Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/177

Rh S A I S A I 159 trees. In 1880 the total population of the city was 2293, but in winter northern visitors swell the number to 7000 or 8000. Menendez de Aviles arrived off the coast of Florida on 28th August (St Augustine's day) 1565, and accordingly he gave the name of that saint to the city which he shortly afterwards founded. His first act was to attack the French settlement on St John's river, and two years later the French retaliated on St Augustine (see FLORIDA, vol. ix. 340, and RIBAULT). In 1586 Drake attacked and plundered the town, and throughout the 17th century it frequently suffered from the raids of Indians, pirates, and the English settlers of South Carolina and Georgia. Occupied by the British from 1763 to 1783, it ultimately passed to the United States in 1821. During the Civil War it changed hands three times. ST BARTHOLOMEW, or ST BARTHELEMY, a French island of the West Indies, in the archipelago of the Antilles, is situated in 17 55' 35" N. lat. and 63 60' 15" W. long., 108 miles north-north-west of Guadaloupe, of which, poli- tically, it is a dependency. In form it is very irregular and the surface is mountainous. The soil, in spite of a scarcity of moisture, is not unfertile ; and in some of the valleys the growing of vegetables is an important industry. Bananas, cassia, tamarinds, and sassafras are exported. In modern times zinc and lead ores have been found in the island, but they are not worked. Rocks and shallows make St Bartholomew difficult of access, and its port (Le Carenage), though safe during the greater part of the year, is capable of receiving only the larger class of coasting vessels. The chief town is Gustavia, near the port. The population was 2942 in 1883. St Bartholomew, occupied by the French in 1648, was ceded to Sweden in 1784 ; but it was restored to France by the treaty signed at Paris, August 1877, with the full approval of the inhabitants, who had remained French in language and manners. Universal suffrage was introduced in 1830 and slavery abolished in 1848. ST BRIETJC, a town of France, chef-lieu of the depart- ment of Cotes du Nord, 295 miles west of Paris by the railway from Brest, at the junction of a branch to Vannes by Pontivy. It stands 290 feet above the sea, between 1 and 2 miles from the English Channel, where Le"gu6, on the left bank of the Gouet, serves as its seaport. About 600 vessels, with an aggregate of 27,600 tons, enter or clear per annum ; the local shipowners take part especi- ally in the Newfoundland and Iceland fisheries. St Brieuc is an old town with a considerable number of curious houses. The principal articles of trade are grain, flax, hemp, vegetables, honey, cider, butter, and eggs, which are despatched to England, and fish and game, which are sent in considerable quantities to Paris. At the fairs in bygone days the Breton women sold their hair for trifling sums. Nurseries of some size exist at St Brieuc, and in the neigh- bourhood are quarries of blue granite, giving employment to 300 workmen. St Brieuc is the seat of a bishopric in the province of Rennes, and has a cathedral dating from the 13th century, but partially rebuilt in the 18th, and extensively restored recently. The tombs of the bishops, the modern but delicately carved organ-loft, the tapestries, and the stained-glass windows deserve mention. The old monastery of the Capuchins is occupied by the civil hos- pital. The monastery of the Cordeliers contains the lyce"e, a library of 30,000 volumes, and a museum of archaeology and natural history, and the convent of the Ursulines has been turned into barracks. The episcopal palace, the pre- fecture, and the town-house were formerly private mansions, a class of old buildings which is steadily being reduced in number by the opening of new streets. A colossal image of the Virgin looks down upon the town, and the Dugues- clin boulevard, on the site of the ramparts, has a statue of that hero. The population in 1881 was 14,869 (com- mune 17,833). St Brieuc owes its origin and its name to the missionary St Briocus, who came from Wales in the 5th century, and whose tomb afterwards attracted crowds of pilgrims. The place was defended in 1375 by Olivier de Clisson against the duke of Brittany, and again attacked by the same Clisson in 1394, the cathedral suffering greatly in both sieges. In 1592 the town was pillaged by the Spaniards, in 1601 ravaged by the plague, and in 1628 surrounded by walls, of which no traces remain. Between 1602 and 1708 the states of Brittany several times met at St Brieuc, and during the Reign of Terror Chouans and Blues carried on a ruthless conflict with each other. ST _ CATHARINES, a city and port of entry of Ontario, Canada, and the capital of Lincoln county, is situated 12 miles north-west of Niagara Falls and 35 south of Toronto (by water), on the Welland Canal and the Grand Trunk and Welland branch of the Grand Trunk Railway. It is celebrated for its artesian mineral wells, and contains a convent and a marine hospital. The manu- facture of flour has long been a staple industry, and the abundant water-power is also utilized in cotton -mills, machine-shops, agricultural implement works, &c. In- corporated as a town in 1845, St Catharines had in 1861 a population of 6284, in 1871 of 7864, and in 1881 of 9631. A city charter was granted in 1875. ST CHAMOND, a manufacturing town of France, in the department of Loire, 1 miles east-north-east of St Etienne, at the confluence of the Janon with the Gier (an affluent of the Rhone), and on the railway from St Etienne to Lyons. Besides working a considerable number of coal-mines, St Chamond employs twelve mills in the silk manufacture, and from 12,000 to 15,000 looms (mostly driven by hydraulic machinery) in lace-making, and has a variety of other manufactures. The population was 1 4, 1 49 in 1881. St Chamond, founded in the 7th century by St Ennemond or Chamond, archbishop of Lyons, .became the chief town of the Jarret, a little principality formed by the valley of the Gier. Silk- milling was introduced in the town in the middle of the 16th cen- tury by Gayotti, a native of Bologna, and perfected towards the beginning of the 19th by Richard Chambovet. Remains are found at St diamond of a Roman aqueduct, which conveyed the waters of the Janon along the valley of the Gier to Lyons. ST CHARLES, a city of the United States, the county seat of St Charles county, Missouri, is situated on the left or north bank of the Missouri 20 miles from its mouth, and 23 from St Louis by the St Louis and Omaha line of the Wabash, St Louis, and Pacific Railway, which crosses the river by a great iron bridge 6535 feet long, erected in 1871 at a cost of 81,750,000. Besides one of the largest car-factories in the United States, the industrial establishments of St Charles comprise tobacco- factories, flour -mills, hominy -mills, creameries, woollen- factories, and breweries. St Charles College (Methodist Episcopal), chartered in 1838, the Lindenwood Female College (Presbyterian), the Convent of the Sacred Heart, and the Roman Catholic public library are the principal institutions. In 1850 the inhabitants numbered only 1498 ; by 1870 they were 5570, and in 1880 5014 (in the township 8417). A Spanish post was established at St Charles in 1769. As a town it dates from 1809 and as a city from 1849. The first State legislature of Missouri met in the town in 1821 and St Charles continued to be the State capital till 1826. ST CHRISTOPHER, or ST KITTS, one of the Leeward Islands, West Indies, situated in 17 18' N. lat. and 62 48' W. long. Its length is 23 miles, its greatest breadth 5 miles, and the total area 68 square miles. Mountains traverse the central part from south-east to north-west, the greatest height, Mount Misery, being about 4100 feet above sea-level. On the seaboard is Basseterre, the capital, the outlet of a fertile plain, which contains the cultivated land. The thermometer ranges from 78 to 84 Fahr. St Christopher is united with NEVIS (q.v.) as one colony, with one executive and one legislative council (official and nominated) for the united presidency. In 1883 the revenue and expenditure were 34,000 and 33,000 respectively,