772 
PET 
according to Servius, fignifies the bunch of a camel; al¬ 
luding to the manner in which thefe operators bend the 
body in exhibiting poltures. 
PETAPA', a town of Mexico, in the province of Gua- 
timala : twenty miles fouth-eaft of Guatimala. 
PETAPOL'LY, a town of Hindooftan, in the circar of- 
Rajamundry : twenty-lix miles north-eaft of Rajamundry. 
PETAR', or Petard, J'. [ petard , Fr. petardo, ItaL] 
A machine applied to gates or barriers to blow them up: 
they are alfo ufed in countermines to break through into 
the enemies galleries. See the article Artillery, vol. ii. 
P- 233 - 
'Tis fport to have the engineer 
Hoill with his own petar. Sliahefpeare's Hamlet. 
The conjugal petard, that tears 
Down all portcullices of ears. Hudibras. 
PETARDI'ER, f. He who loads and fires the petard. 
PETASI'TES, J'. [Greek.] The Butter-bur. It 
owes that name to its large round leaf, refembling a very 
broad- hat or umbrella, Trflaa-og. See Tussilago ; alfo 
Clerodendrum and Gunnera. 
PET'ASUS, /' [Greek.] Among the Romans, a cover¬ 
ing for the head, not unlike our hats 5 it had abroad 
brim, and was ufed in journeys, to fave the face from 
being fun-burnt. The pileus differed from the petafns, 
as having no brim.—The petafns is obferved upon the 
bead of ancient figures of Mercury ; who wore it in the 
quality of the god of travellers and merchants. Chambers. 
PETAT'LAN, a town of Mexico, in the province of 
Culiacan, on a river of the fame name: 120 miles north- 
weft of Culiacan. Lat. 25. 30. N. Ion. 104.. 34. W. 
PETAT'LAN, a town of Mexico, in the province of 
Mechoacan: feventy miles fouth-eaft of Zacatula, 135 
fouth-fouth-eaft of Mechoacan. Lat. 18. N. Ion. 102. 6.W. 
PETAT'LAN, a river of Mexico, which croffes the 
north part of the province of Culiacan, and runs into the 
Pacific Ocean in lat. 25. 30. N. 
PETAU'] an ancient town of Germany, in the circle 
of Auftria, and in Stiria. It is a handfome place, and is 
feated on the river Drave, thirty-five miles north-e .ft of 
Cilley, and 109 fouth of Vienna. Lat. 46. 40. N. fon. 
15. 36. E. 
PETAU', or Peta'vius (Denis, or Dionyfius), a very 
learned Jefuit, was born at Orleans in 1583. He was re¬ 
markable, from childhood, for a fingular propenfity to 
letters ; and is -faid to have compofed verfes with great 
facility at the commencement of his tenth year. As he 
grew up, he would pafs whole day$ in ftudy, to the neg¬ 
lect of all the ufual amufements of his age. He entered 
into the fociety of Jefuits at the age of tu-enty-two, and 
taught rhetoric and theology at their college in Paris 
with extraordinary reputation. He was pertedftiy verfed 
in the learned languages, and was well acquainted with 
the fciences ; but his particular ftudy was chronology, 
•and it is upon his writings on that topic that his literary 
fame is chiefly founded. After he had made himfelf 
known by feveral learned publications, Philip IV. of Spain 
applied to the general of his order to lend him to occupy 
a profefforftiip in the imperial college of Madrid. Petau 
remonftrated that his ftate of health would not permit 
him to travel, nor to refide in fo hot a climate; and his 
excufe was admitted. In faft, France was a much fitter 
refidence for him than Spain, in which laft country he 
could neither have written with any degree of freedom, 
nor have got his works printed. He afterwards refufed 
a more tempting invitation to Rome, from Urban VIII. 
who had a defign of raifing him to the purple. Devoting 
himfelf entirely to letters, he continued to live in his cell 
in the college of Clermont, where he died in 1652, in his 
70th year. He had been a great fufterer from the ftone, 
lb that he regarded death as a definable releafe; and, 
when the phyfician, Guy Patin, informed him that his 
end was j ult at hand, Petau caufed a copy of his Ratio- 
, PET 
narium Temporum to be brought, and prefented it to 
him as a recompenfe for his good news. 
