PESARO 



Knocker (later Baroness de T'Ser- 

 claes) and Miss Marie Chisholm 

 established a Red Cross centre to 

 aid the Belgians. Their experiences 

 were recounted in The Cellar House 

 of Pervyse, ed. G. E. Mitton, 1916. 

 See Ypres, Battles of Yser, The. 

 Pron. Pairveez. 



Pesaro. City of Italy, the capi- 

 tal of the prov. of Pesaro e Urbino. 

 It stands on the river Foglia, near 

 its mouth in the Adriatic Sea, 37 m. 

 by rly. N.W. of Ancona. The old 

 cathedral, now closed, has a 12th 

 century mosaic pavement, and the 

 new one has a famous picture by 

 Bellini. The prefecture was built in 

 the 15th century for the Sforzas, 

 whose fortress (1474) remains. The 

 museum contains a rich collection 

 of art pottery, furniture, etc. The 

 conservatoire was founded by 

 Rossini, a native of the city. A 

 noteworthy feature is the old 

 Roman bridge which spans the 

 Foglia. Manufactures include silks, 

 woollens, majolica, glass, iron, and 

 sealing-wax, and Pesaro is noted for 

 its figs, which are exported in large 

 quantities. Founded as Pisaurum 

 by the Romans in 184 B.C., it was 

 destroyed by the Goths and re- 

 stored by Belisarius. Pesaro was a 

 papal possession in the 8th century, 

 and was later ruled by the houses of 

 Malatesta, Sforza, and Rovere, 

 falling again to the popes from 1631 

 to 1860. Pop. 28,500. Pron. 

 Pezz-aro. 



Pesaro e Urbino. Prov. of N.E. 

 Italy, in the Marches. It extends 

 from the Apennines to the Adriatic 

 Sea, and its area is 1,118 sq. m. 

 A mountainous prov., its fertile 

 valleys produce grain, fruit, wine, 

 and oil. Iron is mined and silk 

 manufactured. Pop. 270,700. 



Pescadores OR FISHERS' IS- 

 LANDS. Group of islands belonging 

 to Japan. Situated in Formosa 

 Strait, between the island of For- 

 mosa and the mainland of China, it 

 consists of some 20 inhabited 

 islands and a number of uninhabited 

 rocks, all of basaltic formation, and 

 low-lying. It covers an area of 

 nearly 50 sq. m., and has a pop. of 

 more than 50,000. The soil is fer- 

 tile, and produces rice, millet, and 

 other cereals. Navigation is ex- 

 tremely dangerous. A possession of 

 China down to 1895, when it was 

 ceded to Japan, the group is offici- 

 ally called Hokoto by the Japanese, 

 and is known to the Chinese as 

 Pang-hu or Peng-hu. 



Pescara. River and town of 

 S. Italy, in the prov. of Abruzzi e 

 Molise. The river rises in the 

 Apennines as the Gizio and Aterno, 

 which unite just above Popoli. 

 Below this town the river flows 

 across the prov. N.E. to the 

 Adriatic coast. At its mouth is an 



hydraulic electricity power station 

 for the supply of Rome. The town 

 is at the mouth of the river on the 

 coast, 8 m. N.W. of Chieti. It has 

 a fortified harbour and is a sea 

 bathing resort. Pop. 3,600. 



Pescara, FERNANDO FRANCESCO 

 D'AVALOS, MARQUIS OF (c. 1490- 

 1525). Neapolitan soldier. He en- 

 tered the service of the emperor 

 Charles V, and fought in the wars 

 with the French. He took part in the 

 battle of Ravenna, 1512, at which 

 he was taken prisoner, and in the 

 battle of Pavia, 1525, after which 

 he was made commander-in-chief 

 in Italy. He died Nov. 4, 1525. His 

 wife was Vittoria Colonna (q.v.). 



Peschiera. Town of Italy, in 

 the prov. of Verona. It stands on 

 the river Mincio, where it issues 

 from the Lago di Garda, 20 m. 

 N.N.W. of Mantua. One of the 

 famous fortresses of the Quadri- 

 lateral (q.v. ), it was captured from 

 the Austrians by the Sardinians, 

 May 30, 1848. Pop. 3,000. Pron. 

 Pesky-aira. 



Pescia. City of Italy, in the 

 prov. of Lucca. It is 28 m. by rly. 

 W.N.W. of Florence. The cathe- 

 dral, restored in 1693, has a 13th 

 century fa9ade and pulpit, and a 

 fine monument to Baldassare 

 Turini. Paper-making and silk 

 manufacture are the leading indus- 

 tries, and there is trade in oil, wine, 

 and fruit. Pop. 18,000. Pron. 

 Pesh-ya. 



Peseta. Spanish silver coin. The 

 monetary unit of Spain, its nominal 

 value is about 9d. It is divided 

 into 100 centimos and coined in 

 \, 1, 2, and 5 peseta silver pieces, 

 and 5, 10, 20, and 25 peseta gold 

 pieces. 



Peshawar. Capital of the N.W. 

 Frontier Province, India, and one 

 of the British districts of the prov. 

 The dist. is a hill-girt basin, W. of 

 the Indus, drained by the Kabul 

 river and its tributaries, the Swat 



PESHAWAR 



and Bara. Wheat is the chief crop. 

 Half of the people are Pathans. The 

 rly. follows the Kabul valley from 

 Attock on the Indus to Peshawar, 

 and thence to Jamrud, and a 

 branch goes N. to Dargai at the 

 foot of the Malakand Pass. The 

 Lower Swat, Bara river, and Kabul 

 river canals provide the necessary 

 irrigation water. Its area is 2,611 

 sq. m. Pop. 865,000. 



The town lies near the Bara, 190 

 m. from Kabul and 276 m. from 

 Lahore. It occupies a strategic 

 position in relation to the Khyber 

 Pass, 10J m. to the W., into 

 Afghanistan, and is a great trade 

 centre for raw silk and fruit, gold 

 and silver lace and thread, silk and 

 cotton goods, sugar, tea, etc. 



A broad-gauge rly. joins the 

 town with Jamrud to the W., with 

 Campbellpur Junction, E. of the 

 Indus. At Campbellpur connexion 



Peseta. Obverse and reverse of the 

 Spanish silver coin. Diameter 11,"; in. 



is made with the two great rlys. of 

 N.W. India, the line parallel and 

 close to the Indus and the line 

 through Lahore and Ambala to 

 Lucknow and Calcutta. 



Peshawar was a Buddhist capital 

 in the 2nd century, and a great 

 resort of Chinese pilgrims in the 

 5th, 6th, and 7th centuries. From 

 the 8th century, when the Afghans 

 first reached the district, it has 

 been a debatable ground. Mahmud 

 in the llth century made it a base 

 of operations against N.W. India. 

 Under Jahangir and his successors 

 Peshawar was subject to Delhi ; 

 it has been British since 1848. 

 Pop. 98,000. Pron. Peshah-wer. 



Peshawar, India. General view of the capital of the N.W. Frontier Province 



