Portland has obtained the sobriquet of the “Forest City.” A large number of the houses are built of brick. Congress street, the principal thoroughfare, runs along the whole ridge of the peninsula, from the western promenade, which looks down over the suburbs from Bramhall’s Hill to the eastern promenade, which commands the bay; it passes Lincoln Park (2⅜ acres) and the eastern cemetery, which contains the graves of Commodore Preble and Captains Burroughs and Blythe, of Revolutionary fame. On Bramhall’s Hill is the reservoir (12,000,000 gallons) of the water company, which was established in 1867 to supply the city from Lake Sebago, whose beautiful expanse (14 miles long by 11 wide) was the favourite haunt of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s boyhood. The more conspicuous buildings of Portland are the city hall (1859), with a front in olivecoloured freestone, 150 feet long; the post-office (1872), constructed of Vermont white marble in the mediaeval Italian style; the custom-house (1872), in granite, with rich marble ornamentation in the interior; the marine hospital (1855), a large brick erection; the Maine general hospital, 1868; the Roman Catholic cathedral; the Roman Catholic episcopal palace; and several fine churches. The Portland Society of Natural History, established in 1843 and incorporated in 1850, though it has twice lost its property by fire (1854 and 1866), has again acquired very valuable collections. The Portland institute and public library, dating from 1867, had 30,000 volumes in 1884. A medical school was founded in 1858. Portland is in the main a commercial city, with an extensive transit trade, drawing largely from Canada and the Far West. Connected with Boston by rail in 1842, and with Montreal in 1853, it has now become a terminus of six different railroads; and, since the gauge of the Grand Trunk Railroad was altered, it can import direct from San Francisco. As the harbour (which lies along the south side of the city) is seldom closed by ice, it has been long used as the winter port for the great ocean steamers between Great Britain (Liverpool and Glasgow) and Canada, which in summer ascend the St Lawrence to Montreal and Quebec. At low water vessels drawing 22 feet and at high water vessels drawing 30 feet can come up to the wharves with [table]

safety in any season; and there is secure anchorage within a mile of the shore. The dry dock is one of the deepest in the United States. The following figures show the extent of the foreign trade :—·

Among the staple imports are wood, coal, potatoes (from Europe), salt, sugar and molasses, fish, earthenware, and textile manufactures; and among the staple exports to foreign countries fresh and preserved provisions of all kinds, grain, hay, cattle, wood, copper ore, tallow, shoes, potash, cotton, lumber (mainly to South America), and ice. In 1870 the total receipts of grain amounted to 1,516,875 bushels, in 1875 to 2,152,829, in 1878 to 4,492,952, and in 1883 to 4,964,158 bushels, or, adding flour, 7,543,873 bushels. The number of entrances from foreign ports in 1883 was 338 (164,711 tons), clearances for foreign ports 501 (226,420 tons); entrances in the coasting trade 479 (403,166 tons), and clearances 389 (394,500 tons). In the same year the Portland-owned vessels numbered 368 (105,642 tons); and 116 were employed in the mackerel and cod fisheries. Fish-curing (cod, mackerel, and sardines), preserving meat, Indian corn, and other kinds of provisions, boot and shoe making, furniture-making, carriage-building, machinery-making, engine-building, and sugar-refining are all prosecuted on a considerable scale for the size of the town; and a large number of minor industries are also represented. In 1884 there were six national banks, with an aggregate capital of $3,250,000, and two savings banks, with deposits of $8,966,879. In 1880 the capital invested in manufactur ing was $4,659,375, the value of the annual production $9,569,523, and the amount of wages paid $1,547,375. Portland is divided into seven wards, and is governed by a mayor, a board of aidermen, and a common council. It is the seat of the sessions of the United States courts for the district of Maine. The assessed value of property was $30,723,936 in 1874, and $33,030,020 in 1883. The population was 3704 in 1800, 20,815 in 1850, 31,413 in 1870, and 33,810 in 1880. If the adjoining villages be included, the total is raised to between 45,000 and 50,000.

The name of Portland as applied to this city dates only from 1786; the Indians knew the place as Machigonne. The first European settlers (1632) called it Casco Neck, and after it passed to Massachusetts in 1658 it was denominated Falmouth. During the rest of the 17th century and the early years of the 18th hostilities on the part of the French and the Indians prevented the growth of the town, which by 1764, however, had increased to about 2000 inhabitants. In 1775 it was bombarded by four British vessels under Captain Mowatt, but it was rebuilt in 1783, and formally incorporated in 1786. A city charter was obtained in 1832. The great fire of 1866 swept over a third of the city and caused a loss of from $6,000,000 to $10,000,000. Portland is the birthplace of Henry W. Longfellow, N. P. Willis, Sara P. Parton (“Fanny Fern”), Erastus and James Brooks, Commodore Preble, John Neal, and Neal Dow.

