OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Pampa, La

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PAMPA, LA, a territory of the southern pampa region of Argentina, bounded N. by Mendoza, San Luis and Cordoba, E. by Buenos Aires, S. by the territory of Rio Negro, from which it is separated by the river Colorado, and W. by Mendoza. Pop. (1904, official estimate), 52,150. It belongs geographically to the southern part of the great Argentine pampas, from which its name is derived, but in reality only a part of its surface belongs to the plain region. The western and southern part (perhaps the larger) is much broken by hills, swamps and sandy wastes, with occasional stretches of wooded country. The western half is crossed by a broad depression, extending from Mendoza south-east to an intersection with the valley of the Colorado, which was once the outlet of the closed drainage basin occupied by the provinces of Mendoza, San Juan and San Luis. This depression is partially filled with swamps and lakes, into which flow the rivers Atuel and Salado. An obscure continuation of these rivers, called the Chadi-leubu, flows south-east from the great swamps into the large lake of Urrelauquen, about 60 m. north of the Colorado. There are a great number of lakes in La Pampa, especially in the south-east. The eastern half is described as fertile and well adapted for grazing, although the rainfall is very light. Since the closing years of the 19th century there has been a large emigration of stock-raisers and agriculturists into La Pampa, and the territory has become an important producer of cattle and sheep, wheat, Indian corn, linseed, barley and alfalfa. The climate is excessively dry, and the temperature ranges from the severe frosts of winter to an extreme of 104° F. in summer. Strong, constant winds are characteristic of this region. Railways have been extended into the territory from Buenos Aires and Bahia Blanca, the latter being the nearest seaport. There is connexion also with the Transandine railway line on the north. The capital is General Acha (pop. about 2000 in 1905), and the only other places of importance are Santa Rosa de Toay and Victoríca, both small, uninteresting “camp” villages.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Hulda

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​HULDA, in Teutonic mythology, goddess of marriage. She was a beneficent deity, the patroness and guardian of all maidens (see Berchta).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Hugli (river)

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​HUGLI, or Hooghly, the most westerly and commercially the most important channel by which the Ganges enters the Bay of Bengal. It takes its distinctive name near the town of Santipur, about 120 m. from the sea. The stream now known as the Hugli represents three western deltaic distributaries of the Ganges—viz. (1) the Bhagirathi, (2) the Jalangi and (3) part of the Matabhanga. The Bhagirathi and Jalangi unite at Nadia, above the point of their junction with the lower waters of the Matabhanga, which has taken the name of the Churni before the point of junction and thrown out new distributaries of its own. These three western distributaries are known as the Nadia rivers, and are important, not only as great highways for internal traffic, but also as the headwaters of the Hugli. Like other deltaic distributaries, they are subject to sudden changes in their channels, and to constant silting up. The supervising and keeping open of the Nadia rivers, therefore, forms one of the great tasks of fluvial engineering in Bengal. Proceeding south from Santipur, with a twist to the east, the Hugli river divides Nadia from Hugli district, until it touches the district of the Twenty-Four Parganas. It then proceeds almost due south to Calcutta, next twists to the south-west and finally turns south, entering the Bay of Bengal in 21° 41′ N., 88° E.
In the 40 miles of its course above Calcutta, the channels of the Hugli are under no supervision, and the result is that they have silted up and shifted to such an extent as to be no longer navigable for sea-going ships. Yet it was upon this upper section that all the famous ports of Bengal lay in olden times. From Calcutta to the sea (about 80 m.) the river is a record of engineering improvement and success. A minute supervision, with steady dredging and constant readjustment of buoys, now renders it a safe waterway to Calcutta for ships of the largest tonnage. Much attention has also been paid to the port of Calcutta (q.v.).
The tide runs rapidly on the Hugli, and produces a remarkable example of the fluvial phenomenon known as a “bore.” This consists of the head-wave of the advancing tide, hemmed in where the ​estuary narrows suddenly into the river, and often exceeds 7 ft. in height. It is felt as high up as Calcutta, and frequently destroys small boats. The difference from the lowest point of low-water in the dry season to the highest point of high-water in the rains is reported to be 20 ft. 10 in. The greatest mean rise of tide, about 16 ft., takes place in March, April or May—with a declining range during the rainy season to a mean of 10 ft., and a minimum during freshets of 3 ft. 6 in.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Hugues, Clovis

