Crossword-Solution: PONTES 6 letters, 1 clue 🏆 scrabble score: 8

The College of Pontiffs was so called because one of the duties of its members was to keep in repair the bridges (_pontes_) over which the religious processions were accustomed to pass.

Win remembered what else he had heard of that rumored engagement, not much to be sure, save that strong pressure was being put upon the last of the Santo-Pontes in order to secure the estates and title of a great Roman house to the church of his ancestors.

The part of that chain containing the sources of the Orinoco has not yet been explored; but its prolongation more to the east, between the meridian of the military post of Guirior and the Rupunuri, a tributary of the Essequibo, is known to me through the travels of the Spaniards Antonio Santos and Nicolas Rodriguez, and also by the geodesic labours of two Portuguese, Pontes and Almeida.

The antechamber leads to the several gaming rooms, furnished with tables, round which are seated the individuals playing, called _pontes_ (punters), each of whom is furnished with a card and a pin to mark the _rouge_ and _noir_, or the number, in order to regulate his game.

Some say this was because he was the _fax_ (maker) of _pontes_ (bridges), as he blessed them and decided by omens where they should be; but others think the word was Pompifex, and that he was the maker of pomps or ceremonies.