177 



PITCAITHLY. 



PLYMOUTH. 



178 



by the accounts he had heard of them, arrived at Pitcairn, and was 

 engaged by Adams as schoolmaster. After Adams' death, Mr. Nobbs 

 continued to act as teacher and chaplain. In 1S52, by the kinduess 

 of Admiral Moresby, he was enabled to visit England. After receiving 

 ordination from the Bishop of London, and obtaining an interview 

 with the Queen, he returned to Pitcairn. The Admiral's chaplain, who 

 remained on the island in the absence of Mr. Nobbs, writes under 

 date of September 5th 1852, as follows : " The accounts of the virtue 

 and piety of these people are by no means exaggerated : I have no 

 doubt they are the most religious and virtuous community in the 

 world ; and during the months I have been here, I have seen nothing 

 approaching a quarrel, but perfect peace and good-will among all." 



(Murray, Rev. E., Pitcairn: London, 1S53.) 



PITCAITHLY. [PERTHSHIRE.] 



PITEA. [BOTHNIA.] 



PITHIVIEKS. [LOIBET.] 



PITTENWKEM. [FIFESHIRE.] 



PITTSBURG. [PENNSYLVANIA.] 



PITTSFIELD. [MASSACHUSETTS.] 



PITU. [MEXICO.] 



PITYUSAL [BALEARIC ISLANDS.] 



PIZZIOHETTONE. [CRSKOHA.] 



PIZZO. [CALABRIA.] 



1'IZZOLI. [ABRCZZO.] 



PLABENNEC. [FINISTERE.] 



PLACENCIA. [ESTREMADURA, Spanish.] 



PLACENTIA. [PIACENZA.] 



I';.A(JKHVILLE. [CALIFORNIA.] 



PLAISTOW. [ESSEX.] 



PLATA, 1110 1)1", LA, is the name applied to the wide actuary 

 formed by the confluence of the rivers Parand and Uruguay, in South j 

 America. Where the Rio de la Plata enters the sea, between Punta 

 '! aud Cape San Antonio, ita width is about 130 miles; and 

 between Punta de las Pedras and the Barrancas de Santa Lucia above 

 Monte Video, it is still 53 miles wide ; but above these places the 

 shores gradually approach nearer, and opposite Colonia they are only 

 20 miles apart ; this width continues to the confluence of the two 

 Urge riven which fall into it. The Rio de la Plata is very shallow ; 

 at its month it is only 10 fathoms deep on an average, and this depth 

 gradually decreases. Between Monte Video and Buenos Ayres the 

 average depth is not more than 3 fathoms ; but vessels drawing 

 16 feet of water can, except when the water is very low, ascend the 

 Parand as high as San Juan (30 30' S. lat), and those drawing 12 feet 

 can go up to Corrientes (27 30' 3. lat). The deep part of the Plata 

 opposite Buenos Ayres, called the outer reads, is from 7 to S miles 

 from that town ; and between the outer and the inner roads there is a 

 sand-bank. Smaller vessels anchor in the inner roads, at from one to 

 two miles from the shore. The navigation of the Rio de la Plata is 

 very difficult, owing to the dangerous shoals, the strong and irregular 

 currents, and the sudden tempests to which it is subject. The strength 

 and irregularity of the currents are easily accounted for, when it is 

 considered that the larger of the two tributaries, the Parana^ rues 

 within the tropics, and during the rainy season brings down an 

 immense volume of water, and that the wide expanse of the mstuary, 

 being bounded either by low and level or very slightly elevated ground, 

 is subject to be influenced by every strong wind which drives a great 

 volume of water to the point of the compass opposite to that from 

 which it blows. The ' pamperos,' or south-western gales, which fre- 

 quently blow with inconceivable fury, cause very remarkable fluctua- 

 tions in the depth of water. The extremely difficult and dangerous 

 navigation of this actuary has obtained for it the designation of El 

 Infierno de los Marineros; but Captain Kitzroy mentions as very 

 redeeming qualities, that it affords ancboring-ground everywhere, and 

 soundings where the indications are certain if the vessel is approaching 

 danger. Little or no tide has been hitherto noticed in this wide ex- 

 panse of water, but Captain Fitzroy thinks that " this anomaly may 

 be more apparent than real ; for where the depth of water is so fluc- 

 tuating, and the currents are so variable, it is difficult to distinguish 

 the precise effect of tides, except by a series of observations far longer 

 than has yet been made." Mr. Darwin, when off the coast, noticed 

 the slowness with which the waters of the Rio de la Plata mingled 

 with those of the sea ; the muddy and discoloured river-water, from 

 it* less specific gravity, floating for a great distance on the surface of 

 the nail-water, and producing a very singular effect where the vessel 

 crossed it Other observers have found that the current occasioned 

 by the discharge of the Plata preserves an easterly direction, and is 

 till found to nave a velocity of a mile an hour, and a breadth of more 

 than 800 miles, at a distance of not less than COO miles from the 

 month of the river. (S.ibine, ' Notes to Hnmboldt's Cosmos.') The 

 vaot body of water which issues from the Plata may be readily con- 

 ceived when it is stated that the basin drained by the rivers which 

 flow into it is estimated at 1,200,000 square miles. 



Through the Rio de la Plata the commercial produce of about one- 



>uth America is brought to the market of the world. It 



is therefore a great advantage to the countries from which the actuary 



Plata receives its water*, that the rivers which flow into it offer 



less obstruction to navigation than in usual in large streams. The 



' of these rivers, the Paranii, as already" mentioned, is navigable 



Otoo. wv. VOL. iv. 



for vessels drawing 12 feet of water as far as Corrientes, a distance of 

 800 miles from its mouth. The Rio Paraguay, the largest affluent of 

 the Parana 1 , may be navigated by large boats more than 1000 miles 

 above its confluence with the Parani The Rio Vermejo, another 

 affluent of the Paraguay, is navigable up to the confluence of its two 

 principal branches, the Lavayen and Rio de Tarija, a distance of more 

 than 400 miles. The Salado, which joins the Parana^ in its lower 

 course, is navigable to the town of Matara, 350 miles from the month 

 of the river. The navigation of the Uruguay is obstructed by two 

 cataracts, which occur about ISO miles above its mouth. 



