CRETE
477
CRICKET
Crete (kret), a Turkish island in the
Mediterranean. It is the southernmost portion of Europe, 160 miles in length and from 7 to 35 broad. The climate is fine, and the air fresh and bracing. Crete is quite mountainous, and its highest peak, Mount Ida, is 8,060 feet above the level of the sea. There are many harbors on the island: Suda Bay on the north is one of the best in the Mediterranean; and Fair Havens, in the south, is spoken of in Acts. Wheat and fruit, especially oranges and lemons, are mainly raised. Olive-oil, soap, nuts and the like are exported. Sponges are found on the coast. There are a few wild animals, but not a snake on the island. There are now only three towns of any size, though Vergil told of its " hundred cities." During the past quarter-century the remains of a great civilization have been discovered that equalled those of Egypt and Babylonia, and dates back 2,000 if not 3,000 years before Christ. Crete is now an autonomous Greek province, under Turkish suzerainty, though paying no taxes to Turkey; and its viceroy is always a native Greek Christian. The early Cretans were seafaring Greeks, the rivals of the Phoenicians. Its laws and its great lawgiver, Minos, were famous, as were also its bowmen; while a Cretan came everywhere to mean a liar. Rome, the Saracens, the Greek emperors, Venice and the Turks have in their day owned the island. Its area is 3,365 square miles; and its population is estimated at 310,815. Canea is the capital (population, 24,537).
Crichton (kri'tun), James, called the Admirable Crichton was born Aug. 19, 1560, in Perthshire Scotland, and was educated at St. Andrews. After leaving the university he went to France. His swordplay and power as a debater on any subject with the professors of the Sorbonne are said to have astonished all Paris. At Venice the great printer Aldus was his friend. Here he spoke before the doge and senate, and is said to have astounded them with his eloquence and grace. Other encounters took place, in which, it is said, he made Latin poems on the spot, offered to carry on the debate in poetry, and performed like prodigies. Moreover, according to the story, he became tutor to the heir of the duke of Mantua. Here he killed a skillful duelist, and became so renowned that he was attacked one night by three masked men out of jealousy. Crichton's swordsmanship gave him the best of it, and to save his life the leader of the masks was forced to tell who he was. It was Crichton's prince-pupil. The tutor fell on his knee, and, presenting his sword, asked his pardon; but the prince basely ran him through the body. Crichton had a fine memory, is said to have been familiar with 12 languages, and was a good debater, but
many of the stories of Ms prowess are probably fictitious. He perhaps fell in a night-brawl, but that it was his own pupil who dispatched him is unlikely. He died at Mantua, in 1583, or, according to others, some time between 1585 and 1591.
Cricket, an insect related to grasshoppers and locusts. There are three kinds—mole-crickets, true crickets and tree-crickets. The mole-crickets have their front limbs expanded and especially fitted for digging; they make burrows and lay their eggs in underground chambers. The true crickets are very abundant in the fields; they are black, sometimes with brownish wings. They usually feed on plants and lay their eggs in the ground in the autumn, the broods hatching out in the spring. To this division
CRICKETS
belong, also, the house-crickets. The chirping sound is produced by the males rubbing the file-like edges of the principal vein of their wing-covers upon a scraper located on the margin of the opposite wing-cover. The true wings are not involved in making the sound. The tree-crickets are delicate, whitish-green. They live on trees and shrubs, and often do damage by boring to deposit their eggs. One kind lays its eggs in stems of the raspberry. The katydid is not a cricket.
Cricket (krik-%t), the Englishman's national game the world over, is an outdoor game with balls, bats and wickets. It is played by n men on a side. Two wickets, each consisting of three uprights or stumps rising 27 inches above the ground and with two small pieces or bails on top of the uprights, are placed opposite each other, 22 yards apart. One eleven takes position in the field, the other goes to bat. The bowler of the first eleven stands almost behind one wicket, the wicket-keeper directly behind the other. Two players from the second eleven stand at the wickets, the first batsman in front of one, the second beside the other. The bowler rolls his ball at the opposite wicket, to knock it down or make the batter hit,
