828 P O K 
very limited, being confined to a few products of the fur- 
rounding country. Its only manufactures conlift of 
woollen caps and ftockings, leather, and gloves. It is the 
feat of a royal court, and of the different branches of the 
departmental adminiftration ; alfo the fee of a bifhop. 
The name of Poitiers has long been familiar to the 
Britifh, from the celebrated victory of the fon of Edward 
III. furnamed the Black Prince, gained over the French 
on 13th September, 1354. It is 85 miles fouth-fouth- 
weft of Tours, and 250 foilth-weft of Paris. Lat. 46. 35. 
N. Ion. o. 20. 43. E. 
POI'TMANSDORF, a town of Silefia, in the princi¬ 
pality of Neifie : feven miles fouth-weft of Grotkau. 
POITOU', the name, before the revolution, of a large 
province of France, bounded by Anjou on the north, 
Saintonge on the fouth, and the ocean on the weft. It 
was divided intoUpper and Lower Poitou, and was about 
210 miles in length by 70 in breadth. It is now divided 
into three departments : La Vienne, the Deux Sevres, 
and La Vendee. Fora more detailed account of the pro¬ 
vince, fee thefe departments refpedtively. 
POI'TREL, f [ poittrel , from poitrine, breaft, Fr.] 
Armour for the breaft of a horfe. 
POITU', a town of Sweden, in the province of Finland ; 
thirty miles north-north-eaft of Abo. 
POI'VRE (N.), a traveller, and intendant of the Ifles of 
France and Bourbon, was born in 171s at Lyons. He 
entered into a congregation of foreign miffionaries, by 
whom he was fent to China, a great part of which empire 
he traverfed as a philofophical obferver. Having been 
thrown into prifon in confequence of a miftake, he de¬ 
fended himfelf fo well before a mandarin in the Chinefe 
language, that he was honourably difcharged. On his 
return to Europe, he had the misfortune to lofe an arm 
in an engagement with an Englifh veftel; and his firft 
obfervation on the accident was, that he was difabled for 
a painter. He was alfo obliged to renounce the eccle- 
fiaftical profeftion ; but the India company, to whom he 
was known as an active and intelligent perfon, employed 
him in 1749 to eftablifh a new branch of commerce in 
Cochin-china. In this undertaking he difplayed great 
talents for bufinefs, with the rnoft fcrupulous integrity. 
His fuccefs caufed him in 1766 to be fent by the duke de 
Choifeul as intendant to the Ifles of France and Bourbon, 
for the purpofe of ihtroducing improvements into thofe 
colonies. M. Poivre fully anfwered the ends of his 
million. (See Mauritius, vol. xiv. p. 563.) On his 
return to France he went to breathe his Lift at his native 
city, Lyons, where he .died of a dropfy of the cheft in 
17S6. This able and eftimable man was the author of 
the following works : 1. Voyage d’un Philofophe, nmo. 
1768, containing a brief account of his obfervations on 
Alia, Africa, and America, chiefly relative to agriculture, 
in which art he was a kind of enthufiaft. 2. A Memoir 
on the preparation and dying of Silk. 3. Remarks on 
the Hiftory and Manners of China. 4. Difcourfes addrefied 
to the Inhabitants of the Ifles of France and Bourbon. 
He left fome manufcripts to the Academy of Sciences at 
Lyons, of which he was a member. Monthly Rev. vol. lxx. 
POIX, a town of France, department of the Somme, 
fituated in a hollow on the fmall river Poix. Population 
1100 : feventeen miles fouth-weft of Amiens. 
POIZE. See Poise. 
PO'KA, a town of Hindooftan in Bahar: thirty miles 
north of Bettyar. 
POKARY'A, a town of Bengal: fixteen miles fouth 
of Nattore. 
POKE, f. [pocca, Sax. poche, Fr. yoke, Icel.] A bag; 
a lack, in the north of England.—I will not buy a pig in 
a poke. Camden's Rem. 
She fuddenly unties the poke, 
Which out of it fent fuch a fmoke, 
As ready was them all to choke. 
So grievous was the pother. Drayton's Nymphid. 
