542

CURDS — CURIA.

and Williamstadt. The city of Curaqao is wellsituated, and elegantly built. It is full of storehouses,and provided with every species of merchandise.Williamstadt is considered the capital.

Curds. A wandering people, divided, into manytribes, and dwelling in the country which lies betweenthe foot of Mount Caucasus ami the Black Sea, andstretches to the sources of the Tigris and Euphrates.Their incursions into the Russian territories havebeen checked by the troops on the frontier.

A Curdish horseman, now in the service of Persia,is represented in the accompanying engraving.

r 4T*# ;

They are Mohammedans, but neither of the Turkishnor Persian sect. The most unprincipled part of theCurds are the Yezides, who esteem the plunder ofcaravans, murder, and theft lawful. They sometimespropose to the Porte the persons whom they wish aspachas and beys, and the Porte has never failed tocomply with their request. It is said that the Curdsare descended from the Usbeck Tartars, or from theMongols; but their external appearance is veryunlike that of the Tartars. The Curds wear a cloakof black goatskin, and, instead of a turban, a highred cap. The Turkish dress is never worn, becausethey consider that it would mark them as vassals ofthe sultan. The young men wear mustachios ; theold men suffer their beards to grow. The Curd is agood rider, and uses his lance with skill. He is fondof music, and sings in ballads the exploits of hisnation. There are some of this people settled in theplains of Armenia, but no branch acknowledgesitself tributary to the Porte. If the winter amongthe highlands proves too cold for the wild mountainCurd, he descends to these plains, and lives in lowtents of dark coarse linen. An enclosure made ofreeds, near his tent, surrounds the place where hekeeps his cattle, which he has brought from themountains. This people, who live by plunder, respectthe rites of hospitality, and usually make their guestsome present when he departs.

The patriarchal authority of parents is very great.A son never marries without their consent. Althoughotherwise so deficient in moral principle, they believethat no one can refuse the request of an unfortunateman without being punished by God. Mithridates,king of Pontus, took advantage of this belief tosupply the losses of his army in his wars with theRomans. The more wonderful the escapes of theunfortunate individual, the more confident are theythat he will experience a change of fortune. On this

account, these mountains are the refuge of the ene-mies of the Turkish pachas ; and they often returnfrom them more formidable than they were beforePottage, milk, and honey form the principal food ofthe Curds. Northern Curdistan produces grainsulphur, and alum : the southern and warmer parts ofthe country produce corn, rice, sesamum, fruit*cotton, tobacco, honey, wax, manna, and gall-nutsexported by the way of Smyrna. Curdistan hassangiacs at Bayazid, Mouch, Van, Julamerk, Amadia,Suleihmanieh, Kara-Djiolan, and Zahou. Of all thesesangiacs, the Porte appoints only that of Van. Eachsangiac governs a number of the tribes of his nationwho obey his commands in war, but are wholly inde-pendent of him in time of peace. The Christianswho constitute the principal population of the plainsof Armenia, suffer every year from the incursions ofthe Curds, and the Porte being unable to protectthem, they are compelled continually to removefarther to the south, where they are also liable to beplundered by the Bedouins or Weehabites. Theironly hope is in the increasing power of the Russianarmy on the Turkish, Curdish, and Persian frontiersand in the expectation that the Russians will at lastput an end to the robberies of the Turks and theoppression of the pachas.

Curia, Papal. Is a collective appellation of allthe authorities in Rome, which exercise the rightsand privileges which the pope enjoys as first bishop,superintendent and pastor of Roman Catholic Chris-tendom. The right to grant or confirm ecclesiasticalappointments is exercised by the dataria. This bodyreceives petitions, draws up answers, and collects therevenues of the pope for the pallia , spolia, benefices,annates , &c. It is a lucrative branch of the papalgovernment, and part of the receipts go to the apostolicchamber. There is more difficulty attending thebusiness of the rota , the high court of appeal. Informer times, the cardinal grand penitentiary, as pre-sident of the penitenzieria, had a very great influence.He still issues all dispensations and absolutions inrespect to vows, penances, fasts, &c„ in regard towhich the pope has reserved to himself the dispensingpower; also with respect to marriages within thedegrees prohibited to catholics. Besides these au-thorities, whose powers extend over all CatholicChristendom, there are in Rome several othersoccupied only with the government of the Romanstate ; as the sagra comulta , the chief criminal court,in which the cardinal secretary of state presides; thesigpatnra di giustkia, a court for civil cases, consistingof twelve prelates, over which the cardinal prone-ditore , or minister of justice of the pope, presides, andwith which the signatura di grazia concurs ; the apos-tolic chamber, in which twelve prelates are employedunder the cardinale camerlingo, administering the pro-perty of the church and the papal domains, andreceiving the revenue which belongs to the pope astemporal and spiritual sovereign of the Roman state;also that which he derives from other countrieswhich stand immediately under him, and are hisfiefs.

All the great offices of state are filled by clergy-men ; and many of them are so lucrative, that con-siderable sums are paid for them, somewhat hi thesame manner as commissions are purchased in theEnglish army. At the death of Sixtus V., thereexisted 4000 venal offices of this kind; but thisnumber has since been diminished, and many abuses