554 S A I 
is nothing important connected with its history. St. Mawes 
has a small market on Friday ; 2| miles east-north-east of 
Falmouth. 
ST. MICHAEL’S, an island of the Atlantic, the largest of 
the group called the Azores. It is nearly 100 English miles 
in circumference, and contains one city, five principal 
towns, 54 parishes, and about 90,000 inhabitants. It is 
covered with mountains of various forms, and some of 
stupendous magnitude, produced apparently by volcanic 
eruptions. The more perfect are of conical form; but 
others are broken into precipices and crags of the most va¬ 
rious shapes. The volcanoes, however, of which this island 
bears so many vestiges, are no longer in action, and the in¬ 
habitants have for a century past enjoyed undisturbed tran¬ 
quillity. The only traces of them are those which break 
out occasionally from the bosom of the sea, producing small 
islands or rocks. The interior of the island presents many 
striking phenomena. In a beautiful valley inclosed by 
lofty mountains, are the Furnas, or warm baths, which, for 
their medicinal qualities, are a good deal resorted to by the 
inhabitants of the towns. In their vicinity is a remarkable 
phenomenon called the whirlpool, formed by a muddy 
lavatic substance, which rises in the centre of a clear stream, 
and whirling round with a quick rotatory motion, makes a 
vortex of such power, that it defies the resistance of any ani¬ 
mal that falls within its action. This valley is also traversed 
by a stream called the Red River, which issues from a 
mountain composed almost entirely of iron, with the ores of 
which the stream is so deeply impregnated, as to give it a 
deep red colour, communicated to all the stones over which it 
flows. In another partof-the island are situated the Caldei- 
ras, or boiling springs. The country round them forms a 
dreary waste of volcanic sand, without shade or shelter, in¬ 
tersected by deep ravines and yawning craters, whence suf¬ 
focating vapours issue. The Caldeiras consist of vast quan¬ 
tities of boiling water, rising from springs of various diame¬ 
ters, to a height nowhere exceeding twelve feet. The air is 
strongly impregnated with sulphur, and the surrounding 
atmosphere receives the burning vapour in the form of clouds, 
which exhibit a variety of eccentric figures and brilliant tints. 
The water is so hot as to boil an egg in two minutes; but 
it impregnates all vegetables with the sulphurous acid it con¬ 
tains, and thereby renders them unfit for food. The prin¬ 
cipal Caldeira makes a grand appearance ; the water is 
thrown out from several hundred valves, and rises and falls 
as if ejected through the spiracles of so many whales. At 
a small distance from the Caldeiras is the muddy crater, being 
a vast cavern filled with mineral and metallic substances, 
which are in a continual state of ebullition, and make a noise 
mightier than the waves of the sea. Here also are a number 
of hot and cold springs in the immediate vicinity of each other. 
The soil of St. Michael’s is of two descriptions; and that 
of the valleys and level tracks, which are naturally fertile, and 
well watered, yields abundant crops of wheat, maize, 
and beans. The other soil consists of lava, the greater part 
of which is hard and barren ; but the crevices and softened 
parts are fit for vine and orange trees, which succeed ex¬ 
tremely, and yield a greater return than any other produce. 
The oranges of St. Michael’s are particularly esteemed. The 
inhabitants are compelled by law to confine their trade to 
Lisbon; but since the emigration of the court to South 
America, this regulation has not been rigidly enforced ; and 
they maintain a considerable intercourse with England, Rus¬ 
sia, America, &c. From England they are entirely supplied 
with woollens, hardware, earthenware, and various other 
necessaries; sending in exchange about 70 vessels annually 
laden with fruit. To Portugal are sent corn, pulse, poultry, 
cattle, and vegetables, which are paid for in tobacco, sugar, 
coffee, trinkets, dispensations, indulgences, images and relics. 
