POCAHONTAS 



Pocahontas (c. 1595-1617). 

 North American Indian princess, 

 sometimes known as Matoaka. She 

 was a daughter 

 of Powhattan, 

 overking of the 

 Indian tribes 

 of Virginia. 

 About the age 

 of 12 she is 

 said to have 

 saved the life 



of Captain 



Pocahontas, John Smith, 



Indian princess w ho had been 

 captured by the Indians, though 

 the romantic story of her doing so 

 has been called in question. In 

 1612 she was lured upon an English 

 vessel and taken to Jamestown as 

 hostage for the good behaviour of 

 the Indian tribes. Converted to 

 Christianity, she was baptized Re- 

 becca, and in 1613 married John 

 Rolfe (1585-1622), a leading Vir- 

 ginian settler. In 1616 she accom- 

 panied her husband to England, 

 and in March, 1617, died at Graves- 

 end, leaving one son. Her story has 

 inspired several works of fiction. 

 See Smith, John; consult also 

 Pocahontas and her Companions, 

 E. D. Neill, 1869 ; Pocahontas 

 and her Descendants, W. Robert- 

 son, 1887. 



Pochard (Nyroca ferina). Div- 

 ing duck of the sub-family Anati- 

 dae. An expert diver, the male has 

 a reddish-brown head, black breast 

 and back, and grey sides. The fe- 

 male has greyish-brown plumage. It 

 is common as a migrant to Great 

 Britain in the winter; but a few 

 pairs are resident and breed in 

 marshy places. The red-crested 

 pochard is only a very occasional 

 visitor. The bird is found over a 

 wide range in Europe, Asia, and 

 N. America. Pron. Pokard. 



Pocket. Literally, a little pouch- 

 It is used for the receptacles which 

 are part of many articles of cloth- 

 ing, and for those at the sides of a 

 billiard table. The compounds in- 

 clude pocket-book, pocket edition. 

 In mining a pocket is a cavity 

 filled with metalliferous ores. In 

 the United Kingdom, a pocket 

 borough was one of which the repre- 

 sentation was controlled by a single 

 man, or a small group of men, who 

 could dictate to the electors how 

 they should vote. Such were 

 numerous before the Reform Act of 

 1832. See Mining ; Ore Deposits. 

 Pocket- Gopher (Geomys). A 

 family of rat-like rodents, which oc- 

 cur in North and Central America. 

 The name is derived from their 

 very large cheek pouches. They 

 are about 8 ins. long without the 

 tail, and the body is covered with 

 soft velvet-like fur. They burrow 

 like moles beneath the surface of 



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the ground and 

 feed upon the roots 

 of plants. Large 

 chambers are con- 

 structed in which 

 the animals col- 

 lect great stores of 

 potatoes, nuts, 

 and seeds. 



Pocklington. 

 Market town and 

 urban dist. of 

 Yorkshire (E.R.), 

 England. It is 

 -13 m. from York, 

 on the N.E. Rly. 

 The chief buildings 

 are the church of All Saints, mainly 

 Early English, and the grammar 

 school. The former contains several 

 objects of interest, as well as a 

 number of monuments. The latter 

 was founded in 1515 by the 

 Rev. John Dolman, and is now 

 a large public school with scholar- 

 ships and exhibitions. The indus- 

 tries are the making of farm im- 

 plements and corn-milling, while 

 horse, cattle, and sheep fairs are 

 held. A canal connects the town 

 with the Derwent. Market day, 

 Sat. Pop. 2,600. 



PODGORITZA 



Pochard, a wild diving dnck which 

 visits Britain 



Pocock, SIR GEORGE (1706-92). 

 British admiral. Born March 6, 

 1706, he entered the navy in 1718 

 and saw much service in both the 

 West and the East Indies. His 

 place in history rests on his re- 

 markable series of actions with the 

 French Comte 

 d'Ache* in the 

 East Indies, 

 where Pocock 

 was appointed 

 commander- 

 in-chief in 

 1757. The 

 three actions of 

 April 29 and 

 Sept. 3, 1758, 

 and Sept. 10, 



1759, were fought mainly on strict 

 line-of-battle conditions, but the 

 last was fiercely contested, and the 

 French never recovered their posi- 

 tion. Pocock's last appointment, in 

 command of the expedition to 

 Havana in 1762, brought him 

 122,697 in prize money. He re- 

 tired in 1766 and died April 3, 1792. 



Sir George Pocock, 

 British admiral 



Pocklington, Yorkshire. Parish church of All Saints, 

 from the north-east 



Pococke, RICHARD (1704-65). 

 British traveller. Born at South- 

 ampton, he graduated at Corpus 

 Christi College, Oxford, and in 1734 

 was appointed vicar-general of 

 Waterford and Lismore. Travel- 

 ling in Greece, Egypt, Palestine, 

 and Mesopotamia, 1733-42, on his 

 return he published A Description 

 of the East and Some Other Coun- 

 tries, 1743-45. He also made 

 several journeys through England, 

 Ireland, and Scotland as far as the 

 Orkneys. In 1756 he became bishop 

 of Ossory and in 1765 was trans- 

 lated to Meath. He died at Charle- 

 ville, Ireland. His Tours in Scot- 

 land, 1747, 1750, 1760, were edited 

 by D. W. Kemp, 1887. 



Pod. Popular name for certain 

 types of dry fruits, of which the 

 legume and the siliqua are the 

 chief. The legume, which is fami- 

 liar in the pods of peas, beans, and 

 furze, is characteristic of the entire 

 natural order Leguminosae. It 

 develops from a single carpel and 

 opens by splitting along both edges. 

 The siliqua has well-known ex- 

 amples in the seed-vessels of the 

 wallflower, the cabbage, and all 

 through the great order Cruciferae. 

 The siliqua originates in two car- 

 pels, and when the seeds are ripe 

 the two sides or valves split away 

 from a central frame across which 

 is spread the replum or partition 

 which separates two layers of seeds. 

 See Fruit ; Manila Tamarind ; 

 Mezquit ; Pea. 



Podesta (Lat. potestas, power). 

 Italian municipal officer. The 

 podesta was originally appointed 

 by the emperor 'and afterwards by 

 the citizens, usually for a year. He 

 was the supreme administrative 

 and military official in the com- 

 mune. The office was instituted 

 in the 12th century, and lasted, 

 though latterly shorn of much of 

 its power, into the 16th century. 



Podgoritza OR PODGORICA. 

 Town of Montenegro. The largest 

 place in the country, it lies about 

 19 m. N.E. of Cettinje. Before the 

 Great War it had a considerable 

 trade. Near it are the ruins of 



