among the western isles of Scotland. This tract has been more than once printed, and its chief passages were transcribed by Bede in his Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum. We learn from it that waxed tablets for writing were in use among the disciples of St. C. in Iona at the close of the 7th century. COL'UMBAN, or COLUMBANʼUS, SAINT, one of the most learned and eloquent of the many missionaries whom Ireland sent forth to the continent during the dark ages, was b. in Leinster about the year 545. Having studied under St. Comgall, in the great monastery of Bangor, in Ulster, he passed over to France, in his 45th year, accompanied by twelve companions, and founded the monasteries of Annegray, Luxeuil, and Fontaine. His adherence to the Irish rule for calculating Easter involved him in controversy with the French bishops about 602; and a few years later, the courage with which he rebuked the vices of the Burgundian court, led to his expulsion from France. Passing through Switzerland into Lombardy, he founded, in 612, the famous monastery of Robbio, in the Apennines, where he died on the 21st Nov., 615. His life, written within a century after his death, by Jonas, one of his successors in the abbacy of Bobbio, has been repeatedly printed. The writings of St. C., which are wholly in Latin, consist of a rule for the government of his monastery, a few poems, several letters on ecclesiastical affairs, and 16 short sermons. His monastic rule has been printed more than once; but the most complete edition of his works is in Fleming's Collectanea Sacra, published at Louvaine in 1667, and now of such rarity that a copy of it sells for about £35. Of the sermons of St. C., M. Guizot remarks, that "the flights of imagination, the pious transports, the rigorous application of principles, the warfare declared against all vain or hypocritical compromise, give to the words of the preacher that passionate authority which may not always and surely reform the soul of his hearers, but which dominates over them, and, for some time at least, exercises paramount sway over their conduct. and their life." The town of San Colombano, in Lombardy, takes its name from the Irish monk, as the town and canton of St. Gall (q.v.), in Switzerland, perpetuate the name of the most favored of his disciples. COLUMBARIUM (Lat.), a dove-cote or pigeon-house. When used in the singular, C. also signified a particular kind of sepulchral chamber used by the Romans to receive the ashes of bodies which had been burned. The name was derived from the chamber being surrounded by small niches or holes resembling the holes in a dove-cote (columbaria) in which the urns (olla) were deposited. Tombs of this description were chiefly used by great families for depositing the ashes of their slaves and dependents. Several of them are still to be seen at Rome. One, quite perfect (figured in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities), was discovered at the Villa Rufini, about 2 m. beyond the Porta Pia, in 1822. In each niche were two urns, with the names of the persons whose ashes they contained inscribed over them. COLUMBIA, a name long applied to the region to the w. of the Rocky mountains, comprehending the present state of Oregon, the territory of Washington, and British Columbia. COLUMBIA, DISTRICT OF. See DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. COLUMBIA, a co. in s.w. Arkansas, on the Louisiana border; 860 sq.m.; pop. 1880, 14,087-5499 colored. Has a level and fertile soil, producing corn, cotton, etc. Co. seat, Magnolia. COLUMBIA, a co. in n.e. Florida, on the Georgia border, bounded by the Suwannee and the Santa Fé rivers; 864 sq.m.; pop. 1880, 9589-4769 colored. Surface level and soil sandy; productions mainly agricultural. Co. seat, Lake City. COLUMBIA, a co. in e. Georgia, on the Savannah river and the South Carolina border, traversed by the Georgia railroad; 290 sq.m.; pop. 1880, 10,465-7440 colored. The surface is uneven; productions, agricultural. Co. seat, Appling. COLUMBIA, a co. in s.e. New York, e. of the Hudson river, on the border of Massachusetts, traversed by the New York Central and Hudson river, Boston and Albany, and the Hartford and Connecticut Western railroads; 620 sq.m.; pop. 1880, 47,925. The surface is varied, and the soil productive. There are warm springs at New Lebanon. The chief productions are rye, corn, oats, buckwheat, potatoes, hay. butter, wool, hops, and orchard fruits. Co. seat, Hudson. COLUMBIA, a co. in n. w. Oregon, bounded e. and n. by the Columbia river, which separates it from Washington; area, about 720 sq.m.; pop. 1880, 2042. Coal and iron are found. Co. seat, St. Helen. COLUMBIA, a co. in e, Pennsylvania, intersected by the Lackawanna and Bloomsburgh and the Catawissa railroads, and the North Branch canal; 375 sq.m.; pop. 1880, 32,408. Spurs of the Alleghany range make the surface hilly and mountainous, but the valleys are fertile. Iron ore and limestone are abundant. Productions chiefly agricultural. Co. seat, Bloomsburgh. COLUMBIA: co., Washington. See page 887. COLUMBIA, a co. in s. Wisconsin, intersected by the Wisconsin river, and crossed by the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul, and Wisconsin Central railroads; 751 sq.m.; Columbia. pop. 1880, 28,065. The surface is rolling or hilly, and the soil fertile, producing the usual farming crops. Co. seat, Portage. COLUMBIA, a village, the co. seat of Boone co., Mo., 115 m. w.n.w. of St. Louis, on a branch of the North Missouri railroad; pop. 1870, 2336-798 colored. The village is the seat