PACIFIC OCEAK. 



ru.M. 



I part of the South Equatorial Current Menu to pan by New 

 Ohva and into th Indian Ocean. The louthem part linking 

 MfaM* AwtnlU by MorHon Bar, U diverted southward and form* 

 what ha* ben ealM the Australian Current It *wee|M round the 

 wulli eartsra oeaM of Anatralia at the rate of one to two mile* an hour, 

 bat at tb southern extremity of UM ooaat turns east to the inland 

 of New Zealand, which again turn* it to the north. It thu* appear* 

 to route between New Zealand and Australia, maintaining a high 

 temperature, while the interspace, in which no distinct current u 

 found. U the favourite middle ground ' of the whaler* of Aiwtrali i 

 ami New Zealand. On the aouth of Van Dietnen'a Land ia a warm 

 drift current, which appear* to be a connecting current between the 

 Pacific and Indian Oceans, correponding to the Southern connecting 

 current of the Atlantic. 



The northern branch nf the Equatorial Current, or a* it u more 

 correctly called the Northern Equatorial Current, hag its northern 

 limit about 24' N. lat At iU eastern extremity it U comparatively 

 weak, but, like the Southern Equatorial Currrnt, strengthen* as it 

 proceed* weat; ita greatest Telocity appear* to be on it> southern 

 border. At it* wwtem extremity the Philippine Islands form an im- 

 penetrable obstacle, and it turn* with considerable strength to the 

 north. In thi* direction it iweep* along the Japan Island* at the rate 

 of from two to four mile* an hour, receiving the name of the Japanese 

 Current. It thence proceed* past the Kurile Islands, where a portion 

 of it Mom* to make it* way into the nea of Okhotsk, and a somewhat 

 larger portion paues into the Sea of Kanitchatka, and with consider- 

 able Telocity through Bent-ing's Strait ; but the main body proceed* 

 eastward to the north-weit coast of North America, by which it is 

 tnrne.1 routhward, and passes along the coasts of Washington, Oregon, 

 and California, to about 80 N. lat, where it turns westward and 

 rejoin* the North Equatorial Current The fact of the North Equa- 

 torial being a revolving and re-entering current was first established 

 by Mr. Kindlny in 1852, though indications of it had been long before 

 nude by scientific geographers and navigators of Europe and America. 

 The (till central space around which this Northern Equatorial 

 current flows form* the great North Pacific whaling ground, corres- 

 ponding to the smaller whaling ground between Australia and New 

 Zealand, around which the Australian current revolves. A narrow 

 current, called the Mexican Coast Current, runs southward along the 

 coast* of Mexico and Central America from California, while as it 

 approaches PanamA a counter-current runs northward closer in-shore ; 

 these appear to be currents connecting the Japanese and Peruvian 

 currents, but there is a good deal of confusion and obscurity in 

 relation to the currents about the Bay of Panama. We must not 

 overlook a current which is set down in tlie maps of Berghaus, &c., 

 outside the Peruvian Current, about 25" N. lat, 80" W. long. It U 

 called Mentor's Counter Drift Current, from the Prussian vessel by 

 whose commander it was observed ; but its existence does not appear 

 to have been corroborated by subsequent navigators, and it may have 

 been only a temporary drift caused by transient circumstances. 



Another great current whose existence has only recently been 

 established, is the Equatorial Counter Current, a great belt of water 

 moving with coneid- rable velocity in an easterly direction across the 

 entire breadth of the Pacific, and occupiug the region of the equa- 

 torial calms between 5 and 9" or 10 N. lat. This current traverses 

 from east to west the middle of the broad space appropriated to the 

 On at Equatorial Current, and, as already mentioned, divides it into a 

 northern and a southern current, between which it flows in a direction 

 opposite to both. It* velocity is greatest at ita eastern end, towards 

 which it ha* been found to be from two to three miles an hour. 



