Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 21, ROT-Siam

S E I
S E I
following the general slope of the surface, which is broken
up into several plateaus from 300 to 500 feet in height
(highest point, in the north-east, 705 feet, lowest 105),
and separated from each other by deep valleys. Most of
the plateaus belong to the Brie, a fertile and well-wooded
district of a clayey character. In the south-west lies the
dry sandy district of the Fontainebleau sandstones. The
climate is rather more “ continental ” than that of Paris,
—the summers warmer, the winters colder; the annual
rainfall does not exceed 16 inches. There is a striking
difference between the south of the department, where the
famous white grape (chasselas) of Fontainebleau ripens, and
the country to the north of the Marne,—this river marking
pretty exactly the northern limit of the vine.
With a total area of 1,417,534 acres, Seine-et-Marne had in 1879
261,074 under wheat, 274,808 under oats, 53,362 under beetroot,
51,130 under vines. Besides these, meslin, rye, barley, pulse,
potatoes are the principal crops grown. In 1884 the yield was
6,567,547 bushels of wheat, 231,959 of meslin, 665,505 of rye,
471,251 of barley, 9,104,254 of oats, 3,035,167 of potatoes, 924,210
tons of beetroot, and 401,427 tons of green fodder (lucerne, clover,
sainfoin, &c.). The live stock in 1879 included 40,400 horses, 5190
asses, 522,700 sheep (173,290 superior breed), 101,100 cattle, 16,840
pigs, 3714 goats, and 11,440 beehives (75 tons of honey, 15 of
wax). Cereals occupy two-fifths of the department and yield an
annual value of £2,400,000, while all other products of the soil do
not reach £1,600,000. The wheat and oats of Brie are especially
esteemed, as are also the white grapes of Fontainebleau and the
roses of Brovins (see vol. xix. p. 886). Thousands of the well-
known Brie cheeses are manufactured, and large numbers of calves
and poultry are reared. The forests (covering a fifth of the surface)
are planted with oak, beech, chestnut, hornbeam, birch, wild cherry,
linden, willow, poplar, and conifers. Best known and most im¬
portant is the forest of Fontainebleau, the annual product of which
is worth £14,000. Excellent freestone is quarried in the depart¬
ment, especially in the valley of the Loing, mill-stones at La Ferte-
sous-Jouarre ; the Fontainebleau sandstone, used extensively for
pavements, gives employment to 300 establishments, and the white
sand which is found along with it is in great request for the manu¬
facture of glass. Along the Marne are numerous plaster-quarries ;
lime-kilns occur throughout the department; and peat is found
in the valleys of the Ourcq and the Youlzie. Beds of common
clay and porcelain clay supply the potteries of Fontainebleau, and
especially those of Montereau, where upwards of 700 hands are
employed. Other industrial establishments are the numerous large
flour-mills, the sugar-factories, beetroot distilleries, paper-mills (the
Marais paper-mill manufactures bank-notes, &c., both for France
and foreign markets), saw-mills, foundries, printing works, tanneries,
tawing works, glove factories, chemical works, &c. Most of the
motive-power used in these establishments is supplied by the
streams. The Seine, the Yonne, the Marne, and the Grand Morin
are navigable, and, with the canals of the Loing and the Ourcq
and those of Chalifert, Cornillon, and Chelles, which cut off the
windings of the Marne, form a total waterway of 219 miles. There
are 242 miles of railway. With its 348,991 inhabitants in 1881,
Seine-et-Marne is in density of population slightly below the aver¬
age of France. It has 5 arrondissements, 29 cantons, 530 com¬
munes, forms the diocese of Meaux, belongs to the jurisdiction of
the Paris court of appeal, and to the district of the Orleans corps
d’armee. Among the places of note in the department, Montereau
(7107 inhabitants in 1881), distinguished as Montereau-faut-Yonne
because of its situation at the confluence of the Yonne with the
Seine, deserves to be mentioned not only for its porcelain manu¬
facture but also as a great railway station on the route from Paris
to Lyons at the junction of the Troyes line, as the scene of the
assassination of John the Bold, duke of Burgundy, and as one of
the battlefields of Napoleon I. in the campaign of 1814. Its
church is an historical monument of the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th
centuries. A statue of Napoleon stands between the two bridges.
SEINE-ET-OISE, a department of northern France,
formed in 1790 of part of the old province of Ile-de-
France, and traversed from south-east to north-west by
the Seine, which is joined by the Oise from the right.
Lying between 48° 17' and 49° 14' N. lat. and 1° 27' and
2° 37' E. long., it is surrounded by the departments of
Seine-et-Marne on the east, Loiret on the south, Eure-et-
Loir on the west, Eure on the north-west, and Oise on the
north. It encloses the department of Seine. The Epte on
the north-west is almost the only natural boundary of the
department. The streams (all belonging to the basin of
625
the Seine) are, on the right the Yeres, the Marne, the Oise,
and the Epte, and on the left the Essonne (joined by the
Juine, which passes by fihampes), the Orge, the Bievre,
and the Mauldre. Seine-et-Oise belongs in part to the
tableland of Beauce in the south and to that of Brie in
the east. In the centre are the high wooded hills which
make the charm of Versailles, Marly, and St Germain.
