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SENECA SENNEFELDER. 



SENECA OR GENESEE OIL. See Bitumen. 



SENECA INDIANS ; one of the Six Nations 

 formerly inhabiting the state of New York. There 

 are reservations still owned and occupied by thein 

 on Cataraugus creek and Buffalo creek, and a few 

 reside in Ohio. Their numbers may equal 1500. 

 See Iroquois. 



SENECA ROOT. The polygala senega has a 

 woody, branched, contorted root, about half an inch 

 in diameter, and covered with ash-coloured bark. 

 It is inodorous. The taste is at first sweetish and 

 nauseous, but, after being chewed for a moment, 

 Incomes pungent and hot, producing a very peculiar 

 tingling sensation in the fauces. Medically, it is 

 considered stimulating, expectorant, and diuretic, 

 and, in large doses, emetic and cathartic. It has 

 been celebrated as a cure for the bite of the rattle- 

 snake, and, on a basis equally destitute of founda- 

 tion, has been cried up as a remedy in pulmonary 

 complaints. In certain stages of these complaints, 

 however, it is not entirely destitute of utility. 

 The plant grows to the height of about a foot, pro- 

 ducing several herbaceous stems from the same root. 

 The leaves are alternate, entire, oval-lanceolate, 

 smooth and sessile. The flowers are small, white, 

 disposed in a slender, terminal raceme, and some- 

 what resemble in form the blossoms of a pea. 



SENEGAL ; a river of Africa, the largest that 

 flows into the sea on the western coast. It rises 

 in a mountainous country, about Ion. 7 W., lat. 

 11 50' N., about eighty miles west of the source 

 of the Niger, and not much farther distant from the 

 sources of the Gambia. It flows into the Atlantic 

 in lat. 16 5' N., having a bar at its mouth, which 

 prevents ships of 500 tons from entering the river. 

 The country through which the river flows, from 

 the coast to about sixty miles above Gallam, is a 

 level. Above Gallam, the country becomes moun- 

 tainous and broken, intersected with numerous 

 streams, the sands of which are impregnated with 

 gold dust. Sixty miles above Gallam is the catar- 

 act of Flau, which forms the limit of European 

 navigation ; and about forty higher is that of 

 Govinea. A great abundance of fish, with croco- 

 diles and hippopotamuses, are found in the river. 



The government of Senegal is the French settle- 

 ment at the mouth of the Senegal, formed in the 

 reign of Louis XIV. The principal article of com- 

 merce is gum, called gum Senegal, superior to the 

 gum Arabic. The quantity purchased by the 

 French, from 1785 to 1787, amounted to 800,000 

 pounds. Besides gum, there were exported from the 

 Senegal, in 1786, 2200 slaves, valued at 2,440,000 

 livres ; gold, valued at 90,000 livres; ivory, &c., 

 130,000 livres. St Louis is the capital of the set- 

 tlement. The great gum fair is on a barren, deso- 

 late spot on the river, about thirty leagues above 

 St Louis. 



SENEGAMBIA ; the name applied to an exten- 

 sive region on the western coast of Africa, lying 

 chiefly between the Senegal and Gambia, in which 

 are included many kingdoms and states. Among 

 the principal nations are the Foulahs, the Jaloffs or 

 Yaloffs, and the Mandingoes. Upper Senegambia, 

 to the north of the Senegal, is inhabited by Moors, 

 who carry on an extensive trade in gum with Euro- 

 peans Middle Senegambia, between the Senegal 

 and the Gambia, is inhabited by the negro tribes 

 above mentioned, who practise agriculture, and 

 have some manufactures. The soil is fruitful, and 

 produces grain of all sorts, fine fruits, cotton, indi- 

 go, tobacco, pepper, &c. Elephants, lions, rhino- 



ceroses, hippopotamuses, antelopes, and varioua 

 other wild animals, are found here Lower Sene- 

 gambia, to the south of the Gambia, has a similar 

 soil, climate, and productions. 



SENESCHAL (seneschallus) ; originally a stew- 

 ard or major-domo, whose duty it was to superin- 

 tend the affairs of his lord's household ; whence 

 the name, from senne (house), and schalk (servant). 

 (See Steward.) In France, the senechausste was 

 the jurisdiction of a seneschal, as, in the course of 

 time, that officer came to be invested with judicial 

 functions, and the leader of the nobility within a 

 certain district. The royal seneschal was called 

 grand seneschal, in contradistinction to the sene- 

 schals of the feudal princes, the dukes of Normandy, 

 Brittany, Guienne, Burgundy, &c. 



SENN is the name given to the cowherds, in 

 Switzerland, who drive the cattle high into the 

 Alps, and remain with them during the whole 

 summer. These herdsmen sell the milk on their 

 own account, paying over a certain sum to the 

 owners of the cows The herd is called senne. 



SENNA AR; a negro kingdom in Africa, which 

 is generally considered as a part of Nubia, lying 

 between the Nile and the Tacazze, and comprising 

 the isle of Meroe. To the north, it borders on 

 Turkish Nubia ; to the east, on mountains which 

 separate it from the coast of the Red sea; to the 

 south, on Abyssinia; and to the west, on Nigritia, 

 or Soudan. It is separated from Darfour by Kor- 

 dofan; lat. 14 17 N., Ion. 31 39 E. The 

 soil is, for the most part, level, in some parts bar- 

 ren, but, on the Nile and the Tacazze, fruitful and 

 well cultivated. Among the animals are camels, 

 sheep, cattle, swine, and the African wild animals. 

 Rice, grain, melons, tobacco, sugar, senna leaves, 

 ebony, and sandal wood, and palms, are among its 

 productions. The climate is warm; in summer, 

 insufferably hot. The rains which follow the hot 

 weather, render the air unhealthy. The inhabitants 

 are negroes, who bear the name of Shillooks, and 

 conquered the country from the Arabs in 1504. 

 They are rude, ignorant Mohammedans, governed 

 by an absolute despotism. Besides the Shillooks, 

 there are also nomadic Arabs, and Bedouins, who 

 are tributary, and the Daheras, or heathen Nubians, 

 who have been purchased, or carried off from the 

 neighbouring countries. The Daheras form the 

 main strength of the military establishment of Sen- 

 naar. 14,000 of them, armed with spears and 

 shields, guard the capital, with 18,000 Shillooks on 

 horseback. The manufactures of Sennaar are in- 

 considerable ; but the commerce carried on, by 

 caravans, to Suakem, Jedda, Mecca, Abyssinia, 

 Nigritia, and Egypt, is extensive. The country 

 has been little visited by Europeans, and is but im- 

 perfectly known. Cailliaud Voyage a Meroe, &fc. 

 (1824) and English Expedition to Dongola and 

 Sennaar are among the most recent travellers who 

 have given accounts of it. The capital, Sennaar, 

 on the Nile, has about 16,000 inhabitants. The 

 houses are poorly built, with flat roofs. The royal 

 palace is constructed of mud, and is surrounded 

 with a high brick wall. 



SENNE is a large heath in Westphalia, extend- 

 ing from Paderborn to Miinster and Osnabriick. In 

 that part of it which belongs to Lippe is the senne- 

 stud, where wild horses are made fit for service. 



SENNEFELDER, ALOYS, the inventor of litho- 

 graphy, born in 1771, was the son of a performer 

 at the theatre royal of Munich, and was placed, for 

 education, in the university of Ingoldstadt, as a 



