CEVENNES, a range of low mountains on the eastern edge of the central plateau of France, separating the basin of the Rhone from those of the Loire and Garonne; average height from 3000 to 4000 ft.; the chief scene of the dragonnades against the Huguenots under Louis XIV.

CEYLON (3,008), a pear-shaped island about the size of Scotland, separated from India, to which it geographically belongs, and SE. of which it lies, by Palk Strait, 32 m. broad; comprises a lofty, central tableland with numerous peaks, the highest Tallagalla, 8000 ft., and a broad border of well-watered plains.  It was an ancient centre of civilisation; the soil is everywhere fertile; the climate is hot, but more equitable than on the mainland; the chief products are tea, cinnamon, and tobacco; the forests yield satin-wood, ebony, &c.; the cocoa-nut palm abounds; there are extensive deposits of iron, anthracite, and plumbago; precious stones, sapphires, rubies, amethysts, &c., are in considerable quantities; the pearl fisheries are a valuable government monopoly.  The chief exports are tea, rice, cotton goods, and coals.  Two-thirds of the people are Singhalese and Buddhists, there are 6000 Europeans.  The island is a crown colony, the largest in the British Empire, administered by a governor with executive and legislative councils; the capital and chief port is Colombo (127).

CHABAS, FRANCOIS, a French Egyptologist, born in Briancon; his works have contributed much to elucidate the history of the invasion and repulsion of the Hyksos in Egypt (1817-1882).

CHABOT, a member of the National Convention of France, a “disfrocked Capuchin,” adjured “Heaven,” amid enthusiasm, “that at least they may have done with kings”; guillotined (1759-1794).

CHACKTAW INDIANS.  See CHOCKTAW.

CHAD, LAKE, a shallow lake in the Sahara, of varied extent, according as the season is dry or rainy, at its largest covering an area as large as England, and abounding in hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses, &c., as well as waterfowl and fish.

CHADBAND, REV.  MR., a character in “Bleak House.”

CHADWICK, SIR EDWIN, an English social reformer, born in Manchester, associated with measures bearing upon sanitation and the improvement of the poor-laws, and connected with the administration of them (1801-1890).

CHAERONEA, a town in Boeotia, where Philip of Macedon defeated the Athenians, and extinguished the liberties of Greece.

CHALAIS, COUNT DE, a favourite of Louis XIII., accused of conspiracy against Richelieu, arrested at Nantes, and beheaded (1599-1626).

CHALAZA, one of the two filaments attached to the ends of the yoke of an egg to steady it in the albumen.

CHALCEDON, a city of Bithynia, at the entrance of the Thracian Bosphorus, where the fourth Council of the Church was held in 451, which defined the orthodox conception of Christ as God-man.

CHALCIDICE, the 3-fingered peninsula of the Balkan territory stretching into the AEgean Sea.