PORTLAND, the largest city of Oregon, in the United States, the capital of Multnomah county and the seat of the United States courts for Oregon, is situated at the head of ship navigation (river craft ascend 126 miles farther) on the west bank of the Willamette, 12 miles above its junction with the Columbia river and about 120 from the ocean. It is a well-built and rapidly-growing city, laid out on a piece of level ground gradually rising from the river bank, and enclosed on the west by a semicircle of fir-clad hills. Except in the business parts, the streets, which are remarkably well kept, are planted with maple trees; and a park about 200 feet broad runs through nearly the whole length of the city from north to south. Besides the schools, several of which are especially noteworthy, the public buildings comprise a county courthouse, a United States custom-house and post-office, three public halls, three theatres, and spacious markets. In 1883 no less than $4,039,100 were expended on building enterprises, $2,000,000 of this sum being for business and manufacturing establishments. Portland is the natural centre of the rapidly developing railway system of Oregon and the neighbouring Territories (see Oregon, vol. xvii. p. 824). It is the terminus of the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company’s system, which forms the connecting link with tide water of the Northern Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads, thus making Portland virtually the Pacific coast terminus of these two transcontinental lines. Vessels drawing from 19 to 21 feet of water can load at its wharves, and, though it is still dependent on San Francisco for a large proportion of its foreign supplies, it trades directly with Great Britain, China, the Sandwich Islands, the South-American republics, &c. Wheat, flour, tinned salmon, and lumber are the principal articles of export. In 1883 the value of the exports amounted to $10,984,963 and that of the imports to $27,668,787. The manufacturing establishments—foundries, saw-mills, breweries, soap-works, boot and shoe factories, &c.—had in 1883 an aggregate production valued at $11,423,000, or an increase on the production in 1880 of $8,521,000. The valuation of property for the purposes of taxation was $9,622,750 in 1877 and $19,397,750 in 1883. The population, which was only 2874 in 1860 and 8293 in 1870, had increased by 1880 to 17,577, or, including the suburban city of East Portland, 20,511; and it is estimated that the present (1884) total is about 40,000. A separate district is inhabited by the Chinese, who number several hundreds.

Portland was laid out in 1845, and became a city in 1851. In December 1872 it was visited by a destructive fire, and it had hardly recovered when, on 2d August 1873, a more disastrous conflagration destroyed about twenty blocks in one of the most crowded parts of the city, and caused a total loss of $1,345,400.

PORTLAND, Isle of, a small island or peninsula of England, in the English Channel, 4j miles south of Weymouth, Dorsetshire, connected with the mainland by a long narrow ridge of shingle called the Chesil Bank. There is communication with Weymouth both by rail and steamer. The island is 4 j miles long by 1∣ broad, the area being 2890 acres. The coast-line is wild and precipitous, and Portland is inaccessible from the sea on all sides except the south. The highest elevation is 490 feet. Numerous caverns have been excavated by the action of the waves, and off Portland Bill, the southern extremity of the island, is a bank called the Shambles, between which and the land there flows a dangerous current called the Race of Portland. The substratum of the island is Kimmeridge clay, above which rest beds of sands and strata of Oolitic limestone, widely famed as a building stone. The extensive quarries have supplied the materials for St Paul’s Cathedral and many other important public buildings in London and elsewhere, about 70,000 tons of stone being now exported annually. In the “dirt-bed” resting upon the Oolitic strata numerous specimens of petrified wood are found, some of them of great size. The soil, though shallow, is fertile, and mutton fed on the grass has a peculiarly rich flavour. Agriculture, fishing, and especially quarrying give employment to the inhabitants, who are tall and handsome, and retain some singular customs, among which may be mentioned that of conveying land by “church gift” (see Real Estate). By the construction of a breakwater 2 1 miles in length, the building of which occupied twenty-three years, from 1849 to 1872, a harbour of refuge 2100 acres in extent has been formed, affording a safe and convenient anchorage for a very large fleet of vessels. It is defended by two forts of great strength, mounted with heavy ordnance. A convict prison, erected on Portland in 1848, has cells for 1500 prisoners.