(Fitzroy and King, Surveying Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle ; 

 Parish, Buenos Ayres and the Provinces of the Rio de la Plata; Iguaeio 

 Xufiez, Account of the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata ; 

 Mackinnon, Steam Warfare on the Parana.) 



PLATA, LA, States of. [ARGENTINE CONFEDERATION.] 



1'LAT.EA, or PLAT^E^E, was a city of Boootia under the ridso of 

 Mount Cithaeron, about 60 stadia, or rather more than 7 miles, S.W. 

 from Thebes. The river Asopus ran between, at nearly an equal dis- 

 tance from each. Platcea, in order to escape being subjugated by 

 Thebes, allied herself with Athens (B.C. 519). The Platteaus were the 

 allies of Athens at the battles of Marathon, Artemisium, aud Plattea 

 (B.C. 479), when the rest of the Boeotians joined the Persians, aud also 

 in the Peloponnesian War. One of the most remarkable events of the 

 Peloponnesian War was the siege of Platsea by the Lacedaemonians. 

 The inhabitants held out to the last extremity, aud on their surrender 

 were put to death by the Lacedemonians to the number of 200, the 

 rest having escaped by a sortie iu the night. The Thebaus (B.C. 427) 

 afterwards razed the city to the ground. The citizens were restored 

 (B.C. 386) after the peace of Antalcidas. The town was however again 

 destroyed by the Tuebans u c. 374. The Platajaus were again restored 

 to their city sixty yeara after their last expulsion by the Thebans. 

 (Clinton's ' Fast. Hell.') 



PLATTSBURG. [NEW YORK.] 



PLAUEN, one of the most considerable manufacturing .towns in 

 the kingdom of Saxony, is situated in a beautiful valley on the banks 

 of the White Elster, 74 miles by railway S. from Leipzig, and the 

 same distance S.W. from Dresden. It is in part well built, and has 

 about 10,000 inhabitants. Among the public buildings there are two 

 churche", a royal palace, a lyceum, a training school, two hospitals, and 

 two orphan asylums. The industrial products nre muslins and other 

 cotton goods, hosiery, net-lace, bobbin-net, gauze, oil-cloth, buttons, 

 and distilled spirits. Plauen is the chief town of the Saxon Voigtland. 



PLEASLEY. [DERBYSHIRE,] 



PLEIXE-FOUGERES. [ILLE-ET-VILAINE.] 



PLELAN-LE-GRAND. [ILLE-ET-VILAINE.] 



PLENCIA. [BASQUB PROVINCES.] 



FLESHY. [ESSEX.] 



PLESKOW. [PSKOW.] 



PLESTIN. [CdTES-Du-NoRD.] 



PLEYBEN. [FixiarKRB.] 



PLIN'LIMMON. [CARDIGANSHIRE ; MONMOUTHSHIRE.] 



FLOCK, the capital of the Russian government of Plock, is situated 

 on the Vistula, about 50 miles N.W. from Warsaw. It has about 8000 

 inhabitants, of whom 3000 are Jews. Plock gives a title to a Roman 

 Catholic bishop, who resides at Pultusk. There are in the town 

 1 1 churches, 5 convents, an episcopal palace, a Piorist gymnasium, a 

 seminary of secular priests, an orphan house, a lunatic asylum, a lite- 

 rary society, &c. The inhabitants subsist partly by agriculture and 

 partly by a brisk trade in corn with Danzig and other places. The 

 government of Plock is noticed in the article POLAND. 



PLOERMEL. [MORBIIIAS.] 



PL(EUC. [C6TES-DU-NORD.] 



PLOEZEL. [COTES-DU-NORD.] 



PLOMESGATE, a hundred in the county of Suffolk, which gives 

 name to a Poor- Law Union, is situated in the eastern division of the 

 county. It contains 23 parishes, with an area of 45,38!) acres, and a 

 population in 1851 of 11,424. Flouieagato Poor-Law Union, which is 

 nearly conterminous with the hundreds of Plomesgate anil L*W, con- 

 tains 40 parishes and townships, with an area of 75,064 acres, ami a 

 population in 1851 of 21,416. 



PL0N. [HOLSTEIN.] 



PLOUARET. [C6TE3-DD-NORD.J 



PLOUARZEL. [FiNiSTERB.] 



PLOUAY. [MonniHAN.] 



PLOUBALAY. [C6TES DU-Nonn.] 



PLOUDALMEZEAU. [FIJJISTKRK.] 



PLOUGENAST. [CoTiss-DO-NoRD.] 



PLOUHA. [COTES DU-NORD.] 



PLUCKLEY. [KENT.] 



PLUVIGNER. [.MORBIIIAN.] 



PLYMOUTH, Devonshire, a market-town, seaport, and municipal 

 and parliamentary borough, is situated on the couth coast, at the 

 mouth of the river Plym, in 50 22' N. lat., 4 9' W. long., distant 

 42 miles S.W. from Exeter, 216 miles W.S.W. from "London by road, 

 and 240 miles by the Great Western, Bristol and Exeter, aud South 

 Devon railways. The population of the borough of Plymouth iu 1851 

 was 52,221. The population of the municipal borough of Devonport, 

 consisting of the parish of Stoke Daracrel, wa 38,180 in 1851 ; that ot. 



