CUMBERLAND — CURACAO.
Cumberland. A river which rises in the Cum-berland mountains, Virginia, and runs through Ken-tuckv and Tennessee into the Ohio, sixty miles fromthe Mississippi, It is navigable for steam-boats toNashville, near 200 miles, and for boats of fifteentons, 300 miles farther. At certain seasons, vessels0 f 400 tons, may descend 400 miles, to the Ohio.
Cumnor. A village in Berkshire. It is situatedon the brow of a hill which commands a very fineview of the surrounding country. It has been ren-dered celebrated by Sir Walter Scott, who has madeCumnor Place, (which was a monastic building belong-ing to the abbots of Abingdon,) the scene of one ofhis finest romances. It is believed that RobertDudley, earl of Leicester, caused his wife to be mur-dered in this place. Her life was first attempted bypoison, and then by flinging her down a deep stair-case. She died in consequence of the fall, and wasprivately buried in Cumnor Place. The earl after-wards had her body removed to St. Mary’s church,Oxford, where it was re-interred with great state andsolemnity.
Ccndinamarca. The northern part of New Gre-nada. It forms a department of the republic ofColombia, and comprehends the provinces of Bogota,Antioquia, Mariquita and Neiva, with 371,000 inha-bitants. The chief place is Santa Fe de Bogota.
Cunersdorf. A village near Frankfort on theOder, known on account of the bloody battle in whichFrederic the Great was defeated, Aug. 12, 1759. Itis only fifty miles distant from Berlin. Opposed tohim were the Russians under Soltikoff, and the Aus-trians under Laudon. Victory seemed, at first, likelyto declare in favour of Frederic, but, eventually, helost all his artillery, and 20,000 men. The king at firstgave up all hope, but soon recovered his spirits, whenSoltikoff, with inconceivable tardiness, neglected tofollow up his victory.
Cupar. A royal burgh in the county of Fife. Itis built on the left bank of the beautiful river Eden.It is slightly elevated, and lies in a secluded valeopen on the east and west, and overhung on the southby a range of hills. To the north the country isremarkably beautiful, and gradually expands intothickly wooded eminences. Immediately to the southof the town flows the river Eden. The centre of thetown is the point of junction of several extensivethoroughfares from different populous towns. Theprincipal manufacture of the place is linen, of which500,000 yards have been stamped in a year. Thechurch is a plain edifice, but its steeple is very old.It has also an excellent public library, containingbooks in various departments of knowledge, and alsomany other institutions chiefly for the encouragementof agricultural and horticultural improvements. Thegeneral term applied to this town is Cupar Fife, todistinguish it from a town of the same name in Perth-shire, Cupar, in conjunction with St. Andrews,Anstruther Easter, Anstrut.her Wester, Kilrenny,Crail, and Pittenween, sands one representative tothe British parliament. It contains 6,473 inhabitants,and the annual value of real property amounts to14,095/. twenty-two miles N. E. of Ringhorn, andtwenty-two E. S. E. of Perth.
Cupar Angus. This district is pleasantly situatedon the eastern border of Perthshire, a small portion,however, belongs to Angus, or Forfarshire. Cupar,the capital, is about twelve miles north-east of Perth,the ruins of a wealthy abbey of Cistercian monks
541
are still to be seen in the neighbourhood of this place.According to the last census, the population amountsto 2,615, which shows a small diminution since thereturns in 1821. The annual value of the real pro-perty amounts to 10,328/.
Cupica. A seaport and bay of Colombia, on theS. E. side of Panama, following the coast of thePacific Ocean, from Cape St. Miguel to Cape Cor-rientes. This is thought by Humboldt the mostfavourable point for connecting the Atlantic andPacific Oceans by a canal. From the Bay of Cupicathere is a passage of ordy fifteen or eighteen miles,over a country quite level, and suited to a canal, tothe head of the navigation of the river Naipi, a branchof the river Atrato, which flows into the Atlantic.Gogueneche, a Biscayan pilot, is said to have firstpointed out this spot as almost the only place wherethe chain of the Andes is completely interrupted, anda canal thus made practicable.
Cupid. A celebrated deity among the ancients ;the god of love, and love itself. There are differenttraditions concerning his parents. Cicero mentionsthree Cupids; one, son of Mercury and Diana ;another, son of Mercury and Venus; and a third,son of Mars and Venus. Plato mentions two. Hesiod,the most ancient theogonist, speaks only of one, who,as he says, was produced at the same time as Chaosand the Earth. There are, according to the morereceived opinions, two Cupids, one of whom is alively ingenious youth, son of Jupiter and Venus,whilst the other, son of Nox and Erebus, is distin-guished by his debauchery and riotous disposition.
Cupid is represented as a winged infant, naked,armed with a bow, and a quiver full of arrows. Ongems, and all other antiques, he is represented asamusing himself with some childish diversion. Some-times he appears driving a hoop, throwing a quoit,playing with a nymph, catching a butterfly, or with alighted torch in his hand. At other times he playsupon a horn before his mother, or closely embraces aswan, or with one foot raised in the air, he, in amusing posture, seems to meditate some trick. Some-times, like a conqueror, he marches triumphantlywith a helmet on his head, a spear on his shoulder,and a buckler on his arm, intimating that even Marshimself owns the superiority of love. His powerwas generally shown by his riding on the back of alion, or on a dolphin, or breaking to pieces the thunder-bolts of Jupiter. Among the ancients he was worship-ped with the same solemnity as his mother Venus, andhis influence was extended over the heavens, the sea,and the earth, and even the empire of the dead. Hisdivinity was universally acknowledged, and vows,prayers, and sacrifices were daily offered to him.According to some accounts, the union of Cupidwith Chaos gave birth to men, and all the animalswhich inhabit the earth; and even the gods them-selves were the offspring of love before the foundationof the world. See Amor.
Curasao. An island in the Caribbean Sea, aboutseventy-five miles from the continent of South Ame-rica, belonging to the Netherlands. It is thirty mileslong and ten broad; producing sugar and tobacco,also large and small cattle ; but not generally fertile.It has several good ports, particularly one on thesouthern coast, called St. Barbara, where a greattrade was formerly carried on by the Dutch in Africanslaves. Lon. 69° 26' W., lat. 12° N. It has a popu-lation of 8500. The principal towns are Curasao