavalry. Their duties were analogous to those of grenadiers in infantry regiments—scouting, detached work, and, in general, all duties requiring special activity and address. They fought mounted and dismounted alike, and even took part in siege warfare in the trenches. At the battle of Neerwinden in 1693 all the carabinier companies present were united in one body, and after the action Louis XIV. consolidated them into a permanent regiment with the name Royal Carabiniers. This was one of the old regiments which survived the French Revolution, at which time the title was changed to “horse grenadiers”; it is represented in the French army of to-day by the 11th Cuirassiers. The carabiniers (6th Dragoon Guards) of the British army date from 1685, and received the title from being armed with the carabine in 1692. Regimentally therefore they were one year senior to the French regiment of Royal Carabiniers, and as a matter of fact they took part as a regiment in the battle of Neerwinden. Up to 1745 their title was “The King’s Carabiniers”; from 1745 to 1788 they were called the 3rd Irish Horse, and from 1788 they have borne their present title. In the German army, one carabinier regiment alone (2nd Saxon Reiter regiment) remains of the cavalry corps which formerly in various states bore the title. In Italy the gendarmerie are called carabinieri.
CARABOBO, the smallest of the thirteen states of Venezuela, bounded N. by the Caribbean Sea, E. by the state of Aragua, S. by Zamora and W. by Lara. Its area is 2985 sq. m., and its population, according to an official estimate of 1905, is 221,891. The greater part of its surface is mountainous with moderately elevated valleys of great fertility and productiveness, but south of the Cordillera there are extensive grassy plains conterminous with those of Guárico and Zamora, on which large herds of cattle are pastured. The principal products of the state are cattle, hides and cheese from the southern plains, coffee and cereals from the higher valleys, sugar and aguardiente from the lower valleys about Lake Valencia, and cacao, coco-nuts and coco-nut fibre from the coast. Various minerals are also found in its south-west districts, about Nirgua. The capital is Valencia, and its principal towns are Puerto Cabello, Montalbán (estimated pop. in 1904 7500), 30 m. W.S.W. of Valencia; Nirgua (pop. in 1891 8394), an important commercial and mining town 3612 m. S.W. of Valencia, 2500 ft. above sea level; and Ocumare (pop. in 1891 7493), near the coast 1812 m. E. of Puerto Cabello, celebrated for the fine quality of its cacao. Carabobo is best known for the battle fought on the 24th of June 1821 on a plain at the southern exit from the passes through the Cordillera in this state, between the revolutionists under Bolívar and the Spanish forces under La Torre. It was one of the four decisive battles of the war, though the forces engaged were only a part of the two armies and numbered 2400 revolutionists (composed of 1500 mounted llaneros known as the “Apure legion,” and 900 British), and 3000 Spaniards. The day was won by the British, who drove the Spaniards from the field at the point of the bayonet, although at a terrible loss of life. The British legion was afterwards acclaimed by Bolívar as “Salvadores de mi Patria.” The Spanish forces continued the war until near the end of 1823, but their operations were restricted to the districts on the coast.
CARACAL, the capital of the department of Romanatzi, Rumania; situated in the plains between the lower reaches of the Jiu and Olt rivers, and on the railway from Corabia, beside the Danube, to Hermannstadt in Transylvania. Pop. (1900) 12,055. Caracal has little trade, except in grain. Its chief buildings are the prefecture, school of arts and crafts and several churches. There are some ruins of a tower, built in A.D. 217 by the Roman emperor Caracalla, after whom the place is named. In 1596 Michael the Brave of Walachia defeated the Turks near Caracal.
CARACAL (Lynx caracal), sometimes called Persian lynx, an animal widely distributed throughout south-western Asia, and over a large portion of Africa. It is somewhat larger than a fox, of a uniform reddish brown colour above, and whitish beneath, with two white spots above each of the eyes, and a tuft of long black hair at the tip of the ears; to these it owes its name, which is derived from Turkish words signifying “black-ear.” There is little information as to the habits of this animal in a wild state. Dr W. T. Blanford considers that it dwells among grass and bushes rather than in forests. Its prey is said to consist largely of gazelles, small deer, hares and peafowl and other birds. The caracal is easily tamed, and in some parts of India is trained to capture the smaller antelopes and deer and such birds as the crane and pelican. According to Blyth, it is a favourite amusement among the natives to let loose a couple of tame caracals
