mine it exactly. In his opinion, however, 33 58' is the Lat. From fuch obfervations as he could make on the longitude, he concluded it to be 37° 9' E. of Greenwich. Mr R. Wood makes the latitude 34° N. That which appears to be neareft the truth is Lon. 38. 50. E. Lat. 33. 20. N. It stands about 50 leagues SE. of Aleppo, as much from Damafcus, and 20 leagues W. of the Euphrates. (II.) PALMYRA, a town and port of entry, in Teneffee. PALMYRENES, or the natives of PALMY PALMYRENIANS, RA. See that article, N° I. § 6. PALNA, a town of Bohemia, in Czaslau. PALNAUD, a district of Indoftan, in the Carnatic, on the S. bank of the Kiftnah, 70 miles long and 15 broad, between Golconda and Guntoor. Zimerycotta is the capital. (1.) PALO, a town of Naples, in Bari. (2.) PALO, a cape of Albania, 6 miles NW. of Durazzo. (3.) PALO, a town of Italy, in Patrimonio, on the coaft, with a ftrong castle, 13 miles WNW. of Rome. PALOCZA, a town of Hungary, 11 miles E. of Szeben. PALOMAR, a town of Spain, in Arragon. PALOMBARA, a town of Naples, in Lavora, 5 miles NE. of Capua. marble pillars 26 feet high, and 8 or 9 in compafs. Of thefe there ftill remain 129, but there muft originally have been no lefs than 560 The upper end of the piazza was clofed by a row of pillars. To the left are the ruins of a ftately banqueting-house, built of better marble, and finished with yet greater elegance, than the piazza. The pillars which fupported it were of one entire stone. It measures 22 feet in length, and in compafs 8 feet 9 inches. In the W. fide of the piazza are feveral apertures for gates into the court of the palace. Each of thefe were adorned with 4 porphyry pillars, placed by couples in the front of the gate facing the palace, two on each fide. Two of these only remain entire. They are 30 feet long, and 9 in circumference. On the E. fide of the piazza ftands a great number of marble pillars, fome perfect, but the greater part mutilated. At a little diftance are the remains of a small temple, without a roof. Before the entry, which looks to the S. is a piazza supported by fix pillars, two on each fide of the door, and one at each end. The pedeftals of thofe in front have been filled with infcriptions, both in the Greek and Palmyrene languages, which are become totally illegible. Among thefe ruins are many fepulchres. They are all fquare towers, 4 or 5 ftories high. There is a walk across the whole building, the space on each hand is fubdivided into fix partitions by thick walls. The space between the partitions is wide enough to receive the largest corpfe; and in thefe niches there are 6 or 7 piled upon one another. Many infcriptions have been found at Palmyra, which have occupied much of the attention of the learned. See Barthelemy's Reflections on the Palmyrene Alphabet, published at Paris in 1754; An Explica tion of the Infcriptions at Palmyra hitherto published, by John Swinton of Chrift-church, Oxford. Phil. Trans. N° 217 and 218; Ancient Univerfal Hiflory, Vol. 1. and, above all, the Ruins of Palmyra, or Tadmor in the Defart, published by Mr R. Wood, who, with M. Bouverie and Mr Dawkins, travell ed thither in 1751. The refult of their obfervations was published in 1753, in the form of an atlas. The ruins of this once mighty and celebrated city are represented in 57 copperplates, 16 by 12 inches, printed on imperial paper. They are admirably executed; Palmyra was vifited by Mr Bruce, before his journey into Abyffinia. Before he came in fight of the ruins, he afcended a hill of white gritty ftone, in a very narrow winding road; but on getting up to the top, he was ftruck with the most stupendous fight which, he believes, ever mortal faw. The whole plain below, which is very extenfive, was fo covered with magnificent buildings, that they seemed to touch one another. All of them are finely proportioned, and compofed of white ftones, which at that distance appeared like marble. (8.) PALMYRA, TRADE, &C. OF. In the neighbourhood of Palymra are some