From America they receive boards, staves, lumber, rice, fish, 
pitch, tar, iron in pots and bars, and a variety of Indian 
goods, which are paid for in wines. The intercourse with 
Russia is similar to that with America, but on a more con¬ 
tracted scale. A ready money trade is carried on with ves- 
S A I 
ssels, which resort to the island for refreshment, and are fur¬ 
nished with cattle and provisions, both excellent, and with 
wine. The whole trade of the island is carried on from 
Ponta del Gada, where there is a mole for the protection of 
small vessels; but those of burden are obliged to ride in an 
open roadstead, where it is often difficult to keep their 
station. 
ST. NICHOLAS, one of the Cape de Verd Islands, near 
the coast of Africa. It is about ten miles long, and three 
broad. It is high, rugged and mountainous; but in the 
interior of the island are some fertile valleys, which yield 
abundantly all the products of this climate. The inhabi¬ 
tants amount to about 6000. There are two good bays, one 
on the south-west, and the other on the north-west side of 
the island. The first is called Preguica bay, and is about 
seven miles from the east'end. At this place there is good 
landing ; and plenty of water may be had from a pond sup¬ 
plied by the mountains, but no other refreshments. The 
other bay is four leagues from the south-west end, and called 
St. George’s Bay. Here, and nowhere else on the island, 
cattle, poultry, fruit, and every article of refreshment, except 
good water, may be procured. 
ST. PATRICK ; the tutelary Saint of Ireland. In the 
article March, on the 17th of which month St. Patrick’s 
Day falls, we have mentioned the few particulars that are 
known concerning him. 
ST. PETER and St. Paul, a sea-port village, situated in 
the bay of Awatska, on the south-eastern coast of Kamtschatka, 
where there is a harbour, which, though small, is described 
by Captain King, as one of the most commodious he ever saw. 
Lat. 54. N. long. 158.43. E. 
SAINT-PIERRE (Charles-Irenee Castel de), a meritori¬ 
ous but singular writer on moral and political subjects, was 
born in 1658, of a noble family, at Saint-Pierre, in Nor¬ 
mandy. He studied in the college of Caen, where he con¬ 
tracted an intimacy with the geometrician Variguon, whom 
he took with him to Paris, settling upon him an annuity out 
of his own moderate patrimony. Saint-Pierre was brought 
up to the church, and by his family interest, obtained the 
place of first almoner to Madame, and an abbacy. No man, 
however, was less of a courtier, or more -moderate in his 
views of advancement; and his great passion was to instruct 
and improve mankind by his writings. These were exclu¬ 
sively of the useful kind, and wholly destitute of eloquence 
and amenity ; yet his speculations on philosophical gram¬ 
mar, opened to him the doors of the French academy, in 
1695. He acquired a fund of political knowledge, which 
caused the Cardinal de Polignac to carry him with him to 
the conferences for the peace of Utrecht. The work of 
peace-making was one, indeed, in which he could partici¬ 
pate with peculiar pleasure, for he was the determined enemy 
of war; and one of his favourite projects was the establish¬ 
ment of a kind of European diet which should ensure a per¬ 
petual peace. This plan he sent to Cardinal Fleury, who, 
though a pacific minister, was sufficiently aware of its prac¬ 
tical difficulties, and told the author that he had forgotten 
one preliminary article, which was, the delegation of a com¬ 
pany of missionaries, to dispose the hearts of the princes of 
Europe to submit to such a diet. Saint-Pierre was by cha¬ 
racter a projector, but all his schemes were turned to the 
promotion of the public good, though sometimes in whim¬ 
sical instances. Thus he proposed plans of rendering useful, 
sermons, dukes and peers, bad books, romances, and cate¬ 
chisms. In all his works, however, he shows himself the 
foe of tyranny, intolerance, and oppression of every kind, 
and pleads the cause of the people with an energy and free¬ 
dom that are highly honourable to his patriotism. He was 
one of the few in his time who saw clearly into the mischiefs 
of the splendid profusions and brilliant conquests of Louis 
XIV., and the only one who dared openly to express his 
sentiments. After the death of that monarch, he published 
a work, in which he treated his memory with so little re¬ 
spect, that the French Academy, which for so many years 
had been employed in heaping incense upon Louis, on the 
motion 
