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SCOTLAND.....SEA-APE.

malignity in Europe is trifling, when compared to what the natives of Africa, and the East, are known to suffer. In Batavia, where they grow twelve inches long, there is no removing any piece of furniture, without the utmost danger of being stung by them. In Europe the general size of this animal does not exceed two or three inches; and its sting is seldom found to be mortal; though said to be inevitably mortal along the gold coast in Africa..... Goldsmith.

SCOTLAND, or North Britain, the most northern of the two kingdoms into which the island of Great Britain was formerly divided. It is bounded on all sides by the sea, except towards the south and south-east, where it is joined to England. It lies between 54° and 59° north latitude; and extends from north to south about two hundred and seventy miles in length, and from east to west one hundred and fifty miles in some parts, but in others only thirty. The northern extremity of Scotland is in the same latitude with some parts of Norway; but, by reason of its insular situation, is not so intensely cold: the southern division has a great. resemblance to England, both with respect to the general aspect of the country and to the progress of cultivation. The Scots are distinguished for a love of literature, a spirit of enterprise, and a strong attachment to their country: though they frequently emigrate for the sake of improving their circumstances, yet they seldom lose their partiality for their native land. Scotland was an independent kingdom till the year 1603; when the crowns of England and Scotland were united in the person of James Stuart, called James I.

SEA-APE, a marine animal, called by this name by Steller, on account of its monkey tricks: it has been noticed on the western coasts of America. The head resembles that of a dog, with sharp and upright ears, and large eyes. The tail is forked; the body round, and covered with thick hair, grey on the back, reddish on the belly. The one described by Steller, sometimes swam on one side, sometimes on the other side of the ship, and gazed at it with great admiration. It would often stand erect for a considerable space, with one third of its body above water; then dart beneath the

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ship, and appear on the other side; and repeat the same thirty times together. It would frequently arise with a sea plant, toss it up and ketch it in its mouth, playing with it numberless fantastic tricks..... Encyc.

SEA-HORSE, an animal common on the coasts of the Frozen Ocean. It somewhat resembles a seal; but is incomparable larger; weighing eight or nine hundred pounds. Its tusks are very large, and it sometimes attacks, and fights with great fury; it roars with a very loud voice. They lie upon the ice in herds of many hundreds, huddling like swine, one over another; yet the whole herd is never found sleeping; some of them being constantly on the watch. When fired at they plunge into the sea, one over the other in the utmost confusion. The female will defend her young one to the very last, and at the expense of her own life, whether upon the ice or in the water. Nor will the young one quit the dam, even after she has been killed; so that, if you destroy one, you are sure of the other. The dam, when in the water, holds her young one between her fore fins..... Cooke's Voyages.

SEA-OTTER, an animal of the fur kind, found at Nootka Sound, on the north-west coast of North America. They are of various colours; changing their colour as is most probable, at the different gradations or periods of life. Some of them are of a glossy black, with a part of the hair tipt with white; some are of a deep brown; some of a chesnut brown; and some of a perfect yellow. The fur of these creatures is finer than that of any other animal in the known world. Some of the best skins have been sold in China for one hundred and twenty dollars each.....Cooke's Voyages.

SEAL, an amphibious animal, found in vast numbers. on the coasts in some northern climates, and feeds on fish. The seal, in general, resembles a quadruped in some respects, and a fish in others. The head is round like that of a man; the nose broad like that of the otter; the teeth like those of a dog; the eyes are large and sparkling; the body is thickest where the neck is joined to it; thence the animal tapers down to the tail

like a fish; and the feet resemble fins. The wholebody is covered with a thick bristly shining hair, which looks as if it were entirely rubbed over with oil. In their colours, some are black, others spotted, some white, and many are yellow. On some northern shores, they are seen by thousands, like flocks of sheep, basking on the rocks, and suckling their young: when alarmed, they instantly plunge all together into the water. They delight in tempests: amidst the fury of the elements they are seen in multitudes sporting along the shore, seemingly pleased with the universal disorder. The seal is taken for the sake of its skin, and for the oil its fat yields..... Goldsmith.

