Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/541

T> TT T 1: Hj IN - carried on in several districts, and improved varieties of fruit-trees are being introduced through the imperial botanical garden at Penza and a private school of gardening in the Gorodishtche district. Fourteen per cent, of the area is under meadows or grazing land; and in 1881 there were within the government 244,000 head of cattle, 383,000 horses, and 235,000 pigs. Sheep-breeding is especially developed in Tchembar and Insar (670,000 sheep, including 72,000 of finer breeds, in 1881). The Mordvinians are very partial to bee keeping. The forests (620,000 acres) are a considerable source of wealth, especially in Krasnoslobodsk and Gorodishtche, whence timber, a variety of wooden wares, and also pitch and tar are ex ported to the south. As many as 30 per cent, of the adult male population leave the government in search of employment, either on the Volga or in southern Russia. The manufactures are few, employing only 13,300 hands. The yearly returns in 1879 did not exceed 13,325,000 roubles (1,332,500). The distilleries come first (973,200), followed by the woollen cloth industry (237,000), the paper industry (37,200), tanneries, soap-works, glass-works, machine-works, iron-works, and beetroot-sugar factories. Trade, which has been favoured by the completion of the railway from Tula to Samara, is still limited to the export of corn, spirits, timber, hemp-seed oil, tallow, hides, honey, wax, some woollen cloth, potash, and cattle, the chief centres for trade being Penza, Nijni Lomoff, Mokshan, Saransk, Krasnoslobodsk, and Golovinshtchina. The government is divided into ten districts, the chief towns of which are: Penza (41,650), Gorodishtche (3200), Insar (5230), Kerensk (12,450), Krasnoslobodsk (7000), Mokshan (13,050), Narovtchat (5150), Nijni Lomoff (10,500), Saransk (13,450), and Tchembar (5320). Troitsk (5700), Verkhnii Lomoff (7300), and Sheshkeeff (3500) also have municipal institutions. The present government of Penza was formerly inhabited by Mordvinians, who had the Mescheryaks in the west, the Bulgars in the north, and the Burtases in the south. In the 13th century these populations fell under the dominion of the Tatars, with whom they fought against Moscow. As early as the 14th century they possessed the town of Narovtchat. The Russians penetrated into the country in the 16th century, founding the town of Mokshan in 1535, and several others in the course of that and the following centuries. Penza was founded in the beginning of the 1 7th century, the permanent Russian settlement dating as far back as 1666. Its wooden fort, on the site of the present cathedral of the Saviour, protected the neighbourhood against risings of the Mordvinians and Mescheryaks. In 1776 it was taken by Pugatcheff. The town was almost totally destroyed by the great conflagrations of 1836, 1839, and 1858. PENZA, capital of the above province, is situated 440 miles by rail south-east from Moscow. It is mostly built of wood, on the slopes of a plateau 730 feet above the sea, at the confluence of the little Penza with the navigable Sura. The Spasopreobrajensky cathedral was built in the end of the 17th century, the monastery of the same name, which formerly adjoined it, being now in the suburbs. A few educational and philanthropic institutions, a theatre which has played some part in the history of the Russian stage, and a municipal bank are the chief buildings of Penza, which derives its importance chiefly from its being the seat of the provincial authorities and the see of a bishop. The great bulk of the inhabitants are peasants, who support themselves by agriculture or fishing in the Sura, some artisans, and a few merchants. An imperial botanical garden is situated within 2 miles of the town. Apart from a paper-mill and two steam flour-mills, the manufacturing establishments (producing soap, candles, wax-candles, cosmetics, machinery), distilleries, breweries, and saw-mills are small. Trade in corn, oil, tallow, and spirits is on the increase. There are two fairs where cattle and horses are sold for export, grocery and manufactured wares being the corresponding imports. The population in 1881 had reached 41,650. PENZANCE, a seaport and municipal borough of Corn wall, and the westernmost borough of England, is finely situated on gently rising ground on the north-western shore of Mount Bay, at the terminus of the Great Western Railway, 10 miles east-north-east of Land s End and 20 west-south-west