in
the world. Oporto, the chief manufacturing centre, and second city for
commerce, is at the mouth of the Douro. Braga was once the capital.
Coimbra, on the Mondego, is the rainiest place in Europe. There are good
roads between the chief towns, 1200 m. of railway and 3000 m. of
telegraph. The people are a mixed race, showing traces of Arab, Berber,
and Negro blood, with a predominance of northern strains. They are
courteous and gentle; the peasantry hard-working and thrifty. Roman
Catholic is the national faith, but they are tolerant of other religions.
The language is closely akin to Spanish. Education is backward. The
Government is a limited monarchy, there being two houses of
Parliament--Peers and Deputies. The Azores and Madeira are part of the
kingdom; there are colonies in Africa and Asia, in which slavery was
abolished only in 1878. The 14th and 15th centuries saw the zenith of
Portugal's fortunes. At that time, in strict alliance with England, she
raised herself by her enterprise to the foremost maritime and commercial
power of Europe; her navigators founded Brazil, and colonised India. Diaz
in 1487 discovered and Vasco da Gama in 1497 doubled the Cape of Good
Hope. In 1520 Magellan sailed round the world; but in the 16th century
the extensive emigration, the expulsion of the Jews, the introduction of
the Inquisition, and the spread of Jesuit oppression, led to a speedy
downfall. For a time she was annexed to Spain. Regaining her
independence, she threw herself under the protection of England, her
traditional friend, during the Napoleonic struggle. She is now an
inconsiderable power, commercially thriving, politically restless,
financially unsound.

POSEIDON, in the Greek mythology the god of the sea, a son of Kronos
and Rhea, and brother of Zeus, Pluto, Hera, Hestia, and Demeter; had his
home in the sea depths, on the surface of which he appeared with a long
beard, seated in a chariot drawn by brazen-hoofed horses with golden
manes, and wielding a trident, which was the symbol of his power,
exercised in production of earthquake and storms. See PLUTO.

POSEN (1,752), a province of Prussia on the Russian frontier,
surrounded by West Prussia, Brandenburg, and Silesia; belongs to the
great North German plain; has several lakes, and is traversed by the
navigable Warthe, Netze, and Vistula. The prevailing industry is
agriculture; the crops are grain, potatoes, and hops; there are some
manufactures of machinery