salt-marfhes; and to the adjacent country a trade is carried on in kelp from Tripoli in Syria. Refpecting the latitude and longitude there are various opinions. Before Mr Bruce left Palmyra, he obferved its latitude with a reflecting quadrant of Hadley, but as the inftrument was out of order, he could not deter PALOMERA, a fea-port of Majorca, on the NE. coaft. PALOMINOS, a clufter of islands of S. America, on the coaft of Peru, 3 miles W. of St Lorenzo. (1.) PALOS, a town of Spain, in Andalusia, with a good harbour; famous for being the part from which the celebrated COLUMBUS fet fail on his first adventurous voyage, in fearch of the new world, in 1492. It is feated at the mouth of the Tinto, 46 miles SW. of Seville. Lon. 6. 39. W. Lat. 37. 14. N. (2.) PALOS, a town of Spain, in Murcia, N. of the Cape (N° 3.), 20 miles E. of Carthagena. Lon. 6. 39. W. Lat. 37. 37. N. (3.) PALOS, CAPE, a promontory of Spain, in Murcia, S. of the above town (N° 2.), between the Bay of Carthagena and that of Alicant. PALOTA, or a town of Lower Hungary, in PALOTTA, S Alba Regalis, fortified with a high wall and a moat. In 1565, it was besieged by the Turks, without fuccefs, but in 1593 they took it. In 1687. it was retaken by the emperor. It is 40 miles SW. of Buda. Lon. 18. o. E. Lat. 47. o. N. PALOTZA, a town of Hungary, on the Poprat; 54 miles N. of Cachau, and 112 NNW. of Zatma. * PALPABILITY. z. f. [from palpable.] Quality of being perceivable to the touch.-He firft found out palpability of colours. Mart. Scriblerus. (1.) PALPABLE. adj. [palpable, Fr. palpor, Lat.] 1. Perceptible by the touch. I fee thee yet in form as palpable Shak. Darknefs muft overshadow all his bounds, Palpable darkness! and blot out three days. Milton. 2. Gross nary. In 1531 he fettled at Oxford, and in 1532 was made A. M. and B. D. He was much efteemed for his learning; and though an Englishman, was the first who reduced the French tongue to grammatical rules, or fixed it to any kind of ftandard. This he executed with great ingenuity, in a large work which he published in that language at London, entitled L'Eclairciffement de la Language Françoife, in 3 books, thick folio, 1530, with a large English introduction; fo that the French nation ftand originally indebted to England for that univerfality which their language at prefent poffeffes. He tranflated into English a Latin comedy called Acolaftus, written by one William Fullonius, an author then living at Hagen in Holland. He died in 1540. 2. Grofs; coarfe; eafily detected.-That groffer kind of heathenish idolatry whereby they worshipped the very works of their own hands, was an abfurdity to reafon to palpable, that the prophet David, comparing idols and idolaters together, maketh almoft no odds between them. Hooker. -They grant we err not is palpable manner. Hooker. He muft not think to thelter himself from fo palpable an abfurdity by this impertinent diftinction. Tillotfon. Having no furer guide, it was no wonder that they fell into grofs and palpable mistakes. Woodward. 3. Plain; eafily perceptible. That they all have fo teftified, I fee not how we should poffibly with a proof more palpable, than this manifeftly received and everywhere continued cuftom of reading them publickly. Hooker. -They would no longer be content with the invifible monarchy of God, and God difmiffed them to the palpable dominion of Saul. Holy day. Since there is fo much diffimilitude between cause and effect in the more palpable phænomena, we can expect no lefs between them and their invifible efficients. Glanville. *PALPABLENESS. n.. [from palpable.] Qua, lity of being palpable; plainnefs; groffnefs. *PALPABLY. adv. [from palpable.] 1. In fuch a manner as to be perceived by the touch. 2. Grofsly; plainly.-Clodius was acquitted by a corrupt jury, that had palpably taken fhares of money. Bacon. PALPATION. n. f. [palpatio, palpor, Lat.] The act of feeling. PALPITATE. v. a. [palpito, Latin; palpiter, French.] To beat at the heart; to flutter; to go pit-a-pat. UNG (1) PALPITATION. n. f. [palpitation, Fr. from palpitate. Beating or panting; that altera tion in the pulfe of the heart, upon frights or any other caufes, which makes it felt: for a natural uniform pulfe goes on without diftinction.