PRBUILLY. 



PKIN'CK OF WALES ISLAND. 



X. Ut. ri7' W. looc, di*Unt 4 mile* N. by W. from Msnche*t*r, and 

 1ST ni)w N.W. \ij X. frm London. Th population of the town 

 Up of Prwtwich in 1S51 wi 4040. The Urine i. * notary in tl,- 

 mraMMCnnry UK! dioerM of Manchester. Pratwich Poor-Uw Union 

 ^w^t.lir 11 township*, with to ana of 11.0S8 ten*, and a population 

 '. of 41.013. The parish chnrch i ancient The Wesleyan 

 MrOiodUu have a chapel, and there U a Xation.il school The nopu- 

 UUoo, M in all the dutrict around Manchester, i> chiefly employed 

 in calico printing, gingham making, and other branches of the cotton 

 manufacture. 



PREUILLT. [Ixr.REBT-I.oiRE.] 



PRETESA, a fortified town in European Turkey, is situated on 

 tb* north aide of the entrance of the Oulf of Arta, in 38 57' N. lat., 

 20* 4V E. long., about 3 mile* distant from the ruins of the ancient 

 Nicopolis founded by Augustus Casaar in commemoration of his naval 

 victory of Actiutn. The Venetians obtained possession of it in 1684. 

 It came with the Ionian Inlands into the bands of the French by 

 Tirtue of the treaty of Campo Formio in 1798. War having broken 

 oat between France and the Porte, a force of 5000 Albanians, headed 

 by the son of AH Pasha, of Jannina, took and plundered Preveaa, the 

 population of which is said at this time to have amounted to 10,000 

 or 12,000. Ali made Prevesa his chief naval station, fortified the town 

 with new works, and adorned it by building here a very handsome 

 ersglio, which i situated at the entrance of the bay. Some new iw<l 

 handsome houses were built by the Turks and Albanians who settled 

 ban, bat Prevesa has never recovered its prosperity under the Turkish 

 yoke. The population is now estimated at about 4000. 



Preveaa export* wheat and maize, timber, oil, tobacco, cotton, wool, 

 and capotes, or Albanian cloaks, to the Ionian Islands, to Malta, and 

 to Italy. The import* are coffee, sugar, common cloth, velvet, irou 

 goods, fire-arms, &c. 



PREZ-F.X-PAIL. [MAYEXXI-.I 



1'KINCK BDWABO ISLAND, a British colony, is situated on the 

 south aide of the Oulf of St. Lawrence, between 45 53' and 47 7' 

 N. lat, 62* and 64* 27' W. long. Its length from east to west is about 

 140 miles, and it varies in width from 10 to 30 miles. The area is 

 2134 square miles. The population in 1848 was 62,678 ; in 1852 it 

 was about 90,000. 



Prince Edward Island is separated from Nova Scotia and New 

 Brunswick by Northumberland Strait, which varies in width from 9 

 to 10 mile*. The island is almost entirely surrounded with red cliff*, 

 varying from 20 to 1 00 feet in height The coast is BO intersected by 

 bays and creeks that no part of the island is at a greater distance than 

 eight miles from tlie ebbing and flowing of the tide. Hillsborough 

 Bay enters the island from the south with a wide opening, but after- 

 wards becomes so narrow that it appears like n river, and U called 

 HilUborough River. The tide ascends nearly to its extremity, which 

 is only about a mile distant from Savage Harbour on the northern 

 coast Farther west are Halifax Bay and Richmond Bay, the former 

 intersecting th island from the south, and the latter from the north, 

 till there remains between them only an isthmus about a mile and a 

 half wide. 



The surface of tho island consists of gentle ascents and descent?. 

 A "fries of heights intersect the island about the middle, running 

 from north to south. Streams and springs of fresh water are 

 abundant. The spring and autumn are both of short duration. In 

 the beginning of June summer bunts forth, and continues till the end 

 of September, when the evenings get cool, and the autumn commences. 

 During January and February the weather is generally steady, with 

 the thermometer occasionally from 10 to 20 below zero of Fahren- 

 heit ; but the air is dry Bad clear. In summer the heat is tempered 

 by the sea-breezes. 



The soil it generally fertile, and consists for the most part of a thin 

 layer of decayed vegetable substances surmounting a light loam a foot 

 or more in depth ; below, a ftiff clay resting on sandstone predomi- 

 nate*. The island was formerly covered with largo forest-trees, espe- 

 cially pine, the timber of which has been so largely exported to 

 England that little more now remains than is required for ship- 

 building, house-building, and other local purposes. 



Th soil and climate of this inland are particularly suited for 

 agriculture. All kinds of grain and vegetables cultivated in England 

 grow well ; and well-cultivated farms produce wheat, barley, oats, 

 green crops, and granes in abundance and of excellent quality. The 

 none* aru small, but strong and hardy. The breed of cattle has been 

 improved by the introduction of Durham and Ayrshire bulls, and 

 that of sheep by the introduction of Leicester and Southdown stock 

 from England. Swine are plentiful. The fur-bearing animal* have 

 become scarce. Seals are found in the bays and along the coasts in 

 summer and autumn, and vast number* sometime* come down on the 

 ice when it break* up in the Polar Seas. A* a fishing station the 

 island is one of the best in the Gulf of St Lawrence; and the 

 harbour* on the north side are most conveniently situated for carrying 

 on this pursuit Cod and mackerel are abundant in their respective 

 eaaona. The inhabitant* however do not prosecute fishing as a 

 branch of commerce, only taking what is required for their own con- 

 sumption; while from 200 to 300 fishlng-veels from the United 

 States are engaged during tbo summer in fishing round the shores of 

 the island. 



