Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/184

1(58 P A L P A L PALEMBAXG. See SUMATRA. PALEXCIA, an inland province of Spain, one of the eight into which Old Castile is divided, is bounded on the X. by Santander, on the E. by Burgos, on the S. by Valladolid, on the W. by Valladolid and Leon, and has an area of 3127 square miles. In shape it is an irregular parallelogram, measuring 83 miles from north to south with a maximum breadth of 48 miles, sloping from the Canta- brian chain to the Douro. The general direction of all its larger streams is from north to south ; of these the principal are the Pisuerga and the Carrion, which unite at Duefias and flow into the Douro in Valladolid. The tributaries of the former within the province are the Burejo, the Cieza, and the united streams of the Buedo and Abanades ; the latter is joined on the right by the Cueza. The northern part of the province, including the whole partido of Cervera, is mountainous, with some wood and with good pasture in the valleys ; the remainder, the " Tierra de Campos," belongs to the-great Castilian table-land, and is in general level and almost wholly devoid of trees. In the south occurs a considerable marsh or lake known as La Laguna de la Xava, as yet only partially drained. The mountainous district abounds in minerals, but only the coal is worked, the principal mines being those of San Feliceo de Castilleria, Orbo, and Villaverde de la Pefia, The province is crossed in the south-east by the trunk railway connecting Madrid with Irun, while the line to Santander traverses it throughout from north to south ; there is also railway connexion with Leon. The highways following the same routes are maintained in good order ; the state of the other roads is often bad. The Canal de Castilla, begun by Ensenada in 1753, and completed in 1832, connects Alar del Rey with Valladolid. The province is essentially agricultural, wheat and other cereals, legumes, hemp, and flax being every where extensively grown, except in the mountainous dis tricts. Other industries are of secondary importance, the principal being flour-milling and the manufacture of linen and woollen stuffs. The province is divided into seven partidos Astudillo, Baltanas, Carrion, Frechilla, Palencia, Saldana, and Cervera; the total population in 1877 was 180,785. The only ayuntamiento with a population exceeding 10,000 was that of Palencia. PALEXCIA, capital of the above province, occupies a level site on the left bank of the river Carrion, here crossed by a good stone bridge and by another called Los Puentecillos. Palencia is the junction of the lines from Asturias and Galicia, and is 7 miles from Venta de Bafios on the Madrid and Irun Railway. The distances north- north-east from Valladolid and south-east from Leon are 23 and 82 miles respectively. The height above sea-level is 2362 feet. The town is protected on the west by the river ; on the other sides the old machicolated walls, 36 feet high by 9 in thickness, are in fairly good preservation, and beautified by alamedas or promenades which were laid out in 1778. The city is divided into two parts, the ciudad and the puebla, by a winding arcaded street, the Calle Mayor, which traverses it from north to south. The cathedral, which overlooks the Carrion, was begun in 1321 and finished in 1504; it is a large building in the later and somewhat poor Gothic style of Spain. The site was previously occupied by a church erected by Sancho el Mayor over the cave of St Antholin, which is still shown. The church of San Miguel is a good and fairly well- preserved example of 1 3th-century work ; that of San Francisco, of the same date, is inferior, and has suffered more from modernization. The hospital of San Lazaro is said to date in part from the time of the Cid, who was married to Ximena here. The leading industries of Palencia are the woollen and linen manufactories, in which a third of the inhabitants are engaged; flour-milling comes next in importance. The population of the ayuntamiento was 14,505 in 1877. Palencia, the Pallantia of Strabo and Ptolemy, was the chief town of the Vaccsei. Its history during the Gothic and Moorish periods is obscure ; but it was a Castilian town of some importance in the 12th and 13th centuries. The university founded here in 1208 by Alphonso IX. was removed in 1239 to Salamanca. PALEXQUE, RUINS OF, in Chiapas, Mexico. See ARCHITECTURE, vol. ii. pp. 450-51 ; and H. H. Bancroft, Native Races of the Pacific Coast of North America, vol. iv. PALERMO (Greek, Udvopfuys; Latin, Panhormus, Panor- mus), the capital of the Sicilian kingdom as long as it kept its separate being, now capital of a province of the same name in the kingdom of Italy, and the see of an arch bishop. The population numbered 205,7 12 in 1881. The city stands in the north-west part of the island, on a small bay looking eastwards, the coast forming the chord of a semicircle of mountains which hem in the campayna of Palermo, called the Golden Shell (Conca d Oro). The most striking point is the mountain of Heirkte, now called Pellegrino (from the grotto of Santa Rosalia, a favourite place of pilgrimage), which rises immediately al>ove both the sea and the city. Palermo has been commonly thought to be an original Phoenician settlement of unknown date, Plan of Palermo. 1. Church of S. Giuseppe. 2. Palazzo del Municijiio. 3. Church of S. Salvatore. 4. Church of S. Giovanni clc^li Krcmiti. but lately Prof. Holm, the historian of ancient Sicily, has suggested that the settlement w r as originally Greek. 1 There is no record of any Greek colonies in that part of Sicily, and Panhormus certainly was Phoenician as far back as history can carry us. According to Thucydides (vi. 2), as the Greeks colonized the eastern part of the island, the Phoenicians withdrew to the north-west, and concentrated themselves at Panhormus, Motye, and Soloeis (Soluntum, Solunto). Like the other Phoenician 1 The coins bearing the name of JlJnO are no longer assigned to Palermo ; but it is probable that certain coins with the name }" (Ziz) are of Panhormus.