homicide in a gambling quarrel at Rome. To avoid the consequences of his crime he fled to Naples and to Malta, where he was imprisoned for another attempt to avenge a quarrel. Escaping to Sicily, he was attacked by a party sent in pursuit of him, and severely wounded. Being pardoned, he set out for Rome ; but having been arrested by mistake before his arrival, and afterwards released, and left to shift for himself in excessive heat, and still suffering from wounds and hardships, he expired of fever on the beach at Pontercole in 1609. His best pictures are the Entomb ment cf Christ, now in the Vatican ; St Sebastian, in the Roman Capitol ; a magnificent whole-length portrait of a grand-master of the Knights of Malta, Alof de Vignacourt, and his page, in the Louvre ; and the Supper at Emmaus,
in the Borghese Palace.CARAVAGGIO, Polidoro Caldara da (1495-1543), a celebrated painter of frieze and other decorations in the Vatican, whose merits were such that, while a mere mortar- carrier to the artists engaged in that work, he attracted the admiration of Raphael, then employed on his great pictures in the Loggie of the palace. Polidoro s works, as well as those of his master, Maturino of Florence, have mostly perished, but are well known by the fine etchings of P. S. Bartoli, Albert!, <fec. On the sack of Rome by the army of the Constable Bourbon in 1527, Polidoro fled to Naples. Thence he went to Messina, where he was much employed, and gained a considerable fortune, with which he was about to return to the mainland of Italy when he was robbed and murdered by an assistant, Tonno Calabrese, in 1543. Two of his principal paintings are a Crucifixion, painted in Messina, and Christ bearing the Cross, in the Naples gallery.
CARAVAN, or to write it more correctly, Karawan, is a Persian word, adopted into the later Arabic vocabulary, but rarely employed in speech and never in writing within the limits of Arabia proper, where other designations of strictly Arabic origin such as " Rikb" (assembled riders) or " Kafileh" (wayfaring band) are in ordinary use.
In common acceptance, then, throughout Syria, Mesopotamia, and Asiatic Turkey generally, besides Persia, a caravan denotes a body of peaceable citizens, merchants, salesmen, and the like, travelling together on business for some considerable distance. The principal reasons which in the Asiatic region induce people of this class thus to unite for their journeys, and that in as large numbers as practicable, are, firstly, the greater security thus insured, or at least expected, against robbers, and in particular against marauding parties of Bedouins, Kurds, Tartars, and the like, whose graziug-grounds the proposed route may traverse ; and, secondly, mutual assistance in the matter of provisions, water, and so forth. Bad government, or not rarely the absence of any government whatever, necessitates the first precaution ; want of inns, baiting- places, and perhaps of habitations altogether, the second. It should also be remembered that no roads, in the European sense of the word, but merely tracks, and those difficult and often interrupted, exist throughout Asiatic Turkey and Persia generally, a fact that speaks badly for the "Public Works Department" in both empires. These conditions having existed more or less from time imme morial in the major part of Western Asia, and still existing, caravans always have been in that part of the world, and still are the principal means for conveying merchandize from one commercial centre to another.
In these companies camels are most generally employed for the transport of heavy goods, especially where the track, like that between Damascus and Baghdad, for example, lies across level, sandy, and arid districts. The camels are harnessed in strings of fifty and more at a time, a hair-rope connecting the rear of one beast with the head of another ; the leader is gaily decorated with party- coloured trappings,, tassels, and bells ; an unladen ass precedes the file, for luck, say some, for guidance, say others a not inappropriate allusion to human affairs in general. Where the route is rocky and steep, as that between Damascus and Aleppo, mules, or even asses, are used for burdens. The wealthier individuals of the party accompany it, where possible, on horseback. Every man carries arms ; but these are in truth more for show than for use, and are commonly flung away in the presence of any serious robber-attack; of wild beasts there is little danger, none of formidable size or disposition existing in the Levantine East. Should greater peril than ordinary be anticipated from Bedouins or the like, the protection of a company of soldiers is habitually pre-engaged, an expen sive, and ordinarily a useless adjunct. A leader or director, called " Karawan-Bashi " (headman), or, out of com pliment, " Karawan-Seraskier " (general), both terms of Perso-Turkish composition, but most often simply desig nated as " Re is " (chief), is before starting appointed bj- common consent. His duties are those of general manager, spokesman, arbitrator, and so forth ; his remuneration indefinite. But in the matter of sales or purchases, either on the way or at destination, each member of the caravan manages as best he can for himself.
The number of camels or mules in a single caravan varies from forty or so up to six hundred and more ; sometimes, as on the reopening of a long-closed route, it reaches a thousand. The movements of caravans are chiefly regulated by the seasons, the summer and early autumn, when the heat is at its fiercest and water scarce, being, when possible, avoided, as also, though for opposite reasons, the brief but severe cold of a Levantine winter. Hence the ordinary caravan-seasons are the months of spring, early summer, and later autumn. Friday, in ac cordance with a recommendation made in the Koran itself, is the favourite day for setting out, the most auspicious hour being that immediately following noonday prayer. The first day s march never does more than just clear the starting-point by a couple of miles, or thereabouts. Sub sequently each day s route is divided into two stages, the first being from 3 or 4 A.M. to about 10 in the forenoon; a halt follows, then travelling is resumed between 2 and 3 P.M. and continued till 6, or even 8 in the evening. Thus the time passed daily on the road averages from ten to twelve hours, and, as the ordinary pace of a laden camel does not exceed 2 miles an hour, that of a mule being 2
The hours of halt, start, and movement, the precise lines of route, and the selection or avoidance of particular localities are determined by common consent and the necessity of acting in concert, influences to which the "Reiis" himself, apart from his personal recommendations, is indebted for whatever authority he may possess. But if, as sometimes happens, the services of a professional guide, or those of a military officer have been engaged, their will has to be deferred to in such matters. Indeed many a caravan has been plundered, or even totally destroyed, through the treachery of a hired guide. Part nership may unite interests in the East, but paid hire more certainly disunites them, a hint worth a traveller s re membrance. While the caravan is on its way, the five stated daily prayers are, within certain limits, anticipated, deferred, or even curtailed, so as the better to coincide with the regular and necessary halts, a practice authorized by the most orthodox Mahometan custom and tradition.