But it is in the north-west, in the Vexin, that the
culminating point of 690 feet is reached, while the lowest
point, where the Seine leaves the department, is hardly 40
feet above the sea. The mean temperature is 51° Fahr.
Of the 1,384,695 acres 912,205 are arable soil, 50,330 meadows,
42,852 vineyards, and 199,864 woods. In 1881 the live stock com¬
prised 48,540 horses, 5626 asses, 162 mules, 70,600 cattle, 341,600
sheep (wool-clip, 1110 tons), 16,200 pigs, 4500 goats, and 13,500
beehives. Seine-et-Oise is a great agricultural and horticultural
department. The crops in 1883 were—wheat, 5,817,858 bushels;
meslin, 353,127; rye, 1,034,572; barley, 641,894; oats, 8,705,193;
buckwheat, 3800 ; potatoes, 6,479,000 ; beetroot for sugar 206,645
tons, and for fodder 237,915 ; colza seed, 415 tons ; hay, 48,242 ;
clover, 13,505 ; lucerne, 140,354; sainfoin, 57,283. Oaks, hornbeams,
birch, chestnuts are the prevailing trees in the forests, most of
which belong to the state. Building, paving, and mill stones (1978
workmen), lime, plaster, marl, chalk, sand, clay, and peat (along
the Essonne) are all found in the department. At Enghien are
cold mineral springs, and Forges has a hydropathic establishment,
where the town of Paris maintains a hospital for scrofulous children.
The most important industrial establishments are the national por¬
celain factory at Sevres ; the Government powder-mills of Sevran
and Bouchet; the paper-mills and cardboard mills (1570 workmen)
of Corbeil (population 6566 in 1881), Etampes (7465), and Pontoise
(6675), but by far the largest is at Essonne (4999); the flax-spinning
mills (6368 spindles), cotton-mills (17,830 spindles), silk-mills (5726),
wool-mills (8890) ; the foundries and boat and bridge building
yards at Argenteuil (10,167) ; the engineering and railway works
at Corbeil, &c. ; the agricultural implement factories at Dourdan
(2819); the sugar-refineries with thousands of workmen; distilleries
on most of the large farms ; starch-works, laundries, large printing
establishments close to Paris; factories for chemical products,
candles, embroidery, hosiery, perfumery, shoes, and buttons; one
of the finest zinc-works in France; saw-mills, &c. Besides the
navigation of the Seine, the Marne, the Oise, and the Canal
d’Ourcq, the department has 420 miles of railroad, 457 of national
roads, and 3958 of other roads. The population of the department
in 1881 was 577,798 inhabitants (one and a half times the average
density of the French departments). There are 6 arrondissements,
37 cantons, and 686 communes; the department forms the diocese
of Versailles, is divided between the corps d’armee of Amiens, Rouen,
Le Mans, and Orleans, and has its court of appeal at Paris. The
commune of Argenteuil (11,849 inhabitants) is not only important
for its manufactures but also for its market gardens (asparagus, figs,
grapes, &c.); and its church, rebuilt in the 19th century in the
Romanesque style, is a fashionable place of pilgrimage.
SEINE INF^MEUIIE, a department of the north of
France, formed in 1790 of four districts (Norman Vexin,
Bray, Caux, and Roumois) belonging to the province of
Normandy. Lying between 49° 15' and 50° 4' N. lat.
and 1° 52' and 0° 4' E. long., it is bounded N.W. and N.
by the English Channel for a distance of 80 miles, N.E. by
Somme, from which it is separated by the Bresle, E. by
Oise, S. by Eure and the estuary of the Seine, which
separates the department from Calvados. It is divided
almost equally between the basin of the Seine in the south
and the basins of certain coast streams in the north. The
Seine receives from the right hand before it reaches the
department the Epte and the Andelle from the Bray dis¬
trict, and then the Darnetal, the Cailly, the Austreberte,
the Bolbec, and the Lezarde. The main coast streams are
the Bresle (which forms the ports of Eu and Treport), the
Yeres, the Arques or Dieppe stream (formed by the junction
of the Varennes, the Bethune, and the Eaulne), the Scie,
the Saane, the Durdent. As a whole the department may
be described as an elevated plateau culminating towards
the east in a point 807 feet above the sea and terminating
along the Seine in high bluffs and towards the sea in steep
chalk cliffs 300 to 400 feet high, which are continually
being eaten away and transformed into beds of shingle.
There is no striking line of parting between the basins of
XXI. — 79