CAVAN, an inland county in the province of Ulster, Ireland, situated midway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea, from the shores of which its eastern and western extremities arc each distant about 14 miles. It is bounded by the county of Fermanagh on the north ; by Monaghan on the north-east and east; by Meath, West Meath, and Longford on the south ; and by Leitrim on the west. Its greatest length, from cast to west, is about 51 English miles ; and its greatest breadth, from north to south, 28 miles. Its area contains 758 square miles. The whole county is covered with hills, of which none rise to any remarkable height, though Sliebh-Rus sel, and the mountains of Ballynagecragh, strongly mark its northern and western boundaries ; and Bruce I lill is a striking object in its southern extremity. The waters which issue from the lakes in West Meath flow through this county; and, expanding in some places into small lakes, retaining in others the appearance of rivers, form many picturesque and beautiful scenes. Cavan can scarcely be regarded, however, as a desirable place of residence. Its climate, though salubrious, is boisterous, cold, and uncondOrtable ; except on a few gentlemen's seats, it is sheltered by no forests or plantations; and though its interior is adorned by lakes of great extent and beauty, in many places, particularly to the north and west, it is bleak, dreary, and exposed. The soil is in general poor, and though almost the whole of it is under tillage, yet the wretched system of agriculture which prevails here contributes but little to its improvement. It is chiefly oc( upied by manufacturers, who Pent small farms, seldom exceeding 20 acres ; and whose principal object is to raise a sufficient quantity or oats uud pota toes for the support of their families, with small crops of Ilax, to give employment to their women. The average value of land is front 26s. to 30s. the acre.
The manufactures of Cavan make it a populous and nourishing county, and will in time contribute materially to the improvement of its agriculture. The fabric for tt hiell it is most celebrated is a thin linen, for the most part 7-8ths wide. The average sale of linen, manufac tured in this county, is estimated at about 100,0001. per annum. 01 late, however, the superior demand for cotton goods has induced the manufacturers of Cavan to direct much of their attention to the weaving of muslins.
C,AveAsus, one of the 41 governments into which the Russian empire is divided. This government is sub divided into two provinces ; Astraean, and another known by me same name as that of the government. Within the latter of these provinces is comprised the Cuban, and all the districts to the cast and south, now in the possession of Russia, between the rivers Don and the Cuban, and between the Black Sea and the Caspian, extending as far as the confines of Georgia, and which is constantly receiving new accessions, in consequence of the reduction and submission of the wandering hordes. The same name of Caucasus is the common appellation by which the whole of the great ridge of mountains is distinguisned mat stretches between the Caspian and the Black Seas ; and it is also the name of the very high mountain which constitutes the principal summit in this great and extensive ridge.
The Caucasian mountains are the most distinguish ing feature in the region in which they are situated. They stretch from the mouth of the river Cuban in the north-west, to the outlet of the river Kur, into the Cas pian Sea, in the south-east. There seems reason to
believe, that a connected chain extends also from this ridge of mountains in a south-western direction, to Mt icinity of the bay of Scanderoon, as at thr• other ex tremity of it other chains branch out into Persia. which they pervade from north-west to south-cast. These lat ter ridges terminate in the deserts of the south-oaso rut part of that country, or at least are so imperfectly con nected with the mountains of Ilindoo-Koh, that it would be difficult to trace their junction. :Much less can they be considered as an extension of Mount Taurus, which terminates at the Euphrates, and the deserts of Algczira. In this matter, therefore, the ancients judged errone ously, who regarded the principal chain of these moun tains as a continuation only of mount Taurus, at the same time giving the name of Antitaurus to the connected branch already mentioned, extending from them towards the south-west. The chief notic,:s as to other particulars relative to the Caucasian mountains, which occur in the works of the ancient writers, arc as follow : By Strait°. they are represented as extending from the Euxinc to the Caspian Sca, and including, as within a wall, the isthmus that separated these seas. Towards the south they had Albania and Iberia ; on the north the let el country of the Sarinatze ; and they abounded with Yarieth kinds of trees, some of which were used in the construc tion of ships. According to Herodotus, the commence ment of this range of mountains was from the territory of Colchis, whence it proceeded onward till it became a boundary to the northern part of the Caspian Sea. This writer mentions also two passages in these mountains, of which, he says, that the Scythians and the Cimmerians availed themselves in their incursions into Upper and Minor Asia. Procopius takes notice of the same defiles, which he represents as situated in the eastern limit of the mountains, and to have been called by the names, the one of the Caspian way, the other of the Caucasian way. De adverts also to the use to which these defiles had been made subservient, in furnishing a road for the Huns at the times when they invaded the territories of the Persians and the Romans. The same defiles are mentioned, and in a somewhat similar way, by Pliny, 'Facials, and Liman. The first of these writers takes notice of a project which it seems Seleucus Nicator had formed, of joining the Euxine and Caspian seas by a wall. This project, it is said, was executed under Antiochus Soter, or Antiochus Theus, but the wall sunk into ruin after the fall of the SeleucidR. It is upon the mountain of Caucasus that the ancient my thologists report that Prometheus was bound, as a pun ishment for his crime of having stolen fire from heaven ; in which state of durance, they add, he remained till released by Hercules. Strabo, and some other his torians, relate, that the rivers of this mountain brought down gold-sand, which it was usual to collect in sheep skins. And it is stated by different writers, that even at those early periods, the inhabitants of these moun tainous regions were very numerous, consisting, accord ing to some, of 70, according to others of 300, different nations, who spoke various languages, and subsisted upon the flesh of wild beasts, fruit, and milk, having, on account of their uncultivated and savage manners, no intercourse with one another.