Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/793

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

SENEFELDER territory 206. Protestant missions were be- gun among the Senecas in New York in 1805, and the society of Friends has done much to aid and protect them. Their most illustrious men have been the great orator Red Jacket (see RED JACKET) and Cornplanter. Portions of Scripture have been printed in the Seneca language, and a grammar and dictionary were prepared by the late Rev. Ashur Wright. SENEFELDEK, Aloys, the inventor of lithogra- phy, born in Prague, Nov. 6, 1771, died in Munich, Feb. 26, 1834. He was sent to In- golstadt to study law, and while there occa- sionally performed in private theatricals, and in 1789 wrote a comedy, Die Madchenkenner. On the death of his father, an actor, he tried unsuccessfully to be an actor and dramatist. Having learned something of printing, he ex- perimented to invent a process of his own, and finaHy made by accident his great discovery. (See LITHOGRAPHY.) His first prints were some pieces of music. Subsequently he made important improvements, contrived a press, obtained a patent, and set up an establishment, which he carried on for some time successful- ly. In 1809 he was appointed inspector of the royal lithographing establishment at Munich. He published Lehrbueh der Lithographic (Mu- nich, 1819; English translation, "Complete Course of Lithography," 4to, London, 1819). See Aloys Senefelder und der geistliche Bath Simon Schmidt, by Nagler (Munich, 1862). SENEGAL, a river of Senegambia in western Africa, formed in lat. 14 10' N., Ion. 10 30' "W., by the junction of the Ba-fing and the Ba-Woolima, and flowing thence N. W., W., and S. W. into the Atlantic ocean at Fort St. Louis, in lat. 16 7' N., Ion. 16 30' W. The Ba-fing, which is regarded as the main stream, rises near Timbo, the principal town of the native state of Foota Jallon, not far from lat. 10 30' N., Ion. 10 45' W., in the Kong moun- tains ; and if this be considered as its source, the total length of the river, which is exceed- ingly tortnons, is about 1,000 m. Between the 13th- and 15th meridians, where the Senegal flows westward, it separates into three parallel branches, thus forming two long islands with a stream between them, each over 50 m. long and averaging 6 m. wide. It again becomes double before reaching the sea, into which however it flows as a single stream, 250 yards wide, over a shifting sand bar which will admit vessels of 12 ft. draught. The largest tribu- tary is the Ba-Faleme from the south. The Senegal is navigable for river boats only in the wet season. There is a fall of 80 ft. a few miles below the mouth of the Ba-Woolima. SENEGAL, an aggregation of French colonial settlements on the Senegal river and its tribu- tary the Faleme, including the island and town of St. Louis at the mouth of the Senegal, and Goree, off Cape Verd ; pop. estimated in 1874 at 100,000. The French have here attempted the system of military colonization applied in Algeria, with but limited success ; and a con- 733 VOL. xiv. 49 SENEGAMBIA T67 sidcrable portion of the territory claimed and to some extent occupied by them in this re- gion prior to 1870 was abandoned in that year. In 1872 the value of the exports to France was 10,800,000 francs, and of the imports from France 6,400,000 francs, the commerce being almost exclusively in the hands of the French. The establishment is under a colo- nial governor, with a military and naval force under his command. French trading posts were established in this region in the early part of the 17th century, and in the 17th and 18th centuries were controlled successively by the West India company, the Senegal compa- nies, and the East India company. The Eng- lish held them by conquest from 1758 to 1779, and from 1803 to 1814. SENEGAMBIA, a region of western Africa, formerly comprising only the territory lying between the rivers Senegal and Gambia, from which it derives its name, but now held to include the whole of the country between the former river and the British colony of Sierra Leone. It is bounded N. by the Sahara, E. by Soodan, S. by Sierra Leone, and W. by the At- lantic, and extends from lat. 9 to 17 N., and from about Ion. 10 W. to Cape Verd, in Ion. 17 34' W. Its eastern boundary is so indefi- nite that an accurate estimate of the area is impossible ; it can hardly be less than 200,000 sq. m., and has been placed much higher. The population is estimated at 9,000,000. It in- cludes the French colony of Senegal, and French power predominates on the coast and in the country. There are English settlements along the Gambia, of which Bathurst at its mouth is the principal town and the seat of govern- ment; and the Portuguese establishments at the mouth of the Rio Grande and in the inte- rior in 1873 embraced a territory of 43 sq. m., with 8,500 inhabitants. The objects of these foreign establishments are purely commercial. The coast region of Senegambia consists of a belt of level land extending inland from 150 to 200 m., which in the north is for the most part open, sandy, low, and barren, with here and there a few rocky cliffs ; but S. of the Gambia the aspect of the country changes, the vege- tation becomes luxuriant, and the deeply and frequently indented coast is bordered by man- grove swamps, back of which rises a rich for- est region. The principal rivers, described un- der their own titles, are the Senegal and Gam- bia, S. of which three others of considerable size empty into the Atlantic : the Casamanza or Casemanche, navigable 80 m. from its mouth ; the Rio Grande, 400 m. long ; and the Nunez, of about half that length. With the excep- tion of the coast and the alluvial flats along the rivers, tke country is undulating, and rises in terraces from the ocean to the mountains of the interior, which overspread the S. E. portion, and attain an elevation variously sta- ted at from 8,000 to 6,000 ft. Little is known of Senegambian geology, except the pcsurrence of gramite in the mountainous region. Iron