PONTIAC. 236 PONTIFEX. completely failed, whereupon Tontiac at once laid siege to the post. The siege continued tive months, varied by desultory attacks and sorties and attempts to relieve the fort with men and supplies. The most notable event of the siege was the action at Bloody Bridge, July 31. 17t)3, in which a sortie of troops was repulsed by Pontiac. Forts Pitt and Ligonier, to which the Indians had laid siege, were relieved by Colonel Bouquet, who defeated the Indians at Bushy Kun, near the former post. Reinforcements finally suc- ceeded in entering Detroit; Pontiac's men began to desert him, and the news of the signing of a treaty of peace between France and England re- moved all hopes of French aid. Pontiac. thorough- ly discouraged, thereupon raised the siege of De- troit. In ITtU Bouquet led a second expedition into Ohio, which compelled the trilx's to submis- sion, and on August 17. 1705, Pontiac himself entered into a formal treaty of peace at Detroit, which he contirmed at Oswego with Sir William Johnson the following year. He was murdered at Cahokia, 111., in 17l'.;i, by an Illinois Indian, who seems to have been bribed by an English trader. In revenge the northern tribes made concerted war upon the Illinois tribes, and within a few years virtually exterminated them. The "genius of Pontiac is shown by his capacity to mold the warriors of so many diverse tribes and languages into a working unit capable of striking a simultaneous and etiective blow across five hundred miles of wilderness, and afterwards by his maintaining a close siege of a fortitied gar- rison for five months. Consult Parkman, Cott- s/tiracy of Pontiac (Boston, 1851). PONTIAC. A city and the county-seat of Livingston County, lil., 92 miles southwest of Chicago: on the Vermilion River, and at the junction of the Wabash, the Chicago and Alton, and the Illinois Central railroads (Map: Illinois, D 3). It is the seat of the State Reformatory for juvenile offenders, with some 1400 inmates, and has fine public library and city hall build- ings and a park (Riverside). The commercial interests of the city are important, the sur- rounding region being a productive farming and stock-raising country, and possessing, extensive deposits of bituminous coal. The princii)al in- dustrial i)lants include shoe factories with a large outjiut and manufactories of candy, boxes, and hooks and eyes. The government is vested in a mayor, elected every two years, and a uni- cameral' council. Founded in 1820 by settlers from Ohio and Indiana, Pontiac was first in- corporated in 185(1. and in 1872 received a eity charter. Population, in 1890, 2784; in 1900, 4200. PONTIAC. A city and the county-seat of Oakland County, Mich., 26 miles northwest of Detroit, on the Clinton River and on the Grand Trunk, the Detroit, (irand Haven and Mil- waukee, and other railroads (Map: Michigan, K 6). It is situated in a picturesque lake re- gion, noted for its hunting and fishing. It is the seat of the Eastern Michigan Asylum for the Insane, with groimds occupying over .500 acres, and has a public high school library and a ladies' library, the latter possessing a fine new building. Pontiac carries on a large trade in wool, fruit, and farm produce, and is developing as an industrial centre, the manufactures including buggies and wagons, farm machines, gas and gasoline en- gines, foundry products, bicycles, pumps, flour, lumber products, knit goods, etc. The water- works are owned and operated by the municipal- ity. Named in honor of the famous Inilian chief, Pontiac was settled in 1818. and was chartered as a city in 1801 (having been incorporated as a vil lage'in 1837). Population, in 1890, 0200; in I9(X1, 9709. PONTIANAK, pon'te-a-niik'. The chief town of the Dutch possession of West Borneo, situated on the western coast of the island, right under the equator (Map: East Indies, C 4). It is one of the principal ports of Borneo and the seat of a Dutch resident. Its population is estimated at 9000. PONTIANXJS, pon'shl-il'nus. Saint. Pope. 230-235. He took part in the controversy be- tween Origen Iq.v.) and Demetrius, favoring the latter. The greater part of his pontificate fell inuler the reign of Alexander Severus. who was well disposed toward the Christians, but a new persecution broke out on the accession of Maxi- min. and Pontianus was banished to Sardinia, where he dic<l from harsh treatment. PONTICELLO, pr>n'te-chel'16 (It., little bridge). In music, the bridge of a bow instru- ment. Hul ponticello is the direction given to violinists to play with the bow near the bridge, which produces a hard, shiirp tone. The oppo- site of sill ijoiificrllu is JhiKtando. which calls for a clear, sweet llutc-like tone produced by drawing the bow across the string at some distance from the bridge. PONTIFEX (Lat., probably from poiis, bridse — fdwrc. to make). The title borne by the "members of one of the four great priestly- colleges among the Ronuins. The other three were the colleyia aufiuruin (see Augubies), XV. rirorum sacris faciundis, and VII. inrorum epulo- num. The last two were of younger origin, as the former (at first of two, then ten. and after Sulla of fifteen members) was instituted to have charge of the Sibylline books and the oversight of the foreign cults, classed as (Ira-cus ritiis. while the latter (of three, seven, and ten members) relieved the pontifices of their dutie* in connection with the sacrificial banquets of the Roman and plebeian games. The coUefiium poii- tificum in its widest and technical meaning in- cluded several elements. Besides the rex sacra- niiii. who had succeeded to the priestly duties of the King, the flamines (see Flamexs), and the six vestal virgins, there were the pontifices, properly so called, whose number increased from three to six, nine, fifteen and sixteen. At their head was the pontifcx maximiis. This college was the guardian of all the ceremonial attend- ing the worship of the ancient Roman gods {pa- trius ritus). It had charge of the calendar; its members alone possessed the prayers and rites needed for the proper performance of religions ceremonies: they were consulted as to the neces- sary rites which the appearance of prodigies might require from the State or individuals, and bv their replies established a large body of law affecting religious observances and duties, based upon the mass of precedent with which they were familiar. From their number the pontifex maximus was elected, after B.C. 212 and perhaps earlier, by an assembly of seventeen tribes chosen by lot. He was, as it "were, the legal embodiment
