GEOGRAPHY, TRAVEL, ARCHITECTURE 



561 



Providence, a city, capital of the State of 

 Rhode Island, and county-seat of Providence 

 County; on the Providence River, an arm of 

 Narrangansett Bay, and forty-four miles south- 

 west of Boston. It is the second city of New 

 England in population and wealth, and is built 

 on a rolling plateau. Providence has upward 

 of 2,000 manufacturing establishments, with a 

 combined capital of about $60,000,000, and em- 

 ploying about 40,000 persons. It is noted for 

 taufactures of cotton and woolen goods, 

 jewelry, and stoves, and is the largest seat of 

 fine jewelry manufacture in the United States. 

 The other industries include silverware, tools, 

 engines, locomotives, boilers, sewing machines, 

 . files, general hardware, yarn, calico, 

 braids, worsteds, broadcloth, chemicals, 

 There is an extrusive coastwise commerce 

 and shipping industry, especially in the coal, 

 cotton, and wool trade. Tnere is also an impor- 

 tant shcll-ti>h industry. In 1636, Roger Williams, 

 a Baptist clergyman, was exiled from Massa- 

 chusetts because he opposed its theocratic laws. 

 He fir>t settled at What Cheer Rock, on theSee- 

 k>nk River, and later at the head of the Provi- 



River, where the Indian Chief, Canonicus, 

 granted him a piece of land. In 1643-1644 local 

 government was formed under a royal charter. 



idence received its city charter in 1832, 

 has been enlarged by annexation of territory 



adjoining towns. Population, 198,635. 

 Prussia (prush'ah). A kingdom of Europe, 

 and the principal state of the German Empire, 

 ;ided on the north by the Baltic Sea and 

 Denmark, east by Russia and Poland, south 

 by the Austrian dominions and the states of 

 hern (lermany, southwest by France and 

 by Belgium and Holland. The geograph- 

 ical form of this kingdom is very irregular. 

 Prussia has an extensive seaboard extending 

 along the Baltic from Russia on the east to Den- 

 mark on the west. It has, besides, a tract of 

 hed by the North Sea, formed by 

 the Schieswig-Holstein and Hanoverian prov- 

 1 he length of the kingdom, taken from 

 east-northeast to west-southwest, is about 775 

 nule>; maximum breadth, in I miles. The sur- 

 face is for the most part flat. The principal 

 mountains are those of the Hartz, Bracken, and 



ngebirge. The Baltic seaboard is low and 

 sandy, and forms a number of bays and inlets 

 such as the Gulf of Dantzig, the bays of Swine- 

 mundr. I.ul.eck. and Kiel, the Frische HafT and 

 the Curi-che HafT. 1'ru.s^ia possesses a large 

 number of navigable rivers in close proximity 

 \sith each other, vi/. : thr Nirmen. Pre^el. 



tula .l.e, Weser, and the Khinr with it> 



numerous tributaries, such as the Moselle, Lahn, 

 etc. The forests are extensive, occupying an area 

 of nearly 10,000 square mile-, chiefly consisting 

 Iti minerals consist of iron, copper, lead, 

 alum, nitre, zinc, cobalt, sulphur, nickel, ar 



amber, several varieties of precious 

 Stone-, and. to a small rxtent. Mlver. Salt from 

 -sian Saxon y i- plentiful. 

 aa is also coal. All metals, salt, amber. 



lous stones are Crown property. Agricul- 

 i rattlr-rrarini: mn-tiiute the chief 



source- of emplnymriil and wraith of thr rural 

 population. The we-tern division of Prussia is 



noted for its excellent fruits and vegetables, and 

 the Rhenish provinces stand preeminent for 

 their wines. In the kingdom there are upwards 

 of 100 mineral springs, as those of Wiesbaden, 

 Ems, Spa, Pyrmont, etc. The chief cities and 

 towns are Berlin (the capital), Breslau, Cologne, 

 Konigsberg, Dantzig, Strasburg, Frankfort-on- 

 t he- ^lain, Magdeburg, Hanover, Aix-la-Chapelle, 

 Muhlhouse, Mentz, Frankfort-on-the-Oder. The 

 seaports (besides Dantzig and Konigsberg) 

 include Memel, Swinemunde, Stettin, Liibeck, 

 Altona, and Cuxhaven. That of Kiel is the 

 principal naval station and arsenal of the Ger- 

 man Empire. Prussian manufactures consist 

 mainly of silk, woolen, cotton, and linen fabrics; 

 arms, shawls, carpets, leather, pottery, glass, 

 | tobacco, and metallic wares. Tne brewing of 

 I beer is a business carried on extensively. The 

 I leading exports comprise linens, woolens, hard- 

 | ware, grain, raw wool, timber, pitch, linseed, 

 tobacco, mineral waters; to these may be added 

 horses, horned cattle, salted and dried meats, 

 etc., and from the Rhenish provinces, wine. 

 Education is compulsory, and its higher branches 

 are provided for at the universities of Berlin, 

 Bonn, Breslau, Konigsberg, Halle, and Greifs- 

 walde. 



Pyramids, The a name given in pre- 

 eminence to three rock-built tombs (said by 

 recent authorities to have been used also for 

 astronomical observations and for religious pur- 

 poses) found in the neighborhood of Ghizeh, 

 near Cairo, on the left bank of the Nile. They 

 are all solid masses of stone or brick, with 

 ! sepulchral chambers in the center or near the 

 | base; and these chambers are reached by a 

 cillery, or passage, which opens from the out- 

 side. The first of the Pyramids is said to have 

 been erected by Cheops, an Egyptian Kins, who 

 lived about 3,000 B. C. It was intended by 

 ! him, and was used, as his tomb. According to 

 Herodotus, one hundred thousand men were 

 employed for twenty years in building this 

 Pyramid; and ten years were occupied in con- 

 structing a causeway by which to convey the 

 stones to the place, and in conveying them 

 there. This Pyramid, called "the Great Pyra- 

 mid," was originally 480 feet in height, with a 

 I base of 764 feet square. At present, it i 

 ternally a huge mass, rudely built of rough lime- 

 Mo ne blocks in steps, and with a platform of 

 | considerable area at the top; but it is believed 

 to have been originally covered with a solid 

 marble casing, the stones of which began to be 

 rr moved about A. D. 1000 for the buildn 

 thr adornment of Cairo. The second Pyramid 

 is said to have been built by Chephron. the 

 brother and successor of Cheops. Alth 

 slii:litly inferior to the first Pvramid in sue, 

 and probably far inferior in quality of masonry, 

 it is still a structure of enormous dimension-. 

 which must have required many years of labor 

 fn.m tens of thousands of workmen. Alter 

 Chej.hron. My< ninus, son of Cheops, ascended 

 the throne. He, too, left a Pyramid, but much 

 inferior in size to his father's, the height of this 

 third Pyramid being only 218 feet, with a base 

 about :;.) tret square. Besides these t 

 principal Pyramid*, t he re are nearly forty ot 

 included under the general designation of the 



