413 



SAN GERMANO. 



SAN MARINO. 



414 



come to be designated, it* rapid extension in every direction, the 

 reckless hsbite and almost extravagant energy of the strangely diver- 

 sified population, are too familiar to need more than a word of 

 reference. Nor less well known are the terrible conflagrations which 

 have so often laid large portions of the city in ruins, to be however 

 restored with surprising rapidity to far more than its previous con- 

 dition, the opportunity afforded by every fire being; seized upon to 

 rebuild the destroyed places on a larger, more costly, and substantial 

 . ..!. 



The magnificent bay of San Francisco, on which the city stands is 

 described under CALIFORNIA. The city is built on the western side 

 of the bay, at the extremity of the peninsula, which forms the southern 

 side of the entrance to the bay. It occupies an inclined plane of 

 about half a mile in extent from the hills in the rear of the city. 

 The bouse* have been carried far up these hills, and a shallow portion 

 of the bay lying^etween two projecting points of land in front of the 

 city, has been filled up and built upon. The city is regularly laid 

 out, with broad streets intersecting at right angles, and squares at 

 convenient distances. The streets are now tolerably well paved, and 

 many of them are laid with planks ; well lighted, and watched ; and 

 arrangements have been made for their sanitary supervision. Several 

 of the public buildings and churches are comparable with those in 

 most of the cities of the United States, but the city Is still so entirely 

 in a transition state, that the most accurate account of to-day would 

 be inapplicable a few months hence. Besides the churches there are 

 several schools, general and marine hospitals, and numerous benevolent 

 institutions. The warehouse*, stores, and shops are on a capacious 

 scale, and abound with every variety of articles of necessity and 

 luxury. The hotels are among the most noticeable features of the 

 place as it now is, and some of them are carried on in a very costly 

 manner. There are also numerous eating and drinking saloons, 

 theatres, concert-rooms, lyceums, and other places of amusement or 

 dissipation, including not a few gaming-houses of various grades. The 

 manufactures of the city arc comparatively inconsiderable. 



The commercial facilities of San Francisco are very great The 

 bay, which is 8 miles wide, affords excellent anchorage, and is the 

 natural outlet, not only for the almott unparalleled mineral riches of 

 California, but of a district the extreme fertility of which has as yet 

 hardly begun to be developed. The city fronting the bay is now 

 lined with wharfs and quays, and vessels of great burden can lie along- 

 side to land and take in their cargoes. Steamers are in regular and 

 constant communication with New York and the Atlantic ports, and 

 with the ports of Central America. The character and extent of 

 the commerce of San Francisco have been given pretty fully under 

 CALI roBSi A, and it is needless to repeat the details here. In the yean 

 subsequent to that there given, there has been a considerable, though 

 fluctuating, increase in the number and tonnage of vessels arriving 

 and departing at San Francisco, but the returns are informal and 

 incomplete. The annual clearance* of shipping from the port at 

 present, average about 500,000 tons ; the entrances somewhat less. 

 The amount of gold dust annually shipped from San Francisco exceeds 

 in value (0,000,000 dollars." Up to the close of 1853 there bad been 

 deposited at the United States mint and branches, gold from California 

 amounting to 207,816,177 dollars, nearly all of which had passed 

 through San Francisco ; besides which a very large quantity has been 

 received hi this country and elsewhere direct from San Francisco. 

 Coal is found near the city ; and there are quarries of good limestone. 

 Eight or ten daily and several weekly newspapers are published in 

 the city. 



8AN-OERMANO. [LATOBO, TERRA DL] 

 SAN JOAO DEL RET. [BRAZIL.] 

 SAN JOAQUIN. [CALIFORNIA.] 

 SAN JOSE. [CALIFORNIA.] 



SAN JUAN DE LA FRONTERA, one of the province* of the 

 Argentine Confederation, South America, extends between 80* 80' and 

 r 8. lat ; T W and 70* 2V W. long. It is bounded S. by the 

 province of Mendoza ; E. by that of San Luis ; N. by La Rioja ; and 

 W. by the republic of Chili. The area is about 40,000 square miles : 

 thepopulation is estimated at from 22,000 to 25,000. 



The province lies to the north of MENDOZA, which it resemble* in it* 

 general character and production*. The surface of the country is 

 described generally under AmoENTTNi Coxrr.Dr.RATiON. Extending 

 along the eastern declivity of the Andes, San Juan comprehends the 

 northern part of the Vale of Uspallata and a Urge portion of the 

 plain which separate* the Paramilla range from the mountains of 

 Cordova, and contains the Lakes of Onanacache. The Vale of Uspal- 

 lata is barren and nearly uncultivated. The soil of the plain consists 

 of sand, and is without grass, but covered with stunted prickly trees 

 of the mimosa kind. It is quite barren, and produces no kind of grain 

 or vegetable*, except where it is irrigated by the sweet water of the 

 Rio de San Juan and some of its minor affluent*. This irrigation 

 renders the land exceedingly fertile ; without any other manure, they 

 produce most plentiful crops of wheat and maiae. The ordinary 

 orop* of wheat are fifty for one, in better lands eighty or a hundred 

 ,'nl at Augaco, about 5 league* north of the city of San Juan, 

 they have been two hundred and even two hundred and forty. The 

 distance from a market and the difficulties attendant on the transport 

 of heavy goods through desert plains, greatly diminish the value of 



this fertility. But as fruit-trees, especially vines, succeed very well 

 in this soil, wines and brandies are exported to a considerable amount. 

