Palghat

Palghat, a town of Malabar district, 68 miles SB. of Calicut by rail. Pop. 44,200.

Pali

Pali, the commercial capital of Jodhpur (q.v.), 45 miles by rail SE. of Jodhpur city.

Palikao

Palikao, a place on the canal between Peking and its port on the Peiho. Here in 1860 was fought an engagement between the Anglo-French troops and the Chinese.

Palk Strait

Palk Strait, the northern portion of the shallow passage between south India and Ceylon (q.v.).

Pallas

Pallas, in Co. Longford, 2 1/2 miles SE. of Bally-mahon, was the birthplace of Oliver Goldsmith.

Pallice

Pallice, La, a harbour opened in 1889 for large vessels trading to La Rochelle (3 miles distant).

Palma

Palma, (1) capital of Majorca (q.v.) and of the Balearic Islands, stands on the Bay of Palma, on the south coast. The Gothic cathedral dates from 1232-1601. The tomb of Raymond Lully is in the church of St Francis. There is a beautiful exchange (1426-46), an old Moorish palace, and a 16th-century town-hall. Population, 65,000,manu-facturing silks, woollens, jewellery, etc. The port is protected by a mole, and the town by a wall and batteries. - (2) A town of Sicily, 14 miles SE. of Girgenti. Pop. 14,702. - (3) The name of one of the larger of the Canary Islands (q.v.).

Palmbeach

Palmbeach, a fashionable watering-place of Dade county, on the Atlantic coast of Florida, 65 miles N. of Miami. Pop. 300, multiplied many times in the season.

Palmerston

Palmerston. See also Port Darwin.

Palmyra

Palmy'ra, in the 2d and 3d centuries a magnificent city of northern Syria, situated in an oasis on the edge of the Arabian desert, 150 miles NE. of Damascus. The Semitic name was Tadmor, Palmyra (='city of palms') being the Greek and Latin equivalent. Magnificent remains of the ancient city still exist, chief among them being the great temple of the Sun (or Baal); the great colonnade, nearly a mile long, and consisting originally of some 1500 Corinthian columns; and sepulchral towers, overlooking the city.

Palni Hills

Palni Hills, a range of southern India, linking the southern ends of the Eastern and Western Ghats; height of the higher ridge, 7000 feet.

Palo Alto

Palo Alto (Pah-lo), 33 miles SE. of San Francisco, the seat of a university founded by Senator Leland Stanford, opened in 1891, and destroyed by the earthquake of April 1906.

Palos

Palos (Pah'los), a Spanish port at the mouth of the Rio Tinto, 5 miles SE. of Huelva. Once an important place, whence Columbus started on his great voyage, it has now sunk to a village of 1422 inhabitants.

Pamlico Sound

Pamlico Sound, a shallow body of water, some 75 by 10 to 25 miles, on the coast of North Carolina, separated from the ocean by long, narrow islands of sand, with narrow passages.

Pampeluna

Pampelu'na, or Pamplona, a fortified city of northern Spain, stands on a tributary of the Ebro, 111 miles by rail NW. of Saragossa, and 50 S. by W. of Bayonne in France. It has a citadel (a copy of that of Antwerp), a Gothic cathedral (1397), a viceregal palace, a fine aqueduct, and some manufactures. Pompeiopolis was built by Pompey in 68 B.C. From 907 it was the capital of Navarre. Pop. 30,988.