-The heart ftrikes 500 fort of pulfes in an hour; and hunted into fuch continual palpitations, through anxiety and distraction, that fain would it break, Harvey. I knew the good company too well to feel any palpitations at their approach. Tatler Anxiety and palpitations of the heart, are a fign of weak fibres. Arbuthnot. Her bofom heaves With palpitations wild. Thomfon. (2.) PALPITATION OF THE HEART. See MEDICINE, Index. (1.) PALSGRAVE, John, a learned writer, who flourished in the reigns of Henry VII. and Henry VIII. He received his grammatical learning at London, his native place. He ftudied logic and philofophy at Cambridge, where he became A. B. after which he went to Paris, where he spent feveral years in ftudy, took the degree of A. M. and acquired fuch excellence in the French tongue, that in 1514, when a treaty of marriage was negociated between Lewis XII. of France, and the princefs Mary, filter of Henry VIII. of England, Mr Palfgrave was appointed to be tutor in that language. But Lewis XII. dying foon after his marriage, Palfgrave attended his fair pupil back to England, where he taught French to the young nobility, obtained preferment in the church, and was appointed one of the king's chaplains in ordi (2.) * PALSGRAVE. n. j. {paltsgroff, German.] A count or earl who has the overfeeing of a prince's palace. Dia. (3.) PALSGRAVE. See PALATINATE, § 3*PALSICAL. adj. [from palsy.] Afflicted with the palfy: paralytick. PALSIED. adj. [from palfy.] Difeafed with à palfy.Pall'd, thy blazed youth Becomes affuaged, and doth beg the alms Of palfied eld. Shak. Though the breathes in a few pious peaceful fouls, like a palfied person, she scarce moves a limb. Decay of Piety- Let not old age long stretch his palfy'd hand, Those who give late are importun'd each day. Gay. (1.)* PALSY. n. f. {paralyfis, Lat. thence paralyly, parasy, palasy, palf.] A privation of motion or feeling, or both, proceeding from fome caufe below the cerebellum, joined with a coldnefs, flaccidity, and at last wafting of the parts. If this privation be in all the parts below the head except the thorax and heart, it is called a paraplegia; if in one fide only, a hemiplegia; if in fome parts only of one fide, à paralyfis. There is a threefold divifion of a palsy; a privation of motion, fenfation remaining; a privation of fenfation, motion remaining; and lastly, a privation of both together. Quincy. The palsy, and not fear, provokes me. Shak. -A palfy may as well thake an oak, as fhake the delight of conscience. South. (2.) PALSY. See MEDICINE, Index. (1.) To PALTER. v.n. [from paltron, Skinner.} To shift; to dodge; to play tricks. Not in ufe. I muft To the young man send humble treaties, Shak. Be thefe juggling fiends no more believ❜d, That paiter with us in a double fenfe. Romans, that have spoke the word, And will not palter. Sbak. Shak. (2.) To PALTER. V. A. To squander: as, be palters his fortune. Ainfaworth. PALTERCAMP, a town of Germany, in Ofnaburg, 14 miles SSE. of Ofnaburg. * PALTERER. n. f. [from palter.] An infincere dealer; a fhifter. * PALTRINESS. n. . [from paltry.] The ftate of being party. PALTRY. adj. [poltron, French, a scoundrel; paltrecco, Whofe compoft is paltry and carried too late. For knights are bound to feel no blows, When fuch paltry slaves prefume To mix in treafon, if the plot fucceeds, They're thrown neglected by; but if it fails, They're fure to die like dogs. Addifon. PALTZ, a township of New York, in Ulfter county, on the W. bank of Hudfon's River, 20 miles NW. of Newburgh. It had 2007 citizens, and 302 flaves in 1795. PALUD, a town of France, in the dep. of Drome; 12 miles NNW. of Orange, and 15 S. of Montelimart. PALUDA, a town of Afiatic Turkey, in Erzerum, near the Euphrates, inhabited by Mahometans and Chriftians. The Armenian characters were invented in it. Lon. 39.25. E. Lat. 38. 