C H I
C H I
the word comes from the Perſian tchehle minar, that is to ſay, forty towers.
Don Garcias de Silva Figueroa, Pietro della Valle, Sir John Chardin, and Le Brun, have been very particular in deſcribing theſe ruins.
There appear, ſay they, the remains of near four-ſcore columns, the fragments of which are at leaſt ſix-feet high; but there are only nineteen can be called entire, with another detached from the reſt, about an hundred and fifty paces: a rock of hard black marble ſerves as a foundation to the edifice: the firſt plan of the houſe is aſcended to by ninety-five ſteps, all cut in the rock; the gate of the palace is about twenty feet wide, with the figure of an elephant on one ſide, and that of a rhinoceros on the other, thirty feet high, and both of poliſhed marble: near theſe animals there are two columns and not far from thence the figure of a pegaſus. After paſſing this gate, are found fragments of magnificent columns in white marble, the ſmalleſt of which are fifteen cubits high, the largeſt eighteen, having forty flutings three full inches wide each; from whence we may judge of their thickneſs and other proportions. Near the gate is ſeen an inſcription on a ſquare piece of black marble, containing about twelve lines; the characters are of an extraordinary figure, reſembling triangles, or pyramids: beſides this, there are other inſcriptions, the characters of which reſemble the Hebrew, Chaldaic, or Syriac; others the Arabic or Perſian; and others, in fine, the Greek characters. Dr Hyde, who hath explained the Greek inſcription, by ſupplying ſome words that are effaced, obſerves, that the inſcriptions are engraved very negligently, and perhaps by ſome ſoldiers; or, if they are the work of an engraver, he thinks that he was from Palmyra, and conſequently that they are in the Phœnician tongue: he adds, that as they are in praiſe of Alexander, they were probably done in the time of that conqueror.
CHILTERN, a chain of chalky hills, running from eaſt to weſt through Buckinghamſhire.
CHIMÆRA, in geography, a port town of Turky in Europe, ſituated at the entrance of the gulph of Venice, in the province of Epirus, about thirty-two miles north of the city Corfu, near which are the mountains of Chimæra, which divide Epirus from Theſſaly: E. long. 20° 40′, and N. lat. 40° 20′.
CHIMAY, the name of a great lake, lying in the province of Acham, between the Eaſt-Indies and China.
CHIMERA, a fabulous monſter, which the poets feign to have the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a dragon; and add, that this odd beaſt was killed by Bellerophon. The foundation of the fable was, that in Lycia there was a burning mountain, or vulcano, of this name; that the top of this mountain was ſeldom without lions, nor the middle, which had very good graſs, without goats; that ſerpents bred at the bottom, which was marſhy; and that Bellerophon rendered the mountain habitable.
By a chimera, among the philoſophers, is underſtood a mere creature of the imagination, compoſed of ſuch contradictions and abſurdities as cannot poſſibly any where exiſt but in thought.
CHIMES of a clock, a kind of a periodical muſic, produced at equal intervals of time, by means of a particular apparatus added to a clock.
CHIMNEY, in architecture, a particular part of a houſe, where the fire is made, having a tube or funnel to carry away the ſmoke. See Architecture.
CHINA, including Chineſe Tartary, a large empire, ſituated between 95° and 135° E. long. and between 21° and 55° N. lat. being accounted two thouſand miles in length, and one thouſand five hundred in breadth; it is bounded by Ruſſian Tartary on the north, by the Pacific ocean on the eaſt and ſouth, and by Tonquin, Tibet, and the territories of Ruſſia on the weſt. It is uſually divided into ſixteen provinces, which will be deſcribed in their alphabetical order. In theſe provinces there are computed to be one hundred and fifty-five capital cities, one thouſand three hundred and twelve of the ſecond rank, two thouſand three hundred and fifty ſeven fortified towns, and upwards of ten millions of families, which may amount to about fifty millions of people.
The principal commodities of this country are ſilk, tea, China ware, Japan-ware, and gold duſt; of all which the maritime ſtates of Europe import great quantities, ſending them ſilver in return.
China-root, in pharmacy, a medicinal root, brought both from the Eaſt and Weſt-Indies, thence diſtinguiſhed into oriental and occidental; it is the root of a ſpecies of ſmilax. See Smilax.
China-ware. See Porcelain.
CHINCA, a port-town of Peru, in South America, ſituated in an extenſive valley, on a river of the ſame name, about ſixty miles ſouth of Lima: W. long. 76°, and S. lat. 13°.
CHIN COUGH, a convulſive kind of cough, which children are chiefly ſubject to. See Medicine.
CHINESE, in general, denotes any thing belonging to China. See China.
It is obſerved by ſome, that the Chineſe language has no analogy with any other language in the world: it only conſiſts of three hundred and thirty words, which are all monoſyllables, at leaſt they are pronounced ſo ſhort that there is no diſtinguiſhing above one ſyllable or ſound in them; but the ſame word, as pronounced with ſtronger or weaker tone, has different ſignifications; accordingly, when the language is accurately ſpoke, it makes a ſort of muſic, which has a real melody, that conſtitutes the eſſence and diſtinguiſhing character of the Chineſe tongue.
As to the Chineſe characters, they are as ſingular as the language; the Chineſe have not, like us, any alphabet, containing the elements, or, as it were, the principles of their words: inſtead of an alphabet they uſe a kind of hieroglyphics, whereof they have above eighty thouſand.
As the Chineſe pretend to an antiquity both with regard to their nation and arts, far beyond that of any other nation, it will not perhaps be unacceptable to