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​HUGUES, CLOVIS (1851–1907), French poet and socialist, was born at Menerbes in Vaucluse on the 3rd of November 1851. He studied for the priesthood, but did not take orders. For some revolutionary articles in the local papers of Marseilles he was condemned in 1871 to three years’ imprisonment and a fine of 6000 francs. In 1877 he fought a duel in which he killed his adversary, a rival journalist. Elected deputy by Marseilles in the general elections of 1881, he was at that time the sole representative of the Socialist party in the chambers. He was re-elected in 1885, and in 1893 became one of the deputies for Paris, retaining his seat until 1906. He died on the 11th of June 1907.
His poems, novels and comedies are full of wit and exuberant vitality.
His principal works are: Poèmes de prison (1875), written during his detention, Soirs de bataille (1883); Jours de combat (1883); and Le Travail (1889); the novels, Madame Phaéton (1885) and Monsieur le gendarme (1891); and the dramas, Une étoile (1888) and Le sommeil de Danton (1888).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Huichol

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​HUICHOL (pronounced Veetchol—a corruption of the native name Vishalika or Virarika, doctors or healers), a tribe of Mexican Indians living in a mountainous region on the eastern side of the Chapalagana river, Jalisco. Huichol tradition assigns the south as their place of origin. Their name of “healers” is deserved, for about one-fourth of the men are Shamans. The Huichols are in much the same social condition as at the time of the Aztec empire. They were conquered by the Spaniards in 1722.
For full description of the people and their habits see Carl Lumholtz, Unknown Mexico (1903).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Hugo, Gustav von

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​HUGO, GUSTAV VON (1764–1844), German jurist, was born at Lörrach in Baden, on the 23rd of November 1764. From the gymnasium at Carlsruhe he passed in 1782 to the university of Göttingen, where he studied law for three years. Having received the appointment of tutor to the prince of Anhalt-Dessau, he took his doctor’s degree at the university of Halle in 1788. Recalled in this year to Göttingen as extraordinary professor of law, he became ordinary professor in 1792. In the preface to his Beiträge zur zivilistischen Bücherkenntnis der letzten vierzig Jahre (1828–1829) he gives a sketch of the condition of the civil law teaching at Göttingen at that time. The Roman Canon and German elements of the existing law were, without criticism or differentiation, welded into an ostensible whole for practical needs, with the result that it was difficult to say whether historical truth or practical ends were most prejudiced. One man handed on the inert mass to the next in the same condition as he had received it, new errors crept in, and even the best of teachers could not escape from the false method which had become traditional. These were the evils which Hugo set himself to combat, and he became the founder of that historical school of jurisprudence which was continued and further developed by Savigny. His magna opera are the Lehrbuch eines zivilistischen Kursus (7 vols., 1792–1821), in which his method is thoroughly worked out, and the Zivilistisches Magazin (6 vols., 1790–1837). He died at Göttingen on the 15th of September 1844.
For an account of his life see Eyssenhardt, Zur Erinnerung an Gustav Hugo (Berlin, 1845).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Huitzilopochtli

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​HUITZILOPOCHTLI, the supreme being in the religions of ancient Mexico, and as a specialized deity, the god of war. He was the mythic leader and chief divinity of the Aztecs, dominant tribe of the Nahua nation. As a humming-bird Huitzilopochtli was alleged to have led the Aztecs to a new home. E. B. Tylor (Primitive Culture, 4th ed., vol. ii. p. 307) calls him an “inextricable compound parthenogenetic deity”; and finds, in the fact that his chief festival (when his paste idol was shot through with an arrow, and afterwards eaten) was at the winter solstice, ground for believing that he was at first a nature-god, whose life and death were connected with the year’s. His idol was a huge block of basalt (still thought to be preserved in Mexico), on one side of which he is sculptured in hideous form, adorned with the feathers of the humming-bird. The ceremonies of his worship were of the most bloodthirsty character, and hundreds of human beings were murdered annually before his shrine, their limbs being eaten by his worshippers. When his temple was dedicated in 1486 it is traditionally reported that 70,000 people were killed. See Mexico.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Pietro Della Vigna