35. N. PALUDAMENTUM, in Roman antiquity, a habit that differed but little from the CHLAMYS, except that this last belonged chiefly to the lower clafs of people. It was worn by the officers and principal men among the Romans in time of war, who are therefore called PALUDATI; diftinguished them from the common foldiers, who, becaufe they wore the fagum, were called SAGATI. The paludamentum came down only to the navel, was open on the fides, had fhort fleeves refembling angels wings, and was generally white or red. It is alfo ufed to fignify the common foldier's coat. PALUDATI. See laft article. PALVERETO, a town of Naples, in Calabria Citra; 10 miles ENE. of Cofenza. PALUS MEOTIS. See MAOTIS PALUS. (1.) * PALY. adj. [from pale.] Pale. only in poetry.— Ufed Fain would I go to chafe his paly lips, With twenty thousand kiffes. Shak. Fire answers fire, and through their paly flames Each battle fees the others umber'd face. Shak. A dim gleam the paly lanthorn throws O'er the mid pavement. Gay. (2.) PALY, or PALE, in-heraldry, is when the fhield is divided into four or more equal parts, by perpendicular lines falling from the top to the bottom. PAMANOKAN, a town on the N. coaft of Java; 70 miles E. of Batavia. PAMBAMACCA, a lofty mountain of Quito, one of the Peaks of the E. Cordilleras. PAMBOUK, the Turkish name of the ruined city of Hierapolis. See HIERAPOLIS. PAMBU, a town of Thibet, 33 miles ENE. of Tankia. PAMELAN, or a town of France, in the dePAMELE, Spartment of the Dyle, and ci-devant prov. of Auftrian Brabant, on the Dender; 7 miles S. of Aloft. PAMELIUS, James, a Flemish divine, the fon of Adolphus, counsellor of ftate to Charles V. born at Bruges, in 1536. He was canon of Bru. ges; and Philip II. appointed him bishop of St Omer; but in going to take poffeffion of his epifcopate, he died at Mons. He wrote feveral works; of which the chief is, his Notes upon Tertullian and Cyprian. PAMENENGO, a town of Italy, in the dep. of the Upper Po, diftrict and late duchy of Cremona; on a canal which connects the Po and the Oglio. PAMER, a lake of Pruffia, 12 m. W. of Lick. PAMIERS, a town of France, in the dep. of the Arriege, and late territory of Foix; feated on the Arriege near a minera! fpring, famous for cu ring the gout and obftructions: 8 miles N. of Foix, and 30 S. of Toulouse. Lon. 1. 32. E. Lat. 32. 8. N. (1.) PAMLICO, or TAR RIVER, a large river of N. Carolina, which rifes in Cafwell_county, and running SE. through Granville, Franklin, Nafh, and Edgcombe counties, and paffing Wafhington, Tarborough, and Greenville, falls into Pamlico Sound. It is navigable for 40 miles by veffels drawing 9 feet water; and in flats for go miles above its mouth; which lies in Lon. 76. 42. W. Lat. 35. 25. N. (2.) PAMLICO SOUND, a large lake, or inland fea, of N. Carolina; 86 miles long from Roanoke to Crane island, and from 10 to 30 broad. In its whole length it is feparated from the fea by a fand beach fcarcely a mile broad, but covered with trees and bushes. Through this beach are 3 inlets; the chief one, Ocracoke, admits veffels drawing 10 feet water; and opens into the Sound, be tween Portsmouth and Ocracoke, in Lat. 34. 54. PAMMIN, a town of Brandenburg. PAMOACAN, a town in the isle of Borneo. PAMONA. See POMONA, N° 2.1 PAMPANGAN, a town of Luçon, the chief of the MANILLAS, and capital of a populous and extenfive province, the natives of which have adopted the religion and manners of the Spaniards. It is feated on the E. coaft. Lat. 15.5. N. PAMPEL, a town of Courland. PAMPELONNE, a town of France, in the dep. of Tarn, and ci-devant prov. of Languedoc; 15 miles N. of Alby, and 21 NE. of Gaillac. (1.) PAMPELUNA, the capital of the kingdom of Navarre in Spain, with a very ftrong citadel and rich bishopric. It is hand fome and populous, carries on a great trade, and is feated in a very fertile plain. Lon. 1. 25. E. Lat. 42. 