CHESTER-LE-STREET, a market-town of England in the county of Durham, near the River Wear, six miles north of Durham, on the North-Eastern Railway. The principal building is the parish church of St Mary and St Cuthbert, an interesting old Gothic structure, restored in 1862, with a tower 156 feet in height. There is a union workhouse at the south end of the town, which con sists of two long parallel streets. Chester-] e-Street is a place of considerable antiquity ; under the name of Cuneceastre, it was made the see of a bishop in 882, and continued to be the head of the diocese till the Danish invasion of 995. During that time the church was the repository of the shrine of St Cuthbert, which was then removed to Durham. About a mile along the river is Lumley Castle, the seat of the earl of Scarborough, and about two miles to the northward lies Lambton Castle, the residence of the earl of Durham, built in 1797 on the site of the old House of Harraton. The iron manufacture is prosecuted to a considerable extent, and about 4000 persons are employed in the coal mines of the neighbourhood. In 1871 the population of the town was 2450, and of the township, 4205.
CHESTNUT. The Spanish or Sweet Chestnut, Castanea vesca (natural order, Corylacece), is a stately and magnificent tree, native of the countries bordering on the Mediterranean, but also ripening its fruit in sheltered situations as far north as Scotland. It lives very long, attains a large size, spreading its branches widely, and it lias large lanceolate serrate leaves, long pendulous male catkins, with fewer in conspicuous female flowers, the fruit being an echinate cap sule, containing from two to five nuts, of which seldom more than three are mature. The largest known chestnut tree is the famous Castayno di cento cavalli, or the chestnut of a hundred horses, on the slopes of Mount Etna, a tree which when measured nearly a hundred years ago, by Count Borch, was found to have a circumference of 190 feet. By many observers it has been maintained that this colossal tree consisted of a fusion of several trunks ; but many specimens not much smaller exist in the neighbourhood, and by digging around it has been found that all the trunks end in one root. The wood of the sweet chestnut is valued by cabinet-makers and coopers ; and among European timbers it was at one time esteemed second to the oak, which it so closely resembles that in old wood-work the two timbers are very difficult to distinguish. Chestnuts (the fruit of the tree) are extensively imported into Great Britain, and roasted are much eaten as a delicacy. In a raw state they have a sweet taste, but are difficult of digestion. The trees are very abundant in the south of Europe, and chestnuts bulk largely in the food re sources of the poor in Spain, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany. In Italy the kernels are ground into meal, and used for thickening soups, and even for bread-making. In North America, the fruits of an allied species, C. americana, are similarly eaten.
The Horse Chestnut, jEsculus Hippocasfanum, is in no way allied to the sweet chestnut except in name. It is a strikingly beautiful tree, especially in spring, with its large digitate leaves, and conspicuous spikes of white flowers. A useful starch may be extracted from its kernels, but this has not hitherto been practised on an economic basis. The entire tree must be regarded as more ornamental than useful.
CHEVIOT HILLS, a range extending a distance of about 35 miles along the confines of England and Scotland, mainly situated in Northumberland, but partly also in Roxburgh. The western portion consists principally of carboniferous strata, while the eastern is chiefly composed of igneous rocks. They attain their greatest height, of 2684 feet, in Cheviot Peak, which lies eight miles south west of Wooler, in Northumberland ; and next in elevation is Carter Fell, which slightly exceeds 2000 feet. The range is now chiefly famous for a valuable breed of sheep, which find abundant pasture on its smooth declivities ; but in earlier days it was the scene of many an episode of border warfare, and its name is inseparably associated with the ballad of Chevy Chase.
CHÉZY, Antoine Léonard (1773-1832), a French orientalist, was born at Neuilly in 1773. He was intended by his father for the profession of engineering ; but his taste was for philology ; and in 1790 he sought and obtained a post in the Oriental department of the national library. About 1803 he commenced the study of Sanskrit, though he possessed neither grammar nor dictionary, and, by means of great labour, he obtained so complete a knowledge of the language that he composed in it verses which are said to possess great elegance. He had besides a considerable acquaintance with other Eastern languages ; and his attainments place him in a high rank among Orientalists. His merits were recognized by his appoint ment to the chair of Sanskrit in the College de France, in 1803, and to the dignity of chevalier of the legion of honour
Among other works lie left Extrait du livrc dcs Mcrveilles de la Nature, par Mohammed; Medjouin et Leila, from the Persian ; Yailjanadatta Badha, and Sakmintala, from the Sanskrit ; L Antho- logie trotique d Amrou; Grammaire sanscrite; Vocabulaire sans- crit, pracrit, et franyais; Chrcstomathie pcrsannc; Chrcstomalhie sanscrite.
CHHATISGARH, a division or commissionership of British India, under the jurisdiction of the chief-commis sioner of the Central Provinces, comprising the districts of Raipur. Bilaspur, and Sambalpur, and seven small feudatory states, between 16 50 and 23 10 N. lat., and between 80 30 and 83 15 E. long. It is bounded on the N. by Sohagpur in the Rewah state and by the Sirguja and Udaipur states of Chutia Nagpur; on the E. by the Orissa tributary states and the northern districts of Madras ; on the S. by the Bastar state of the Central Provinces ; and on the W. by the districts of Chanda, Bhandara, Balaghat, Seoni, and Mandla. The area is 39,647 square miles ; the population in 1872 was 3,289,043, residing in 16,054 villages or town ships, and in 726,190 houses. Classified according to reli gion there are 2,054,874 Hindus, or 62-48 per cent. ; 26,046 Muhammadans ; 243 Buddhists and Jains; 451 Christians ; and of aboriginal tribes and persons of unspe cified religion, 1,207,429, or 36 - 72 per cent. Two great rivers, the Nerbudda and Son, take their rise at the side of the Amarkantak hill in the north-west corner of the divi sion, the former flowing nearly due west to the Bombay coast, the latter ultimately falling into the Ganges in Lower Bengal.
budda division of the Central Provinces, situated between 21 25 and 22 50 N lat., and between 78 and 79 30 E. long. It is bounded on the N. by the districts of Hoshangabad and Narsinhpur, on the E. by Seoni, on the S. by Ndgpur, and on the VV. by Betul, and contains an area of 3852 square miles. The district has two distinct natural subdivisions the hill country above the slopes of the Satpura Mountains, called the Balaghat, and a tract of low land to the south called the Zerghat. The high table land of the Balaghat lies for the most part upon the great basaltic formation which stretches across the Satpuras as far east as Jabalpur. The country consists of a regular succession of hills and fertile valleys, formed by the small ranges which cross its surface east and west. The average height of the uplands is 2500 feet, but there are many points of greater elevation. The appearance of the Zerghat
below the hills is generally open and undulating. The