S A R 
S A R 
about twenty miles, and afterwards turning east, enters the 
Apure. 
SARARE, a small river of Brazil, in the province of 
Matto-Grosso, which rises near the settlement of San 
Francisco Xavier of the Chiquitos Indians in Peru, and enters 
the Itenes. 
SARASIN (John Francis), was born in 1604, at Her 
manville, near Caen. In this place he was educated; he then 
came to Paris, where his wit, gallantry, and pleasing man¬ 
ners rendered him a general favourite. He became particu¬ 
larly attached to the Prince of Conde who appointed him 
his secretary. He resided a considerable time in Germany, 
and acquired the esteem of the princess Sophia, daughter of 
the king of Bohemia. A variety of works in prose and 
verse made him known in the literary world. He died in 
1654, and very soon after this event his works were pub- 
blished collectively by Menage, in 1656. The prose con¬ 
sists chiefly of “ A History of the Siege of Dunkirk, by the 
Prince of Conde;” “ The History of the Walstein Con¬ 
spiracy:” “ A Dialogue on Love:” and “Opinions on 
the Name and Game of Chess,” The poetical pieces con¬ 
sist of eclogues, elegies, sonnets, epigrams, and other short 
pieces. All his works are said to display facility and vi¬ 
vacity, with much delicacy of sentiment, but not under the 
discipline of a correct taste and judgment. 
SARASWATI, in Mythology, the name of the consort 
of the Hindoo deity Brahma. The Asiatic Miscellany, vol. 
i. and the last volume of the works of Sir Wm. Jones, con¬ 
tain a hymn by that elegant writer addressed to Saraswati. 
“ Sweet grace of Brahma’s bed; 
Whose sigh is music, and each tear a pearl.” 
From the argument prefixed to it w'e extract some pas¬ 
sages descriptive of this interesting subject of Eastern fable, 
and generally of its mythology. 
“ The Hindoo goddesses are uniformly represented as the 
subordinate powers of their respective lords: thus Lakshmi, 
the consort of Vishnu the preserver, is the goddess of abun¬ 
dance and prosperity; Bhavani, or Parvati, the wife of Siva, 
is the general power of fecundity; and Saraswati, whose 
husband is the creator Brahma, possesses the powers of 
imagination and invention, which may justly be termed 
creative. She is, therefore, adored as the patroness of the 
fine arts, especially of music and rhetoric; as the inventress 
of the Sanscrit language, and of the sciences which writing 
perpetuates; so that her attributes correspond with those of 
Minerva Musica, in Greece or Italy, who invented the flute, 
and presided over literature. In this character she is ad¬ 
dressed in the hymn; and particularly as the goddess of 
harmony, since the Indians usully paint her with a musical 
instrument in her hand. The seven notes, an artful combi¬ 
nation of which constitutes music, and variously effects the 
passions, are feigned to be her earliest production ; and the 
greatest part of the hymn exhibits a correct delineation of 
the Ragmala, or necklace of musical modes, which may be 
considered as the most pleasing invention of the ancient 
Hindoos, and the most beautiful union of painting with 
poetical mythology, and the genuine theory of music. 
SARATI, a river of South America, in the province of Pa¬ 
nama, the shores of which are cultivated and covered with 
estates. It enters the sea in the gulf of Panama, Lat.8.21. N. 
SARATOGA, a county of the United States, in New 
York, bounded north by Warren county, east by the Hud¬ 
son, which separates it from Washington and Rensselaer 
counties, south by Albany county, south-west by Schenec¬ 
tady county, and west by Hamilton and Montgomery coun¬ 
ties. It was erected into a county from Albany county, in 
1791. It is washed on the east by the Hudson, to an ex¬ 
tent of about 70 miles; and various smaller streams are so 
spread over the county, as to supply a profusion of sites for 
mills. The county of Saratoga, or certainly all that part 
lying south of Greenfield, is underlaid by a soft blue fetid 
clay, at various depths, surmounted by slatestone or lime¬ 
stone, and in some places by flint. Tracks of sandy loam, 
VOL. XXII. No. 1531. 