42. N. (2.) PAMPELUNA, a town of New Granada in South America, famous for its gold mines and Rrrr numerous numerous flocks of fheep. Lon. 68. 30. W. Lat. 6.30. N. *To PAMPER. v. a. [pamperare, Italian.] To glut; to fill with food; to fatiate; to feed luxuriously. It was even as two phyficians fhould take one fick body in hand, of which the former would minifter all things meet to purge and keep under the body, the other to pamper and strengthen it fuddenly again. Spenfer. You are more intemperate in your blood Than Venus, or those pamper'd animals That rage in favage fenfuality. Shak. -They are contented as well with mean food, as thofe that, with the rarities of the earth, do pamper their voracitics, Sandys.-Praife brought thee to feed upon the air, and to ftarve thy foul, only to pamper thy imagination. South. Diftend his chine and pamper him for sport. Dryden His lordship lolls within at eafe, Pamp'ring his paunch with foreign rarities.. Dryden. To pamber'd infolence devoted fall. Pope. PAMPHILUS, a celebrated painter of Macedonia, in the age of Philip II. He was founder of the fchool for painting at Sicyon; and he made a law which was observed not only in Sicyon, but ! over Greece, that none but the children of noble and dignified perfons should be permitted to learn painting. Apelles was one of his pupils. * PAMPHLET. n. f. [par un filet, Fr. Whence this word is written anciently, and by Caxton paunflet. A fmall book; probably a book fold unbound, and only stitched. Com'st thou with deep premeditated lines, With written pamphlets ftudiously devis'd? Shak. -I put forth a flight pamphlet about the elements of architecture. Wotton.-I bave been reading ma ny English pamphlets and tractates of the fabbath. White. He could not, without fome tax upon bimfelf and his minifters, for the not executing the laws, look upon the bold licence of fome in printing pamphlets. Clarendon. While all is calm, his arguments prevail, 'Till pow'r difcharging all her ftormy bags, Flutters the feeble pamphlet into rags. Swift. To PAMPHLET. v. n. [from the noun.] To write small books.-Something I have done, tho' in a poor pamphleting way. Hovel. ,་་ *PAMPHLETEER. n. [from pamphlet.] A. fcribbler of fmall books. The fquibs are thofe who, in the common phrafe, are called libellers, lampooners, and pamphleteers. Tatler-With great injustice I have been pelted by pamphleteers. Savift. PAMPHOS, a Greek poet who lived before Heliod. Lempriéré. PAMPHUGI, an ancient people of Ethiopia. See ETHIOPIA, § 3. PAMPHYLA, an ancient Grecian authoress, who flourished in Nero's reign, and wrote a general hiftory, in 33 books, much commended by "the ancients, but not extant. PAMPHYLIA, the ancient name of a country of Natolia, in Afia, now called CARAMANIA and Cay bay, between Lycia and Cilicia, on the S. coaft. N. of the Mediterranean. Its first name was Mopfopia. PAMPHYLIUS. See PAMPHILUS. PAMPLONA. See PAMPELUNA, N° 1. and 2. PAMPROU, a town of France, in the dep. of the two Sevres; 9 miles SE. of St Maixant. PAMUNKY, a navigable river of Virginia, formed by the union of the N. and S. Anna; and which runs SE. paffes Hanover and Newcastle, and joining the Mattapany, forms YORK river. (1.) PAN, in mythology, the god of shepherds, hunters, and all country exercifes. In Egypt he was named Mendes, which, according to Jablonski, fignifies fecundity. Hence his cymbal was a he-goat, the moft fallacious of all animals. His principal temple was a magnificent building in a city of lower Egypt, called after his name, where was kept a be goat, to whom facrifices of a very monftrons kind were offered. Homer makes him the fon of Mercury, and fays he was called Pan from wav, omne, all, because be charmed all the gods with his flute; others fay that he was the fon of Demogorgon, and first invented the organ, of feven unequal reeds, joined together in a particular manner. Having on a time fought with Cupid, that god in spite made him fall in love with the coy nymph Syrinx, who, flying from him to the banks of