Pacific

(pa-sif'ik,) in Washington Ter., a S.W. co., washed by the Pacific Ocean, and drained by the Columbia river. Area, 800 sq. m. C. Pacific City. Pop. 738. Pacific Ocean, (The,) forms the largest expanse of water on the surface of the globe. It extends between Asia and Australia and America, from Behring's Strait -which divides it from the Arctic Ocean-through 132 deg. of lon. to the Antarctic Circle. Its maximum equatorial breadth, E. to W., is about 10,000 m. The equator divides it into the North and South Pacific Oceans, and it derived its name from its supposed exemption from violent storms. Its shape is very irregular, and depth unequal; the latter, however, has been only partially sounded. The P. O. became first known to Europe ans through Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, who first discovered it, Sept. 25, 1513; eight years later it was [s. 676]