0 one company of carabiniers was
maintained in each regiment of cavalry. Their duties were analogous to
those of grenadiers in infantry regiments--scouting, detached work, and,
in general, all duties requiring special activity and address. They
fought mounted and dismounted alike, and even took part in siege warfare
in the trenches. At the battle of Neerwinden in 1693 all the carabinier
companies present were united in one body, and after the action Louis
XIV. consolidated them into a permanent regiment with the name Royal
Carabiniers. This was one of the old regiments which survived the French
Revolution, at which time the title was changed to "horse grenadiers";
it is represented in the French army of to-day by the 11th Cuirassiers.
The carabiniers (6th Dragoon Guards) of the British army date from 1685,
and received the title from being armed with the carabine in 1692.
Regimentally therefore they were one year senior to the French regiment
of Royal Carabiniers, and as a matter of fact they took part as a
regiment in the battle of Neerwinden. Up to 1745 their title was "The
King's Carabiniers"; from 1745 to 1788 they were called the 3rd Irish
Horse, and from 1788 they have borne their present title. In the German
army, one carabinier regiment alone (2nd Saxon Reiter regiment) remains
of the cavalry corps which formerly in various states bore the title. In
Italy the gendarmerie are called _carabinieri_.

CARABOBO, the smallest of the thirteen states of Venezuela, bounded N.
by the Caribbean Sea, E. by the state of Aragua, S. by Zamora and W. by
Lara. Its area is 2985 sq. m., and its population, according to an
official estimate of 1905, is 221,891. The greater part of its surface
is mountainous with moderately elevated valleys of great fertility and
productiveness, but south of the Cordillera there are extensive grassy
plains conterminous with those of Guarico and Zamora, on which large
herds of cattle are pastured. The principal products of the state are
cattle, hides and cheese from the southern plains, coffee and cereals
from the higher valleys, sugar and aguardiente from the lower valleys
about Lake Valencia, and cacao, coco-nuts and coco-nut fibre from the
coast. Various minerals are also found in its south-west districts,
about Nirgua. The capital is Valencia, and its principal towns are
Puerto Cabello, Montalban (estimated pop. in 1904 7500), 30 m. W.S.W. of
Valencia; Nirgua (pop. in 1891 8394), an importan