P Sixteenth letter of the Eng- 

 lish and Latin alphabets. 

 It is a voiceless labial or 

 lip-sound. Its normal sound is 

 that in peck, although in sonic 

 cases it is mute, or nearly so, as 

 in psalm, attempt. P is intrusive 

 between m and t, as in empty. 

 Most, if not all, English words be- 

 ginning with p are borrowed from 

 other languages. The combination 

 ph in words derived from the 

 Greek is pronounced /, as in 

 philology; in apophthegm and 

 phthisis it is not heard. See 

 Alphabet ; Phonetics. 



Paardeberg, BATTLE QF. Fought 

 between the British and the Boers, 

 Feb. 18, 1900. Cronje with a force 

 of Boers was holding the entrench- 

 ments at Magersfontein, while 

 French, with the main army of 

 Lord Roberts behind him, marched 

 to cut him off from Bloemfontein. 

 This move forced Cronje from his 

 camp, and, with 5,000 men and 

 many women and children, he was 

 soon marching by the side of the 

 Modder to the Orange F. S. Near 

 Paardeberg Hill the British came 

 in touch with him, and while the 

 cavalry and infantry were drawing 

 nearer, the Boers entrenched them- 

 selves in the dry bed of the Modder. 

 On Feb. 18 they were attacked from 

 both sides, but when night fell the 

 British infantry had lost heavily, 

 and the Boer position was untaken. 

 By order of Roberts the attack was 

 not renewed, but starvation did its 

 work, and on Feb. 27 4,000 Boers 

 surrendered. The British, uitli 

 15,000 men in the fleld, lost 1,262 

 killed and wounded. See South 

 African War; consult Famous Mo- 

 dern Battles, A. H. Atteridge, 1911. 



Paarl, THE. Town of Cape 

 Province, S. Africa. It stands on 

 the Berg river, 36 m. from Cape 

 Town, with which it is connected by 

 rly. In the surrounding district the 

 vine is grown ; other industries are 

 granite quarrying and the building 

 of wagons and carriages. The town, 

 which extends for about seven m. 

 along the river bank, was founded 

 by the Dutch before 1700. The 

 name means pearl. Pop. (whites) 

 6,000. To the W. of the town is 

 the Paarl Mt., on which are three 

 gigantic boulders. 



Pabjanice. Town of Poland. It 

 is in the dist., and 22 m. N.W., 

 of Piotrkow, on the Dobrzynka. 

 It has numerous factories con- 

 nected with the textile industries 

 of the Lodz dist. Pop. 39,000. 

 Prow. Pabianits-e. 



Pabna. District and town of 

 Bengal, India, in the Rajshahi div. 

 The dist. is in the corner between 

 the Brahmaputra and the Padma 

 distributary of the Ganges. Two- 

 thirds of the area is cultivated. 

 Rice and jute are the chief crops. 

 The town stands on the left bank 

 of the Padma. Area, 1,851 sq. in. 

 Pop., dist., 1,429,000; town, 19,300. 

 ' 



Paca or Spotted Cavy. S. American 

 rodent related to the agouti 



W. S. BtrrUt', f.M.S. 



Paca OB SPOTTED CAVY (Coelo- 

 genys paca). Rodent mammal. 

 Related to the agouti, it is found 

 in Central and S. America. Its fur 

 is brown with rows of white spots 

 along the sides of the body. It is 

 about 2 ft. long, and in form sug- 

 gests a rabbit without the charac- 

 teristic ears or the long hind limbs. 

 It lives in burrows, does great 

 damage to the crops, and its flesh 

 is highly valued. 



Pachacamac (Quichua, earth- 

 maker). Ancient Peruvian deity. 

 A creator-god, he superseded the 

 old tribal deity of the Chincha 

 peoples dwelling in the littoral 

 valleys from Chancay to Nasca. 

 He was afterwards absorbed into 

 the Inca pantheon as a local pre- 

 sentation of the Aymara deity Vira- 

 cocha, and was specifically the god 

 of earthquakes, whose rumblings 

 were deemed to be his voice. 



Pachacamac. Ruined city of 

 Peru. It stands on the coast, 

 about 20 m. from Lima. It was the 

 sacred city of the Yuncas and had 

 a temple, evidently a large and 

 magnificent structure, of which 

 some ruins remain. Other ruins are 

 of later sacred buildings erected by 

 the Incas. The city was plundered 

 by Pizarro, and the site has been 

 excavated by the university of 

 Pennsylvania. 



Pacheco, FRANCISCO (1571- 

 >l>uiush painter and writer 

 on art. He was born at Seville and 

 studied under Luis Fernandez. He 

 is best known as the father-in-law 

 and instructor of Velazquez, and 

 as author of a dogmatic Treatise 

 on Painting. He passed two years 

 at Madrid with Velazquez, and 

 died at Seville. 