Of the progress of the tidal-wave of the Pacific, our knowledge is 

 but impeifect. According to Dr. Whewell its general direction is 

 from east to west, but its heights are small. Ue traces it along the 

 western coast of America from Acapulco southward along houth 

 America to Cape Horn ; and again northward from Acapulco along 

 the coast of North America, and thence westward by the Aleutian 

 Archipelago to Kamtchatka. 



The warmth equator, or line of greatest heat of the water of the 

 Pacific, is by no means coincident with the terrestrial equator, being 

 north of it east of 160 W. long., and south of it west of that 

 meridian. On this line the minimum heat, 81 7', occurs between the 

 Oalapagos and Sandwich Islands ; and the maximum, 88 5' at New 

 Guinea. The current which set* northward through Behring's Strait 

 prevent* the ice of the Arctic Polar Sea from passing southward into 

 the Kamtchatka Sea, On the opposite side the floating masses of ice 

 of the Antarctic Polar Sea are frequently met with toward* the 

 American coast between 60 and 60 N. lat, 140 and 200 W. long., 

 and even north of 50' N. lat Farther went, in the sea south of 

 Australia, it i* rappowd that ice never passes beyond 60 S. lat 



,aya of Cook, Flinders, Basil Hall, Kotzebue, Krusensteru, 

 Beechej, Kitzroy and Dsrwin, Wiike*, belcher, Teaaan, Du IVtit 

 Thi>uan, Lartigue, Ac. ; Humboldt, Kttai 1'ulitiquc tur la Nouvellt 

 Etyaynt ; Meven, Ittitt om die Writ; Kruscimtern, Allot tie I'Offan 

 Pa'ijt'fue ; Duperrry, C'arlt d Hu*rtmrnt da A'u u.r A la turf ace <lc 

 la Mtr daft it I fraud Otto* ; JtSerj aad Hoe, (ieueral Chart of Terra 

 Aiutralu; Pkyncal AHiun / Ucrghaus, Johnston, and Pctermauu ; 

 Kmdlay, in Journal of Utograpkical -SeiWy, vol. xxiii. ; Usury, Jnrctti- 

 yatwtit of the Wind* and Current* q/ tkt Sea ; aud Krpianaiunu and 



Sorting IHrtctiom to Accompany the Wind and Current Chart* ittunt 

 by Ike United Statet' Hydrographie Department, 1854; Admiralty 

 Manual ; and Sailing Direction* for South America, Ac.) 



1'ACKINUTON. [LBicESTBRSHreE.] 



PACTOLUa [LlDiA.] 



PACY. [EuRB.] 



PADANG. fSUMATBA.1 

 PADA8JARVIZ KOUSOMA. 

 PADDISOTON. [LoMi>ow.] 



I'AI'KlUiUKX. [MlSDBK.] 



PADIHAM. [LANCASHIRE.] 



PA'DOVA, one of the Venetian provinces of Austrian Italy, is 

 bounded N. by Treviso, E. by Venice, S. by Kovigo, and \V. by 

 Vieeuza and Verona. The province consists almost entirely of a plain 

 crossed by the rivers Brenta, Baccbiglione, Oorzoue, aud others, and 

 sloping to the eastward towards the lagoons of Veniiv. The Adige 

 forms the southern boundary of the province, and divides it from MM 

 province of Kovigo. The length of the province is about 40 miles 

 from north to south, and its greatest breadth is about 30 mile-*, 

 but in places it does not exceed 1 5 miles. The area is 831 square 

 miles. The population is 312,765. The province of Padova is the 

 moat fertile and the most densely peopled of the Venetian provinces. 

 It is divided into 12 districts, which contain 103 communes. A 

 number of canals, some for navigation and others for irrigation, inter- 

 sect tho province, which produces wheat, Indian corn, puUn, oil, wine, 

 flax, hemp, chestnut*, potatoes, fruits, and hay. The other products 

 of the country are live stock, silk, wool, wax, and honey. The manu- 

 factories are few, and consist chiefly of tanneries, silk spinneries, 

 woollen cloth, and hats. 



