Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 21, ROT-Siam

186 S A I -
ST LUCIA, a West India island, discovered by Colum¬
bus in 1502, is situated in 13° 50'. K lat. and 60° 58'
W. long., and has a length of 42 miles and a maximum
breadth of 21. Pigeon Island, formerly an important
military post, lies at its northern extremity. Originally
inhabited by Caribs, St Lucia was settled by the English
in 1639, and, after many alternations of. English and
French possession, surrendered to the British arms in
1794. Sir John Moore was governor till 1797. St Lucia
was subsequently in French possession, but was finally
restored to Great Britain in 1803. The scenery consists
of mountain, valley, and forest; two cone-shaped rocks
rise out of the sea to a height of 3000 feet, and near them
are craters of extinct volcanoes and a solfatara. The
island is considered a good coaling station for mail-steamers
and war-ships; there is a good harbour on the west coast,
below Castries, the capital (papulation, 5000). The total
population was 40,532 in 1883, of whom 1000 were
white, mostly French. St Lucia forms part of the general
government of the Windward Islands (from which Barba¬
dos is excluded); it has a legislative council composed of
officials and crown nominees. The annual revenue and ex¬
penditure were £43,026 and £36,652 respectively in 1883,
the debt (principally for Central Sugar Factory) being
£32,400. The tonnage of vessels entered and cleared
was 438,688; the total imports were valued at £191,191
and the exports (sugar, 7600 tons; cocoa, 307,120 lb) at
£213,823. The Usine or Central Factory system has
been established with Government assistance.
ST MALO, a seaport town of France, on the English
Channel, on the right bank of the estuary of the Ranee, is
situated in 48° 39' N. lat., 51 miles by rail north-north¬
west of Rennes. It is the administrative centre of an
arrondissement in the department of Ule-et-Vilaine and a
first-class garrison town, surrounded by ramparts of the
13th, 16th, and 17th centuries, which are strengthened
with great towers at the principal gates. The granite
island on which St Malo stands communicates with the
mainland only on the north-east by a causeway known as
the “ Sillon ” (furrow), 650 feet long, and at one time only
46 feet broad, though now three times that breadth.
This causeway forms part of the site of Rocabey, an in¬
dustrial suburb more extensive, though less populous, than
the town itself. In the sea round about lie other granite
rocks, which have been turned to account in the defences
of the coast; on the islet of the Grand Bey is the tomb
(1848) of Chateaubriand. The rocks and beach in the
circuit of St Malo are continually changing their appear¬
ance, owing to the violence of the tides. Equinoctial
spring-tides sometimes rise 50 feet above low-water level,
and during storms the sea sometimes washes over the
ramparts. The harbour of St Malo lies south of the town
in the creek separating it from the neighbouring town of
St Servan. It has a wet dock with from 20 to 25 feet
of water (30 feet in spring-tides), and a mile of quays.
Additional works are projected, to make the area of the
dock 42 acres and the length of quays 11 miles. Among
French seaports St Malo stands twelfth in commercial
importance, but first in the number of seamen on its
register. The annual imports and exports together amount
to 184,000 tons, and 3000 tons of shipping are built
yearly. Besides fitting out fishing-boats for Newfound¬
land, St Malo exports grain, colza-seed, cider, butter,
tobacco, and various kinds of provisions to the Channel
Islands, with which it is connected by a regular steamboat
service. The coasting vessels have a tonnage of about
30,000. Communication between St Malo and St Servan
is maintained by a revolving bridge. St Malo is largely
frequented for sea-bathing, but not so much as Dinard,
on the opposite side of the Ranee. Parame, to the east of
-S A I
St Malo, has recently sprung into importance. The interior
of St Malo presents a tortuous maze of narrow streets and
of small squares lined with high and sometimes quaint
buildings. The old house in which Duguay-Trouin was
born deserves to be noted. Above all rises the stone spire
which since 1859 terminates the central tower of the
cathedral. The castle, which defends the town towards
the “Sillon,” is flanked with four towers, and in the
centre rises the great keep, an older and loftier structure
which was breached in 1378 by the duke of Lancaster.
St Malo has statues to Chateaubriand and Duguay-Trouin.
The museum contains remains of the ship “La Petite Her-
mine,” in which Jacques Cartier sailed for the discovery
of Canada; and the natural history museum possesses a
remarkable collection of from 6000 to 7000 European
birds. The population of St Malo in 1881 was 10,891
(commune, 11,212).
In the 6th century the granite island on which St Malo now
stands was the retreat of Abbot Aaron, who gave asylum in his
monastery to Malo (Maclovius or Malovius), a Cambrian priest, who
came hither to escape the episcopal dignity, but afterwards became
bishop of Aleth (now St Servan) ; the see was transferred to St
Malo only in the 12th century. Jealous of their independence,
the inhabitants of St Malo played off against each other the dukes
of Brittany and the kings of France, who alternately sought to
bring them under subjection. During the troubles of the League
they hoped to establish a republican government in their city, and
on the night of 11th March 1590 they exterminated the royal
garrison and imprisoned their bishop and the canons. But four
years later they surrendered to Henry IY. of France. During the
following century the maritime power of St Malo attained some
importance. In November 1693 the English vainly bombarded St
Malo for four consecutive days. In July 1695 they renewed the
attempt, but wTere equally unsuccessful. The people of St Malo
had in the course of a single war captured upwards of 1500 vessels
(several of them laden with gold and other treasure) and burned a
considerable number more. Enriched by these successes and by the
wealth they drew from Peru, the shipowners of the town not only
supplied the king with the means necessary for the famous Rio de
Janeiro expedition conducted by Duguay-Trouin in 1711, but also
lent him £1,200,000 for carrying on the War of the Spanish Suc¬
cession. In June 1758 the English sent a third expedition against
St Malo under the command of Marlborough, and inflicted a loss
of £480,000 in the harbour. But another expedition undertaken
in the following September received a complete check. In 1778
and during the wars of the empire the St Malo privateers resumed
their activity. In 1789 St Servan was separated from St Malo and
in 1790 St Malo lost its bishopric. During the Beign of Terror
the town was the scene of sanguinary executions. Among the
celebrities born in St Malo are Jacques Cartier, Duguay-Trouin,
Surcouf, and Mahe de la Bourdonnais—all four of naval fame—
Maupertuis, Chateaubriand, the Abbe de Lamennais, and Broussais.
ST MARTIN, one of the Lesser Antilles (West Indies),
part of which (20 square miles) belongs to France and
forms a dependency of Guadeloupe, while the remainder
(18 square miles) belongs to Holland and along with Saba,
&c., is a dependency of Curasao. Situated in 18° N. lat.
and 63° W. long., it ascends to a height of 1380 feet above
the sea, and has a comparatively small cultivable area.
The great saltpans of the Dutch portion produced in 1882
276,434 tons of salt, and there are similar saltpans in the
French portion. Sugar and live-stock (horses, cattle,
sheep, goats, and pigs) are also exported. The chief
settlement and anchorage in the French portion is Mangot,
in the Dutch Philippsburg. The population in 1882 was
7083 (French portion 3724, Dutch 3359). Occupied by
French freebooters in 1638 and by the Spaniards between
1640 and 1648, St Martin was divided between the French
and Dutch in this latter year.
SAINT-MARTIN, Louis Claude de (1743-1803),
known as “le philosophe inconnu” from the fact that all
his wrorks were published under that name, was born at
Amboise of a poor but noble family, on the 18th January
1743. By his father’s desire he tried first law and then
the army as a profession. While in garrison at Bordeaux,
he came under the influence of Martinez Pasqualis, a Portu-