PALMYRA PALM 



PAMPA CENTRAL 



and Palmyra subsequently fell into 

 decay. It is now deserted, but some 

 splendid ruins, of the late Roman 

 period, still testify to its former 

 greatness. The city, surrounded by 

 walls of the age of Justinian, is 

 intersected by a street with a 

 quadruple colonnade and an impos- 

 ing triumphal arch. There are 

 sepulchral towers, and among the 

 temples the greatest is that of the 

 Sun, in a vast pillared enclosure. 



Palmyra Palm (Borassus fla- 

 belliformis). Tree of the natural 

 order Palmae, native of India. It 

 has large fan-shaped, plaited leaves 

 split at the edges. With the spiny 

 leaf-stalk included, each leaf is 

 eight or ten ft. long. Each tree bears 

 flowers of one sex only the males 

 in branching catkins, the females 

 in unbranched spikes. The three- 

 seeded brown fruits are each as 

 large as a child's head, produced 

 in clusters of 15 or 20. From the 

 unexpanded flower-spikes palm- 



Palmyra Palm. Foliage and fruit 

 o! the Indian tree 



wine is obtained in quantity, which 

 is evaporated into jaggery, or palm 

 sugar, fermented into toddy and 

 vinegar, and distilled to produce 

 arrack. The trunks of old trees 

 yield hard and durable timber ; 

 and the leaves serve a variety of 

 useful purposes, including matting, 

 basket-making, hats, umbrellas, 

 fans, and thatch. Seedling plants 

 are used as food, and the pulp of 

 the fruit furnishes a kind of jelly. 



Palni. Range of hills in Madras 

 presidency, India. It lies N.E. of 

 the N. end of the Cardamom Mts. 

 and culminates in Vembadi Shola, 

 8,218 ft. high. 



Palo Alto. City of California, 

 U.S.A., in Santa Clara co. It is 

 29 m. by rly. S.S.E. of San 

 Francisco, and is served by the 

 Southern Pacific Rly. It is the seat 

 of the Leland Stanford Junior 

 University (q.v.). Agriculture and 

 fruit-farming are local industries. 

 Palo Alto was settled in 1890, in- 

 corporated in 1894, and chartered 

 as a city in 1909. Pop. 5,900. 



Palos OR PALOS DE LA FRONTERA. 

 Town of Spain. It is in Huelva 

 prov., near the S.W. frontier, close 



Palmyra. Rains of the ancient city in the Syrian desert, 

 with part of the great Temple of the Sun, or Baal 



to the estuary of the Rio Tinto, 

 5 m. from the Atlantic Ocean. 

 From here Columbus sailed, 

 Aug. 3, 1492, on his historic 

 voyage, and here Cortes landed in 

 1528, after his conquest of Mexico. 

 Pop. 1,600. . "> 



Palpitation. Violent throbbing 

 of the heart. It may be due to dis- 

 order of the heart, indigestion, 

 excessive smoking, violent exer- 

 cise, alcoholism, the taking of too 

 much tea or coffee, or strong 

 emotion, such as fear or anger. 

 Treatment depends upon the 

 underlying cause. As a rule the 

 symptom is not one which gives 

 occasion for anxiety. See Heart. 



Palstave (Icel. palstafr, spud- 

 staff). Winged celt, with the haft- 

 end thinned for fitting into a split 

 wood or horn handle. It originated 

 in the Bronze Age, preceding the 

 socketed celt (q.v.). Some forms 

 have one or two side-loops for 

 cording diagonally to the handle. 



Palwal. Town of the Punjab, 

 India, in Gurgaon dist. It is 30 m. 

 S.E. of Gurgaon, and is reputed to 

 have been restored by Vikrama- 

 ditya in 57 B.C. It contains an 

 early Mahomedan mosque, and 

 is a grain market. Pop. 9,500. 



Pamban. Passage connecting 

 the Gulf of Manaar with Palk Bay, 

 Madras, India. It is 1,350 yds. 

 wide, and is crossed by a rly. 

 viaduct from the mainland to the 

 island sometimes known as Pam- 

 ban, but also as Rameswaram (q.v. ). 



Pamela. Novel by Samuel 

 Richardson, first published, 1741- 

 42, with the title of Pamela, or 

 Virtue Rewarded. The author 

 ascribed the genesis of the book to 

 fellow booksellers having asked 

 him to write a little volume of a 

 common style that should give to 

 country readers useful models of 

 familiar letters. The two or three 

 letters, which were to be devoted 

 to instructing handsome girls, 

 going out to service, how to avoid 

 the snares that might be laid 

 against their virtue, grew into a 

 lengthy epistolary story, which not 



only had extraor- 

 dinary popularity, 

 but set the fashion 

 of the sentimental 

 novel. The story 

 marked at the 

 time a welcome 

 break with the 

 tedious travel ro- 

 mances of the early 

 18th century. See 

 Novel. 



Pamiers. City 

 of France. It 

 stands on the 

 Ariege, in the de- 

 partment of 

 Ariege, 40 m. from 

 Toulouse. The chief buildings are 

 the cathedral, which has been 

 modernised, and the Romanesque 

 church of Notre Dame. The site 

 of the castle is occupied by a pub- 

 lic promenade. The industries in- 

 clude ironworking, tanning, brick- 

 making, and sawing. The city is an 

 agricultural centre, and around are 

 vineyards and nursery gardens. 

 Pamiers grew up around a castle 

 built in the 12th century by a 

 count of Foix. There was an abbey 

 here, and much friction was caused 

 by the conflicting authorities of the 

 count of Foix, the bishop, and the 

 abbot. Pop. 10,000. 



Pamir OR ROOF OF THE WORLD. 

 Greatest mountaia knot in the 

 world. It occurs in the N.W. of 

 India, where the plains of N. India 

 approach most closely to the plains 

 of Siberia. From it radiate the 

 Kwenlun, Karakoram, and Hima- 

 laya, Suleiman, Hindu Kush and 

 Paropamisus, and Thian Shan 

 ranges. Comprising a series of 

 ridges of elevation, varying from 

 16,000 ft, to 18,000 ft., with 

 elevated valleys or pamirs be- 

 tween them, this great highland is 

 almost without vegetation. Politi- 

 cally the greater part belongs to 

 Asiatic Russia. The sparse pop. 

 consists of Kirghiz. 



Pamlico Sound. Body of water 

 on the N. coast of Carolina, U.S.A. 

 The largest of the many lagoons 

 on the E. coast of the U.S.A., it is 

 separated from the Atlantic by a 

 long, narrow strip of land, with 3 

 navigable inlets, and measures 

 about 60 m. by 25 m. Oyster 

 fishing is extensively carried on. 



Pampa Central. Territory of 

 Argentina. Entirely inland, W. of 

 the prov. of Buenos Aires, N. of the 

 territory of Rio Negro, it is true 

 pampa country crossed by the 

 Colorado and Salado rivers. Rlys. 

 from Bahia Blanca cross the S. 

 and N.E. of the state. Agriculture 

 occupies most, "of the people, 

 wheat, alfalfa, maize, and linseed 

 being exported in large quantities ; 

 while there are large numbers of 



