Pontevedra

3785

Pontme

slopes furnish pasturage for cattle and yield
timber, and the valleys produce maize, grain,
and vegetables; p. 573,255.

Pontevedra, city, Spain, capital of the
province of the same name, is situated at the
head of a deep bay. It is a handsome, pro-
gressive city, of Roman origin (Duo Ponies],
in the midst of the 'Spanish Switzerland.'
Fishing, food preserving, and timber cutting
are active industries; p. 22,300.

Pontiac, city, Illinois, county seat of Liv-
ingston co., on the VermiUion River. The Ill-
inois State Reformatory is located here. Pon-
tiac is in the corn belt and the surrounding
region is devoted to agriculture and stock-
raising. There are several mills and iron
foundries; p. 9,585.

Pontiac, city, Michigan, county seat of
Oakland co., 25 m. n.w. of Detroit, with
which it is connected by electric roads and a
concrete highway. It is in a region contain-
ing more than 400 picturesque small lakes
on the shores of which are club-houses,
summer residences, hotels, and the Michigan
Military Academy. The Eastern Michigan
Asylum for the Insane is the leading charit-
able institution. Wool and agricultural
products are shipped from the city in large
quantities. Within recent years the indus-
trial development of Pontiac has been rapid.
There are iron foundries, brick yards, bot-
tling works, flour mills, and planing mills,
and manufactures of automobiles, gas and
gasoline engines, farm machinery, bicycles,
and pumps. Pontiac was named after the
famous Indian chief; p. 66,626.

Pontiac (c. 1720-69), head chief of the
Ottawa Indians, born between 1712 and 1720,
probably on Maumee river, near the mouth
of the Auglaize. Nothing is definitely known
of Pontiac's early life, beyond the fact that
by 1755 he had through the exercise of fierce
courage, the arts of diplomacy and leader-
ship, and uncommon skill as an organizer,
become widely known and respected among
the Algonquian tribes; and as principal chief
of the Ottawa was at the head of the loose
confederacy of the Ottawa, Chippewa, and
Potawatomi, which with the Miami practi-
cally dominated the country n. and w. of the
Ohio River. After the surrender of Montreal
(Sept. 8, 1760) and the fall of New France,
Pontiac visited the British commander, Ma}.
Robert Rogers who had been sent to take
possession of French forts along the upper
Great Lakes, and declared he was ready to
allow the strangers to occupy his country so

long as 'they treated him with due respect
and deference.'

Unlike the French, who generously treated
the aborigines with al) possible considera-
tion, and even fraternized with them, the
English were found by the latter to be harsh
and tactless rulers, and Pontiac soon began
the organization of a general native revolt,
designed to destroy the newcomers. Pontiac's
indignation reached its height in the spring
of 1763, on learning that by the Treaty of
Paris (Feb. 10) the French 'lather' had ceded
vast stretches of Indian lands to the English
'father' without the consent of the natives.
Throughout that summer the English forts
were besieged with a persistence rare among
savages. As usual, the Indians in time wear-
ied of their confederacy, and were cowed
by repeated defeats at the hands of the Eng-
lish punitive expedition. In May, 1765, the
French induced Pontiac, now deserted by
most of his followers, to sue for English
friendship; a year afterward, at Oswego,
peace was formally arranged.

Pontifex, the title given at ancient Rome
to the members of the college of priests.
They were the supreme authorities in all
religious matters, and were not attached to
the service of any particular deities, but
watched over the whole state religion. The
college was said to have been founded by
Nurna. At the head of the college was the
pontifex maxiinits, or chief pontiff, who held
office for life. He was usually a man of high
political standing—as Julius Caesar. The office
was always held by the emperor after the
establishment of the empire; Theodosius was
the first to relinquish it. In time it was as-
sumed by the bishop of Rome, and is indeed
the formal title of the Pope.

Pontifical, a Roman Catholic service book,
which contains those offices of the church in
which a bishop or a bishop's delegate alone
is permitted to officiate. The Pontificate Ro-
manum, compiled in 1485, contains offices for
ordination, consecrations of places and peo-
ple, .episcopal benedictions, and receptions of
the religious.

Pontine Marshes, marshy district, Italy,
25 ra. s.e. of Rome. It is from 18 to 25 m. in
length, and has a width of from 4% to 5 m.
Previous to the Roman occupation (358 B.C.)
the district was carefully drained, and was
studded with towns and villages. Subse-
quently the drainage works fell into decay,
and nothing was done until Appius Claudius
constructed the Via Appia through them ia