Portland Castle, built by Henry VIII. in 1520, is generally occupied by the commander of the engineers or of the regiment stationed on the island. On the east side of the island are the remains of a more ancient fortress, ascribed to William Rufus. The Isle of Portland is not mentioned in the time of the Romans. In 837 it was the scene of an action against the Danes, and in 1052 it was plundered by Earl Godwine. In 1643 the Parliamentary party made themselves masters of the island and castle, but shortly afterwards these were regained by the Royalists through a clever stratagem, and not recovered again by the forces of the Parliament till 1646. The island is under the government of a local board of health. The population in 1871 was 9907, and in 1881 it was 10,061, including 550 on board vessels, 861 in Verne Citadel barracks, and 1620 in the convict prison.

PORTLAND, William Bentinck, first Earl of (d. 1709), was descended from an ancient and noble family of Guelderland, and became page of honour to William, prince of Orange, from which he was advanced to be gentleman of the bedchamber. In this capacity he accompanied the prince to England in 1670, and along with him was created doctor of civil law by the university of Oxford. Afterwards he became a colonel in a Dutch regiment of guards. When the prince of Orange was attacked with smallpox he, in accordance with a suggestion of the physicians, volunteered to lie in bed with him, that the heat of his body might check and expel the disease. This remarkable act of self-sacrifice secured him throughout life the special friendship of the prince, and by his prudence and ability, no less than by his devotedness, he fully justified the confidence that was placed in him. In 1677 he was sent by the prince to England to solicit the hand of the princess Mary, eldest daughter of James, then duke of York. At the Revolution he was the chief medium of communication between the prince and the English nobility, and in the delicate negotiations his practical shrewdness greatly facilitated the arrival at a proper understanding. After superintending the arrangements in connexion with the prince’s expedition, he accompanied him to England, and was made groom of the stole, privy purse, first gentleman of the royal bedchamber, and first commissioner on the list of privy councillors. On 9th April 1689 he was created Baron Cirencester, Viscount Woodstock, and earl of Portland. With the rank of lieutenant-general he distinguished himself in command of the Dutch cavalry at the battle of the Boyne in 1690, and he was also present at the battle of Landen in 1693, and at the siege of Namur in 1695. Along with marshal de Bouflers he prepared the terms of the peace of Ryswick in 1697, and shortly afterwards was appointed ambassador-extraordinary to Paris. Notwithstanding his diplomatic skill, his grave and cold manner rendered him unpopular with the English nobility, and his brusque honesty caused him to be sometimes wanting in outward respect to the king. Gradually his influence at the court was supplanted by that of the earl of Albemarle, who was more skilled in the arts of popularity; and in 1700, notwithstanding the efforts of the king to soothe his wounded vanity, he resigned his offices and retired to his seat at Bulstrode, Bucks, where he occupied his leisure in gardening and in works of charity. For receiving grants of land in Ireland, and for his share in the partition treaty, he was impeached by parliament, but the prosecution did not succeed. He died 23d November 1709, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

PORTLAND, William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, third Duke of (1738-1809), prime minister of England, was the grandson of Henry, second earl and first duke of Portland, who was son of William, first earl. He was born 14th April 1738, and was educated at Oxford university, where he graduated Μ. A. in 1757. In 1761 he was elected to represent the borough of Weobly (Hereford) in parliament, but in May of the following year he was called to the Upper House on the death of his father. Under the marquis of Rockingham he was, from July 1765 to July 1766, lord chamberlain, and on the return of the marquis of Rockingham to power in 1782 he was made lord-lieutenant of Ireland. After the short ministry of Shelburne, succeeding the death of Rockingham, the duke of Portland was selected by Fox and North as a “convenient cipher” to become the head of the coalition ministry, to the formation of which the king was with great reluctance compelled to give his assent. The duke held the premiership from 5th April 1783 until the defeat of the Bill for “the just and efficient government of British India” caused his dismissal from office on 17th December. In 1792 he succeeded the earl of Guildford as chancellor of the university of Oxford. Under Pitt he was, from 1794 to 1801, secretary of state for the home department, after which he was, from 1801 to 1805, president of the council. In 1807 he was appointed a second time first lord of the treasury. Ill-health caused him to resign in September 1809, and he died 30th October following. He owed his political influence chiefly to his rank, his mild disposition, and his personal integrity, for his talents were in no sense brilliant, and he was deficient in practical energy as well as in intellectual grasp.