Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/293

 PERA about the beginning of the 17th century. They soon conquered most of the tribes in Connec- ticut, and in 1633 sold to the Dutch the site of a fort on the Connecticut river. The next year they entered into a treaty at Boston, and made peace with the Narragansetts. But being dis- appointed in the trade which they expected from the English, they soon became hostile, and expeditions against them under Endicott and Gardiner made them unrelenting enemies. They attacked Wethersfield, and killed many settlers. An expedition under Mason was sent against them from Hartford in May, 1637. It was joined by Uncas, chief of the Mohegans, a branch of the Pequots. A Pequot fort near the present Groton was surprised early in the morning, entered, and fired. In the desperate struggle amid the burning wigwams, several hundred men, women, and children perished. Mason at once withdrew, pursued by the Pe- quots of another fort, who however were re- pulsed. The remnant of the tribe continued the war till they were defeated and nearly an- nihilated at Fairfield swamp. Sassacus, their chief, fled to the Mohawks, who killed him. Many of the Pequots were sold as slaves in the West Indies, and the remnant of the nation divided among three neighboring tribes, and all attempts to gather them as a tribe were re- pressed by arms. Two bands, however, gath- ered in time, one near New London, and one on the Pawcatuck. They were recognized in 1655, and laws were made for them. In 1667 Connecticut placed one band in Ledyard and one in North Stonington. They rendered good service in Philip's war, and in expeditions against the French. In 1776 each band numbered 150 ; in 1848 there were 16 Stonington and 28 Gro- ton Pequots. Some removed to New York with the Brotherton Indians, and emigrated to Wisconsin, where a few of the great Pequot na- tion still are, the best and most thrifty of all. PERA, See CONSTANTINOPLE, vol. v., p. 277. PERJCA (Gr. TrepaZof, situated beyond), the classical name of the division of Palestine ly- ing E. of the Jordan. The term thus corre- sponded to the 'eber ha-Yarden (beyond the Jordan) of the Hebrew Scriptures; but in a narrower sense it was applied to that portion of the trans-Jordanic territory which lay be- tween the Jabbok on the north and the Arnon on the south. (See PALESTINE, vol. xiii., p. 8.) PERAMELES. See BANDICOOT. PERCEVAL, Canssin de. See CAUSSIN. PERCEVAL, Spencer, an English statesman, born in London, Nov. 1, 1762, assassinated in the lobby of the house of commons, May 11, 1812. He was the second son of John, earl of Egmont. In 1786 he was called to the bar, and in 1796 entered parliament. He was a warm supporter of Pitt, whose favorable no- tice he attracted by a pamphlet on the abate- ment of the impeachment of Warren Has- tings. In 1801 he was appointed solicitor general in the Addington ministry, and in 1802 attorney general, in which capacity he PERCH 233 conducted the prosecution in the celebrated case of Peltier, indicted for a libel on Bona- parte during the peace of Amiens. He re- tained his post on the return of Mr. Pitt to office. He was an earnest opponent of the Catholic relief acts, and on the accession of the Fox-Grenville ministry went into opposi- tion. In 1807 he was appointed chancellor of the exchequer in the duke of Portland's cabi- net, and in 1809 he succeeded him as first lord of the treasury and premier. He was shot by John Bellingham, an English merchant resi- dent in Archangel, who, for some alleged in- jury by the Russian government, had been unable to procure redress either from the British ambassador in St. Petersburg or from the British ministry. Bellingham was con- victed of murder and hanged. See " Life of the Rt. Hon. Spencer Perceval," by his grand- son Spencer Walpole (London, 1874). PERCH, a name properly restricted to the percidcB, a very extensive family of acanthop- terous fishes, characterized by a covering of ctenoid scales, the freedom and small size of the infra-orbital bones, large mouth, many of the fin rays unjointed and inflexible spines, seven branchiostegal rays, and the ventrals with five articulated rays and placed under or in advance of the pectorals. There are teeth on the vomer and generally on the palate, and the fins are always at least seven and some- times eight ; the cheeks are not cuirassed, and there are no barbels on the lips ; the stomach is caecal, and its pyloric opening on the side ; pancreatic caeca few and small, and the intesti- nal canal but little folded. Only the typical genera can here be alluded to, and in the first place the genus perca (Cuv.), of which the common fresh-water perch (P. Jlavescens) of America and the P.flumatilis of Europe are familiar examples. The old genus perca of Artedi and Linnaeus has been subdivided into 36 genera according to the number and shape of the dorsals, the characters of the teeth, the serrations of the gill covers and shoulders, size of the scales, and other characters. In the restricted genus perca of Cuvier there are two dorsals (the second flexible), all the teeth vil- liform without canines, the opercular bones serrated, the operculum spiniferous, and the tongue smooth ; 14 species are described, all inhabitants of fresh water. The yellow perch (P.flavescens, Cuv.) is greenish yellow above, and golden yellow on the sides, with seven transverse dark bands, widest above, and white below; centre of operculum deep green, iris golden, dorsals and caudal yellowish brown, pectorals yellow, and ventrals and anal scarlet. It attains a length of 12 to 15 in. and a weight of 2 Ibs., though most specimens are below 10 in. ; it is very generally distributed in the lakes, ponds, and streams of the northern and middle states and of the British provinces ; it is easily taken by the hook or net, and is an excellent fish for the table. The P. flumatilis (Linn.) is very common over Europe and most