GEOGRAPHY, TRAVEL, ARCHITECTURE 



555 



an aquarium, conservatories, etc. The Bois de 

 Vincennes, on the east, even larger, is similarly 

 adorned with artificial lakes and streams, and 

 its high plateau offers a fine view over the sur- 

 rounding country. Of the churches of Paris the 



elebrated is the Cathedral of Notre Dame, 



d on one of the islands of the Seine, called 

 tin lie de la Cite\ It is a vast cruciform struc- 

 ture, with a lofty west front, flanked by two 



towers, the walls sustained by many fly- 

 ing buttresses, and the east end octagonal. The 

 whole length of the church is 426 feet, its breadth 



t. The foundation of Notre Dame be- 

 longs to the Sixth Century; the present edifice 

 dates from 1163; but was restored in 1845. 

 The interior decorations are all modern. Saint 

 Chapelle is said to be the finest Gothic master- 

 piece extant. The Pantheon, originally meant 

 for a church, is the burial-place of the great men 

 of the country, where lie the remains of Voltaire, 

 Rousseau, and Carnot. Notable among the pub- 

 lic buildings of Paris are its palaces. The 

 Louvre, a great series of buildings within which 

 arc t\vo large courts, is now devoted to a museum 

 which comprises splendid collections of sculpture, 

 paintings, engravings, bronzes, pottery, Egyp- 

 tian and Assyrian antiquities, etc.; the palace 

 of the Tuileries, the Palais du Luxembourg, the 

 Palais Royal, the Palais de PElysee, and many 

 . A notable and unique structure is the 

 Eiffel Tower, built in connection with the Paris 

 Exhibition of 1900, and which is to have a 

 permanent existence. It is a structure of iron 

 lattice-work, 984 feet high, and having three 

 stages or platforms. It is as yet the nighest 

 building in the world. The University Schools 

 in the Quartier Latin attract the youth of all 

 France; the chief are the Schools of Medicine 

 and Law, the Scotch College, the College of 

 France, and the Sorbonne, the seat of the faculties 



ters, science, and Protestant theology. 

 The first appearance of Paris in history is on 

 the occasion of Caesar's conquest of Gaul, when 



ill tribe of the Parisii were found inhabit- 

 ing the banks of the Seine, and occupying the 

 island now called He de la Cite". It was a fortified 

 town in 360 A. D., when the soldiers of Julian 

 here summoned him to fill the imperial throne. 

 In the beginning of the Fifth Century it suffered 

 much from the northern hordes, anil ultimately 

 fell into the hands of the Franks, headed by 



who made it his capital in 508. In 987 a 

 new dynasty was established in the person of 

 Hugh Capet, from whose reign downward Paris 

 ha* continued to be the residence of the kings of 

 France. In 1 i:;7 and I i:;x. under Charles VII., 

 Paris was ravaged by pestilence and famine. 

 Cnder Louis XI. a course of prosperity again 

 commenced. In the rei^n of Louis XIV. the 

 Paris walls were levelled to the ground after 

 having stood for about 300 years, and what are 

 now the principal boulevards were formed on 



te (1670). Only the Bastille wav left (till 



Hid in j. lace of the four principal gates of 

 1 walK tour triumphal arches were erected, 



whirl., the Porte St. Denis and Porte St. 



still stand. Many of the finest edifices 



re destroyed during the Revolution. 



but the work of embellishment was resume. 1 by 



rectory, and continued by all sub- 



governments. The reign of Napoleon III. is 

 specially noteworthy in this respect; during it 

 Paris was opened up by spacious streets and 

 beautified to an extent surpassing all that had 

 hitherto been effected by any of his predecessors. 

 The most recent events in the history of Paris 



! are the siege of the city by the Germans in the 

 war of 1870-1871, and the subsequent biege car- 

 ried on by the French national government in 



; order to wrest the city from the hands of the 

 Commune. Paris has been the scene of inter- 

 national exhibitions in the years 1855, 1867, 

 1878, 1889, and 1900. Population, 2,810.915. 



Patagonia, the name applied to that ex- 

 t reme portion of South America which is bounded 



! east by the Atlantic, west by the Pacific, south 

 by the Strait of Magellan, and north by the Rio 

 Negro. Since 1881 this large territory has been, 

 by treaty, divided between Chile and the Argen- 

 tine Republic, so that the portion west of the 

 Andes (63,000 square miles) belongs now to the 



i former, and the portion east of the Andes (360,- 



! 000) belongs to the latter. The Straits of Ma- 



j gellan form a southern boundary of 360 miles, 

 and separate the mainland from the numerous 



I islands of Tierra del Fuego. Here the Chilean 

 Government has established the settlement of 

 Punta Arenas, with stations along the coast. 



I Patagonia, east of the Andes, consists mainly of 

 vast undulating plains, frequently covered with 

 shingle and broken up by ridges o! volcanic rock. 

 The vegetation is scanty, except in the region 



; adjoining the Andes, and in many places there 

 are shallow salt lakes and lagoons. The chief 

 rivers are the Rip Negro, the Chupat, the Rio 

 Desire, and the Rio Chico, all of which have their 

 sources in the Andes, and run east. There are 

 few, if any, good seaports. The Pantagonians 

 are a tall, muscular race, averaging fully six feet 



| in height, with black hair, thick lips, and skin of 



j a dark brown color. They are a nomad race, 

 divided into numerous tribes, whose chief occu- 

 pation is in hunting and cattle breeding. This 

 native population is rapidly disappearing. Col- 

 onization is encouraged by the Argentine Gov- 

 ernment, and there are many tracts suitable for 

 European settlement. The country was first 

 discovered by Magellan in 1 "20. 



Paul's (St.) Cathedral, London, is situ- 

 ated on Ludgate Hill, an elevation on the north 

 bank of the Thames. The site of the present 

 building was originally occupied by a church 

 erected by Ethelbert, King of Kent, in 610. 

 This was destroyed by fire in 1087. and another 

 edifice, Old St. Paul's, was shortly afterwards 

 commenced. The structure was in the Gothic 

 style, in the form of a Latin cross, 690 feet 1 

 130 feet broad, with a lead-covered wooden spire 

 rising to the height <>f ">-<> I'eet . The middle aisle 

 was termed Paul's Walk, from its being freauent- 

 ed by idlers, as well as money lenders and gen- 

 eral dealers. Old St. Paul's was much dam- 

 aged by a fire in 1 137, by lightning in 1444, again 

 by fire in 1561, and was utterly destroyed by 

 the great fire in 1666. The ruins remained for 

 about eight years, when the rebuilding was taken 

 in hand Iby the government of Charles II. (1675- 



; 1710). The whole building was completed at 

 a total cost of $7,500,000, under one an ! 



I (Sir Christopher Wren), one master-mason 



