desert from the Nile basin to the undefined Spanish boundary on the west. It has not yet been brought under French administrative schemes. See Barth's Travels in North and Central Africa.
Saigon (sī-gōn′), capital of French Cochin-China, stands on Saigon River, 60 miles from the sea. The present town has grown up since 1861, and is one of the handsomest cities of the east. The governor's palace, cathedral and arsenal are among its fine buildings. Chinese, Anamese and French make up the bulk of the population of 50,870, the suburb of Cholon, really a part of the city, having 130,000 inhabitants. Saigon is the chief port between Singapore and Hong-Kong. There is a railroad from Saigon to Mytho. The main export is rice. See Cochin-China.
Sail. Sails are generally made of flax and hemp, but jute, cotton and linen are also used, while savages make them of matting and vegetable fibers. Sails are stretched by means of masts, yards, booms, gaffs and ropes. A vessel of shallow draught or of narrow beam can bear little sail, while a vessel of deep draught and heavily ballasted, as a yacht, or a vessel of great breadth of beam can carry large sail. A sail acts with greatest power when the wind is right astern, but it can be applied with less strength when on either beam. In the latter case the force of the wind is divided into two parts, one part tending to make the ship go forward, the other tending to make it go sideways, but from the shape of the vessel this second force causes little motion; any that it does cause is called leeway. The sails which are set square across the ship are nearly square in shape, and are called square sails. But many which are set parallel with the keel, called fore-and-aft sails, are also four-sided. Others are three-sided, as stay-sails, which are suspended from the ropes which stay the masts. The larger sailing-vessels usually carry both fore-and-aft and square sails. The schooner has mainly fore-and-aft sails. The brig is mainly square-rigged, and the brigantine is a cross between the brig and the schooner. The cutter is a fore-and-aft one-master. The ordinary sails are mentioned under Yacht.
St. Albans (a̤l′banz), a town of Hertfordshire, England, famous for its Benedictine abbey, which was founded by Offa, king of Mercia, in 793. Cardinal Wolsey was its greatest abbot. It contains the tomb of Sir John Mandeville, the early traveler. In St. Michael's church is Lord Bacon's monument. Here were fought two battles during the War of the Roses. Population 16,109.
St. An′drews, a Scottish town, stands on St. Andrew's Bay, 42 miles northeast of Edinburgh. St. Rule's tower; the bishop's castle, noted for its battle-dungeon and within whose walls Cardinal Beaton was slain; and the cathedral consecrated in the presence of Robert Bruce are among the interesting buildings. The schools of St. Andrews were well-known in 1120, but the university, the first in Scotland, was not founded till 1411. It is one of the smaller British universities, but is doing much for the higher education of women. The library has over 100,000 volumes, and there is a good museum. Population 7,621.
St. Augustine (a̤′gŭs-tēn), Fla., an old Spanish town on the eastern coast, stands on Matanzas Sound, two miles from the Atlantic and 37 southeast of Jacksonville. It was founded by Menendez, who built a fort here in 1565, and is the oldest town in the United States. It was several times attacked by the French, English and Indians. A sea-wall, a mile long, affords a fine promenade. The postoffice once was the residence of the Spanish governor, and the large barracks occupy an old Franciscan monastery. The old fortress of San Marco, now Fort Marion, was built by Indian slaves, who worked on it for more than a century. Besides its quaint Spanish lanes and balconied buildings, crumbling gates and magnolias, palms and oleanders, it has the most costly and magnificent hotels in the world. Two of these, the Ponce de Leon and the Alcazar, are massively built of shell-concrete, with towers, casinos and courtyards; a third is Hotel Cordova. Attractive drives, yachting and, above all, the climate bring thousands of northern visitors. Population 5,494
St. Ber′nard Dog. See Dog.
St. Bernard (sắnt bĕr′nȧrd), the name of two passes in the Alps. Great St. Bernard is 8,120 feet high. Almost on its crest stands the celebrated hospice founded in 962 by Bernard de Menthon, a neighboring nobleman, for the benefit of pilgrims journeying to Rome. It is the loftiest inhabited place in Europe. Now a telephone tells the monks when travelers are on their way up the mountain. These dozen monks, all young and strong, with the aid of large dogs — no longer the famous St. Bernard dogs, but Newfoundlands — rescue travelers who are in danger of perishing from the snow and cold. There is a botanical garden for Alpine plants on the northern slope of the pass. It was over this pass that Napoleon marched his army. Little St. Bernard is the pass used by Hannibal when he led his troops into Italy. It also has a hospice, 7,143 feet high.
St. Cath′erines, Can., on Welland Canal which connects Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. It is on the main line of the Grand Trunk Railway from Toronto to Niagara Falls. It takes water-power from the canal and has many and varied important industries. It is the center of a very rich fruit-country. It has railway communication from Port Dalhousie on Lake Ontario, which is only six miles distant. Comfortable passenger-