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​PIETRO DELLA VIGNA, or Pier Delle Vigne [Petrus de Vineas or de Vineis] (c. 1190–1249), chancellor and secretary to the emperor Frederick II, was born at Capua in humble circumstances. He studied law at Padua, and through his classical education, his ability to speak Latin and his poetic gifts, he gained the favour of Frederick II., who made him his secretary, and afterwards judex magnae curiae, councillor, governor of Apulia, prothonotary and chancellor. The emperor, “of whose heart he held the keys,” as Dante says, sent him to Rome in 1232 and 1237 to negotiate with the pope, to Padua in 1239 to induce the citizens to accept imperial protection, to England in 1234–1235 to arrange a marriage between Frederick and Isabella, sister of King Henry III. He proved a skilful and trustworthy diplomat, and he persistently defended the emperor against his traducers and against the pope’s menaces. But at the Council of Lyons, which had been summoned by Pope Innocent IV., Pietro della Vigna entrusted the defence of his master to the celebrated jurist Taddeo of Suessa, who failed to prevent his condemnation. Frederick, whose suspicions had been awakened by the slanders of the envious, had him imprisoned and blinded without giving him a chance to rebut his accusers. Unable to bear his disgrace, he committed suicide in his prison at Pisa in 1249. The exact date, place and manner of his death are, however, subject to controversy, and Flaminio del Borgo states that it occurred in the church of S. Andrea, at Pisa, in 1256. The tragic fate of this man gave rise to many legends. The Guelphic tradition accuses Pietro della Vigna, as well as the emperor and the court, of heresy, it was even stated, probably without any foundation, that they were the authors of the famous work, De tribus impostoribus, wherein Moses, Christ and Mahomet are blasphemed.
Pietro della Vigna was a man of great culture; he encouraged science and the fine arts, and contributed much to the welfare of Italy by wise legislative reforms. He was the author of some delicate verse in the vernacular tongue, of which two Canzoni and a sonnet are still extant. His letters, mostly written in the name of the emperor and published by Iselin (Epistolarum libri vi., 2 vols., Basel, 1740), contain much valuable information on the history and culture of the 13th century. A collection of the laws of Sicily, a Tractatus de potestate imperiali, and another treatise, “On Consolation,” in the style of Boethius, are also attributed to him.
See Huillard-Bréholles, Vie et correspondance de Pierre de la Vigne (Paris, 1864); Presta, Pier delle Vigne (Milan, 1880); Capasso and Ianelli, Pier dette Vigne (Caserta, 1882); also Frederick II.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Pigeon-shooting

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​PIGEON-SHOOTING, a form of sport consisting of shooting at live pigeons released from traps. The number of traps, which are six-sided boxes, falling flat open at The release of a spring, is usually five, these are arranged 5 yds. apart on the arc of a circle of which the shooter forms the centre. The distance (maximum) is 31 yds., handicapping being determined by shortening the distance. The five traps are each connected by wires with a case (“the puller”), a single string pulled by a man stationed at the side of the shooter works an arrangement of springs and cog-wheels in the “puller,” and lets fall one of the traps, it is impossible to know beforehand which trap will be released. At a fixed distance from the centre of the traps is a boundary within which the birds hit must fall if they are to count to the shooter. This line varies in distance in the various clubs, the National Gun Club boundary being 65 yds., that of the Monaco Club being only 20 yds. The charge of shot allowed must not exceed 1 oz. The best type of pigeon is the blue rock. From the start of the Hurlingham Club at Fulham in 1867 pigeon-shooting was a favourite sport there; it was, however, stopped in 1906. The principal pigeon shooting centre in England is now at the National Gun Club grounds at Hendon. The great international competitions and sweepstakes take place at Monaco. An artificial bird of clay, now more usually of a composition of pitch, is often substituted for the live pigeon. These clay birds are also sprung from traps. This sport originated in the United States, where, under the name of “ trap-shooting,” or inanimate bird shooting, it is extremely popular. At first the traps invented threw the birds with too great regularity of curve, now the traps throw the birds at different and unknown angles, and the skill required is great. In clay-bird shooting the traps usually number fifteen, and are out of sight of the shooter. The Inanimate Bird Shooting Association in England was started in 1893.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Pigault-Lebrun, Charles Antoine Guillaume