I'rinoe Edward Island i* divided into three counties; Queen's 

 County include* the central part of tho island, King's Couuty t!i 

 rwteru part, and Prince'* County the western part The settlements 

 are dispersed all over the Uland, except the western end, which is 

 till to a great extent overgrown with forest Charlotte Town, tho 

 capital and seat of government, is situated in Queen's County, at tho 

 junction of the HilUborough Itivor with the York River, on an angular 

 piece of ground which rises gradually to the north-west Thesa two 

 riven, together with the Elliot River, form the Inner Harbour, which 

 is a well-sheltered basin about three miles wide, whence the united 

 streams discharge their waters by a single channel about half a mile 

 wide into HilUborough Bay, which U called the Outer Harbour, and 

 is capacious and safe for vessels of any burden. The town in regularly 

 built, with broad streets intersecting each other at right angles. The 

 public buildings consist of the Colonial Building, a handsome stone 

 edifice, containing accommodation for the legislature, public officers, 

 and supreme courts of law and chancery : tho old court-house ; an 

 asylum for lunatics and indigent persons; an Episcopalian church, 

 Roman Catholic church, Scotch church, Methodist chapel, and Baptist 

 chapel. There is an academy established by the colonial legislature, 

 and endowed with 200/. a year, and also a National school, partly 

 supported by the colonial government The population of the town 

 is nearly 5000. George Town, the capital of King's County, is situated 

 on the eastern coast, on a point of land in the Bay of Three Rivers, or 

 Cardigan Bay, which is formed by the junction of the rivers Cardigan, 

 Montague, and Brudenell. The town is regularly built, and contains 

 about 700 inhabitants. The harbour is excellent, and is very con- 

 veniently situated either for fishing or trading. Prince Tovn, at tho 

 entrance of Richmond Bay, has been regularly laid down as tho 

 capital 'of Prince's County, but has very few inhabitants ; but tlie 

 village of St. Eleanor't, at the head of Richmond Bay, is a thriving 

 place, and contains the county jail, the court-house, and an Episcopalian 

 church. 



The population of the island is composed of mixed races, about 

 three-fourths of the whole number being natives of the island, chiefly 

 descendants of the French Acadiaus, who remained after the colony 

 was ceded to the British in 1763; of settlers from the Highlands of 

 Scotland, who were introduced by the proprietors of townships subse- 

 quently to 1770 ; and of American loyalists, to whom lands were 

 p ranted at the close of the revolutionary war. There are also about 

 300 Indians remaining on the island of the once numerous Micmac 

 tribe. The remaining fourth of the population arc immigrants from 

 England, Scotland, and Ireland. Of the entire population nearly one- 

 half are Roman Catholics, about one-third are Presbyterians, and 

 about one-ninth are Episcopalians. Free schools have been established 

 throughout the island, and a visitor appointed ; there are n\?o district 

 schools with a visitor for each county. 



The commerce of the island consists in the exchange of ita agricul- 

 tural produce, timber and deals, and a small quantity of dried and 

 pickled fish, for British and American manufactures and other articles 

 of consumption. The manufactures of the island are of small amount, 

 consisting of linen and flannel for domestic use, coarse woolleu cloth, 

 and leather. 



The civil establishment consists of a lieutenant-governor, whose 

 salary is paid by the British government, a chief-justice, an attorney- 

 general, an assistant-judge, and a master of the rolls, and other officers 

 whose salaries are paid by the colonial government. The revenue of 

 the island in 1852 was 20.856/.; the expenditure was 1 4,85 11. By means 

 of the sub-marine telegraph Prince Edward Island has communication 

 with the neighbouring provinces and with the United States. 



PRINCE OF WALES ISLAND, or PULO PENANG, is the scat 

 of government of the British possessions in the Strait of Malacca. 

 These possessions consist of Prince of Wales Island, Province Welletley 

 and the provinces of MALACCA and SINGAPORE. The two latter are 

 noticed under separate heads. These possessions, under the title of 

 the Eastern Straits' Settlements, were in 1851 by an order of tho Court 

 of the East India Directors, formed into a separate government 



Prince of Wales Island lies between 5 16' and 5 3t/ N. lat, 100 

 and 100 9' E. long., and extends from south to north about 16 miles, 

 with an average breadth of 8 miles, which gives a surface of nearly 

 130 square miles. This island consists of a mass of rocks, and of two 

 tracts of alluvial soil, which extend on the eastern and western sides 

 of the rocks. The western plain is mostly a swamp, and nearly 

 uninhabited ; but the eastern, which on an average is two miles widu, 

 and opposite George Town more than four miles, is well cultivated 

 and populous. Tho highest portion of the mountains occupies the 

 middle of the island, where Mount Elveira, or Mount Macaliater, ri-es 

 to the elevation of about 2500 feet The hills which lie between this 

 highest range and the eastern plain rise to the height of 600 to 800 

 feet The mountains are covered with lofty trees, except their summits, 

 which are naked for about 200 or 300 feet from the highest point 

 downwards. 



Province Welletley lies opposite Prince of Wales Island, on the Malay 

 Peninsula, and is separated from the island by a strait, which at its 

 southern extremity is nearly 10 miles wide, but grows narrower farther 

 northward; opposite Fort Cornwallis it is hardly two miles wide. 

 Province Wellesley extends from 5 10' to 5 3S' N. lat, nud lies 

 between 100 11' and 100 18' E. lonj. It extends along the coast 