Fadon, a river of Arcadia, at the inftant prayers of the Nymphs, was turned into a reed, as her name in Greek fignifies, which the god grafping inftead of her, made a pipe of it, and for his mufic, was adored by the Arcadians. The moft common opinion was, that he was the fon of Mercury and Penelope. He was by no means difpleafing to the nymphs, who are generally drawn dancing round about him to hear his pipe. The goddess Luna, and the nymphs, cut the most diftinguished figure in the hiftory of his amours. The ufual offerings made him, were milk and honey, in fhepherds wooden bowls; also they factificed to him a dog, the wolf's enemy; whence his ufual epithet is Auxatos; and whence alfo his priefts were called Luperci. His feftival brought into Italy by Evander the Arcadian, and revived afterwards by Romulus, in memory of his preferver, was celebrated by the Romans on the 15th February. He was alfo called by them INUUS, Lab inuendo. See Liv. 1. 5. Macrob. Sat. I. 22. and Serv. in Virg. Æn. VI. 775. The ancients, by giving fo many adjuncts and attributes to this idol, feem to have defigned him for the symbol of the universe; his upper parts being human, becaufe the upper part of the world is fair, beautiful, fmiling like his face; his horns fymbolize the rays of the fun and of the moon; his red face, the fplendor of the fky; the fpotted skin wherewith he is clothed, the ftars which befpangle the firmament; the roughness of his lower parts, beafts and vegetables; his goat's feet, the folidity of the earth; his pipe, compact of 7 reeds, the 7 pla nets, which they fay make the harmony of the fpheres: his crook, bending round at the top, the years circling in one another. Serv. Interpr. Such is the Pan of the poets, but among the Egyptians, as Mendes, and by the earlier Greeks, he was worshipped in a much higher character: as the foul of the univerfe, the whole fyftem of things, animated and eternal. (2.) PAN, in geography, a town of China, of the tad rank, in the province of Se-tchnen. (3, 4) PAN, or PAHAN, a town of Malacca, capital pital of a kingdom fo named, remarkable for abounding with elephants, and producing great quantities of pepper. # (5.) PAN, a town of Wight in East Medina. (6.) PAN. n. f. ponne, Saxon.] 1.A veffel broad and fhallow, in which provifions are dreffed or kept.-These were but to leap out of the pan into the fire. Spenfer. The pliant is brass is laid On anvils, and of heads and limbs are made Pans, cans. Dryden. 2. The part of the lock of the gun that holds the powder. Our attempts to fire the gun-powder in the pan of the piftol, fucceeded not. Boyle. 3. Any thing hollow: as the brain pan. *To PAN. 7. f. an old word, denoting to clofe or join together. Ainsworth. PANA, an ifland on the coaft of Peru, 21 m. ENE. of Santa Clara, and 21 from Guayaquil. PANACA, a volcano on the W. coaft of New Mexico, 9 miles from that of Sanfonate. (1.) * PANACEA. z. f. [penacée, Fr. zavancia.] An univerfal medicine. (2.) A PANACEA, or a remedy for all difeafes, is a thing impoffible to be obtained. (3.) PANACEA. n. f. An herb. (4.) PANACEA, in botany. See PANAX. (5.) PANACEA, in mythology, the daughter of Efculapius, a goddess who prefided over health. Lucan ix. 918. (1.) * PANADA. Į n. S. [from panis, bread.] (1.) * PANADO.) Food made by boiling bread in water. Their diet ought to be very fparing; gruels, panados, and chicken broth. Wifeman. (2.) PANADO is boiled to the confiftence of pulo, and fweetened with fugar. PANÆTIUS, a ftoic philofopher of Rhodes, who flourished about A. A. C. 140. He ftudied at Athens, and was offered citizenship, but declined. He came to Rome where he had the SCIPIOS, and the Læliufes among his difciples. Scipio Africanus, the younger, was fo attached to him, that he took him along with him in all his expeditions. His countrymen, the Rhodians, were highly indebted to him for various privileges and immunities. He wrote a treatife on the Duties of Man, which Cicero praifes greatly in his work on the