The principal towns are the following : PADOVA; Esie, a town of 

 about 8000 inhabitants, has given name to an illustrious sovereign 

 family ; Montagnana, with about 8000 inhabitant--, ban gome tanneries 

 and hat manufactories; Alja.no, with 3000 inhabitant*, ia not 

 ita mineral waters; Battaylia ia also frequented for its mineral 

 springs. Near Battaglia is the village of Arquii, where Petrarch died. 



PA'DOVA (called by the English Padua), the chief city of the 

 province of Padova in Austrian Italy, is situated in a fertile plain, in 

 45" 25' N. lat, 11 55' E. long., 21 miles by railway W. by S. from 

 Venice. The river Bacchiglioue flows by its walls. Padova is fortified 

 with walls, ditches, and bastions, and is above (! mile* in circumference ; 

 but it is thinly inhabited, the population not exceeding 50,000. Most 

 of the street*, especially in the old part of the town, are narrow and 

 lined with arcades ; it has however some fine squares and handsome 

 gates. The principal buildings are the cathedral, begun in the 12th 

 century, and having a fine baptistery ; the episcopal palace ; thu 

 churches of Sant' Antonio, Santa Qiustins, Santa (.'nice, the church of 

 the Eremetaui, and many others, adorned with fine paintings and 

 sculptures ; the university, containing an anatomical theatre, a cabinet 

 of natural history, an observatory, and a library of 70,000 volumes ; 

 several colleges ; the palace del Capitanio ; the palace Qiuntiniuni, the 

 Caffd Pedrocchi, one of the most splendid coffee-houses and assembly- 

 rooms in Europe ; and the court-house or palace of justice (originally 

 called the Palace of Keason), a vast structure, of which the great hall 

 measures 300 feet long, 100 feet wide, and 100 feet high. Thu botanical 

 garden and the Prato della Valle, or public promenade, are adorned 

 with numerous statues. Among the antiquities none are prized more 

 highly than the so-called monuments of Anteuor (the fabled founder 

 of the city) and Livy the hi-torian. 



Pataviuin, on the site of which Padova stands, was considered 

 in Roman times one of the oldest towns of Italy. At the fall of 

 the Roman empire, it was destroyed by Attila, and the inhabitant* 

 removed to the islands in the lagoons, where they founded Venice. 

 Patavium was rebuilt by Norses, ravaged by the Longobards, and 

 restored by Charlemagne. It afterwards governed itself for a long 

 time as a free municipality with its consuls and podestas. In the 

 13th century Ezzeliuo da Romauo usurped the sovereign power, but 

 after his death the Paduaus not only regained their freedom, but 

 extended their authority over several adjacent provinces. Soon after 

 the Carrara became lords of Padova, until HOG, when Venice took it 

 by force and united it to its territory. 



PADRIES. [ScMATiiA.] 



PADSTOW. [CuuNVALL.] 



PADUA. [PADOVA.] 



PADUCAH. [KKNTDCKT.] 



P.JSSTUM, POSEIDO'NIA, an ancient town of Lucania, about 4 

 miles S.E. from the mouth of the Silarua, near the coast of the Unit' 

 of Prostum, now the Qulf of Salerno. The surrounding country, 

 which is low and marshy, lies between the sea aud an offset of Mount 

 Alburnus, which divides it from the valley of the Calore, an affluent 

 of the Silarus. The sulphureous springs which are in the neighbour- 

 hood form stagnant pools, and a stream, called Fiume Salso, which 

 flows past the walla of Pamtum, by overflowing the low grounds odds 

 to the uuwholesomeness of the atmosphere. The remains of I'aostiim 

 arc about 25 miles S.S.E. from the town of Salerno; they consist of 

 the town walls, two fine doric temples, another building, and a small 

 amphitheatre. 



The origin of Pastum is involved in obscurity. According to 

 Solinns it was a colony of the Dorians ; others say that it was firat a 



