Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/333

* PORT TOWNSEND. 281 PORTUGAL. PORT TOWNS'END. A city and the county- seat of Jefferson County, Wash., 35 miles north by west of .Seattle, on Port To«Tisend Baj', at the entrance to Puget .Sound. It has steam?hip con- nection with Alaska, San Francisco, and various ports of the Orient (Map: Washington, C 1). The Port Townsend Southern Railroad and a branch of the Northern Pacific, which are under course of construction, will add greatly to the commercial importance of the city. The harbor is one of the largest in the world, and is pro- tected bj- three forts, eqiiipped with the most modern guns. The city is favored with a fairly equable climate, owing to the influence of the hipan Current, and is surrounded by picturesque iiiiiuntain scenery. It is well laid out, and has fine business blocks and public buildings, and at- tractive residences. Among the noteworthy edi- fices are the United States Custom House, county courthouse, city hall, high school building, • United States ilarine Hospital, Saint .John's Hospital, the sanatorium, and the buildings of the United States Quarantine Station. A public library is maintained by the city. The neighboring region is engaged in lumbering, dairy farming, and fruit-growing, and also has considerable oil and mineral wealth. Port To«Ti- send is a port of entry for the Puget Soimd cus- toms district, the trade of which in 1902 was valued at .$47,478,000, including exports to the amount of .$34,726,000. Lumber, grain, farm and dairy products, live stock, fish, and oil are the chief articles of commerce. The industrial estab- lishments comprise steam boiler works, a machine shop, saw and planing mills, a ship-yard, salmon and sardine canneries, herring pickling and curing works, bottling works, etc. The Irondale fur- naces on Port Townsend Bay are noted for their extensive production of pig iron, the iron used in the construction of the cruisers Charleston and San Francisco and the battleship Oregon having been made here. Under the charter of 1S90. the government is administered by a mayor, chosen annually, and a unicameral council. Port Town- send was settled in 1S51, and was incorporated in 1860. Population, in 1890, 4558; in 1900, 3443. PORTUGAL. One of the smaller States of Europe, occupying most of the western part of the Iberian or Pyrenean Peninsula. Comprised between the parallels of 37° and 42' X. and the meridians of 6° 15' and 9° 30' W., it has a conti- nental area of 34,528 square miles, a little larger than Maine. The Azores and Madeira Islands, classed as an integral part of the king- dom, have an area of 1510 square miles, making the total area of the kingdom 36.038 square miles. The colonial possessions arc nearly 22 times as large as the kingdom. Portugal is bounded on the north and east by Spain and on the south and west by the Atlantic Ocean. It extends about 350 miles from north to south and an aver- age width of about 100 miles from east to west. No country is better provided with natural bound- aries. Rivers or mountain ramparts separate it from Spain. The ilinho. Douro. Tagus (Tejo), and Guadiana, flowing in deep valleys, form boundaries in parts of their courses. Portugal may almost be said to have a climatic boundary. The limit of rains brought by the westerly winds finm the Atlantic coincides very nearly with the litical boundary. On the side of Portugal are iiumid atmosphere, copious rains, and luxuri- ant vegetation. On the side of Spain are cloud- less skies, a thirsty soil, and treeless plains. ToPO(iR.Pii Y. The kingdom occupies the great- er part of the Atlantic slope of the great penin- sular tableland. The country has a coast line of nearly 465 miles. The harbors are relatively nu- merous, though those in the north are obstructed by sand bars. The most important are those of Lisbon, in the widened estuary of the Tagus; Oporto, on the Douro, near its mouth ; and Setu- bal (the famous salt port), at the head of Sctubal Bay. Lagos, founded by the Carthaginians, and Villa Nova, both on the south coast: Buarcos and Figueira, at the mouth of the Mondego; and the roadstead of Leixoes near Oporto, where an arti- ficial harbor has been built, are smaller ports. It was partly due to the superior situation of the ports for intercourse with West Africa and South America that Portugal stood in the fore- front of over-sea enterprises in the greatest era of geogi-aphic discovery. A large part of the interior is filled with moun- tains. The country north of the Tagus is most mountainous and elevated. Of the three great mountain systems the fine Serra do Gerez of the north is the western extremity of the Pyrenean .system, and the magnificent .Serra da Estrella. Ije- tween the Douro and Tagus, is the western pro- longation of the great central range of Spain. They have many offshoots and foothills and the Estrella range traverses the great plain of the Province of Beira. The Tagus di- vides Portugal into two portions, which differ much in appearance, climate, and soil. North of the Tagus are imposing mountain chains, trans- verse hill ranges, beautiful and fertile valleys; but south of the river the mountains rarely as- sume the aspect of ranges and do not rise high above the surrounding plateau. Thus Southern Portugal is the least attractive part of the king- dom — a succession of plains, hills, thinly wooded lands, and sandy coastal tracts. It includes, however, the third conspicuous orographic sys- tem of the kingdom, the Serra de Sao Mamede. on the border between Portugal and Spain. Hydrography. The principal rivers have their origin in Spain, the only important river entirely possessed by the Portuguese being the ilondego, which waters a fertile valley, but is useless for commerce. The rivers Minho, Douro, Tagus. and Guadiana are generally navigable as far as the Spanish frontier and in the lower part of their courses even for large vessels. The "Tagus is deep enough for seagoing ships for 90 miles, and the Douro as far as Oporto. While the rivers are very important in the commimications of the country, they have not yet been effectively regu- lated for purposes of navigation. The ^linho River forms pait of the northern boundary be- tween Spain and Portugal ; its valley is very fertile, and its salmon and lamprey fisheries are important. The Douro irrigates the vine regions which produce the famous port wine exported from Oporto. The lower Tagus crosses plains of great fertility and widens at Lisbon to a great basin, one of the largest and finest harbors in the world. Clim.te. The climate is oceanic except in the eastern districts. High degrees of temperature are registered only in the south, and. owing to the neighborhood of the sea. the climate may gen- erally be described as temperate. North of the Douro the mean annual temperature is 50° F.,