fame fubject. He lived about 30 years after this. (1.) PANAGIA, an island in the Grecian Archipelago, 16 miles NW. of Santorin. (2.) PANAGIA, a town of European Turkey, in Romania, 14 miles N. of Gallipoli. PANAGIOTI, a Greek nobleman of the 17th century, who was chief interpreter to the Grand Signior; and had fo great intereft with him, that he procured many favours to his countrymen. He wrote a book in modern Greek, entitled, "The Orthodox Confeffion of the Catholic and Apoftolic Eastern Churches." He died in 1673. PANAHAN. See PANAON. PANAIA, a town of Naples, in Calabria Ultra, 4 miles NW. of Nicotera. (1.) PANAMA, a province of S. America, on the ifthmus of Darien, containing 3 cities, 12 villages, and a great number of Indian huts; befides a number of small adjacent islands in the Gulf. The pearl fishery is carried on in thefe iflands. Moft of the inhabitants employ fuch of their negroes in it as are good fwimmers. These flaves plunge and replunge in the sea in search of pearls, till this exercife has exhaufted their ftrength or their spirits. Every negro is obliged to deliver a certain number of oysters. Thofe in which there are no pearls, or in which the pearl is not entirely formed, are not reckoned What he is able to find beyond the ftipulated obligation, is confidered as his indifputable property: he may fell it to whom he pleafes, but commonly he cedes it to his mafter at a moderate price. Seamonfters, which abound more about the islands where pearls are found, than on the neighbouring coafts, render this fishing dangerous. Some of thefe. devour the divers in an inftant. The manta fiih, which derives its name from its figure, furrounds them, rolls them under its body, and fuffocates them. To defend themselves againft fuch enemies, every diver is armed with a poniard: the moment he perceives any of thefe voracious fish, he attacks them with precaution, wounds them, and drives them away. Notwithstanding this, there are always fome fishermen destroyed, and a great number crippled. The pearls of Panama are commonly of a very fine water. Some of them are even remarkable for their fize and figure: thefe were formerly fold in Europe. Since art has imitated them, and the paffion for diamonds has entirely fuperfeded, or prodigiously diminished, the ufe of them, they have found a new mart more advantageous than the firft. They are carried to Peru, where they are in great eftimation. This branch of trade has, however, infinitely lefs contributed to give reputation to Panama, than the advantage which it hath long enjoyed, of being the mart of all the productions of the coun try of the Incas that are deftined for the old world. These riches, which are brought hither by a fmall fleet, were carried, fome on mules, others by the river Chagre, to Porto Bello, that is fituated on the N. coaft of the Ifthmus which feparates the two feas. See DARIEN. (2.) PANAMA, the capital of the above province, where the treasures of gold and filver, and the other rich merchandifes of Peru, are lodged in magazines till they are fent to Europe. When Guzman first touched at this place in 1514, it confifted entirely of fishermens huts. Orius D'A vila fetiled a colony of it a few years after, and in 1521, it was conftituted a city by the emperor Charles V. with the proper privileges. In 1670 it was facked and burnt by John Morgan, an Englifh buccanier, who had taken Porto Bello, in 1669. This misfortune induced the inhabitants to remove the city to its prefent fituation. For the greater fecurity, the new city was inclofed by a free-ftone wall, and the houfes were built of ftone and brick. Since that time several baftions have been added, and now there is always a complete garrifon maintained, and the walls are mounted with large canon. It was entirely confumed by fire in 1737. After this it was rebuilt, as it now ftands, with neat elegant houses, but not magnificent. The inhabitants are rather independent in their fortunes than rich; there are Rrrra few |