oma. When
first met by Europeans, they occupied the regions between the upper
waters of the Brazos and Colorado on the one hand, and the Arkansas and
Missouri on the other. Until their final surrender in 1875 the Comanches
were the terror of the Mexican and Texan frontiers, and were always
famed for their bravery. They were brought to nominal submission in 1783
by the Spanish general Anza, who killed thirty of their chiefs. During
the 19th century they were always raiding and fighting, but in 1867, to
the number of 2500, they agreed to go on a reservation. In 1872 a
portion of the tribe, the Quanhada or Staked Plain Comanches, had again
to be reduced by military measures.

COMAYAGUA, the capital of the department of Comayagua in central
Honduras, on the right bank of the river Ulua, and on the interoceanic
railway from Puerto Cortes to Fonseca Bay. Pop. (1900) about 8000.
Comayagua occupies part of a fertile valley, enclosed by mountain
ranges. Under Spanish rule it was a city of considerable size and
beauty, and in 1827 its inhabitants numbered more than 18,000. A fine
cathedral, dating from 1715, is the chief monument of its former
prosperity, for most of the handsome public buildings erected in the
colonial period have fallen into disrepair. The present city chiefly
consists of low adobe houses and cane huts, tenanted by Indians. The
university founded in 1678 has ceased to exist, but there is a school of
jurisprudence. In the neighbourhood are many ancient Indian ruins (see
CENTRAL AMERICA: _ARCHAEOLOGY_).

Founded in 1540 by Alonzo Caceres, who had been instructed by the
Spanish government to find a site for a city midway between the two
oceans, Valladolid la Nueva, as the town was first named, soon became
the capital of Honduras. It received the privileges of a city in 1557,
and was made an episcopal see in 1561. Its decline dates from 1827, when
it was burned by revolutionaries; and in 1854 its population had
dwindled to 2000. It afterwards suffered through war and rebellion,
notably in 1872 and 1873, when it was besieged by the Guatemalans. In
1880 Tegucigalpa (q.v.), a city 37 m. east-south-east, superseded it as
the capital of Honduras.

COMB (a word common in various forms to Teut. languages, cf. Ger.
_Kamm_, the Indo-Europ. origin of which is seen in [Greek: gomphos], a
peg or pin, and Sanskrit, _gambhas_, a tooth), a toothed article of the
toilet used for cleaning and arranging the hair, and