Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 21, ROT-Siam

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trees. In 1880 the total population of the city was
2293 but in winter northern visitors swell the number to
7000 or 8000.
Menendez de Aviles arrived off the coast of Florida on 28th August
(St Augustine’s day) 1565, and accordingly he gave the name of that
saint to the city which he shortly afterwards founded. His first act
was to attack the French settlement on St John’s river, and two
years later the French retaliated on St Augustine (see Florida,
vol. ix. 340, and Ribault). In 1586 Drake attacked and plundered
the" town, and throughout the 17th century it frequently suffered
from the raids of Indians, pirates, and the English settlers of South
Carolina and Georgia. Occupied by the British from 1763 to 1783,
it ultimately passed to the United States in 1821. During the
Civil War it changed hands three times.
ST BARTHOLOMEW, or St Barthelemy, a French
island of the West Indies, in the archipelago of the Antilles,
is situated in 17° 55' 35" N. lat. and 63° 60' 15" W. long.,
108 miles north-north-west of Guadaloupe, of which, poli¬
tically, it is a dependency. In form it is very irregular
and the surface is mountainous. The soil, in spite of a
scarcity of moisture, is not unfertile; and in some of the
valleys the growing of vegetables is an important industry.
Bananas, cassia, tamarinds, and sassafras are exported.
In modern times zinc and lead ores have been found in the
island, but they are not worked. Rocks and shallows
make St Bartholomew difficult of access, and its port (Le
Carenage), though safe during the greater part of the year,
is capable of receiving only the larger class of coasting
vessels. The chief town is Gustavia, near the port. The
population was 2942 in 1883.
St Bartholomew, occupied by the French in 1648, was ceded to
Sweden in 1784 ; but it was restored to France by the treaty signed
at Paris, August 1877, with the full approval of the inhabitants,
who had remained French in language and manners. Universal
suffrage was introduced in 1830 and slavery abolished in 1848.
ST BRIEUC, a town of France, chef-lieu of the depart¬
ment of Cotes du Fiord, 295 miles west of Paris by the
railway from Brest, at the junction of a branch to Yannes
by Pontivy. It stands 290 feet above the sea, between 1
and 2 miles from the English Channel, where Legue, on
the left bank of the Gouet, serves as its seaport. About
600 vessels, with an aggregate of 27,600 tons, enter or
clear per annum; the local shipowners take part especi¬
ally in the Newfoundland and Iceland fisheries. St Brieuc
is an old town with a considerable number of curious
houses. The principal articles of trade are grain, flax,
hemp, vegetables, honey, cider, butter, and eggs, which are
despatched to England, and fish and game, which are sent
in considerable quantities to Paris. At the fairs in bygone
days the Breton women sold their hair for trifling sums.
Nurseries of some size exist at St Brieuc, and in the neigh¬
bourhood are quarries of blue granite, giving employment
to 300 workmen. St Brieuc is the seat of a bishopric in
the province of Rennes, and has a cathedral dating from
the 13th century, but partially rebuilt in the 18th, and
extensively restored recently. The tombs of the bishops,
the modern but delicately carved organ-loft, the tapestries,
and the stained-glass windows deserve mention. The old
monastery of the Capuchins is occupied by the civil hos¬
pital. The monastery of the Cordeliers contains the lycee,
a library of 30,000 volumes, and a museum of archaeology
and natural history, and the convent of the Ursulines has
been turned into barracks. The episcopal palace, the pre¬
fecture, and the town-house were formerly private mansions,
a class of old buildings which is steadily being reduced in
number by the opening of new streets. A colossal image
of the Virgin looks down upon the town, and the Dugues-
clin boulevard, on the site of the ramparts, has a statue
of that hero. The population in 1881 was 14,869 (com¬
mune 17,833).
