(Fr. coulisse, from couler, to slip down), is an assemblage of several large pieces of wood, joined across one another like a harrow, and each pointed with iron at the bottom. They are sometimes hung over the gateway of old fortified towns and castles, ready to be let down in the case of surprise, when the gates cannot be shut.

PORT ELIZABETH, a seaport-town of Cape Colony, South Africa, on the W. shore of Algoa Bay, 18 miles S.E. of Uitenhage. It contains churches belonging to Episcopalians, Wesleyans, Independents, and Roman Catholics; an arsenal, court-house, and jail. There is a harbour, which is, next to Cape Town, the most frequented in the colony, and a pier projecting 350 feet into the sea. The commerce of Port Elizabeth is great, and rapidly increasing. The number of ships that entered the harbour in 1855 was 163, tonnage 26,914; those that cleared 160, tonnage 26,045. The total value of the imports in the same year was L376,638, and that of the exports L584,447. Pop. upwards of 4000.