Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/547

 SAIDA SAINFOIN 523 of the ocean. According to Sir Charles Lyell, the Sahara was under water between lat. 20 and 30 N. at one time during the glacial epoch, BO that there was water communication be- tween the southern part of the Mediterranean and that portion of the Atlantic ocean now bounded by the W. coast of Africa. A pro- ject has of late been advocated of reconverting the deeper part of the Sahel, an area of about 126,000 sq. m., into a sea, by cutting a canal from the Atlantic through the sand hills which form the western border. SAIDA (anc. Sidon or Zidori), a town of Sy- ria, in the pashalic of Acre, 24 m. S. S. W. of Beyrout, on the N. W. slope of a promon- tory projecting into the Mediterranean ; lat. 33 34' JST., Ion. 35 23' E. ; pop. about 6,000, principally Moslems and Greeks. It has sev- eral great khans or caravansaries. The harbor was tilled up by the emir Fakhr ed-Din in the 17th' century, and is now only accessible for boats. A ruinous old castle, supposed to have been built about the beginning of the Chris- tian era, occupies a large artificial rock or mole at the mouth of the harbor, and is connected with the city by a bridge of nine arches. The chief trade of the town is in silk. The en- virons are famous for their fruit. The ruins of ancient Sidon are about 2 m. inland. On Jan. 20, 1855, a sarcophagus, now in the Lou- vre, was discovered among these ruins, with a Phoenician inscription 22 lines in length, in- dicating that it had been the resting place of Eshmunazar, king of the Sidonians, of uncer- Saida. tain date. About the same time several pots of gold coin, of the age of Alexander the Great, were disentombed here ; the whole amount was of the value of about $40,000. The ancient necropolis was excavated in 1860 by the French expedition under M. Eenan. Saida was bom- barded and taken by the allied Turkish, Aus- trian, and English fleets in 1840. (See SIDON.) SAID PASHA, viceroy of Egypt. See EGYPT, vol. vi., p. 467. SAIGON, or Salgan, a city of Further India, capital of French Cochin China, on the river Saigon, 35 m. from its mouth ; pop. estimated at from 60,000 to 120,000. It consists of two separate towns connected by a navigable river and a road 2 m. long. The citadel was begun by a French engineer in 1790, and now in- cludes barracks, officers' quarters, and a gov- ernor's residence. There are a large naval yard, an arsenal, two pagodas, and extensive rice magazines. The river Mekong commu- nicates with the Saigon by a canal. The city is an important seat of commerce, exporting rice, cinnamon, and valuable woods, and is a convenient station for commercial and postal steam lines. Saigon formerly belonged to Anam. It was captured and occupied by the French under Admiral Eigault de Genouilly, Feb. 17, 1859, and it became French territory by treaty, June 5, 1862. SAIL. See SHIP. SAILING. See NAVIGATION. SAIMIRI. See MONKEY. SAINFOIN (Fr., wholesome hay), a fodder plant (onobrychis sativa) of the order legumi- nosce, growing spontaneously in the limestone districts of England, middle and southern Eu- rope, and Asia. Its roots are perennial, and are capable of penetrating to a great depth; its stems recumbent or nearly upright, 2 or 3 ft. long; its smooth pinnate leaves consist o/ 9 to 15 opposite and acute leaflets; the flow- er stalks are axillary, longer than the leaves, terminated in July by spikes of pink flowers, which are followed by small, flat, hard, one- seeded pods, having raised veins and often prickly on the edges. The plant has been cul- tivated since very early times, its botanical