Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/551

Rh P R P R 531 white light, visible 30 miles in clear weather, is placed on Godley Head on the north-west side of the entrance to the bay. Harbour works, costing over 300,000, have made Port Lyttelton a first-rate commercial port. Pro tecting breakwaters have created a fine, accessible wet dock of about 110 acres in extent and contiguous to the town ; there is ample wharf accommodation for large vessels and every appliance for loading, discharging, and storing cargo. A graving-dock, closed by a caisson, is 450 feet long, 82 feet broad between the copings and 46 feet on the floor, and has a depth of 23 feet of water on the sill. The shipping, excluding coasters, entered inwards at Port Lyttelton during 1883 amounted to 124 vessels of 83,117 tons, and 140 of 120,328 tons cleared outwards. Imports have increased in value from 629,457 during 1872 to 1,400,106 during 1883, and exports from 829,260 to 1,944,035. Port Lyttelton is surrounded by steep hills, and is connected by rail with Christchurch, 7 miles inland. There is steam communication twice a week with the chief ports of New Zealand, and weekly with Melbourne. The population in the census of 1881 was 4127. The town, which is supplied with water and gas, and with electric light lamps on the wharves and the railway bridge, has post and telegraph offices, a time observatory, a jail for long-service prisoners, a state school, a sailors home, and an orphanage. PORT MAHON, or MAHON, a city and seaport in the Mediterranean, on the east coast of the Spanish island of Minorca (see BALEARIC ISLANDS), lies on a height near the head of an inlet of the sea 3| miles long by from 400 to 1200 yards wide, which, though of less importance than formerly, is still an admirable harbour of refuge. The city presents a fine appearance from the sea, and is solidly built of excellent stone, but contains few features of in terest. Many of the houses bear the stamp of the English occupation, which has also left curious traces in the life of the people. Shoemaking is the principal trade, and shoes and the building stone already mentioned are the only important exports. The population was 21,976 in 1860, and 15,842 in 1877. At Gala Figuera (a cove to the south east of the town) is a cotton - f actory ; the King s Island (I. del Rey, so called as the landing-place of Alphonso III. of Aragon in 1287) contains a hospital built by the admiral of the English squadron in 1722 ; farther south east on the shore lies the village of Villa Carlos or George Town (1746 inhabitants in 1877), with ruins of extensive English barracks ; and at the mouth of the port, on the same side, are the remains of Fort San Felipe, which was originally erected by Charles V. and twice became the scene of the capitulation of British troops. Opposite San Felipe is the easily-defended peninsula of La Mola (256 feet high), which is occupied by extensive Spanish fortifi cations now in course of completion. Mahon is one of the principal quarantine stations of Spain ; the hospital, erected between 1798 and 1803, stands on a long tongue of land, separated from La Mola by Gala Taulera. Mahon is the ancient Portus Magonis, which under the Romans was a municipium (Mun. Flaviiim Magontanum}, probably includ ing under its authority the whole island. As the name suggests, it had previously been a Carthaginian settlement. The Moors had for some time been in possession when they were expelled by Don Jayme of Aragon in 12-32. Barbarossa of Algiers besieged and cap tured the city in 1535 ; and in 1558 it was sacked by a corsair called Piali. The English, who under James Stanhope, afterwards Earl Stanhope, seized the island in 1708, made Mahon a flourishing city, and in 1718 declared it a free port. In the year 1756 it fell into the hands of the French, through the failure of the unfortunate Admiral Byng to relieve the garrison of St Philip s (San Felipe). Restored to the English in 1762, it was in 1782 heroically but un successfully defended by General Murray. In 1802 it was finally ceded to Spain by the treaty of Amiens. PORTO ALEGRE, a city and seaport of Brazil, the capital of the province of Rio Grande do Sul, lies in 30 2 S. lat. and 51 12 W. long, at the northern extremity of the Lagoa dos Patos (Duck Lagoon), where it receives the waters of the Jacuhi, Sino, Cahi, and Gravatahi, whose confluence opposite the city is sometimes distinguished by the name of Lagoa Viamao. Like the other towns on this lagoon, Rio Grande do Sul and Pelotas, Porto Alegre is the seat of a very considerable trade, but it is impossible to say precisely what share belongs to each of the three. (See Rio GRANDE DO SUL.) Its harbour is accessible to vessels drawing 10 to 12 feet ; it is the terminus of a rail way running by Sao Leopoldo to Neuhamburg; and it serves as a centre for the various German colonies in the province. A cathedral, a seminary, a lyceum, a provincial library, government offices, a theatre, a large hospital, and a market -house are among the public buildings. The population is about 25,000. Porto Alegre was founded in 1743 by immigrants from the Azores, and was at first known as Porto dos Cazaes. In 1770 it was chosen by Jose Marcellino de Figuereido as his residence and obtained its present name. Three years later it had 5000 inhabitants. The title of &quot;town&quot; with the full name Sao Jose de Porto Alegre was bestowed in 1808, and in 1812 Sao Jose became the governor s residence for the comarca, which till 1821 comprised both Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catharina. In 1822 it was raised to the rank of a city, and in 1841, as a reward for its loyalty, was distinguished with the epithets &quot;leal y valorosa.&quot; PORTO BELLO (Span., Puerto Eello a town in the republic of Colombia and state of PanamA, situated on the coast of the Caribbean Sea, about 23 miles east of Colon in 9 32 N. lat. and 78 38 W. long. As the name (bestowed by Columbus in 1502) implies, it possesses a fine natural harbour, the bay between Drake s Point in the north and Buenaventura Island in the south being easy of entrance and having a depth of 8 to 16 fathoms. Founded in 1584, the city rapidly grew in importance, becoming the great depot for the gold and silver from Peru, which were brought across the isthmus from Panama, and here conveyed on board the royal galleons. It is now best remembered through the unexpected success which attended Admiral Vernon s attack in 1739. &quot;Within forty-eight hours after his appearance in the harbour &quot; he was in possession of the place, and before he left he utterly destroyed the fortifica tions. At that time the city contained about 10,000 inhabitants; it now barely numbers 1000, including the Negroes, who live in the quarter known as Guinea. A few public buildings, such as the principal church and the treasury, remain as indications of former prosperity. The decline is due much less to Admiral Vernon than to the extreme unhealthiness of the situation, and the fact that trade has taken to quite other channels. PORTO BELLO, a municipal burgh of Scotland, in the county of Midlothian, lies on slightly sloping ground on the south shore of the Firth of Forth, 3 miles by rail east of Edinburgh. At the west end are extensive brickfields, two potteries (working English clay), two bottle-works, and a paper-mill. Southwards and eastwards the houses are those of a residential suburb of Edinburgh and a summer watering-place. Among the more conspicuous edifices are the new municipal buildings (1878), the old town-hall (1863), a United Presbyterian church (1880), the Free church (1876-77), the Episcopal church (1826), and the School Board schools (1876). Portobello beach is a fine reach of firm clean sands, but these have been to some extent spoiled by the vicinity of manufacturing works and sewage outlets. A marine parade was constructed in 1860 and a promenade pier (1250 feet long) in 1871. The popula tion was 5481 in 1871 and 6794 in 1881. What used to be the separate village of Joppa is now included in Portobello. Portobello occupies part of a formerly desolate piece of ground known as the Figgate Whins. The first house was built by a sailor who had served under Admiral Vernon at the capture of Porto Bello in Central America in 1739; but the real beginning of the town dates from the discovery in 1765 of a bed of clay and the consequent