St Brieuc owes its origin and its name to the missionary St
Bnocus, who came from Wales in the 5th century, and whose tomb
afterwards attracted crowds of pilgrims. The place was defended in
1375 by Olivier de Clisson against the duke of Brittany, and again
attacked by the same Clisson in 1394, the cathedral suffering greatly
in both sieges. In 1592 the town was pillaged by the Spaniards,
in 1601 ravaged by the plague, and in 1628 surrounded by walls,
of which no traces remain. Between 1602 and 1708 the states of
Brittany several times met at St Brieuc, and during the Reign
of Terror Chouans and Blues carried on a ruthless conflict with
each other.
ST CATHARINES, a city and port of entry of
Ontario, Canada, and the capital of Lincoln county, is
situated 12 miles north-west of Niagara Falls and 35
south of Toronto (by water), on the Welland Canal and
the Grand Trunk and Welland branch of the Grand Trunk
Railway. It is celebrated for its artesian mineral wells,
and contains a convent and a marine hospital. The manu¬
facture of flour has long been a staple industry, and the
abundant water-power is also utilized in cotton-mills,
machine-shops, agricultural implement works, &c. In¬
corporated as a town in 1845, St Catharines had in 1861
a population of 6284, in 1871 of 7864, and in 1881 of
9631. A city charter was granted in 1875.
ST CHAMOND, a manufacturing town of France, in
the department of Loire, 7|- miles east-north-east of St
Etienne, at the confluence of the Janon with the Gier (an
affluent of the Rhone), and on the railway from St Etienne
to Lyons. Besides working a considerable number of
coal-mines, St Chamond employs twelve mills in the silk
manufacture, and from 12,000 to 15,000 looms (mostly
driven by hydraulic machinery) in lace-making, and has a
variety of other manufactures. The population was 14,149
in 1881.
St Chamond, founded in the 7th century by St Ennemond or
Chamond, archbishop of Lyons, became the chief town of the
Jarret, a little principality formed by the valley of the Gier. Silk¬
milling was introduced in the town in the middle of the 16th cen¬
tury by Gayotti, a native of Bologna, and perfected towards the
beginning of the 19th by Richard Chambovet. Remains are found
at St Chamond of a Roman aqueduct, which conveyed the waters
of the Janon along the valley of the Gier to Lyons.
ST CHARLES, a city of the United States, the county
seat of St Charles county, Missouri, is situated on the
left or north bank of the Missouri 20 miles from its
mouth, and 23 from St Louis by the St Louis and
Omaha line of the Wabash, St Louis, and Pacific Railway,
which crosses the river by a great iron bridge 6535 feet
long, erected in 1871 at a cost of $1,750,000. Besides
one of the largest car-factories in the United States, the
industrial establishments of St Charles comprise tobacco-
factories, flour-mills, hominy-mills, creameries, woollen-
factories, and breweries. St Charles College (Methodist
Episcopal), chartered in 1838, the Lindenwood Female
College (Presbyterian), the Convent of the Sacred Heart,
and the Roman Catholic public library are the principal
institutions. In 1850 the inhabitants numbered only
1498; by 1870 they were 5570, and in 1880 5014 (in
the township 8417).
A Spanish post was established at St Charles in 1769. As a
town it dates from 1809 and as a city from 1849. The first State
legislature of Missouri met in the town in 1821 and St Charles
continued to be the State capital till 1826.
ST CHRISTOPHER, or St Kitts, one of the Leeward
Islands, West Indies, situated in 17° 18' N. lat. and 62°
48' W. long. Its length is 23 miles, its greatest breadth
5 miles, and the total area 68 square miles. Mountains
traverse the central part from south-east to north-west,
the greatest height, Mount Misery, being about 4100 feet
above sea-level. On the seaboard is Basseterre, the capital,
the outlet of a fertile plain, which contains the cultivated
land. The thermometer ranges from 78° to 84° Fahr.
St Christopher is united with Nevis (q.v.) as one colony,
with one executive and one legislative council (official and
nominated) for the united presidency. In 1883 the revenue
and expenditure were £34,000 and £33,000 respectively,