Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/794

 768 SENEGAMBIA SENNA ore is abundant in the elevated districts, and gold is found in large grains lower down. The climate is reputed to be the most continuously hot- of any in the world. The highest tem- perature is experienced in the vicinity of the Sahara, in the north, where the mercury some- times rises to 110 F. in the shade; on the coast the average is about 80. Throughout most of the country the rainy season lasts from June to December inclusive, and is char- acterized by tornadoes at midsummer, with thunder and lightning of tropical intensity. Much of the land is exceedingly fertile. In the forests are found the oil-producing palm and many valuable kinds of timber, gums, and caoutchouc ; cardamoms, ground nuts, and cas- sia are also obtained, and indigo grows wild. Wild coffee also is abundant on the banks of the Nufiez. Rice, maize, and millet are the chief grains cultivated. Hemp is extensively grown. All the domestic animals of Europe are found, in addition to which there are camels in the desert country of the Jaloofs. Large numbers of cattle are raised on the pas- ture lands of the terraces. Elephants are very numerous, and the hippopotamus is found in all the rivers. Buffalo, deer, a species of eland, antelopes, wild boars, hares, porcupines, lions, panthers, and hynenas are all natives of the country. Crocodiles are numerous, and the boa frequents the marshy grounds. The in- habitants consist of the aboriginal negro tribes, Moors, and the offspring of these two races, a people of middle size, of a light copper color, well made and active. Many of the women are remarkably handsome, and both sexes dress neatly. They are much more civilized than the black tribes, of which the lower type is found along the coast, while the Mandingoes, the Jaloofs, and others of this mixed descent dwell further inland, and live nnder regular governments, generally consisting of a king and hereditary nobility. They keep large num- bers of slaves. The Mohammedan religion pre- vails among them. There are about 20 native states in the country. The most important of these is the Foolah state of Foota Jallon, with its capital at Timbo, occupying an elevated pla- teau over 80 m. square, in the south, near the head waters of the Senegal. (See FOOTA JAL- LOX.) The kingdom of Bondoo and the terri- tory of Foota are described under their own titles, as is also the Mandingo country proper, which some include in Senegambia. Besides the trade carried on by the French, English, and Portuguese from their settlements upon the three rivers, which is mainly in palm oil, gum, hides, beeswax, ground nuts, and wild coffee, a considerable traffic exists between Senegambia and the countries lying further E. Much of the gold found in the elevated districts is carried to Timbuctoo, and thence finds its way to the countries N. of the Sahara. The Carthaginians visited this part of the coast of Africa, and the Portuguese reached it between 1444 and 1469. The latter nation formed several commercial establishments, but afterward neglected them when they discov- ered the route to India. The British acquired their possessions on the Gambia in 1631, and the French settled on the Senegal in 1637. SENIOR, Nassau William, an English political economist, born at Uffington, Berkshire, Sept. 26, 1790, died June 4, 1864. He graduated at Magdalen college, Oxford, in 1811, and was called to the bar in 1819. From 1825 to 1830, and again from 1847 to 1852, he was pro- fessor of political economy at Oxford. From 1836 to 1853 he was a master in chancery. His works are : " Introductory Lectures on Political Economy " (1826) ; " On Foreign Poor Laws and Laborers " (1840) ; "Treatise on Political Economy" (1850); u A Journal kept in Tur- key and Greece in 1857 and 1858" (1859); "American Slavery" (1862); "Biographical Sketches " (1864) ; " Essays on Fiction " (1864) ; "Historical and Philosophical Essays" (1865); "Journals, Conversations, and Essays relating to Ireland" (1868); "Journal kept in France and Italy in 1848-'52 " (1871) ; and " Corre- spondence and Conversations with Alexis de Tocqueville " (1872). (See POLITICAL ECONO- MY, vol. xiii., p. 672.) SENLIS (anc. Augutomagu), a town of France, in the department of Oise, near the forests of Chantilly and Ermenonville, 20 m. N. N. E. of Paris ; pop. in 1872, 6,085. The old town retains its feudal walls and 16 watch towers, and remains of a castle of the time of Louis XII., as well as vestiges of the Roman fortifications and other relics ; and remains of amphitheatres were discovered in 1865. The church of Notre Dame was originally a cathe- dral, ascribed to Charlemagne. Cotton, crino- line, and other articles are made. The town is conspicuous in the history of various French wars. A treaty was concluded here in 1493 between the future emperor Maximilian and Charles VIII. of France, which settled the Burgundian inheritance. SENNA (Arab, sene), a drug which consists of the dried leaves of several species of cassia, of the order leguminosce. In th.e most familiar plants of this family, as the pea, locust, lupin, and others, the corolla is papilionaceous, and the stamens are united to form a more or less complete tube. In the genus cassia and its allies, the corolla is of distinct and spread- ing petals, with distinct stamens. The cassias which furnish senna are bushy shrubs, 2 to 4 ft. high, with unequally pinnate leaves, the leaflets of which are unequal at the base and in four to eight pairs ; the yellow flowers are in erect axillary racemes, and the broad flattened pods contain six or more seeds. C. acutfolia, with ovate or lanceolate leaves, and C. angustifolia, with narrower and longer leaves, furnish most of the drug, which was in use as early as the 9th century, and still retains its popularity. The principal commercial varieties are the Alexandrian, produced by 0. acutifolia, and collected in various districts of Nubia; the