 In the northern district, called Jachal, there are some gold-mines, 

 whose produce is however not very great. Like the other provinces 

 of the Argentine Confederation San Juan is a federal state, owning 

 little dependence on the central government. The executive power 

 is vested in a governor, elected by the junta, or provincial assembly. 



San Juan, the capital of the province, is situated on the Rio de San 

 Juan, in 31 4' S. lat, 68 57' W. long. : population about 7000. It 

 contains the government house and other public buildings, and has 

 considerable commerce, being the mart whence the wines and brandies 

 of the province are exported, and from which foreign goods are dis- 

 tributed to the interior. In 1833 the city was nearly destroyed by an 

 inundation of the Rio de San Juan, by which three churches and 

 several other public buildings, with numerous private houses, were 

 thrown down, and many of the inhabitants lost their lives. 



SAN JUAN DE LOS REMEDIOS. [CUBA.] 



SAN JUAN DEL RIO. [MEXICO.] 



SAN JUAN DEL SUR. [NICARAGUA.] 



SAN LORENZO DE LA FRONTERA. [BOLIVIA,] 



SAN LUCIA. [JAMAICA.! 



SAN LUIS DE LA PUNTA, one of the provinces of the Argentine 

 Confederation, South America, extends between 31 and 35 S. lat., 

 64" and 67 3V W. long. It is bounded S. by the province of Buenos 

 Ayres, E. by Cordova, N. by La Rioja, N.W. by San Juan, and S.W. 

 by Mendoza. The area is about 36,000 square miles. The population 

 is about 20,000. 



The country included within this province is described under 

 ARGENTINE CONFEDERATION. It comprehends that immense tract of 

 country which extends between tho provinces of Mendoza on the west 

 and Cordova on the east Its north-western part runs northward to 

 the border of the Great Salina, and it reaches southward to the country 

 of the Ranqurles Indians, but now claimed by the province of Buenos 

 Ayres. No part of it possesses any considerable degree of fertility. 

 The greatest number of the widely-separated and isolated settlements, 

 consisting mostly of estaucias, or cattle-farms, occur along the road 

 leading from Buenos Ayres to Mendoza, in the hilly country, where 

 tract* of grassy land alternate with ridges of hills and sandy deserts 

 overgrown with mimo-as. As the grass is coarse and long, the pastures 

 are indifferent ; still cattle, horses, mules, and sheep are abundant, 

 and are exported to a smsll amount, together with some wool. The 

 corn and maize which are raised are not sufficient for the consumption 

 of the scanty and widely-Mattered population. The country between 

 the Sierra de Cordova on one side, and Mendoza and San Juan on the 

 other, is still worse. As no fresh-water stream runs through it, it 

 cannot be irrigated ; and, with the exception of a few spots, is a 

 complete desert The climate is dry and hot ; rain seldom foils. The 

 gold-mine* of La Carolina, about 60 mile* X. from the city of San Luis, 

 have ceased to be worked ; but the people of the village sift the alluvial 

 soil at certain places in the neighbourhood, and collect annually a 

 small quantity of gold in dust and small lump* (pepitas). Like the 

 other provinces of the Argentine Confederation, San Luis is a federal 

 state ; the executive power being vested in a governor elected by the 

 junta, or provincial assembly, but for many years there has been no 

 really effective government 



-San Lmt de la Punta, the capital of tho province, is pleasantly 

 situated on the western slope of a hill, 2417 feet above the level of the 

 sea, in 88 17' S. lat, 65 46' W. long. ; but it is merely a straggling 

 village-like collection of mud-hut*, and does not contain more than 

 1500 inhabitant*. There is no other place in the province above the 

 rank of a hamlet. 



SAN-MARINO, or SAMMARINO, is a small republic in Italy, 

 consisting chiefly of a steep mountain with it* offsets and valleys, 

 covering an area of about 21 square miles. It is situated within the 

 papal province of Urbino, and about 1 miles from the Adriatic. The 

 population amount* to about 7600. The town of San Marino stands 

 on the upper part of the mountain, the summit of which is crowned 

 by an old castle with three towers, on which the standard of the 

 republic waves. The town is ill built and ill paved ; the streets are 

 steep, and only practicable for mules and donkeys. The square before 

 the town-house is large, and commands a fine view of the neighbouring 

 Apennines. The church of the Capuchins contains a fine painting 

 representing the Descent from the Cross. Outside of the town is 

 11 Borgo, a suburb. The other towns, or rather villages, which give 

 names to commune* are Serravalle, Montegiardino, and Faetano. 

 The inhabitants have cultivated every slip of ground that can be made 

 productive ; they make some very good wine, some oil, and rear silk- 

 worms, the produce of which constitutes an article of trade. They 

 have also some good cattle. They import corn from the neighbouring 

 Papal State. 



Marinus, a holy hermit from Dalmatia, is said to have retired to this 

 mountain in the 4th century ; after hia death a church was raised to 

 his memory, and a village grew up round the spot In the 10th 

 century it became a walled town by the name of ' Plebs Santi Marini 

 cum Castello.' It seems to have governed itself as an independent 

 municipality. During the wars of the Uuelphs and Ghibelincs, the 

 people of San Marino took the part of the latter. About the year 

 1291, the commune of San Marino being summoned to jmy certain 



