Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 08.djvu/234

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ST. GERMAIN-EN-LAYE 190 SAINT-HILAIRE tine monastery near Paris. Its church (1001-1163) ranks as the oldest in that city. ST. GERMAIN-EN-LAYE. See Ger- main-en Laye, St. ST. GOAR, a fortified town of Prussia, 15 miles from Coblentz. It is on the W. bank of the Rhine, under the stupendous rock and castle of Rheinfels, with which it surrendered to the French in 1794. On the opposite side of the river is the smaller town of St. Goarshausen, and on a mountain near it is the strong castle called Katz. St. Goar has a considerable trade in wines and hides. At the end of the World War American troops occupied the town in accordance with the armistice terms. ST. GOTTHARD, a mountain knot of the Alps, in the Swiss cantons of Uri, Grisons, Ticino, and Valais, 9,850 feet high. In its arms it holds the sources of the Rhine, Rhone, Ticino, Reuss rivers, and so sends the water from its melted snows to the German Ocean, the Mediter- ranean, and the Adriatic. On its shoul- der it bears one of the most celebrated of the Alpine passes from Switzerland to Italy. The road that crosses this pass (6,936 feet) leads from the shores of Lakj Lucerno to the shores of Lago Maggiore. This route was first used by the Longo- bardi in the 6th century. Since 1882, a railway has climbed up the lower slopes of the St. Gotthard, and then burrowed through it in a tunnel. The making of this tunnel was begun in 1872 and fin- ished in 1880; it extends from Goschenen (at a height of 3,639 feet) in Uri to Airo- lo (3,757 feet) in Ticino, measures 9% miles in length, is 26 feet wide, and 21 high, rises with a gradient that reaches on an average 26 in 100 feet, and cost $11,350,000 to make. The total cost of the St. Gotthard railway was $45,400,000. The line has proved very successful finan- cially. ST. GREGORY. See Gregory, St. ST. HELENA, a lonely island in the Atlantic, 1,200 miles from the W. coast of Africa; length, 10 miles; width, 8 miles; area, 47 square miles. Pop. about 3,750. It is part of an old volcano and reaches 2,823 feet in High Hill. Its shores are perpendicular cliffs 600 to 2,000 feet high, and are in many places cleft by deep, nar- row valleys. The climate is pretty con- stant and generally healthy. Whale-fish- ing and the growing of potatoes are the principal occupations of the inhabitants. Previous to the cutting of the Suez Canal St. Helena was a favorite port of call for vessels bound to and from India by the Cape of Good Hope, and the inhabitants did a large trade in furnishing these ves- sels with provisions and other supplies. But the shorter route afforded by the canal and the Red Sea has entirely de- stroyed this trade, and the island is speed' ily going from bad to worse. At James- town, the capital, a detachment of Royal Marines is stationed. St. Helena was dis- covered by the Portuguese in 1502, and taken possession of by the British East India Company in 1651. They remained masters of the island down to 1834 ; since that time it has been administered by a governor and an executive council of four members. The island is chiefly celebrated as the place of Napoleon Bonaparte's im- prisonment from 1815 to his death in 1821. His home was the farmhouse of Longwood, 3 miles inland from James- town; and the spot where he was first buried lies about 1 mile to the S. W. ST. HELENS, a town of Lancashire, England, on the Sankey brook; 14 miles E. N. E. of Liverpool and 21 W. by S. of Manchester. Thanks to its railway and canal facilities, and to the immedi- ate neighborhood of coal, it has grown from a small village to an important in- dustrial center, and now is the great seat of the manufacture of crown, plate, and sheet glass, and also possesses extensive alkali, copper smelting, and iron works. It was constituted a municipal borough in 1868; a parliamentary borough in 1885; and a county borough in 1888. The handsome town hall, with a public li- brary, was opened in 1876. Pop. (1919) 105,009. ST. HELEN'S MOUNTAIN, a volcanic peak of the Cascade range, at the N. W. angle of Skamania co., Wash.; height, about 13,400 feet. ST. HELIER, the capital of the island of Jersey; on the S. shore of the island, and the E. side of St. Aubin's Bay. It is defended by Elizabeth Castle (1551- 1586), on a rocky island off the shore, approached by a causeway at low water; and by Fort Regent, on the S. E. side of the town; built in 1806-1815 on a scarped granite rock, at a cost of $5,000,000. Vic- toria college (1852) is a handsome edi- fice; and one may also notice the court house (1647), the public library (1736), a gilt statue of George II. (1751), and the harbor, forming an outer and inner basin. An active trade is carried on with England, France, and India. Pop. about 30,000. See Jersey. SAINT-HILAIRE, AUGTJSTIN FRANCOIS CESAR PROUVENCAL DE, called 'Auguste de Saint-Hilaire, a French botanist; born in Orleans, France, Oct. 4, 1799; wrote: "Flora of Southern