s have not under such circumstances become
rare, if not extinct, is owing to their extraordinary fecundity, the
female usually producing five or six young twice a year. They are docile
in disposition, and thus well fitted for domestication. The Peruvian
chinchilla (_C. brevicaudata_) is larger, with relatively shorter ears
and tail; while still larger species constitute the genus _Lagidium_,
ranging from the Andes to Patagonia, and distinguished by having four in
place of five front-toes, more pointed ears, and a somewhat differently
formed skull. (See also VISCACHA). (R. L.*)

CHINDE, a town of Portuguese East Africa, chief port for the Zambezi
valley and British Central Africa, at the mouth of the Chinde branch of
the Zambezi, in 18 deg. 40' S., 36 deg. 30' E. Pop. (1907) 2790, of whom
218 were Europeans. Large steamers are unable to cross the bar, over which
the depth of water varies from 10 to 18 ft. Chinde owes its existence to
the discovery in 1889 that the branch of the river on the banks of which
it is built is navigable from the ocean (see ZAMBEZI). The Portuguese in
1891 granted on lease for 99 years an area of 5 acres--subsequently
increased to 25--to the British government, on which goods in transit to
British possessions could be stored duty free. This block of land is
known as the British Concession, or British Chinde. The prosperity of
the town largely depends on the transit trade with Nyasaland and North
East Rhodesia. There is also a considerable export from Portuguese
districts, sugar, cotton and ground nuts being largely cultivated in the
Zambezi valley, and gold and copper mines worked.

CHINDWIN, a river of Burma, the largest tributary of the Irrawaddy, its
entire course being in Burmese territory. It is called Ningthi by the
Manipuris. The Chindwin is formed by the junction of the Tanai, the
Tawan and the Taron or Turong, but it is still uncertain which is the
main stream. The Tanai has hitherto been looked on as the chief source.
It rises in about 25 deg. 30' N. and 97 deg. E., on the Shwedaung-gyi peak
of the Kumon range, 12 m. N. of Mogaung, and flows due N. for the first
part of its course until it reaches the Hukawng valley, when it turns to
the W. and flows through the middle of the plain to the end of the
valley proper. There it curves round to the S., passes through the Taron
or Turong valley, takes the name of the Chindwin, and maintains a
general southerly course until it e