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​PIGAULT-LEBRUN (Pigault de L'Epinoy), CHARLES ANTOINE GUILLAUME (1753-1835), French novelist, was born at Calais (he is said to have traced his pedigree on the mother's side to Eustache de St Pierre) on the 8th of April 1753. His youth was stormy. He twice carried off young ladies of some position, and was in consequence twice imprisoned by lettre de cachet. The first, a Miss Crawford, the daughter of an English merchant whose office Pigault had entered, died almost immediately after her elopement; the second, Mlle de Salens, he married. He became a soldier in the Queen's Guards, then a very unsuccessful actor, and a teacher of French. At the breaking out of the great war he re-enlisted and fought at Valmy. He wrote more than twenty plays, and a large number of novels, the first of which appeared in 1787. In his old age he took to graver work, and executed an abridgement of French history in eight volumes, besides some other work. His Œuvres complètes were published in twenty volumes between 1822 and 1824, but much of his work is subsequent to this collection. He died on the 24th of July 1835. The style of Pigault's novels is insignificant, and their morality very far from severe. As almost the father of a kind of literature which later developed enormously, Pigault-Lebrun deserves a certain place in literary history. Among the most celebrated of his novels may be mentioned L'Enfant du Carnaval (1792) and Angelique et Jeanneton de la place Manbert (1799). His Citateur (2 vols., 1803), a collection of quotations against Christianity, was forbidden and yet several times reprinted.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Pig-sticking

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​PIG-STICKING, or Hog-Hunting, the chase of the wild boar, as a sport, on horseback with the spear. The chase on foot was common among ancient peoples, and in central Europe has lasted to the present day, although, on account of the introduction of fire-arms, the spear has gradually become an auxiliary weapon, used to give the coup de grâce to a wounded animal. The modern sport is the direct descendant of bear spearing which was popular in Bengal until the beginning of the 19th century, when the bears had become so scarce that wild pigs were substituted as the quarry. The weapon used by the Bengalese was a short, heavy, broad-bladed javelin. British officers introduced the spear or lance and this has become the recognized method of hunting wild pigs in India. The season for hunting in northern India, the present headquarters of the sport, is from February to July. The best horses should be quick and not too big. Two kinds of weapon are used. The long, or underhand, spear, weighing from two to three pounds, has a light, tough bamboo shaft, from seven to eight feet long, armed with a small steel head of varying shape. This spear is held in the hand about two-thirds the distance from the point, with the knuckles turned down and the thumb along the shaft. The short, or jobbing, spear is from six to six and a half feet long, and somewhat heavier than the longer weapon. It is grasped near the butt, with the thumb up. Although easier to handle in the jungle, it permits the nearer approach of the boar and is therefore more dangerous to man and mount.
Having arrived at the bush-grown or marshland haunt of the pigs, the quarry is “reared,” i.e. chased out of its cover, by a long line of beaters, usually under the command of a mounted shikari. Sometimes dogs and guns loaded with small shot are used to induce an animal to break cover. The mounted sportsmen, placed on the edge of the cover, attack the pig as soon as it appears, the honour of “first spear,” or “spear of honour,” i.e. the thrust that first draws blood, being much coveted. As a startled or angry wild boar is a fast runner and a desperate fighter the pig-sticker must possess a good eye, a steady hand, a firm seat, a cool head and a courageous heart. For these reasons the military authorities encourage the sport, which is for the most part carried on by the tent clubs of the larger Indian stations.
The following technical terms are used. “Frank,” a boar enclosure. “Jhow,” the tamarisk, a common coxer for boars. “Jink” (of the boar), to turn sharply to one side. “Nullah,” a dry water-course. “To pig,” to hunt the boar. “Pug,” the boar’s footprint. “Pugging,” tracking the boar. “Ride to hog,” to hunt the boar. “Rootings,” marks of the pig’s snout in the ground. “Sanglier” (or “singular”), a boar that has separated from the “sounder.” “Sounder,” a family of wild swine. “Squeaker,” a pig under three years. “Tusker,” a full grown boar.
Pig-Sticking or Hog-Hunting, by R. S. S. Baden Powell (London, 1889).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Pigalle, Jean Baptiste