669 
resting on clay, or on stones of slate or lime, are of great 
extent; and a large portion of the southern half may be de¬ 
nominated a sandy plain, originally wooded with white, 
yellow, and pitch pine. There are considerable tracks of 
pebbly gravel, and of gravelly loam, but these are principally 
confined to the river lulls of the Hudson ; while the alluvial 
flats of the Hudson in this county are composed principally 
of clay or argillaceous mould. The northern part is con¬ 
siderably hilly, and some part mountainous, interspersed 
with valleys of alluvion, or marshes and bogs yielding dwarf 
shrubbery and sedge-grass. The agricultural products of 
this county are considerable. This county is noted for its 
excellent mineral springs, which are spread over a track of 
country about 12 miles in extent, and are known by different 
local names. The most noted are those of Saratoga, and 
Ballston, which are the most celebrated mineral waters in 
the United States. They are strongly impregnated with 
carbonic acid, and contain also carbonate of soda, muriate 
of soda, super-carbonated lime, and a carbonate of iron. 
They are much frequented during the warm months, by gay 
and fashionable people, as well as by invalids. Population 
33,347. Chief town Ballston. 
SARATOGA, a township and village of the United 
States, in Saratoga county. New York, on the west side of 
the Hudson. The village is large, handsome, and flourish¬ 
ing, and has a post-office, a Presbyterian church, and board¬ 
ing-houses, which afford excellent accommodations to the 
visitors who frequent the baths. Saratoga is memorable as 
the place where General Burgoyne surrendered the British 
army to General Gates, October ] 7th, 1777. 
SARATOV, a great province or government of Russia, 
situated partly in the south-east of Europe, partly in Asia. 
It lies along both sides of the Wolga, in the form of a 
triangle, having on the one side the country of the Don 
Cossacks, on the other that of Astracan. Though containing 
an area of 91,000 square miles, greater than that of England 
and Scotland together, its population is so thin, as not to 
exceed 1,000,000; a consequence of a barrenness of soil 
caused not by an unpropitious climate, but by a great part 
of the track to the east of the Wolga being so impregnated 
with salt, as to be, in many parts, unfit tor the growth of 
vegetables. Of the various salt lakes in this quarter, the 
most productive is that of Elton or Jelton. The exports 
from it are carried, it is said, into no less than 16 provinces. 
The country lying to the west of the Wolga is less level, but 
has no hills of great height. It is fitted partly for til lage, 
partly for pasturage. The great danger to its products is 
from the visitation of locusts, swarms of whom often appear 
in summer, and destroy in a few days the hopes of the hus¬ 
bandman. Attempts were made in the last century, by the 
Russian government, to improve particular spots of this 
province by German settlers. These colonists, and their 
descendants, form the chief merchants and manufacturers of 
the country; but their success has been very limited, and 
their numbers are inconsiderable, except at Sarepta, a Mo¬ 
ravian settlement near the banks of the Wolga. 
SARATOV, a town of European Russia, and the capital 
of the above government, stands on the Wolga. It is sur¬ 
rounded by a wall and ditch, is neatly built, with wide 
straight streets; but the houses are mostly of wood. It con¬ 
tains 5000 inhabitants, and has an active trade, which is 
promoted by the position of the place between Moscow and 
Astracan, and by the command of water carriage on the 
Wolga. The principal articles.of traffic not derived from 
these two cities are fish, caviar, and salt; 374 miles north- 
by-west of Astracan, and 465 south-east of Moscow. Lat. 
51. 31.28. N. long. 46.0. 15. E. 
SARATOVKA, a village of European Russia, on the 
Neva, between St. Petersburg and Schlusselburg, inhabited 
by a German colony, who send large quantities of butter, 
milk, garden herbs, and poultry, to the capital. 
SARAUT, a village of Aerat, in Persia; 66 miles south- 
south-east of Hamadan. 
SARAWAN, the most northerly division of Baloochistan, 
8 H SARAWAN, 
