6 
S E G 
Segmenta were likewise a kind of tessellated or Mosaic 
lavements, made up of pieces of various shapes and colours, 
iut which had an uniform and regular arrangement. 
SEGMOIDAL VALVES, are the little valves of the 
pulmonary artery. 
SEGNI (Bernardo), an early Italian historian and man of 
letters, was born at Florence, about the close of the 15th 
century. He was educated at Padua, where he pursued with 
great assiduity the study of the Latin and Greek languages. 
He then engaged in legal pursuits, which were interrupted by 
a commission from his father to manage some commercial 
business at Aquila. Returning to Florence, he was employed 
in public affairs by the republic, and by duke Cosmo, who 
in 1541 sent him on an embassy to Ferdinand, king of the 
Romans. He was, in 1542, appointed consul of the 
university of Florence, then in very high reputation. He 
wrote a history of Florence from the year 1527 to 1555, 
which in every respect is considered as one of the best 
productions of the age. It was seen by no one during his 
life, and was not printed till the year 1713, when it appeared, 
together with a lile of Niccolo Capponi, gonfalonier of 
Florence, Segni’s uncle. This writer likewise translated into 
the Italian language several treatises of Aristotle, which 
were printed at Florence in 1549-50. He died in 1559. 
SEGNI, a town of the Ecclesiastical States, in the Cam- 
pagna di Roma, situated on a hill of the same name. It is 
the see of a bishop, and has a handsome cathedral. It is said 
that organs were first invented in this town ; 25 miles south¬ 
east of Rome. 
SE'GNITY, or Se'gnitude, s. [ segttitas , Latin.] 
Sluggishness; inactivity. 
SEGNONE, a lofty mountain of the Alps, in the north of 
Austrian Italy, near the lake of Como; 9200 feet above the 
level of the sea. 
SEGO, a large city, capital of the kingdom of Bambarra, 
in Central Africa. For our knowledge of its existence, and 
for the description of it, we are chiefly indebted to Mr. Park, 
the celebrated traveller. It was here that he first came in 
view of the Niger, the object of his most anxious inquiry, 
and which flows through the middle of the city, dividing it 
into two parts. He found it flowing majestically to the 
eastward, as broad as the Thames at Westminster. This city 
is divided into four distinct towns, two of which are on the 
northern, and two on the southern bank. The former are 
called Sego Korro and Sego Boo, the latter Sego Soo Korro, 
and Sego See Korro. The last of these contains the resi¬ 
dence of the sovereign. These towns are surrounded with high 
mud walls; the houses are built of clay, of a square form, 
with flat roofs; some of them have two stories, and many 
of them are white-washed. Moorish mosques also are spen 
in every quarter; and the streets, though narrow, are as 
broad as can serve any useful purpose in a country where 
wheel carriages are entirely unknown. According to the 
best information Mr. Park was able to collect, Sego may 
contain altogether about 30,000 inhabitants. There is a 
constant thoroughfare of boats upon the river, the boatmen 
employed upon which are slaves to the king, who exacts a 
share of their profits, and derives thence a considerable 
revenue, though the charge of passage is only ten cowries to 
each individual. The canoes are singularly constructed, 
being each formed of the trunks of two large trees, rendered 
concave, and joined together, not side bv side, but endways, 
the junction being exactly across the middle of the canoe: 
they are therefore very long, and disproportionably narrow, 
and have neither decks nor masts; they are, however very 
roomy; and Mr. Park observed in one of them four horses 
and several people crossing the river. The view of this ex¬ 
tensive city, the numerous canoes upon the Niger, and the 
cultivated state of the country, formed altogether a splendid 
prospect of civilization and, magnificence. Though the 
sovereign be a negro, the Moors are numerous and powerful, 
and very hostile to Europeans. It was supposed to be 
through their influence, that the king, on learning the arrival 
of Mr. Park in Sego, sent him 5000 cowries, desiring him to 
leave the city and its vicinity. On Mr. Park’s second 
S E G 
journey, he was not allowed to enter Sego at all, but was 
permitted to equip his vessel at Sansanding. Lat. 14. 10. N. 
long. 2. 30. W. 
