758 SELKIRKSHIRE SEMINOLES 1704, in consequence of a quarrel with his captain, was put ashore at his own request on the island of Juan Fernandez, which was then much frequented by vessels navigating the Pacific, lie was supplied with clothes, arms, ammunition, and other necessaries, and re- mained on the island in solitude four years and four months, when he was taken off by Oapt. Woodes Rogers of the privateer The Duke, Feb. 12, 1709, and carried to England, where he arrived Oct. 1, 1711. He returned to Largo, but after some time eloped with a girl, whom he married, and went to London. Subsequently he entered the navy, and was lieutenant when he died. Capt. Rogers, in his narrative of his cruise (London, 1712), gave an account of Selkirk's residence on Juan Fernan- dez ; and John Ho well published " Life and Ad- ventures of Alexander Selkirk" (Edinburgh, 1829). (See DEFOE, and JUAN FERNANDEZ.) SELKIRKSHIRE, a S. county of Scotland, bordering on the counties of Edinburgh, Rox- burgh, Dumfries, and Peebles ; area, 260 sq. m. ; pop. in 1871, 14,005. The surface is gen- erally hilly, the hills varying from a few hun- dred feet in height to about 2,800. The prin- cipal rivers are the Tweed and its tributaries, the Yarrow and Ettrick ; and there are sev- eral small lakes, that of St. Mary's being the finest sheet of water in the south of Scotland. Only about one tenth of the surface is arable. SELKIRK, the capital, is on the Ettrick, 2 m. from its mouth in the Tweed, 80 m. S. S. E. of Edinburgh; pop. in 1871, 4,640. It has a fine town hall, a monument to Sir Walter Scott, whose seat of Abbotsford is 4 m. dis- tant, and manufactures of wool. Its formerly celebrated manufacture of shoes has declined. The only other town is Galashiels. SELMA, a city of Alabama, capital of Dallas co., on the right bank of the Alabama river, 95 m. below Montgomery by the course of the river, and about 44 m. W. in a direct line ; pop. in 1870, 6,484, of whom 8,660 were col- ored (by a more recent census, 8,112). In very dry seasons it is at the head of steamboat navi- gation. It stands on an elevated plateau, which terminates abruptly in a steep bluff forming the bank of the river. Six railroads converge at Selma: the Selma, Rome, and Dalton, the Alabama Central, the Western, the Selma and Gulf, the New Orleans and Selma, and the Selma, Marion, and Memphis. The last three are only partially constructed, and work upon them has been suspended. It has two banks, a cotton factory, an oil mill, a sash and blind factory, a car-wheel factory, three railroad and machine shops, a planing mill, a steam cotton press, six cotton warehouses, and three grist mills. Two daily and three weekly newspapers are published. There are 18 churches, viz. : 8 Presbyterian, 3 Methodist, 2 Baptist, 2 Prot- estant Episcopal, 1 Cumberland Presbyterian, 1 Congregationalist, and 1 Roman Catholic. There are two public and five private schools. Selma was an important military and naval depot of the confederate government during the civil war. An arsenal, a navy yard, nitre works, and founderies for shot and shell were established, giving employment to about 1,800 men. The place was strongly fortified, but the works were carried by assault by the federal forces under Maj. Gen. J. H. Wilson, April 2, 1865, after a short but severe contest with the garrison, under Lieut. Gen. Forrest. SELTZER WATER (properly SELTERS). See MINERAL SPRINGS, vol. xi., p. 594. SELWYN, George Augustas, an English clergy- man, born in 1809. He was educated at St. John's college, Cambridge, was rector at Wind- sor for a short time, and was consecrated mis- sionary bishop of New Zealand in 1841, where he labored for many years. In 1867 he was appointed bishop of Lichfield. He has pub- lished "Are Cathedral Institutions Useless?" (1838); "Sermons" (1842); " Tribal Analysis of the Bible" (1855); and "The Work of Christ in the World " (1855). SEMELE, in Greek mythology, daughter of Cadmus, and sister of Ino, Agave, AutonoS, and Polydorus. She was beloved by Jupiter, and Juno, jealous and indignant, persuaded her to ask him that he would appear to her clothed in the attributes of his majesty. Having sworn to grant her every request she would make, and warned her in vain to desist from this, he unwillingly consented, appeared as the god of thunder, and she was consumed by the light- ning ; but the child with which she was preg- nant was saved by Jupiter, who enclosed him in his own thigh until the period for his birth. This child was Dionysus (Bacchus). SEMENDRIA (Serb, Smederevo), a town of Servia, on the right bank of the Danube, at the confluence of the Yesava, 25 m. E. S. E. of Belgrade; pop. about 5,000. Next to Bel- grade it is the most important Servian town and fortress, and it is the see of a Greek arch- bishop. Good firearms are made here. For- merly it was the capital of the kings of Servia > and it was often taken and retaken by the Turks and Hungarians or Austrians, ultimate- ly remaining in possession of the Turks, who evacuated it in 1867, together with the other fortresses in Servia. SEMINOLES, a nation of Florida Indians, made up chiefly of two bands of Creeks who with- drew from the main body in 1750 and 1808, and of remnants of tribes partly civilized by the Spaniards, some Mickasuckees, and ne- groes. They became known as a distinct na- tion under King Payne. During the Ameri- can revolution they were under English influ- ence, and very hostile. The Spaniards on re- covering Florida made a treaty with the Tal- lapoosas and Seminoles at Pensacola in May. 1784. The Creeks, who called them Stminoles or Wanderers, still claimed them as part of their nation in the treaty with the United States in 1790. The Seminoles disavowed this claim, and began hostilities against the Ameri- cans in 1793, which they renewed in the war