SEDGEMOOR, a place in England, near the river Severn, famous for the battle fought, July 5, 1685, between the army of James II. and that of the Duke of Monmouth, natural son of Charles II.; who claimed the crown of England, but was defeated and beheaded. After the defeat of Monmouth, the military executions of Colonel Kirk, an officer in King James's army, were attended with circumstances of most wanton cruelty and barbarity. On his first entry into Bridgwater, a town that lies near Sedgemoor, he not only hanged nineteen prisoners without the least inquiry into the nature of their guilt; but ordered a certain number to be executed while he and his company should drink the king's health; and observing their feet to quiver in the agonies of death, he commanded the drums to beat and the trumpets to sound, saying he would give them music to their dancing. One story, commonly told of Kirk, is memorable in the history of human treachery and barbarity. A beautiful young girl, bathed in tears, threw herself at his feet, and pleaded for the life of her brother. The brutal tyrant, inflamed with desire, but not softened into pity, promised to grant her request, provided she would yield to his wishes. She reluctantly complied with the base demand; and after passing the night with him, the monster shewed her in the morning, from the bed-room window, that beloved brother for whom she had sacrificed her honor, hanging on a gibbet, which he had secretly ordered to be erected for the purpose! Rage and despair took at once

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possession of her soul, and deprived her for ever of her senses..... Russell.

SEGO, the capital of the negro kingdom of Bambarra. It consists of four distinct towns, two on the northern banks of the Niger, and two on its southern banks. They are all surrounded with high mud walls; the houses are of clay, of a square form, with flat roofs; some are two stories high, and many are whitewashed. Sego, which is the constant residence of the king of Bambarra, is supposed to contain about thirty thousand people. The Niger, on which it stands, is a considerably large river of Africa, which runs towards the rising sun, and annually overflows its banks, fertilising the adjacent country..... Park.

SENEGAL, a majestic river of Negroland, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean. It annually overflows like the Nile. On its beautiful banks, where the lion and the elephant are seen roaming, flowering shrubs perfume the air, and the songs of innumerable birds charm the ear. This river was once explored by a number of Frenchmen, to the distance of one thousand miles; they underwent such hardships, that, of thirty men, only five returned alive.....Park.

SENNAR, or Nubia, a kingdom of Africa; bordering on Egypt and the Red Sea; extending about nine hundred miles in length, and six hundred in breadth. It produces great quantities of gold, and supplies Egypt with slaves. The children are quite naked; and the grown people, except the higher class, have only a wrapper of linen cloth about their bodies. Their houses have low mud walls, which are liable to be demolished by a heavy shower of rain; but it seldom rains in this country. Here the clouds of sand, raised by the wind, sometimes overwhelm travellers, and even whole caravans: here too there is frequently experienced that insupportable wind, called Simoon. Volney says that this wind may be compared to the heat of a large oven at the moment of drawing out the bread; and that when it blows, the sun loses his splendor, and appears of a violet colour. The capital of this king

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338 SENSITIVE PLANT.....SERPE NERA.

dom, which is also called Sennar, lies on the banks of the Nile, between Egypt and Abyssinia: it is five miles in circumference, and very populous, containing near a hundred thousand inhabitants.

SENSITIVE PLANT, a remarkable plant that shrinks at the touch. Naturalists have not explained the cause of the collapsing of the sensitive plant. The leaves meet and close in the night, or when exposed to much cold in the day-time, in the same manner as when they are affected by external violence; folding their upper surfaces together, and in part over each other, like scales or tiles, so as to expose as little of the upper surface as may be to the air. Another plant that seems to be endowed with a degree of sensation is the Sun-Flower, which follows the course of the sun by nutation, not by twisting its stem.....Darwin.

SERPE NERA, a snake common in Italy, which is so fond of milk as to make its way into the dairies, and even suck the cows; twining round their legs, and spunging their teats with such avidity as to draw blood when their milk is exhausted. Dr. Gabriel Anselmi, professor of anatomy at Turin, gives us the following account of a fact of this nature, of which he was an eye-witness." Walking, according to custom, (says he) one morning, on the road called the Park, bordered by pastures, containing a great number of sheep and horned cattle, I observed an old but vigorous cow, separate from the others, and lowing, with her head raised in the air, her ears erect, and shaking her tail. After going into a pond to drink, she came out, and waited on the brink for a black snake, which crept from among the bushes, and approaching her, entwined himself round her legs, and began to suck her milk. I observed this phenomenon two successive days without informing the herdsman. The third day I acquainted him with it, and he told me that for some time the cow had kicked at the approach of her calf, and that she could not, without difficulty, be compelled to suffer it to suck. We took away the snake, which we killed. On the succeeding day the cow, after having in vain. waited for her suckling, ran about the meadow in