SAGUENAY SAINTS. 



71 



strainer: it is then held over a trough, and, water 

 being poured in, the pith is washed through the 

 cloth into the trough below: the water being then 

 drawn off, the sago is taken out and dried for use 

 or transportation. It is highly esteemed as an 

 article of food. The preparation of sago, under 

 different forms, constitutes a principal source of 

 employment to the inhabitants of many parts of 

 the coast of Malabar, and of several of the East 

 India islands. Sago is granulated in a manner 

 somewhat similar to that adopted in the prepara- 

 tion of tapioca (see Manioc'), and in this state 

 enters into commerce. 



SAGUENAY; a river of Canada, which flows 

 into the St Lawrence in lat. 48 N., Ion. 69 C 40' 

 W. Its course is south-east. At its mouth it is 

 about a mile wide, but higher up it has two or three 

 times that breadth, and is deep enough for the 

 largest ships. Its length is about 350 miles, and 

 the tide flows up about seventy miles. Its current 

 is remarkably rapid. The harbour of Tadousac, at 

 its mouth, is sufficient to contain twenty-five ships 

 of the line, affords good anchorage, and is well 

 protected. 



SAGUNTUM; a celebrated city in Hispania 

 Tarraconensis, near the river Turius (Murviedro). 

 It was in alliance with Rome, and therefore attack- 

 ed by Hannibal, 219 years B. C., and conquered 

 after an obstinate siege ; upon which the second 

 Punic war commenced. The city of Murviedro 

 (Muri veteres) now stands upon the same spot. In 

 the war between Spain and France, the army of 

 Valentia, under Blake, was defeated here by Suchet, 

 October 25, 1811; in consequence of which the 

 fort of Saguntum capitulated. 



SAHARA, ZAAR A, OR THE GREAT DESERT; 

 an immense tract of territory situated between the 

 states of Barbary and the countries watered by the 

 Niger, between 'lat. 16 and 30 N., and Ion. 29. 

 E. and 16 W. ; superficial area, 1,800,000 square 

 miles. In its greatest length, it extends nearly 

 across Africa, from the Atlantic to the Nile, 45 de- 

 grees of longitude, or about 3000 miles : its breadth 

 is about 15 degrees, or 1000 miles. But the name 

 is usually limited to the main body of the desert, 

 which lies to the west of Fezzan and Cassina, ex- 

 tending through about thirty degrees of longitude. 

 It is the largest desert on the globe. A great part 

 of the surface consists of a dead level. In some 

 parts it. is covered with small sharp stones ; in some 

 places the surface is diversified by ravines, rocks, 

 and eminences covered with shrubs ; other parts are 

 composed of moving sand, which, when blown by 

 the wind, sometimes produces the most terrible 

 effects, and whole caravans have been found buried 

 beneath it. This vast tract is occasionally diversi- 

 fied by oases, in which a supply of water affords 

 support to a certain number of inhabitants, or, in 

 some, merely furnishes springs, for the refreshment 

 of travellers. These places are inhabited by noma- 

 dic Arabs. Lions, panthers, enormous serpents, 

 ostriches, and gazelles are found here. This desert 

 is traversed, for purposes of commerce, by means of 

 the camel, by caravans sometimes consisting of 2000 

 persons. (See Africa.') These caravans convey 

 from Northern Africa salt, cloths, and various kinds 

 of European goods, receiving in return, gold, ivory, 

 and slaves. The coast of Sahara, extending along 

 the desert, is, for the most part, rocky, dangerous, 

 and destitute of harbours. Denham, Clapperton, 

 and Caillie, are among the latest travellers who 

 \vlio have crossed this desert. 



SAIGON ; a city of Cochin-Chiria, on the Dong- 

 nay, 56 miles from its mouth, in lat. 10 50 N.. 

 Ion. 106 42' E., with a population of 150,000 souls, 

 of whom 10,000 are Chinese. The largest vessels 

 can ascend the river to Saigon, which has a safe and 

 convenient harbour. The streets are regular, but 

 filthy, and the houses are generally low, of wood, 

 and thatched with straw. The citadel, which con- 

 tains the royal palace and barracks, is situated on 

 an elevation sixty feet above the river, and is 

 strongly fortified. Mr White, who visited it in 

 1819, saw 250 pieces of cannon here. There are 

 also, an extensive naval arsenal, a cannon foundery, 

 with a great number of temples, several pagodas, 

 and a Christian church in Saigon. Previously to 

 1800, the commerce was monopolized by the Por- 

 tuguese ; but other European nations, the Chinese, 

 and Americans, have since engaged in it. Rice, 

 betel nut, sugar, pepper, cinnamon, silk, cotton, 

 ivory, gold, and silver, are the chief articles of 

 export. See Cochin-China. 



SAIL. See Ship. 



SAILING. See Navigation. 



SAINT. Names of persons and places beginning 

 with this prefix, and not given here, will be found un- 

 der the head of the word following it. 



SAINTS (from the Latin sanctus, holy), in its 

 widest sense is used by Catholics and Protestants 

 to signify the pious, who in this world strictly obey 

 the commands of God,or enjoy, in the eternal world, 

 that bliss which is the reward of such a life on 

 earth. In a narrower and more usual sense, the 

 word saint signifies certain individuals whose lives 

 were deemed so eminently pious, that the Greek 

 and Roman Catholic churches have authorized the 

 rendering of public worship to them : these two 

 churches, however, by no means acknowledge, in 

 all cases, the same saints. The doctrine of saints, 

 and the ideas and usages which grew out of it ; 

 their worship and invocation ; the power which 

 they are considered to possess of interceding for 

 men with God, and of working miracles ; their pe- 

 culiar patronage of particular individuals, &c., 

 form one of the main points of difference between 

 the Protestants and the adherents of the above men- 

 tioned churches. The Dictionnaire de TMologie, 

 (Toulouse, 1817,) a work exhibiting the Catholic 

 faith, and defending it against Protestantism, speaks 

 in the following manner of saints in the narrower 

 sense of the word : " The name of saint is given to 

 a person who is not only much attached to the wor- 

 ship of the true God, but who is exempt from every 

 considerable vice, and who practises the Christian 

 virtues in an exalted degree ; and as the bliss of 

 heaven is the certain reward of such a life, we often 

 understand by saints those who enjoy eternal feli- 

 city. When the church is convinced that an indi- 

 vidual has led such a holy and pure life, when God 

 has deigned to attest it by miracles, it places him 

 among the number of saints by a decree of canoniz- 

 ation, and authorises the faithful to render him 

 public worship. (See Canonization.') The church, 

 however, does not intend to intimate thereby that 

 such an individual has been exempt from every 

 weakness of humanity, and that he has never sinned ; 

 human frailty does not admit of this perfection." 



The article from which this definition is taken, 

 treats the worship and invocation of saints, and their 

 intercession, as something essential to the Catholic 

 faith ; while there are other Catholic writers who 

 explicitly say, that the church has made the wor 

 ship of saints, not a matter of dootrine, but simply 



