PORT GLASGOW 



Port Glasgow. Mun. bor. and 

 seaport of Renfrewshire, Scotland. 

 It stands on the left bank of the 



Clyde, 20 m. 



""from Glasgow, 

 with a station 

 on the Cal. Rly. 

 The chief build 

 ings are the 

 town hall, town 

 house and libra- 

 ry, all modern. 

 Port Glasgow arms Birkmyre Park 

 is a public recreation ground, and 

 near are the ruins of Newark Castle. 

 The industries are chiefly connected 

 with shipbuilding, and the burgh 

 has wet and dry docks, shipbuilding 

 yards, iron-foundries, and works for 

 making rope, sailcloth, etc. Tim- 

 ber is largely imported. Port Glas- 

 gow arose from the village of 

 Newark. In 1668 the baillies of 

 Glasgow bought the land from the 

 Maxwells and built a harbour, 

 making it the seaport of Glasgow, 

 hence its name. In 1710 it was 

 made the chief custom house port 

 for the Clyde, and in 1775 was 

 created a burgh. During the 19th 

 century Glasgow gradually ab- 

 sorbed the trade of the Clyde 

 owing to the deepening of the river, 

 which permitted liners to reach the 

 Broomielaw at Glasgow ; at Port 

 Glasgow, however, shipbuilding 

 developed into a great industry, 

 and a trade with Canada and the 

 West Indies was maintained. Pop. 

 21,000. 



Port Harcourt. Seaport of 

 Nigeria. It stands at Iguacha, on 

 one of the largest creeks entering 

 the Bonny and New Calabar 

 rivers, about 30 m. from the mouth 

 of them, in Nigeria. A precipitous 

 cliff rises to a height of 45 ft., and 

 there is a depth of 50 ft. alongside, 

 conditions unknown elsewhere in 

 this part of Africa. It is the ter- 

 minus of the rly. being constructed 

 N. to join the Iddo-Kano Rly. It 

 was named after Viscount Har- 

 court when, as Lewis Harcourt, 

 he was colonial secretary. 



Porthcawl. Seaport and urban 

 dist. of Glamorganshire, Wales. It 

 is 30 m. from Cardiff, with a sta- 

 tion on the G.W. Rly. There is a 

 dock, but the export of coal and 

 iron is less than formerly. The 

 chief building is the church of S. 

 John the Baptist. The town is 

 visited for bathing and golf. The 

 urban district includes Newton. 

 Pop. 3,500. 



Port Herald. Town of the 

 Nyasaland Protectorate, S. Africa. 

 Situated on the Shire river, it is 

 214 m. by water from Chinde, at 

 the mouth of the Zambezi, and 61 

 m. by rly. from Chindio, the ter- 

 minus of the rly. from Blantyre to 

 the Zambezi. 



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PORTION 



Port Glasgow. Town and harbour looking across the Clyde to Ben Lomond 



Valentine 



Port Hope. Port and town of 

 Ontario, Canada, in Durham co. 

 Situated on Lake Ontario, 63 m. 

 from Toronto, and served by the 

 C.N.R., G.T.R., and C.P.R., it has 

 a good harbour, and is a watering- 

 place, as well as a market for the 

 produce, mainly fruit, of the 

 neighbourhood. Pop. 5,100. 



Porthos. Character in Dumas' s 

 romances, The Three Musketeers, 

 Twenty Years After, and Le 

 Vicomte de Bragelonne. He is one 

 of the famous trio of musketeers ; 

 a vain, titanic hero who dies mag- 

 nificently at bay in the third of the 

 romances. See Aramis ; Athos. 



Port Huron. City and port of 

 entry of Michigan, U.S.A., the co. 

 seat of St. Glair co. A popular 

 summer resort, it stands at the 

 mouth of St. Clair river, in Lake 

 Huron, 61 m. N.E. of Detroit, and 

 is served by the Grand Trunk and 

 Pere Marquette Rlys., and by lake 

 and river steamers. An important 

 shipping trade is carried on, and 

 among its manufacturing estab- 

 lishments are boiler and engine 

 works, rly. workshops, machinery 

 and motor vehicles, and agricul- 

 tural implement factories. The 

 village of Port Huron was laid out 

 in 1849, and became a city in 1857. 

 Pop. 25,900. C 



Portia. Character in Shake- 

 speare's play The Merchant of 

 Venice. A wealthy heiress, won by 

 Bassanio, she learns that Antonio 

 stands in danger of forfeiting his 

 life by his inability to repay 

 money he has borrowed from Shy- 

 lock, the Jew, to equip her lover 

 for his wooing. Thereupon she dis- 

 guises herself as a counsellor and 

 by her pleading secures the acquit- 

 tal of Antonio and the discomfiture 

 of Shylock. See Merchant of Venice. 



Portici. Town of Italy, in the 

 prov. of Naples. It stands on the 

 Bay of Naples at the W. base of 

 Mt. Vesuvius, 5 m. by rly. S.E. of 

 Naples. In 1631 it was destroyed 

 by an eruption of Vesuvius. It has 

 an 18th century palace and a mu- 

 seum of antiquities. Fishing, silk- 

 worm rearing, and the manufacture 

 of silk are the most important 

 industries. Adjoining the town is 

 Resina (q.v. ), which stands over 

 the ruins of Herculaneum. Pop. 

 14,500. 



Portion. In English law, that 

 which a parent gives to a child in 

 order to set him up in life ; or, in 

 other words, his share of the 

 parental inheritance. Equity 

 leans against double portions, and 

 therefore if a parent has, by his 



Portia, character in Shakespeare's 



comedy, The Merchant of Venice. 



From the painting by H. Harris 



Browne 



