CREOLE

[s. 218] : Name applied to people born in or near the West Indies of foreign, and especially When applied of Spanish or French, ancestry. to negroes the term means that they are born in the country, as distinguished from those imported from Africa. The European Creoles are generThey are ally tall but not proportionally robust. distinguished for the supplene of their joints, which enables them to move with ease, agility, and grace. From the same cause they excel in Een man ship, and in everything requiring flex i The women are generally ility of movement. The Creole negroes beautiful, and of fine figure. present a marked distinction from those imported from Africa, being more slender, agile, and graceful, tho not le strong or capable of labor, with quicker perceptions and more volatile dispositions. The dialects which have sprung up in the W. I. and adjacent regions, formed by the corruption of Spanish, French, and English, are generally called Creole dialects. CRETE, or CANDIA An island in the Mediterranean Sea, belonging to Turkey. It is very irregular in form, about 160 miles long, and varying in breadth from 6 to 35 miles, with a total area of 3,326 square miles. Its population is The predominating religion is (1900) 303,543. that of the Greek Church (Orthodox). About ten per cent, of the population are Mohammedans and there are a few Jews in the island. The language is Greek (modern). The BFBS has an agent on the island, but there are no other Protestant mi ions there. Until the year 1899 Crete was a province of the Turkish Empire. At that date four European powers intervened to end a continuous state of insurrection and made the island an autonomous state under a high commi ioner of the powers, altho nominally still subject to the suzerainty of the Sultan. 218