PAR 
PAR 
43D 
ders or fpiculte are always found tranfparent, and are never 
opaque at the centre. The coloured arcs that accompany 
parhelia he thinks to be not at all different from the com¬ 
mon coronas; fo that, if there be a quantity of icy fpiculas 
in a thin fog, the whole of this appearance will be pro¬ 
duced, the coronas being formed in the fog,,and the par¬ 
helia in the fpiculas. See Huygens’s Differtation on this 
fubjeft in Smith’s Optics, chap. u. See alfo Prieltley’s 
Hilt, of Light p. 613. and Muichenbroeck’s Introduftion 
vok ii. 4-to. 
PA'RI, or Peri, [Perlian.] A good genius, a beauti¬ 
ful fpecies of imaginary creature, neither man nor woman, 
angel nor devil, but anfwering, in many refpefts, to that 
beneficent little being to whom ouranceftors paid fo much 
attention, called the fairy ; which, from the refemblance 
of the name, and many other circumftances, was, in all 
probability, of eaftern extraction. The old romances^ of 
Arabia and Perfia allot them a particular country, called 
Jinnijian, where they live upon perfume alone; and con¬ 
ceive them to be fo extremely beautiful, that they call a 
lovely woman Parizadah, “ born of The Paris,” the 
name of the fecond daughter of Darius, whom the Greeks 
have called Parifatis; corrupting in the fame manner, 
Sitarah (a ftar) into Statira, and Roflian (fplendor) into 
Roxana. The devas, or genii, are another fpecies of ideal 
beings, but the reverfe of the paris, being ugly, malig¬ 
nant and perpetually at war with them, and with man¬ 
kind, whom the paris are fupppofed conftantly to pro¬ 
tect. Thefe two claffes of fupernatural creatures form 
great part of the machinery of eaftern poetry, fable, and 
romance, and give a molt fanciful and extended field to 
luxuriant imaginations. Ric/iurdfon's PerJ'ian DiEt. by 
Wilkins. 
PA'RIA, a province of South America, in the govern¬ 
ment of Caraccas, formerly a part of Spanifli Guiana; 
fituated to the eaft of Cumana, on the north-eaft coaft of 
the continent of South America, Between it and the 
Bland of Trinidad, is a large bay, called the Gulf of Paria. 
There are few places fo falubrious, and yet fo fertile, in 
South America, as the valleys of Cape de Paria. Many 
tribes of Indians inhabit its coafts. Some French families 
took refuge there during the firft ftorms of the revolution : 
a confiderable number of French colonifts from Trinidad, 
Tobago, and Grenada, have alfo fettled in the fame neigh¬ 
bourhood. At firft, the Spanifh government gave them 
a good reception ; but the beautiful plantations of cocoa, 
coffee, cotton, and even fugar-manufaCtories, which they 
loon formed, tempted the jealous avarice of feme local of¬ 
ficers of the government. From 1802, various pretences 
were invented for getting rid of, and plundering, them. 
Some were driven out and fent away from the raoft con¬ 
temptible motives ; among others, M. Ifnardi, a native of 
Piedmont; the fame who is now fecretary to the Congrefs 
of Venezuela. 
The entrance of the Gulf of Paria prefents feenes both 
varied and magnificent. To the eaft is that majeftic river 
the Oronoco, compared to which thofe of Europe are but 
as rivulets! its waves meeting thofe of the fea, and incef- 
fantly difputing the empire of the gulf. To the weft ap¬ 
pear, riling from the bofom of the horizon, the mountains 
of Cumana; and by degrees, on approaching the weftern 
coaft of Trinidad, you di (cover numerous valleys and plains 
enamelled with eternal verdure. On nearing the coaft, 
the navigator’s view is charmed by a landfcape covered 
with various plantations, and diverfified by meandering 
rivers and rivulets, which water it. A ftrange and fome- 
timesgrotefque medley of white, copper-colour, and black, 
men, animate this feene. Whilft the numerous canoes of 
Caribs and Guaraouns Ikim the gulf in every direction, 
the traveller fees and hears the negroes working and ling- 
ing in cadence; troops of monkeys jufnping from tree to 
tree, and twinging themfelves while fulpended from the 
branches by their tails: innumerable flocks of magnificent 
birds enliven the feene, by the beauty and variety of their 
colours. The fliores continually refound with the fongs 
of fome and the fcreeching of others: at the end of this 
fmiling plain, riles the northern mountains, like an amphi¬ 
theatre, their fummits crowned with the noble trees of the 
tropics, above which the palm, waving its lofty head, at¬ 
tracts the thunder, and forces the clouds to depofe their 
waters at its feet, from whence, precipitating in cafcades 
and torrents, they form rivulets and fere tins. Laanyjfe's 
Defcription of Venezuela, Trinidad, §t. 1819. 
