PALO ALTO PAMPAS premacy of Rome, Aurelian defeated her at Antioch and Emesa, and besieged her capital in 273. Zenobia fled, but was captured, and Palmyra surrendered. Subsequently the peo- ple revolted and slew the garrison of 600 men, and Aurelian destroyed the city. Justinian re- stored it in 527 ; it was captured by the Sara- cens in 633, pillaged by them in 744, and taken by Tamerlane in 1400. The place now has a small population of Syrians and a Turkish gar- rison. The ruins are remarkable, and com- prise countless Corinthian columns of white marble extending a mile and a half, numerous tomb towers with separate compartments for the dead, and the remains of a grand temple of the sun, the surrounding columns of which are Ionic. The tombs appear to be of a date preceding the Roman conquest, most of them containing inscriptions in the Palmyrene char- acter and language, a branch of the Syriac. The ruins were visited by some English mer- chants in 1691, and an account was published in the "Transactions" of the royal society. They were explored in 1751 by Wood and Dawkins, who published an elaborate account with plates (foL, London, 1758); by Irby and Mangles in 1817-'18 ; and since then have been visited by many travellers, including Burton (1870) and Myers (187l-'2). Much informa- tion in respect to recently discovered remains is given in Vogue's Syrie centrale (Paris, 1869). PALO ALTO, a N. W. county of Iowa, drained by the Des Moines river and its tributaries; area, 576 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 1,336. The surface is generally level and the soil fertile. The chief productions in 1870 were 19,475 bushels of wheat, 22,336 of Indian corn, 19,976 of oats, 45,525 Ibs. of butter, and 7,432 tons of hay. There were 349 horses, 760 milch cows, 1,642 other cattle, and 357 swine. Capital, Emmetsburg. PALO ALTO (Sp., " tall timber "), a wood in S. Texas, about 8 m. N. N. E. of Matamoros, near which a battle was fought, May 8, 1846, be- tween the Americans commanded by Gen. Tay- lor, and the Mexicans by Gen. Arista. Taylor had inarched on May 1 from Fort Brown, oppo- site Matamoros, for the relief of Point Isabel, where he had a depot of provisions which was threatened by the Mexicans. Having made this place defensible, he started to return on the 7th. At noon on the 8th the enemy ap- peared in his front in a position to cut him off from Fort Brown. The action began with an artillery fire from the Mexicans and a cavalry attack with the lance. They were forced back, and the Americans advanced. After an engage- ment of five hours the Mexicans retreated. They numbered about 6,000, and their loss in kilk-d was about 100. The Americans num- bered about 2,300, and their loss was 4 killed and 40 wounded. PALOMINO DE CASTRO Y VELASCO, Acislo Antonio, a Spanish painter, born in Bujalance in 1653, died in Madrid, April 13, 1726. He studied theology, philosophy, and jurisprudence at Cor- dova, but devoted himself secretly to paint- ing. In 1678 he went to Madrid, and in 1688 was appointed painter to the king. Among his chief productions are the fresco in the church of San Juan del Mercado in Valencia, that of the "Triumph of Religion " in the con- vent of San Esteban in Salamanca, and others in Granada, and a series of altarpieces at Cor- dova. After the death of his wife in 1725 he took orders. He published El museo pictorico y escala optica (Madrid, l715-'24), and Vidas de los pintores y estatuarios eminentes espa- fwles (8 vols., London, l739-'42), translated into German, French, and English. PALO PINTO, a 1ST. W. county of Texas, inter- sected by the Brazos river ; area, 974 sq. m. The population was not returned in the census of 1870. The surface is broken and hilly, with much prairie land and some woodland. Sheep and stock raising are the chief industries. The county has suffered from Indian incursions. Capital, Palo Pinto. PJLLOS, a town of Andalusia, Spain, in the province and 5 m. S. E. of the town of Huelva, on the Tinto, near its mouth in the gulf of Cadiz; pop. about 1,200. It is remarkable as the port from which Columbus sailed (Aug. 3, 1492) on his first voyage to America. Be- tween it and the sea is the old convent of La Kabida, noted in the earlier history of the navigator. PALPITATION. See HEAKT, DISEASES OF THE. PALSY. See PARALYSIS. PAMIERS, a town of France, in the depart- ment of Ariege, on the river Ariege, 10 m. N. of Foix; pop. in 1872, 8,690. It is the seat of a bishop, has two religious communities of men and four of women, and a communal col- lege. It was formerly the capital of Foix. PAMLICO, an E. county of North Carolina, bordering on the Neuse river and Pamlico sound, formed from portions of Beaufort and Craven cos. in 1872 ; area, about 300 sq. m. The surface is low and swampy. Capital, Vandemere. PAMLICO RIVER, an estuary receiving the waters of Tar river and Tranter's creek, and opening into Pamlico sound, N. C. It is from 1 to 8 m. broad and 40 m. long, and navigable for all vessels which can enter the sound. PAMLICO SOUND, a shallow body of water on the coast of North Carolina, separated from the Atlantic by long and narrow sandy isl- ands, whose outermost point is Cape Hatteras ; breadth from 10 to 30 m., length about 80 m. The principal entrance is by Ocracoke inlet on the southwest. It communicates with Albe- marle and Currituck sounds on the north, and receives Pamlico and Neuse rivers on the west. PAMPAS, the great plains of South America, stretching from lat. 50 S. in Patagonia north- ward through the Argentine Republic to the Bolivian frontier, about 27 degrees of latitude, and covering an area of about 600,000 sq. m. The northern portion is occupied by the vast unexplored territory of the Gran Chaco ; the
