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 principal figures are portraits of the Pisani family. It is said that Caliari was accidentally detained at the Pisani villa at Este, and there painted this work, and, on quitting, told the family that he had left behind him an equivalent for his courteous entertainment. Another picture in the National Gallery, “Europa and the Bull,” is a study for the large painting in the imperial gallery of Vienna, and resembles one in the ducal palace of Venice. The Venetian academy contains fourteen works by Veronese. One of the finest is a comparatively small picture of the Battle of Lepanto, with Christ in heaven pouring light upon the Christian fleet and darkness on the Turkish. In the Uffizi Gallery of Florence are two specimens of exceptional beauty—the “Annunciation” and “Esther Presenting herself to Ahasuerus”; for delicacy and charm this latter work yields to nothing that the master produced. In Verona “St George and St Julian,” in Brescia the “Martyrdom of St Afra,” and in Padua the “Martyrdom of St Justina” are works of leading renown. Celebrated frescoes by Caliari are in four villas near Venice, more especially the Villa Masiera. His drawings are very fine, and he took pleasure at times in engraving on copper.

The brother and sons of Paolo already mentioned, and Battista Zelotti, were his principal assistants and followers. Benedetto Caliari, the brother, who was about ten years younger than Paolo, is reputed to have had a very large share in the architectural backgrounds which form so conspicuous a feature in Paolo’s compositions. If this is not overstated, it must be allowed that a substantial share in Paolo’s fame accrues to Benedetto; for not only are the backgrounds admirably schemed and limned, but they govern to a large extent the invention and distribution of the groups. Of the two sons Carlo (or Carletto), the younger, is the better known. He was born in 1570, and was sent to study under Bassano. He produced various noticeable works, and died young in 1596. Gabriele, born in 1568, attended, after Carlo’s death, almost entirely to commercial affairs; his works in painting are rare. All three were occupied after the death of Paolo in finishing his pictures left uncompleted.

PAUMOTU,, or , a broad belt of 78 atolls in the Pacific Ocean, belonging to France, between 14° and 24° S., and 131° and 149° W. They trend in irregular lines in a north-west and south-west direction, the major axis of the group extending over 1300 m. The largest atoll, Rangiroa, with a lagoon 45 m. long by 15 wide, is made up of twenty islets. Fakarava, the next in size, consists of fifteen islets, and its oblong lagoon affords the best anchorage in the group. Hau has fifty islets, and its lagoon is dangerously studded with coral. The symmetrically placed eleven islets of Anaa suggested to Captain Cook the name of Chain Island. Heavy storms sometimes greatly alter the form of the atolls. The first discovery of part of the archipelago was made by the Spaniard Pedro Fernandez Quiros in 1606. Many navigators subsequently discovered or rediscovered various parts of the group—among them may be mentioned Jacob Lemaire and Willem Schouten (1616), John Byron (1765), Philip Carteret (1767), Louis Antoine de Bougainville (1768), Captain James Cook (1769), Lieutenant Bligh (1792), Captain Wilson of the “Duff” (1797), Otto von Kotzebue (1815 and 1824), Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen (1819–1820) and Charles Wilkes (1839) who made a detailed survey of the islands. As a result almost all the islands bear alternative names. The dates given are those of first discovery. In the north-west part of the chain are Rangiroa (Vliegen, Deans or Nairsa, this part of the group bearing the name of the Palliser Islands); Fakarava (Witgenstein, 1819), the seat of the French resident; Anaa (Chain, 1769), Makemo (Makima, Phillips, Kutusov, 1803), Hau (Hao, Harp, Bow, 1768). North and east of these are Manihi (Oahe, Waterlandt, 1616), Tikei (Romanzov, 1815), the Disappointment group (1765) of which Napuka is the chief island, Pukapuka (Henuake, Honden, Dog, 1616), Raroia (Barclay de Tolly, 1820), Angatau (Ahangatu, Arakchev, 1820), Akahaina (Fakaina, Predpriatie, 1824), Tatakoto (Narcissus, Egmont, Gierke, 1774), Pukaruha (Serle, 1797). In the southern part of the archipelago are Hereheretui (Bligh, Santablo, 1606), the Duke of Gloucester group (1767), Tematangi (Bligh Lagoon, 1792), Maruroa (Braburgh, Matilda, 1767), the Actaeon or Amphitrite group (discovered by the Tahitian trading vessel “Amphitrite” in 1833), Marutea (Lord Hood, 1791), and the Gambler or Mangareva group (1797), of which Mangareva (Gambler, Peard) is the chief member. To the south again are: (q.v.), Ducie, and a few other islets, which are British and do not properly belong to the Paumotu Archipelago. The Gambler Islands are a cluster of four larger and many smaller volcanic islets, enclosed in one wide reef. The wooded crags of Mangareva, the largest islet, 5 m. in length, rise to a height of 1315 ft. and are covered with a rich vegetation, quite Tahitian in character; but, as in the other Paumotus, there is a dearth of animal life.

The climate of the islands is healthy, and they have a lower mean temperature than Tahiti. The easterly trade winds prevail. Rain and fogs occur even during the dry season. The stormy season lasts from November to March, when devastating hurricanes are not uncommon and a south-westerly swell renders the western shores dangerous. Plants and animals are scantily represented. Coco-nut palms and the pandanus thrive on many of the islets, and the bread-fruit, banana, pine-apple, water-melon and yam have been introduced from Tahiti into the western islands. Mammals are represented by a few rats; among land-birds parakeets, thrushes and doves are noticeable; and of reptiles there are only lizards. Insects are scarce. But the sea and lagoons teem with turtle, fish, molluscs, crustaceans and zoophytes. Coral is luxuriant everywhere. From the abundance of pearl oysters the archipelago gets its traders' name of Pearl Islands.

The Paumotus are sparsely inhabited by a fine strong race of Polynesians, more muscular and mostly darker-skinned than that inhabiting Tahiti. In the west considerable intermixture with other races has taken place. In physique, language, religion and customs the Gambler Islanders closely resemble the Rarotongans. The pearl fisheries in the rocky and surf waters are a source of revenue, the pearls being sold in Tahiti. The best harbour of the group is that of Fakarava, which, together with Mangareva, is open to trade.

The land area of the entire group is about 330 sq. m., and the population is about 6000. The group passed under the protection of France in 1844, and was annexed in 1881, forming part of the dependency of Tahiti.

PAUNCEFOTE, JULIAN PAUNCEFOTE, (1828–1902), English diplomatist, third son of Robert Pauncefote of Preston Court, Gloucestershire, was born on the 13th of September 1828. He was educated at Marlborough, Paris and Geneva, and called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1852. He was for a short time secretary to Sir William Molesworth, secretary for the colonies, and in 1862 went out to Hong-Kong, where he was made attorney-general (1865) and then chief justice of the supreme court. He was appointed chief justice of the Leeward Islands in 1873, and, returning to England in the next year, became one of the legal advisers to the colonial office. Two years later he received a similar appointment in the foreign office, and in 1882 was made permanent under-secretary of state for foreign affairs. In 1885 he was one of the delegates to the Suez Canal international commission, and received the G.C.M.G. and the K.C.B. Lord Salisbury departed from precedent in choosing him to succeed Sir Lionel Sackville-West as British minister at Washington in 1889, but the event showed that his knowledge of international law made up for any lack of the ordinary diplomatic training. He did much during his term of office to maintain friendly relations between the two countries, especially during the Venezuelan crisis. The Bering Sea fishery dispute (1890–1892) was successfully negotiated by him; he arranged a draft treaty for Anglo-American arbitration, which was, however, quashed by the Senate; and carried through