Although of a warm temper, and fubjeft to occafionai 
fallies of paflion, Petavius was much efteemed in the com¬ 
merce of life, both as a man and an ecclefiaftic. He was 
difputatious, and liable to exceed the bounds of mode¬ 
ration in his literary controverfies ; yet he retained many 
friends among the learned. One of thefe was the illtif- 
trious Grotius, though of a different communion : on the 
other hand, one of his warmeft antagonifts was Salmafius. 
The writings of Petavius are numerous and various. He 
appeared as a tranflator and critical editor in his Latin 
verfions and editions of feveral pieces of St. Epiphanius, 
of Syncfius.Themiftius, the emperor Julian, and the hifto- 
rical abridgment of the patriarch Nicephorus. In thefe 
works he exhibits himfelf as an elegant and fuccefsful in¬ 
terpreter, though Spanheim finds him occafionally mif- 
taking the fenfe of his author. He exercifed himfelf in 
poetry both in the Greek and Latin languages, in the 
former of which he gave a Verfion of all the Pfalms and 
Canticles. His verfes are as good as could be expedted 
from vaft reading and a prodigious memory, without a 
poetical genius. His more important works are, 1. De 
Doftrina Temporum, 2 vols. fol. 1627; a very learned and 
profound fyftem of chronology, of great ufe to writers 
and ftudents of hiftory. It is generally accompanied by his 
“ Uranologia, in quo Graeci Auffores varii de Sphsera ac 
Sideribus ccmmentati funt, &c.” fol. 1630. 2. Ratio- 
nariurn Temporum, an abridgment of his Doftrina Tem¬ 
porum, with an abftraft of general hiftory : of the va¬ 
rious editions of this ufeful work, the belt is reckoned 
that of J. Conrad Rungius, 2 vols. 8vo. 1710. 3. Dog¬ 
mata Theologica, 3 vols. fol. 1644—1650; a very ela¬ 
borate fyftem of dogmatical theology, much efteemed by 
Proteftants as well as Catholics. The fairnefs of its 
ftatements, indeed, drew cenfure upon the author, as 
being too favourable to the Arians in his account of the 
opinions of the early centuries of the Chriftian church : 
the Sorbonne obliged him to counteract this effeft in an 
orthodox preface, which however has only made him ap¬ 
pear inconfiftent with himfelf. In like manner, his re- 
prefentation of the opinions of St. Auguftine having given 
offence to his brethren of the fociety, he was forced to re- 
traft, and adopt the Molinift fenfe of thofe doCtrines. It 
is reported that he faid to a friend, as a reafon for this 
alteration, “ I am too old to change my lodgings,” inti¬ 
mating that he muft otherwife have quitted the fociety : 
fuch was its tyranny in matter of opinion ! The-ftyle of 
Petau, when writing upon thefe abftrufe and thorny fub- 
jefts, is much admired for its purity and clearnefs. His 
life is written at length by Father Oudin, in the “ Me- 
moires du Niceron.” 
PETAWONTA'KAS, an Indian nation of America, 
formerly in alliance with the Hurons. 
PETAYANG', a fmall illand in the Chinefe Sea. Lat. 
26. 2. N. Ion. 119. 49. E. 
PETCHELI', or Pe-che-lee, called alfo Ttheli or Li- 
pa-fou, the principal province of China. It approaches 
to the form of a right-angled triangle ;'and is bounded 
on the north by the great wall and part of Tartary, on 
the eaft by the fea of Corea, on the fouth by the pro¬ 
vinces of Chang-tong and Ho-nan, and towards the weft 
by the mountains of Chan-fi. It contains nine cities of 
the firft clafs, with their refpe&ive jurifdiCtions, which 
comprehend a great number of other cities, lefs confider- 
able, but all furrounded with walls and ditches. Cities 
of the firft rank are diftinguilhed by the appellation fou ; 
thofe of the fecond rank by tcheou; and thofe of the 
third rank by Men. The capital of this province is Pekin, 
which fee. 
Petcheli is very much a level country, and has few 
mountains; arid therefore it allows of the ufe of a fin¬ 
gular kind of carriage, with one wheel, and conftrudfed 
fo that there is room in the middle for only one perfon, 
who 
