Piarists

3729

Picasso

a spool. The instrument is furnished with sev-
eral little bellows originally worked by pedals,
as in playing the harmonium. The more mod-
ern instruments are entirely self-contained and
are run by electricity.

Piarists, or 'Fathers of Pious Schools,'
a religious congregation for the education of
the poor, founded at Rome by a Spanish
priest, Joseph of Calassanza, in 1617, confirm-
ed by Gregory xv., and chiefly active in Poland
and Austria.

Piassava, or Piassaba, a name applied to
either of two Brazilian palms—Attalea juni-
fera (see COQXJILLA NUT) and Leopoldinia
piassaba—and to the fibre obtained from their
leaves. It is exported in considerable quanti-
ties, to be employed hi the manufacture of
brooms and brushes.

Piastre, a silver coin used in Turkey and
Egypt, worth between four and five cents in
United States money. In history it was a silver
coin of Spain worth about a dollar, and famil-
iar in historical romance as the 'piece of eight,'
a name which refers to the subdivision of its
value into eight silver reals.

Piauhy, state of Brazil, is hounded on the
n. hy the Atlantic Ocean, and on the n.w. by
the state of Maranhao, from which it is sepa-
rated by the river Paranahyba. Its area is
116,520 sq.m. The surface is mostly a plain,
and consists chiefly of rich pastures on which
large herds of cattle are reared. Cotton, to-
bacco, rice, rubber, and sugar are cultivated.
The capital is Therezina; p. 809,508.

Piave, river, N. Italy, rises in the Carnic
Alps, flows s.e. between the Dolomites and the
Venetian Alps, then bends in an abrupt right
angle to the s.e. across the plain to the Gulf
of Venice. The Piave has from the beginning
of time been the first important water barrier
of Italy on the e. Its lower course was the
, scene of bitter fighting during the Great War.

Piave, Battle of. During the Great War
(1914-19), the Italian Army took its stand at
the Piave following the retreat from the Isonzo
in November, 1917. At that moment the out-
look for Italy was dark. The loss of Venice
would compel the Italian Navy to fall back
four or five hundred miles to a base at Brin-
disi. The Adriatic would thus become an Aus-
trian lake; the Italian coastal towns would be
the prey of enemy warships, and the Mediter-
ranean infested with submarines. At this crit-
ical moment occurred the fruitful Conference
of Rapalle. Messrs, Lloyd George, Clemenceau
and Orlando in joint session with their mili-
tary advisers settled the ve^ed question of what

support, economic as well as military, Italy
might expect from Great Britain and France,
and made the Neapolitan General Diaz Com-
mandcr-in-Chief of the Italian armies with
General Badaglio as Chief of the General Staff.
By Nov. o the rearguard of the Italian Third
Army was safely over the Lower Piave and
the Duke of Aosta was prepared to stand fast
against Boroevic and Otto von Below. At this
juncture the river was called upon to play an
active part in the discomfiture of the invader.
On Nov. 16 the floodgates of its canalized por-
tions were thrown open, and the marshlands
inundated to the sea. Nevertheless, by Nov.
18 the Austrians possessed two more bridge-
heads on the Lower Piave. None of these,
however, could be used to advantage, for near
the coast the Italian infantry was receiving
valuable assistance from the marines, and the
big guns of the monitors were cooperating
with the land batteries. Italy could, therefore,
afford to heave a sigh of relief, and Germany,
recognizing a protracted stalemate, withdrew
her Fourteenth Army under Von Below.

With the coming of summer it became vital
for Austria to assume the initiative with or
without German aid. By June 17 the Aus-
trians had thrown 14 new bridges over the
river from Cape Sile up to the Montello, the
northeastern half of which was in their hands.
Nearly 100,000 men were across the Piave, and
victory seemed within their grasp, when, as if
in answer to a prayer, the river rose in flood.
The Duke of Aosta achieved marked success
by piercing the Austrian center between Fagare
and Gandelu and recovering the banks of the
river at several other points. Before the dawn
of June 24 all of the west bank had been re-
covered by Italy.

Pibroch (Gaelic, Piobaireachd, 'a pipe
tune*), a form of bagpipe music, generally of a
warlike character, including marches, dirges,
etc.

Picardy, an ancient province of N. France,
comprising the present department of Somme,
and parts of Aisne and Pas-de-Calais, the in-
habitants of which still call themselves Picards.
Amiens was its capital.

Picaresque. See Navel.

Picasso, Pablo (1881), Spanish post-
impressionist painter, the founder and leading
exponent of the Cubist movement, born in
Malaga. After various changes in style, he de-
veloped a purely geometrical method, which
he handles with great technical facility. Ac-
cording to his own statement, his works are
of a psychical rafter than a physical nature,