To POKE, v. a. [pohaj Swedilh.] To feel in the dark ; 
P O K 
to fearch any thing with a long inftrument.—If thefe 
prefumed eyes be clipped off, they will make ufe of their 
protrulions or horns, and puke out their way as before. 
Brown's Vulg. Err. 
POKE (Virginian), f. in botany. See Phytolacca. 
POKECHU', a town of Bengal: nine miles north of 
Toree. 
PO'KER, f. The iron bar with which men ftir the 
fire. Johnfon. —If the poker be out of the way, ftir the 
fire with the tongs. Swift’s Rules to Servants. 
With poker fiery red 
C rack the ftones, and melt the lead. Swift. 
POKETAL'ICO, a river of the United States, in Vir¬ 
ginia, which runs into the Kenhawa in lat. 38. 16. N. 
Ion. 81. 51. W. 
POKTLIES, a town of Auftria : twelve miles north- 
eaft of Vienna. 
POK'GONG, or Pega'am, an ancient city of the Bur- 
man empire, now in ruins. Thefe ruins were vifited by 
Capt. Cox, while a refident in the Burman empire, in 
1797. The following account is extraifted from his Jour¬ 
nal. 
“ 0 £f. 22. Went on-ftiore to view the ruins of this an¬ 
cient city. I climbed to the top of an old pagoda, by fe- 
veral flights of narrow ruinous flairs. The two lower 
ftories have a flight in each angle, arched over and fteep. 
The firft about a yard broad, and in height from the fteps 
to the top of the arch about five feet, ending in a fmall 
turret placed over the angie, and from the door of which 
only they receive light. The height of the whole of the 
firft flight and ftory is about forty feet. The height of 
the fecond nearly the fame, but the arch lower, and paf- 
fages narrower; the reft of the fteps are on the outfide, 
leading to the top of three other ftories, from whence the 
dome rifes. The firft two ftories are furrounded by a go¬ 
thic arched gallery, along which are arranged various 
images of their deities. The building itfelf is quadran¬ 
gular, each face fronting the four cardinal points; with a 
projecting portico, and correfponding niches within, 
wherein is placed on a throne or altar a coloflalgilt figure 
of Godomah. The principal figure feems uniformly to 
be placed to the eaft, where there is the grejteft projec¬ 
tion for the flicker of thofe who come to pay their devo¬ 
tions. From the top of this pagoda I commanded a full 
view of the remains of the city and adjacent country, 
which, as far as the eye can reach on the eaftern fide of 
the river, is rugged downs; fterile, uncultivated, and 
covered with ferubby bufhes, &c. To the fouth-eaft, 
about three miles inland, a rugged ridge of hills rifes ab¬ 
ruptly from the common level of the country, and extends 
about five or fix miles north and fouth. The ruins of 
the pagodas extend about four or five miles along the 
banks of the river, and inland about one mile and a half. 
I counted to the fouth of me fifty ; and to the north¬ 
ward there might be feventy more diftinguifliable, of va¬ 
rious forms and fizes; but numberlefs others have funk 
into indiftinguifhable mafies of rubbifh, overgrown with 
weeds; and the plain is every-where covered with frag¬ 
ments of their materials. Immediately above the bank, 
where my boat lay, is a part of the wall of the weftern 
curtain of the fort; and about a quarter of a mile to the 
eaAward, parallel to it, I paffed through a breach in the 
eaftern curtain, and think I faw the north angle baftion, 
about 700 yards from me. The wall is compofed of fmall 
bricks and mud, about fourteen cubits thick ; and has 
the remains of a dry foflfe without. The weft front, which 
meafures at the bafe about 183 feet, and,, as nearly as I 
can judge by my eye, is about 200 feet in height. It is 
built of bricks of two dimenfions : the largeft, which are 
ufed in the body of the building, are 17 inches long, 8f 
broad, and 3 f- thick; the leaft are 14! long, 7 | broad, 
and if thick. They are well burnt, and joined together 
with great fkill and nicety. Their furface and edges, 
being ground, perfe&ly correfpond, and lie fo dole as 
that not the leaft cement can be feen between them ; if 
any 
