PONTIAC 



6246 



PONTOPPIDAN 



Pontiac (c. 1712-69). North 

 American Indian chief. As chief of 

 tho Ottawas he assisted the French 

 commander, Montcalm, against the 

 British, and took part in the anni- 

 hilation of Braddock's force in 

 1755. In 1763 he was mainly re- 

 sponsible for the carrying out of a 

 conspiracy against the British gar- 

 risons in N. America, and unsuc- 

 cessfully besieged Detroit for five 

 months. He was murdered by an 

 Indian of the Kaskaskian tribe in 

 1769. His story is treated in Sir 

 Gilbert Parker's novel, When Val- 

 mond came to Pontiac, 1895. See 

 History of the Conspiracy of Pon- 

 tiac, F. Parkman, 10th ed 1896. 



Pontifex (Lat., bridgemaker). 

 Member of the most important 

 college of priests in ancient Rome. 

 The college was charged with the 

 maintenance of the law in so far 

 as it was bound up with religion, 

 a special function being the super 

 vision of the calendar. In the last 

 period of the republic the pordifices 

 were 15 in number, holding office for 

 life ; at their head was the pontifex 

 maximus, whose office, of great dig- 

 nity, was held under the empire by 

 the emperor himself. When Christi- 

 anity became the state religion the 

 title was assumed by the popes. 



Pontifical OK ORDINARIUM. 

 Roman Catholic service book for 

 the use of bishops or of priests 

 specially empowered by bishops. 

 Books of this kind originated in the 

 8th century ; that in the National 

 Library, Paris, is attributed to the 

 8th-ldith centuries. They were 

 compiled by bishops from old 

 sacramentaries, etc., in the Middle 

 Ages. The Roman pontifical was 

 first printed in 1485 ; that in use 

 was revised by order of Leo XIII. 

 The Greek Church has its own 

 pontifical. A bishop's vestments 

 are called pontificals. See Hun- 

 gary ; consult also Pontificate Ro- 

 manum, G Catalani, 1738 ; Biblio- 

 theca Ritualis, F. A. Zaccaria, 

 1776-81 ; Monumenta Ritualia, 

 W. Maskell, 2nd ed. 1882. 



Pontigny. Village of France. 

 It stands on an island, formed by 

 the Serain, in the dept. of Yonne, 

 llm. N.E. of Auxerre. It is famous 

 for its Cistercian abbey. Founded 

 in the 12th century, by Count 

 Thibaud of Champagne, it was a 

 refuge for both Becket and Lang- 

 ton, while here S. Edmund Rich 

 was buried. Its Gothic church has 

 been restored as a national monu- 

 ment, and there are other mo- 

 nastic remains. Pop. 900. 



Pontine Marshes. Low-lying 

 malarious tract of W. Italy. In the 

 prov. of Rome, it bore the name of 

 Pomptinae Paludes. It extends 

 along the Mediterranean coast 

 between Cisterna on the N. and 



Terracina on the S. About 25 m. 

 in length, its breadth varies be- 

 tween 6 m. and 11 m. In ancient 

 times the district was well drained, 

 with prosperous villages and farms, 

 and was inhabited by the Volsci. 

 After the subjugation of that people 

 by the Romans, the drainage works 

 fell into disrepair and it became a 



Pontoise, Fiance. Facade and tower 

 of the church of S. Maclou 



malarious waste. Appius Claudius 

 tried to drain it when, in 312 B.C., 

 he drove the Appian Way through 

 it. Various attempts have since 

 been made to reclaim it, Pope Pius 

 VI in the 18th century construct- 

 ing huge drainage works. In 1899 

 a large sum of money was allotted 

 by the Italian government for re- 

 clamation purposes. 



Ponting, HERBERT GEORGE. 

 British photographer. Son of a 

 South port banker, after some years 

 of ranching in 

 California he 

 travelled twice 

 round the world 

 with his camera 

 and took the 

 highest award 

 at Dresden in 

 1909 for his 

 travel photo- 

 graphs of Asia 

 Joi.ningCaptain 

 Scott's Expedition, he obtained a 

 remarkable series of pictures of the 

 Antarctic, which were afterwards 

 exhibited on the screen, his cinema 

 lecture being given over 1,000 times 

 in London in 1914 and later 



In 1921 he published an account 

 of his experiences under the title of 

 The Great White South, with illus- 

 trations of nature life in the S. 

 Polar regions. Thousands of his 

 travel photographs are in use in 

 America for educational purposes, 

 and in England. 



H. G. Ponting, 

 British photographer 



Pontivy. Town of France. In 

 the dept. of Morbihan, Brittany, 

 it stands on the Blavet, and the 

 canal from Nantes to Bre-'t, 30 m. 

 N.N.W. of Vannes. The chief 

 buildings aro the church and the 

 chateau, now a museum, and the 

 chief industries linen an r l paper- 

 tuaking. There is a trade in agri- 

 cultural produce The newer part 

 of the town is known as Napoleon- 

 ville. It was built by Napoleon to 

 accommodatea great number of sol- 

 diers, because he wished tomake the 

 place a military centre. Pop. 9,500. 

 Pont-Neuf. Oldest bridge over 

 i,he Seine, Paris. Built 1588-1603, 

 remodelled in 1843-53 and ayain 

 partly restored in 188fi, it is "360 

 yds. long and 25 yds. in width. 

 The equestrian statue of Henry 

 IV dates from 1818, when it re- 

 placed an earlier work of 1635, 

 converted into cannon in 1792. 

 The bridge was famous in the 17th 

 and 18th centuries as a gathering 

 place for showmen. See Paris. 



Pontoise. Town of France. In 

 the dept. of Seine-et-Oise, it stands 

 at the junction of the Oise and the 

 Viosne, 17 m. from Paris. The 

 chief buildings are the churches of 

 S. Maclou and Notre Dame. There 

 are manufactures of chemicals, an 

 agricultural trade, and some ship- 

 ping on the Oise. Pontoise was 

 founded by the Gauls, and was a 

 fortified town under the kings of 

 France. It became the capital of 

 the Vexin, and was taken and re- 

 taken several times. Pop. 9,000. 

 Pontoon (Lat. panto, punt. 

 Hoating bridge) Flat-bottomed 

 boat, particularly one of special de- 

 sign employed for military bridge- 

 building This type of bridge utilises 

 the boat? as piers, the superstruc- 

 ture forming the roadway being 

 thrown across from boat to boat 

 It can be speedily erected and is 

 particularly useful for crossing 

 wide streams, as no foundations for 

 the piers are required. Boat bridges 

 have been used since the earliest 

 times. Modern pontoons are 

 usually made in. two or three sec- 

 tions for convenience of transport. 

 Boats about 21 ft. long carry a 

 roadway ten ft. wide, the distance 

 between boats being proportioned 

 to the load the bridge is to cairy. 

 See Bridge. 



Pont oppidan, 

 HENRiK(b. 1857). 

 Danish novelist. 

 Born at Frede- 

 ricia, July 24, 

 1857, he made 

 his name in 

 1881 with a vol- 

 ume of stories 

 portraying vivid- 



H. Pontoppidan, . P easant } iie ' 

 Danish noveHst This was to I- 



