Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 21, ROT-Siam

S E I
624 S E I-
source and its moutli in the English Channel the air distance
is only 250 miles, but that actually traversed (through the
departments of Cote-d’Or, Aube, Seine-et-Marne, Seine-et-
Oise, Seine, Eure, and Seine-Inferieure) is 482. Though
shorter than the Loire and inferior in volume to the streams
of the Rhone system when these are at their fullest, the
Seine derives an exceptional importance from the regularity
of its flow. This feature is due to the geological character
of its basin, an area of 19,400,000 acres, entirely belonging
to France (with the exception of a few communes in
Belgium), and formed in three-fourths of its extent of per¬
meable strata, which absorb the atmospheric precipitation
to restore it gently to the river by perennial springs. It
is believed that the Seine never attains a volume so high
as 90,000 cubic feet per second. At Paris its average per
second is 9000, and after it has received all its tributaries
it ranges between 24,000 and 25,000 cubic feet. At Paris
it falls as low as 2650 cubic feet and in exceptional droughts
the figure of 1200 has been reached. During the flood of
1876, which lasted fifty-five days, the volume between the
quays at Paris rose to 58,600 cubic feet per second.
Rising at a height of 1545 feet above sea-level, at the base of the
statue of a nymph erected on the spot by the city of Paris, the Seine
is at first such an insignificant streamlet that it is often dry in
summer as far as to Chatillon (722 feet). At Bar (531 feet) its
waters feed the Haute-Seine Canal, so that there is uninterrupted
navigation from this point to the sea (395 miles). At Troyes it
has descended to 331 feet. It next passes Mery, and at Marcilly
receives the Aube (right), from which point it becomes navigable ;
here it is deflected in a south-westerly direction by the heights of
La Brie, the base of which it skirts past Nogent and Montereau, at
the latter point receiving the Yonne, its most important left-hand
tributary. It then resumes its general north-westerly direction,
receiving the Loing (left) at Moret, then passing Melun (121 feet),
being joined at Corbeil by the Essonne (left), and after its junction
with the Marne (right), a tributary longer than itself by 31 miles,
reaches Paris. From this point to the sea its channel has been so
deepened by recent works that vessels of 9 to 10 feet draught can
reach the capital. The river then winds through a pleasant cham¬
paign country past St Cloud, St Denis, Argenteuil, St Germain,
Conflans (where it is joined from the right by the Oise, 56 feet above
the sea), Poissy, Mantes, Les Andelys, and Poses, where the tide
first begins to be perceptible. It next receives the Eure (left), and
passes Pont de PArche, Elbeuf, and Rouen, where the sea naviga¬
tion commences. The river has been dyked to Rouen so as to admit
vessels of 20 feet draught, and large areas have thus been reclaimed
for cultivation.1 At every tide there is a “bore” {parre or mas-
caret), ranging usually from 8 to 10 feet. Between Rouen and the
sea there are numerous windings, as in the neighbourhood of Paris;
after Caudebec and Quilleboeuf (where the Rille is received from the
left) the estuary begins, set with extensive sandbanks, between
which flows a narrow navigable channel. At Tancarville (right) is
the commencement of a canal to enable river boats for Havre to avoid
the sea passage. The river finally falls into the English Channel
between Honfleur on the left and Havre on the right. The Marne
brings to the Seine the waters of the Ornain, the Ourcq, and the
Morin ; the Oise those of the Aisne ; the Yonne those of the Arman-
90m The low elevation of the bounding hills has rendered it com¬
paratively easy to connect the Seine and its affluents with adjoining
river basins by means of canals. The Oise and Somme are connected
by the Picardy or Crozat Canal, which in turn is continued to the
Scheldt by means of the St Quentin Canal and the Oise, and to the
Sambre by that of Oise and Sambre. Between the Aisne and the
Meuse is the Ardennes Canal, and the Aisne and the Marne are united
by a canal which passes Rheims. The Marne has similar communica¬
tion wdth the Meuse and the Rhine, the Yonne with the Saone (by the
Burgundy Canal) and with the Loire (by that of Mvernais). The
Seine itself is connected with the Loire by the Loing Canal dividing
at Montargis into two branches,—those of Orleans and Briare.
