PALMETTO. One of the palm tribe, from the sheath of which sennit is worked for seamen's (straw) hats.
PALM-WINE. A sub-acid and pleasant fermented tropical drink. (See [Toddy].)
PAMBAN MANCHE, or Snake-boat of Cochin. A canoe used on the numerous rivers and back-waters, from 30 to 60 feet long, and cut out of the solid tree. The largest are paddled by about twenty men, double-banked, and, when pressed, they will go as much as 12 miles an hour.
PAMPAS. The Savannah plains of South America, so extensive that, as Humboldt observes, whilst their northern extremity is bounded by palm-trees, their southern limits are the eternal snows of the Magellanic straits.
PAMPERO. A violent squall of wind from the S.W., attended with rain, thunder, and lightning, over the immense plains or pampas of the Rio de la Plata, where it rages like a hurricane.
PAN. In fire-arms, is a small iron cavity of the old flint lock, adjacent to the touch-hole of the barrel, to contain the priming powder.
PANCAKES. Thin floating rounded spots of snow ice, in the Arctic seas, and reckoned the first indication of the approach of winter, in August.
PANDEL. A Kentish name for the shrimp.
PANDOOR. A northern name for a large oyster, usually taken at the entrance of the pans.
PANGAIA. A country vessel of East Africa, like a barge, with one mat-sail of cocoa-nut leaves, the planks being pinned with wooden pins, and sewed with twine.