d against the Senate, along
with Caesar and Crassus, the first triumvirate, and in 54 entered into
rivalry with Caesar; after a desperate struggle he was defeated at
Pharsalia, and escaping to Egypt, was assassinated there by orders of
Ptolemy XII. (106-48 B.C.).

POMPEY'S PILLAR, a block of red granite near Alexandria, forming a
pillar 98 ft. 3 in. high; erected in honour of the Emperor Diocletian,
who conquered Alexandria in 296. The name is an invention of some
mistaken early traveller.

PONCE DE LEON, Spanish navigator; conquered Porto Rico in 1510, and
discovered Florida in 1512. Also the name of a Spanish poet; was a
professor of Theology at Salamanca; was translator of the Song of
Solomon, and wrote a commentary on it in Latin.

PONCHO, a kind of cloak or shawl, of woollen or alpaca cloth, oblong
in shape, with a slit in the centre, through which the wearer passes his
head, allowing the folds to cover his shoulders and arms to the elbows,
and to fall down before and behind; worn by the native men in Chili and
Argentina. Ponchos of waterproof are used by the United States cavalry.

PONDICHERRY (173), a small French colony on the E. coast of India,
53 m. S. of Madras; was first occupied in 1674. It was captured by the
Dutch in 1693, and by the English successively in 1761, 1778, and 1793,
but on each occasion restored. The capital, Pondicherry (41), is the
capital of the French possessions in India; has handsome tree-lined
streets, government buildings, college, lighthouse, cotton mills, and
dye-works. The harbour is an open roadstead; trade is small, the chief
export oil seeds.

PONDOS, a branch of Zulu-Kaffirs, 200,000 in number, occupying
territory called Pondo Land, annexed to Cape Colony, in South Africa.

PONIATOWSKI, PRINCE JOSEPH, Polish general, born in Warsaw;
commanded the Polish contingent that accompanied Napoleon in his
expedition into Russia in 1812; was created Marshal of France on the
field of Leipzig; covered the retreat of the French army, and was drowned
crossing the Elster; his chivalrous bravery earned him the honourable
appellation of the Polish Bayard; he was buried at Cracow, and his
remains placed beside those of Sobieski and Kosciusko (1762-1813).

PONS ASINORUM (i. e. Bridge of Asses), the fifth proposition in
the 1st book of Euclid, so called for the difficulty many a tyro has in
mastering it.

PONSONBY, SIR FREDERICK CAVENDISH, military officer; served in the