PRÆCURSORIÆ. Ancient vessels which led or preceded the fleets.
PRÆDATORIÆ, or Prædaticæ. Long, swift, light ancient pirates.
PRAHU. [Malay for boat.] The larger war-vessels among the Malays, range from 55 to 156 feet in length, and carry 76 to 96 rowers, with about 40 to 60 fighting men. The guns range from 2 inches to 6 inches bore, are of brass, and mounted on stock-pieces, four to ten being the average. These boats are remarkable for their swiftness.
PRAIA [Sp. playa]. The beach or strand on Portuguese coasts.
PRAIRIE. The natural meadows or tracts of gently undulating, wonderfully fertile land, occupying so vast an extent of the great river-basins of North America.
PRAM, or Praam. A lighter used in Holland, and the ports of the Baltic, for loading and unloading merchant ships. Some were fitted by the French with heavy guns, for defending the smaller ports.
PRANKLE. A Channel term for the prawn.
PRATIQUE. A Mediterranean term, implying the license to trade and communicate with any place after having performed the required quarantine, or upon the production of a clean bill of health.
PRAWN. A marine crustacean larger than a shrimp, much esteemed as an article of food.
PRAYER-BOOK. A smaller hand-stone than that which sailors call "bible;" it is used to scrub in narrow crevices where a large holy-stone cannot be used. (See [Holy-stone].)