SEINE, the department of France which has Paris as
its chief town, was formed in 1790 of part of the pro¬
vince of Ile-de-France. It lies between 48° 44' and 48°
58' N. lat. and 2° 10' and 2° 34' E. long, and is entirely
surrounded by the department of Seine-et-Oise, from which
it is separated at certain parts by the Seine, the Marne, and
the Bievre. The area of the department is only 118,306
1 Comp. River Engineering, vol. xx. p. 579; see also the valuable
paper “The River Seine,” in Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng., vol. Ixxxiv., 1886,
by L. F. Yernon-Harcourt.
acres, and of this surface a seventh or a sixth is occupied
by Paris; the suburban villages also are close together and
very populous. In actual population (2,799,329 in 1881)
as well as in density (23*7 persons per acre) it holds the
first place. Flowing from south-east to north-west through
the department, the Seine forms three links : on the right
it receives above Paris the Marne, and below Paris the
Rouillon, and on the left hand the Bievre within the pre¬
cincts of the city. The left bank of the Seine is in general
higher than the right and consists of the Villejuif and
Chatillon plateaus separated by the Bi&vre; the highest
point (568 feet) is above Chatillon and the lowest (105)
at the exit of the Seine. Below Paris the river flows be¬
tween the plain of Gennevilliers and Nanterre (commanded
by Mont Yalerien) on the left and the plain of St Denis on
the right. On the right side, to the east of Paris, are the
heights of Avron and Vincennes commanding the course
of the Marne. Communication is further facilitated by
various canals (see Paris).
Market gardens occupy about 3700 acres within and without the
city, and by means of irrigation and manuring are made to yield
from ten to eleven crops per annum (see Paris). Some districts
are specially celebrated,—Montreuil for its peaches, Eontenay-aux-
Roses for its strawberries and roses, and other places for flowers and
nurseries. The department produced in 1883 326,326 bushels of
wheat, 4042 of meslin, 75,003 of rye, 3415 of barley, 337,837 of oats,
1,656,009 of potatoes, 14,650 of pulse, and 15,400 tons of beetroot.
Altogether, 60,000 persons are engaged in agriculture. The live stock
in 1881 comprised 95,796 horses (70,296 in Paris), 4174 cattle, 280
calves, 8159 sheep, 3626 pigs, and 660 goats. Vineyards, producing
366,748 gallons of wine annually, cover 2460 acres. The principal
woods (Boulogne and Vincennes) belong to Paris. It is partly
owing to the number of quarries in the district that Paris owTes its
origin : Chatillon and Montrouge in the south yield freestone, and
Bagneux and Clamart in the south and Montreuil and Remainville
in the east possess the richest plaster quarries in France. Within
the circuit of Paris are certain old quarries now forming the cata¬
combs. Most of the industrial establishments in the department
are situated in Paris or at St Denis. Pantin (17,857 inhabitants in
1881) on the Ourcq Canal is the seat of a national factory of tobacco,
and also of glass-works, and Aubervilliers (19,437) on the St Denis
Canal is the seat of great chemical works. Along the Seine, below
Paris, Boulogne (25,615) is partly occupied by laundry establish¬
ments ; Puteaux (15,586) manufactures woollen goods, and has dye-
works, printing works, cloth-dressing works, and engineering works
of considerable importance ; Clichy (24,320) manufactures crystal
and has a large gaswork, &c. Above Paris, Ivry (18,442) has
iron-works and engineering works; Choisy-le-Roi (6978) has
factories for the making of porcelain, glass, soda, chemicals, morocco,
and waxcloth; Montreuil (18,693), near Vincennes, makes patent
leather, porcelain, &c. The department is of course traversed by
all the railway lines which converge in Paris, and also contains the
inner circuit railway and part of the outer circuit,—making a total
of 122 miles of railway, to which are to be added numerous tram¬
ways, 72 miles of national roads, and 458 of other roads. There
are 3 arrondissements (Paris, St Denis, and Sceaux), 28 cantons
(20 in Paris), and 72 communes. The department forms the archi-
episcopal diocese of Paris, falls within the jurisdiction of the Paris
court of appeal, and is divided between the four corps Parmee of
Amiens, Rouen, Le Mans, and Orleans. Among the important in¬
stitutions in the department are the lyceums of Vanves and Sceaux,
the lunatic asylum at Charenton, the veterinary college of Maisons-
Alfort, and the great Bicetre hospital at Gentilly.
SEINE-ET-MARNE, a department of northern France,
was formed in 1790 of almost the entire district of Brie
(half of which belonged to Champagne and half to fle-de-
France) and a portion of Gatinais (from Ile-de-France and
Orleanais). Lying between 48° 7' and 49° 6' N. lat.
and 2° 23' and 3° 13' E. long., it is bounded N. by the
departments of Oise and Aisne, E. by Marne and Aube,
S. by Yonne and Loiret, and W. by Seine-et-Oise. The
whole department belongs to the basin of the Seine, and
is drained partly by that river and partly by its tributaries
the Yonne and the Loing from the left, and from the right
the Youlzie, the Y&res, and the Marne, with its affluents
the Ourcq, the Petit Morin, and the Grand Morin. With
the exception of the Loing, flowing from south to north,
all these streams cross the department from east to west,