PENTATEUCH 



4576 



PENTICTON 



paid every three months through the disbursing 

 department of the Bureau. The magnitude of 

 the business is realized when it is noted that 

 the disbursements on account of pensions in 

 1916 was over $159,000,000, and that to date 

 the United States has paid out since its national 

 life began the enormous sum of over $4,800,- 

 000,000. 



In Canada. The Dominion of Canada does 

 not maintain a regular standing army, but the 

 government has been obliged to call military 

 forces into the field on occasion of insurrec- 

 tions and rebellions, notably the Kiel Rebellion. 

 Since the organization of the Dominion in 

 1867 Canada has distributed in pensions nearly 

 $5,000,000 ; the annual appropriation in 1914 was 

 a little in excess of $200,000 per year. The 

 War of the Nations will eventually make heavy 

 demands upon the country. 



Pension Systems of Europe. Pensions as 

 understood in European countries have more 

 to do with the civil service; they are grants 

 made to those who have served the state for a 

 period of years; they are also bestowed as re- 

 wards for exceptional services, to scholars who 

 have made important discoveries or distin- 

 guished themselves in literary pursuits. In 

 England there is a small service pension for its 

 soldiers and sailors, depending on length of 

 service, which must cover several years' time, 

 and the nature of the disability. 



For other forms of pensions other than military 

 or naval, see MOTHERS' PENSIONS, OLD AGE PEN- 

 SIONS. Consult Reports of the Commissioner of 

 Pensions (issued annually; Washington, D. C., 

 Pension Bureau). 



PENTATEUCH, pen'tatuke, meaning five 

 books, refers specifically to the first five books 

 of the Old Testament, including Genesis, Exo- 

 dus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, be- 

 lieved to have been originally one work. Schol- 

 ars now include a sixth book, Joshua, and call 

 the whole the Hexateuch. These old Scriptures 

 were compiled from three different sets of docu- 

 ments. The first, known as the Covenant Code, 

 included the primitive Hebrew narratives and 

 laws; the second, known as the Dcuteronomic 

 Code, a restatement of the law as it is first 

 found in Exodus; and the third, known as the 

 Priestly Code, or Law of Holiness, found in 

 Leviticus and Numbers. 



Consult Green's The Higher Criticism of the 

 Pentateuch. 



PENTECOST, pen'takawst, or FEAST OF 

 WEEKS, a Jewish festival celebrated as a 

 token of thanksgiving for the ingathering of 



the grain harvest. It was observed on the fif- 

 tieth day after the Passover, or Feast of Un- 

 leavened Bread, which marked the opening of 

 the harvest. The name Feast of Weeks refers 

 to its occurrence seven weeks after the second 

 day of the Passover. An offering of leavened 

 loaves was made for the community, and indi- 

 viduals brought offerings according to the abun- 

 dance of their harvest (Deuteronomy XVI, 10). 

 Gifts were also made to the Levites and the 

 poor. In later Jewish history, Pentecost be- 

 came one of the pilgrimage feasts, at which all 

 Jewish men were required to present them- 

 selves in Jerusalem. 



The Christian Pentecost, held fifty days after 

 Easter, celebrates the descent of the Holy Spirit 

 (Acts II, 1-4). The name Whitsunday, often 

 given it, refers to the white- garments worn on 

 that day by candidates for baptism. 



PENTICTON, pen' tik tun, a town in the 

 southern part of British Columbia, in the heart 

 of the Okanagan district. It lies between two 

 lakes, the famous Okanagan, seventy miles long, 

 on the north, and the less-known Skaha, ten 

 miles long, on the south. These two bodies of 

 water, though not very deep, act as a ther- 

 mostat, which tempers the climate and makes 

 the air warm in winter and cool in summer. 

 Penticton's equable climate and the fertile soil 

 of the near-by valleys and bench lands are 

 adapted to the cultivation of apples, peaches, 

 grapes, tomatoes and other fruits and vegeta- 

 bles, for which the town is famous. The irri- 

 gation system, which is essential to the success 

 of agriculture in this dry belt, is owned by the 

 municipality. The packing and canning of fruit 

 is naturally the chief industry, but lumbering 

 is an important second. Population in 1911, 

 1,100; in 1916, about 2,500. 



Penticton has long had steamship connection 

 with the northern end of Okanagan Lake, where 

 a branch of the Canadian Pacific Railway pro- 

 vided an entrance into the valley. Only since 

 1915, when the Kettle Valley Railway was com- 

 pleted, has Penticton had direct railway con- 

 nection. It is now 251 miles east of Vancouver 

 by the direct rail route, whereas by the old 

 rail-and-water route it is 450 miles. Nelson is 

 261 miles east on this new line, which is some- 

 times called the Canadian Pacific's southern 

 main line. All freight from Nelson and the 

 Kootenay country is now shipped to the Pa- 

 cific coast via Penticton. Being a divisional 

 point, the town has railway yards and shops. 

 It was founded about 1890, and was organized 

 as a township or municipality in 1908. B.C.B. 