SEGONET, a large town of the province of Samen, in 
Abyssinia. 
SEGONZAC, a small town in the south-west of France, 
department of the Charente ; 6 miles south-east of Cognac, 
and 15 west of Angouleme. Population 2500. 
SEGORBE, a town in the east of Spain, in Valencia, on 
the river Murviedro, which takes here the name of Segorbe. 
It stands in a very pleasant spot, in a fertile valley, is sur¬ 
rounded by gardens, and a number of squares, churches 
and fountains. It is a bishop’s see, founded in the sixth 
century. Its cathedral has some good paintings; but the 
best are to be found in the church of the nunnery, which is 
also the most elegant building in the town. The population, 
about 15,000, are partly employed in the manulacture of 
paper, starch and pottery. The chief natural curiosity in 
this quarter is a fountain near the town, so copious as to 
turn two mill wheels at its source. Segorbe does not appear 
to be the same with the ancient Segobria, or Saltibera ; it lies 
34 miles north-west of Valencia. 
SEGOVIA, an inland province of Spain, in Old Castile, 
lying between the provinces of Madrid and Valladolid. 
Its territorial extent is 3650 square miles; its population 
171,000. Being intersected by the mountain ranges of the 
Sierra de Guadarama and de Ayllon, it lies in general high. 
The soil is in many parts sandy or stony, though in some 
places there are rich tracks well watered, and of considerable 
fertility. The rivers are the Ebro, the Eresma, the Xarama, 
and the Duraton The climate in the plains is mild ; in the 
hills it is less so, but even there the sky is generally clear, 
and the air healthy. The principal products are corn, wane, 
hemp and flax. In the mountains are found copper, iron, 
antimony, also marble and porcelain earth. Sheep, how¬ 
ever, form the staple commodity, and wool is the principal 
article of export. The manufactures are of little account, the 
chief being that of wool in the town of Segovia. 
SEGOVIA, a considerable town in the interior of Spain, 
in Old Castile, situated on a rocky eminence, between two 
deep valleys. Its form is commonly compared to that of a ship 
with the stern towards the east. One of the valleys is watered 
by the river Eresma, the other by a brook. Segovia being 
a place of antiquity, is surrounded with a wall in the 
Moorish style, crowned at intervals with turrets ; its circum¬ 
ference, owing to its oblong form, is between 3 and 4 miles, 
but the inhabitants do not at present exceed 10,000. The 
streets are narrow, crooked, and in several parts steep: the 
suburbs are built on more even ground. 
Segovia is the chief place of a province, and the see of a 
bishop. It contains a number of convents and churches, 
of which the most remarkable is the cathedral, a large pile, 
partly Grecian, partly Gothic, erected in the loth century. 
Among the other ecclesiastical buildings are the convent of 
the Carmelites, and that of the Capuchins, with a subter¬ 
raneous chapel. The Alcazar or ancient palace is a Moorish 
building ; the apartments are incrusted with mosaic and 
other ornaments, which are still in the best preservation. It 
contains the statues of the princes who reigned in Asturias, 
Leon, and Castile, from the 8th to the 16th century, and 
serves occasionally for the confinement of state prisoners. 
But the most remarkable monument of Segovia is the aque¬ 
duct, a Roman work of great boldness and grandeur. It is 
built of freestone without cement; begins about 50 paces 
from the town, and after extending in a direction at first 
from north to south, afterwards from east to west, and dis¬ 
tributing a copious supply of water to every part of the town, 
it terminates at the Alcazar. It contains in all 159 arches, 
supported on pillars, some of which are 80 feet in height. 
Segovia, situated in the midst of the finest sheep pastures, 
has long been noted for its woollen manufactures. The 
quantity of cloth made at present is about 4000 pieces, 
coarse and fine, and it probably never was greater. The 
farther branches of industry are dyeing and the making of 
pottery, paper and lead. The town contains several hos¬ 
pital* 