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​PIGALLE, JEAN BAPTISTE (1714–1785), French sculptor, was born in Paris on the 26th of January 1714. He was the seventh child of a carpenter. Although he failed to obtain the grand prix, after a severe struggle he entered the Academy and became one of the most popular sculptors of his day. His earlier work, such as “Child with Cage” (model at Sèvres) and “Mercury Fastening his Sandals” (Berlin, and lead cast in Louvre), is less commonplace than that of his maturer years, but his nude statue of Voltaire, dated 1776 (Institut), and his tombs of Comte d'Harcourt (c. 1764) (Notre Dame) and of Marshal Saxe, completed in 1777 (Lutheran church, Strassburg), are good specimens of French sculpture in the 18th century. He died on the 28th of August 1785.
See P. Tarbé, Vie et œuv de Pigalle (1859); Suard, Éloge de Pigalle, Mélanges de littérature.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Pigeon Post

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​PIGEON POST. The use of homing pigeons to carry messages is as old as Solomon, and the ancient Greeks, to whom the art of training the birds came probably from the Persians, conveyed the names of Olympic victors to their various cities by this means. Before the electric telegraph this method of communication had a considerable vogue amongst stockbrokers and financiers. The Dutch government established a civil and military pigeon system in Java and Sumatra early in the 19th century, the birds being obtained from Bagdad. Details of the employment of pigeons during the siege of Paris in 1870–71 will be found in the article Post and Postal Service: France. This led to a revival in the training of pigeons for military purposes. Numerous private societies were established for keeping pigeons of this class in all important European countries; and, in time, various governments established systems of communication for military purposes by pigeon post. When the possibility of using the birds between military fortresses had been thoroughly tested attention was turned to their use for naval purposes, to send messages between coast stations and ships at sea. They are also found of great use by news agencies and private individuals. Governments have in several countries established lofts of their own. Laws have been passed making the destruction of such pigeons a serious offence; premiums to stimulate efficiency have been offered to private societies, and rewards given for destruction of birds of prey. Pigeons have been used by newspapers to report yacht races, and some yachts have actually been fitted with lofts. It has also been found of great importance to establish registration of all birds. In order to hinder the efficiency of the systems of foreign countries, difficulties have been placed in the way of the importation of their birds for training, and in a few cases falcons have been specially trained to interrupt the service in war-time, the Germans having set the example by employing hawks against the Paris pigeons in 1870–71. No satisfactory method of protecting the weaker birds seems to have been evolved, though the Chinese formerly provided their pigeons with whistles and bells to scare away birds of prey.
In view of the development of wireless telegraphy the modern tendency is to consider fortress warfare as the only sphere in which homing pigeons can be expected to render really valuable services. Consequently, the British Admiralty has discontinued its pigeon service, which had attained a high standard of efficiency, and other powers will no doubt follow the example. Nevertheless, large numbers of birds are, and will presumably continue to be, kept at the great inland fortresses of France, Germany and Russia.
See L. de Puy de Podio, Die Brieftaube in der Kriegskunst (Leipzig, 1872), Brinckmeier, Anzucht, Pflege, und Dressur der Brieftauben (Ilmenau, 1891).