of the state university. Pop. 1880, 3326. COLUMBIA, Ohio. See page 887. COLUMBIA, a city in Lancaster co., Penn.; on the Susquehanna, at the terminus of the e. division of the state canal, 80 m. w. of Philadelphia. It is the terminus of the Reading and Columbia branch of the Philadelphia and Reading railroad, and also is intersected by one division and two branches of the Pennsylvania railroad. Wrightsville, on the w. bank of the river, is connected by one of the longest bridges in the U. S. The place was founded in 1726 by English Quakers from Chester co., and was for many years called Wright's Ferry. In 1798 it was proposed to locate the capital of the U. S. here, and the measure failed of adoption by only one vote. In June, 1863, the original bridge was burned to prevent the confederate troops from marching on Philadelphia. The town is important as a market for lumber floated down the river. Its manufactures include boilers and engines, railroad iron, machinery, refined oil, flour, sawed lumber, malt liquors, etc. There are 3 banks, a public library, and a young ladies' seminary, and several newspapers are published. Pop. 1870, 2236; 1888 (est.), 9500. COLUMBIA, the capital of South Carolina, in Richland co., on the e. side of Congaree river, near the junction of the Broad and Saluda rivers, 137 m. n.w. of Charleston, and reached by three railroads; pop. 1880, 10,036-5698 colored. The river is navigable to this point. The city is handsomely laid out, and the surrounding views are very fine. There is a fine park, and the streets are well shaded. The state house, built of granite, occupies a commanding situation near the center of the city. The executive mansion and the city hall are also attractive buildings. The city is well supplied with water and gas, and has a very considerable manufacturing industry, owing to its abundant water-power, to the extensive forests in its vicinity, which supply its many saw-mills, and to the granite and clay found in or near the city limits. There are oil, cotton, sash and door factories, foundries, etc. ; 2 national and several savings banks. Among educational and other institutions are South Carolina university, founded in 1804, Smyth theological seminary (Presbyterian), a Methodist college for women, and the state normal school. The state insane asylum and penitentiary are located here. In the n.w. suburbs are the fair grounds of the S. C. agricultural and mechanical soc. In response to a demand for a more central place of government than Charleston, the legis lature, in 1786, ordered C. to be laid out, and in Jan., 1790, met there for the first time. At an early date, the navigation of the river was improved by the construction of canals around the falls. During the war of the rebellion, the old state house and its library of 25,000 volumes, a convent, several churches, the railroad depot, and a vast quantity of cotton were burned, but the city rapidly recovered its prosperity. COLUMBIA, a city in Maury co., Tenn., on Duck river, 38 m. s.w. of Nashville, on the Nashville and Decatur, Ďuck river narrow gauge, and Nashville and Florence railroads. It is the co. seat, and has 2 seminaries for young ladies, 2 national banks, 1 other bank, and manufactures of flour, furniture, carriages, ice, pumps, cotton, etc. Several newspapers are published. Pop. 1870, 2550; 1888, 5000. COLUMBIA, BRITISH, since 1871 a province of the Dominion of Canada, is divided into two parts-the mainland, commonly called British C.; and Vancouver's island (q.v.). These were formerly independent colonies, but were united in 1866. The total area of the province is estimated at 356,000 sq.m. As Vancouver's island is separately treated, the present article, as far as possible, will confine itself to an account of the mainland, which is situated in lat. 49° to 60° n., long. 114° to 138° w., and measures over 420 m. in breadth by 300 in length, its total area being estimated officially at 340,000 sq. miles. Its northern limit, as settled by act of Parliament in 1858, follows the Simpson river to the Pacific ocean on the w., and the Finlay, an affluent of the Peace, to the Rocky mountains on the east. Running parallel with the chain on the e. border, which itself rises, in Mt. Brown, to a height of 16,000 ft., two ranges divide the width of the country into three sections of drainage. In the e. are head-waters, which find opposite outlets in the estuaries of the Columbia and of the Mackenzie; through the entire middle and part of the e., the Fraser maintains a southerly course, till, at fort Hope, it is bent sharply to the right by a mountain barrier, so as to enter the gulf of Georgia barely within the international boundary ;* and lastly, across the w., a series of streams, generally meeting long and narrow inlets of the ocean, and terminating in the Skeena, which, with its upland reservoir, Babine lake, of 100 m. in length, is but little inferior to the Fraser itself. The principal harbors are Burrard inlet, on the gulf of Georgia, a few miles from New Westminster, and the chief port for the lumber trade: Howe sound, n. of Burrard inlet; Bute inlet, still further n.; Millbank sound, which will The decision of the German emperor (21st Oct., 1872) on the San Juan Boundary Question affirmed the accuracy of the American interpretation of the treaty of 1846, in virtue of which the boundary of the United States runs through the Haro channel, and the San Juan archipelago, lying between Vancouver's island and the mainland, and commanding the outlet to the Pacific, is assigned to the latter power. |