CUTCH, GULF OF, an inlet of the sea on the coast of western India. It lies between the peninsula of Kathiawar and that of Cutch, leading into the Runn of Cutch.
CUTCH, RUNN OF, or Rann of Kach, a salt morass on the western coast of India in the native state of Cutch. From May to October it is flooded with salt water and communicates, at its greatest extent, with the Gulf of Cutch on the west and the Gulf of Cambay on the east, these two gulfs being united during the monsoon. It varies in breadth from five to eighty miles across, and during the rains is nearly impassable for horsemen. The total area of this immense morass is estimated at about 8000 sq. m., without including any portion of the Gulf of Cutch, which is in parts so shallow as to resemble a marshy fen rather than an arm of the sea. The Runn is said to be formed by the overflow of the rivers Pharan, Luni, Banas and others, during the monsoon; but in December it is quite dry, and in most places hard, but in some moist and muddy. The soil is impregnated with salt, and the Runn is an important source for the supply of salt. The present condition of the Runn is probably the result of some natural convulsion, but the exact method of its formation is disputed. The wild ass is very common on the borders of this lake, being seen in herds of 60 or 70 together.
CUTHBERT, SAINT (d. 687), bishop of Lindisfarne, was probably a Northumbrian by birth. According to the extant Lives he was led to take the monastic vows by a vision at the death of bishop Aidan, and the date of his entry at Melrose would be 651. At this time Eata was abbot there, and Boisel, who is mentioned as his instructor, prior, in which office Cuthbert succeeded him about 661, having previously spent some time at the monastery of Ripon with Eata. Bede gives a glowing picture of his missionary zeal at Melrose, but in 664 he was transferred to act as prior at Lindisfarne. In 676 he became an anchorite on the island of Farne, and it is said that he performed miracles there. In 684 at the council of Twyford in Northumberland, Ecgfrith, king of Northumbria, prevailed upon him to give up his solitary life and become a bishop. He was consecrated at York in the following year as bishop of Hexham, but afterwards he exchanged his see with Eata for that of Lindisfarne. In 687 he retired to Farne, and died on the island on the 20th of March 687, the same day as his friend Hereberht, the anchorite of Derwentwater. He was buried in the island of Lindisfarne, but his remains were afterwards deposited at Chester-le-Street, and then at Durham.
Another Cuthbert was bishop of Hereford from 736 to about 740, and archbishop of Canterbury from the latter date until his death in October 758.
There are several lives of St Cuthbert, the best of which is the prose life by Bede, which is published in Bede’s Opera, edited by J. Stevenson (1841). See also C. Eyre, The History of St Cuthbert (1887); and J. Raine, St Cuthbert (1828).
CUTLASS, the naval side-arm, a short cutting sword with a slightly curved blade, and a solid basket-shaped guard (see [Sword]). The word is derived from the Fr. coutelas, or coutelace, a form of coutel, modern couteau, a knife, from Lat. cultellus, diminutive of culter, a ploughshare, or cutting instrument. Two variations appear in English: “curtelace,” where the r represents probably the l of the original Latin word, or is a further variant of the second variation; and “curtelaxe,” often spelled as two words, “curtal axe,” where the prefix curtal is confused with various English words such as “curtan,” “curtal” and “curtail,” which all mean “shortened,” and are derived from the Lat. curtus; the word thus wrongly derived has been supposed to refer to some non-existent form of battle-axe. In every case the weapon to which these various forms apply is a broad cutting or slashing sword.