PA'RIA, a town of South America, and capital of a 
diftriCt in the viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres, beginning 
210 miles north-Weft of that city, and about 120 miles in 
extent. The air is cold, fo that the country produces 
little grain ; which is in fome meafure cornpenlated by 
the great plenty of all kinds of cattle ; and the cheele 
made here, both from the milk of (keep and cows, is fo 
highly efteemed, that it is fent into every part of Peru. 
It has alfo fome filver-mines : eighteen miles fouth of 
Oruro. Lat. 18.50. S. Ion. 68. 20. W. 
PA'RIA-TU'BA, a town of Brafil, in the government 
of Para, on the river Amazons: thirty-five miles fouth- 
w'eft of Pauxis. 
PA'RIAN, adj. [from Paros.'] Belonging to Paros; 
brought from Paros. 
PA'RIAN CHRON'ICLE. See Arundelian Mar¬ 
bles, vol. ii. p. 245. 
PA'RIAN MAR'BLE. See the article Marmor, vol. 
xiv. p. 389. 
PARIA'NA,/ [a name of Aublet’s, which as Mr. Pro- 
feffor Martyn remarks, (eeins to have been fuggefted by the 
flowers growing in pairs upon the fpike.] In botany, a ge¬ 
nus of the clafs moncecia, order polyandria, natural order 
of graminte, or grafles. Generic charaders. I. Male flowers 
in whorls, digefted intofpikes. Calyx: glumeone-flower- 
ed, two-valved; valves fliort,acute. Corolla: two-vulved, 
larger than the calyx; .valves ovate, acute, one narrower. 
Stamina: filaments about forty, capillary, inferred into 
the bottom of the corolla; antherse linear. II. Female 
flower folitary in each whorl, faftened to the .axis of the 
fpike. Calyx: glume two valved ; valves ovate, concave, 
acute. Corolla: two-valved, lefs than the calyx ; valves 
acute, hairy at the tip. Piftillum : germ three-cornered; 
ftyle long, hairy ; ftigmas two, villofe. Pericarpium : none ; 
corolla inverting the feed. Seed one, three-cornered, in- 
clofed.— Efential Chamber. Male flowers in whorls, form¬ 
ing fpikes. Calyx two-valved ; corolla two-valved, 
larger than the calyx ; filaments forty. Female flowerw 
folitary in each whorl. Calyx two-valved ; corolla two- 
valved, lefs than the calyx; ftigmas two ; leed chree-cor- 
nered, inclofed. 
Pariana campeftris, -the only fpecies. This plant puts 
forth feveral ftraight fhoots, or canes, about one or two 
feet high. At each joint they are garnifhed with alternate 
oval weak leaves, ftriated throughout their whole length, 
fmooth, gloffy, greenifh above, paler beneath ; the foot- 
llalks are fliort, and accompanied by a- long fplit (heath 
in oppofite directions on each fide the ftalk. This 1’neath 
envelops the ftem from one joint to the other. The Item 
is terminated by a ferrated fpike, formed ot feveral ranges 
of male flowers growing above each other. The female 
flower is Angle in the middle of each range. The fpike 
of flowers is about two inches and a half in length. Grows 
in woods in the ifle of Cayenne. The number of filaments, 
or ftamens, is very extraordinary ip tne natural order of 
grades, to which this plant belongs. 
PARIA'RS, a degraded tribe of Hindoos. See the arti¬ 
cle Hindoostan, vol. x. p. 121, 123. 
PAR'IDSONG, Paridrong, or Phari, a ftrong town 
and mountain of Bootan, on the borders of Thibet; forty 
miles north-weft of Taffifudon. Lat. 28. N. Ion. 89. 1 3. E. 
The fortrefs of Phari is a ftrong Hone building, (itua- 
ted on high ground ; and on the north and weft (ides of 
it is an extenlive fuburb ; on the fouth is a large bafin of 
water ; and on the eaft a bank of earth projected to a con¬ 
fiderable dillance, and falling with an eal’y (lope from a 
level with the rampart into the plain. The valley of 
Phari 
