rich heiress in the "Merchant of Venice," whose destiny
in marriage depended, as ordained by her father, on the discretion of the
wooer to choose the one of the three caskets that contained her
portrait.

PORTLAND, 1, the largest city (50) and principal seaport of Maine,
stands on a peninsula in Casco Bay, 108 in. NE. of Boston by rail. It has
extensive wharfs, dry-docks, and grain-elevators, engineer shops,
shoe-factories, and sugar-refineries. Settled as an English colony in
1632, it was ravaged by fire in 1866. Longfellow was born here. 2,
largest city (90) in Oregon, on the Willamette River, nearly 800 m. N. of
San Francisco; is a handsome city, with numerous churches and schools;
there are iron-foundries, mechanics' shops, canneries, and flour-mills;
railway communication connects it with St. Paul and Council Bluffs, and
the river being navigable for deep-sea steamers, it is a thriving port of
entry.

PORTLAND, ISLE OF, a rocky peninsula in the SW. of Dorsetshire,
connected by Chesil Bank and the Mainland; is famous as the source of
great quantities of fine building limestone; here is also a
convict-prison opened 1848, accommodating 1500 prisoners.

PORTLAND VASE, an ancient cinerary urn of dark blue glass ornamented
with Greek mythological figures carved in a layer of white enamel found
near Rome about 1640, and which came into the possession of the Portland
family in 1787, and is now in the British Museum. It is ten inches high
and seven inches round.

PORTO RICO (814), a West Indian island, half the size of Wales, 75
m. E. of Hayti, is well watered and very fertile. Ranges of hills run
from E. to W., and are covered with valuable timber. Sugar, coffee, and
rice are the principal crops; tobacco and tropical fruits are grown;
cattle and horses are reared. Textile goods, hardware, and provisions are
imported; the exports are sugar, coffee, tobacco, and cattle. The capital
is St. John's (24), Mayaguez (27), and Ponce (40), the other towns. The
island was discovered by Columbus, who called it Hispaniola, in 1493.
Colonised by Spain in 1510, it attempted unsuccessfully to gain
independence in 1820-23. The abolition of slavery in 1873, and the growth
of population, marked the remainder of its history as a Spanish colony.
It was seized by the United States in the war of 1898.

PORTOBELLO (8), a Midlothian watering-place on the Firth of Forth, 3
m. E. of Edinburgh, with which it is now incorporated for mu