the
Venetians, which were accustomed to anchor in the port of the
neighbouring island of Standia. A short distance from St George's Gate
there was a small village exclusively inhabited by lepers, who numbered
about seventy families, but they have now been transported to
Spinalonga. The population of the town is estimated at from 15,000 to
18,000, about half being Mahommedan Greeks. The site of Candia, or, as
it was till lately locally known, Megalo castro (the Great Fortress),
has been supposed to correspond with that of the ancient _Heracleion_,
the seaport of Cnossus, and this appellation has now been officially
revived by its Greek inhabitants. The ruins of Cnossus are situated at
the distance of about 3 m. to the south-east at the village of
Makryteichos or Long Wall. Founded by the Saracens in the 9th century,
Candia was fortified by the Genoese in the 12th, and was greatly
extended and strengthened by the Venetians in the 13th, 14th and 15th
centuries. It was besieged by the Turks under the vizier Achmet in 1667;
and, in spite of a most heroic defence, in which the Venetians lost
30,000 in killed and wounded, it was forced to surrender in 1669. (See
also CRETE.)

CANDIDATE, one who offers himself or is selected by others for an office
or place, particularly one who puts up for election to parliament or to
any public body. The word is derived from the Latin _candidatus_, clad
in white (_candidus_). In Rome, candidates for election to the higher
magistracies appeared in the Campus Martius, the Forum and other public
places, during their canvass, in togas with the white of the natural
wool brightened by chalk.

CANDLE (Lat. _candela_, from _candere_, to glow), a cylindrical rod of
solid fatty or waxy matter, enclosing a central fibrous wick, and
designed to be burnt for giving light. The oldest materials employed for
making candles are beeswax and tallow, while among those of more recent
introduction are spermaceti, stearine and paraffin wax. Waxlights
(_cereus_, sc. _funis_) were known to the Romans. In the midlde ages wax
candles were little used, owing to their expense, except for the
ceremonies of the church and other religious purposes (see LIGHTS,
CEREMONIAL USE OF), but in the 15th century, with the cheapening of wax,
they began to find wider employment. The tallow candle, mentioned by
Apuleius as _sebaceus_, was long an article of domestic manufacture. The
tallow was melted and strained, and th