and Puget Sound, have acquired holdings almost equally large. The Burlington and the Canadian Pacific reach the city by traffic arrangements with existing transcontinental systems.
The water-plant is owned by the city, and water is supplied by Cedar River and Cedar Lake. From the fall of Cedar River power is obtained to operate the lighting-plant, which is also owned by the municipality. Seattle has a fine street-car system and all modern improvements. Excellent interurban lines radiate into surrounding territory and connect the city with Tacoma and Everett. Seattle was settled in 1852, laid out in 1853, and named in honor of a noted Indian chief. It incorporated in 1865 and re-incorporated in 1869. In 1880 it had a population of 3,533; in 1910 this had become 237,194.
Sea′weeds. See Algæ.
Sebastian (sḗ-băs′chan), St., a martyr of the early church, was a native of Narbonne. Under Diocletian he became a captain of the prætorian guard and secretly a Christian. It came to the ears of Diocletian that Sebastian encouraged those who were being led out to death for being Christians; so the emperor had his captain tied to a stake and shot by archers. But they did not wholly kill him; a pious woman named Irene took him away and tended his wounds. As soon as he recovered, Sebastian boldly faced the tyrant and upbraided him for his cruelty. Diocletian then ordered him to be beaten to death with rods (about 288 A. D.). His first martyrdom — a young and handsome soldier bristling with arrows — was a favorite subject for the Italian religious painters, as Mantegna, Veronese and Domenichino.
Sebastopol (sḗ-bȧs′tṓ-pṓl′), a Russian seaport and fortress, is near the southwestern end of the Crimea, on the southern side of one of the finest harbors in the world. The place is celebrated for its long siege by the French, Turks and English in the Crimean War of 1854-5. The town and harbor were defended by forts of immense strength, built of limestone faced with granite, on which artillery made little impression. On the land-side the earthworks and fortifications raised by General Todleben kept the armies of France and England at bay for 11 months. But the capture of the Malakoff and Redan works at length forced the Russians to evacuate the lines. The town was mined and the docks and forts blown up by the allies. The fortifications and docks have since been rebuilt. The imports are mainly cotton and coal; the exports, grain. The town was founded in 1783 under orders of Empress Catharine II. Population 53,595, including a garrison of 12,000. See Leo Tolstoi's Sebastopol.
Secord, Laura, a heroine of the war of 1812. On June 23, 1813, Col. Boerstler, U. S. A., with 550 men and two cannon, advanced upon the little outpost at Beaver Dam near old Fort George. News was borne to the garrison under Lieut. Fitz-gibbons by Laura Secord, whose husband lay wounded in Queenston. She set out at dawn, driving a cow by way of pretext to pass the American sentry, ran and walked through the wildest of woods for 20 miles, and late in the day arrived with her intelligence. As a result 200 Indians succeeded in ambushing Boerstler's command, which surrendered, laying down their arms to a British lieutenant with 260 Indians, militiamen and regulars.
Sec′retary-Bird, a large bird of South Africa, receiving its name from the arrangement of a number of black and gray quills over the ear, in the position of a clerk's pen. It belongs with the birds of prey, but on account of its long legs, has been classed with the wading birds. From its eating snakes it has also received the name of the serpent-eater.
SECRETARY-BIRD
The bird is about four feet long from bill to tip of tail, which is about two feet long. The legs and neck are both long, and the body makes up only a small part of the bird. The general color of the plumage is clear gray. They are shy in their native haunts, but have been domesticated by Cape Colony farmers. Their