of Truro. It is the nearest port to the Scilly Isles, which are about 40 miles distant to the west- south-west. The market-place is in the centre of the town, and near it the four principal streets intersect each other at P E O 515 right angles. The southern arm of the pier was built in 1772, the Albert or new pier on the east in 1845. The piers are connected by a wharf, viaduct, and swing-bridge (1882); and a dock is being at present constructed at a cost of 60,000, which will extend to about 3 acres. The limits of the port have lately (1884) been extended. The churches are St Mary s, constructed of cut granite, in the Perpendicular style, with lofty pinnacled tower and peal of eight bells ; St Paul s, of cut and rubble granite, in the style of the 13th century (1843) ; and St John s, of stone, Early English (1881). The public buildings, erected of granite in the Italian style in 1867, include the town-hall and council-chambers, St John s Hall for public meetings, the lecture -hall, the public library (upwards of 16,000 volumes), the news-rooms, the masonic hall, the museum of the Penzance Natural History and Antiquarian Society, and the museum and other rooms of the Geological Society of Cornwall. The market-house (1837), in the Grecian style, with a central dome, includes a meat-market on the ground-floor with a corn-market above, and in the east end of the building is the grammar-school, founded in 1789. In front of the east end is a marble statue of Davy. Somewhat east of the market-house are the post and tele graph offices, completed in 1883. Among the benevolent institutions is the West Cornwall Infirmary (1874), which includes the dispensary (1809). The town has a con siderable shipping trade, the total number of vessels which entered the port in 1882 being 1829 of 197,933 tons burden, the number which cleared 1774 of 187,569 tons. The exports include tin, copper, granite, serpentine, and fish, and the imports coal, timber, and provisions. Large quantities of pilchard are annually exported to Italy. Fruits, flowers, and vegetables are grown in the neighbour hood for the London market. On account of its sheltered situation and its remarkably mild and equable climate, the town has a high repute as a winter residence for persons suffering from pulmonary complaints ; and on account of its fine scenery it is also becoming a favourite watering- place. The population of the municipal borough in 1871 was 10,414, and in 1881 it was 12,409. Penzance is said to mean "holy head," the name being derived from a chapel dedicated to St Anthony, formerly situated on a head land now forming the base of the old pier, around which a few fishermen built their huts and thus originated the town. A castle built by the Tyes, possessors of the manor of Alwarton or Alverton, is supposed to have occupied the present site of St Mary s Church. Alice de Lisle, sister and heiress of the last Baron Tyes, obtained for the town the grant of a weekly market from Edward III. In the 15th century Penzance was known as a "place of ships and merchandise ;" and on the 16th March 1512 it received from Henry VIII. a charter granting to the inhabitants all profits arising from ships visiting the harbour upon condition that the quays and bul warks of the town were kept in repair. In 1595 the town was burned and pillaged by the Spaniards, and in 1644 sacked by Fairfax. In 1614 it was incorporated by James I. ; and in 1663 it obtained a coinage charter, a privilege it retained till 1838. On account of the usurpation of its chief magistrate its municipal charter was forfeited in the beginning of the reign of Queen Anne, but was restored in 1706. By the Municipal Act of 1835 the govern ment was made to consist of a mayor, six aldermen, and eighteen councillors. Lach-Szyrma, History ofPe.nzancf, 1878 ; Millett, Penzance Past and Present, 1876-1880. PEONY. See P.EOXY. PEORIA, a city of the United States, capital of Peoria county, Illinois, lies on the edge of a rolling prairie at the lower end of the so-called Lake Peoria, an expansion of the Illinois river, and is connected by the Michigan Canal with Chicago. It is a flourishing place, the meeting- point of nine railway lines, the trading centre for an exten sive district, and the seat of a large grain traffic and of various manufactures ; 117,158,670 proof gallons of high wines were made in 1883. From 5095 in 1850 its popu lation increased to 14,045 in 1860, 22,849 in 1870, and 29,259 in 1880. Though its permanent settlement dates