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vented from seizing upon the persons of their debtors, as 
had been customary before that time. 
The word signifies the shaking off a burden. 
SEISDON, a hamlet of England, in Staffordshire, in the 
neighbourhood of which, on a lofty round promontory, 
stand the remains of an ancient fortification, called Apewood 
castle; 6 miles from Wolverhampton. 
SEISIN, Seisina, in Law, signifies possession. In this 
sense we say, primer seisin, for the first possession, &c. 
Seisin is two-fold: seisin in fact, and seisin in law. The 
former is when an actual and corporal possession is taken : 
and the latter, when something is done, which the law ac¬ 
counted a seisin, as an enrolment. 
SEISINA habendo, quia rex habuit annum, diem ct vas- 
turn, a writ that lies delivery of seisin to the lord of lands or 
tenements, after the king, in right of his prerogative, hath 
had the year, day and waste, on a felony committed. 
SE1SSENBERG, a small town of Austrian Illyria, in 
Lower Carniola ; 18 miles south-south-east of Laybach. 
SEISSENSTETTEN, a small town of Lower Austria, on 
the river Urla, with 1400 inhabitants; 49 miles west-by¬ 
south of St. Polten. 
SEISSEN, a town of Saxony, in the circle of Erzgebirg; 
18 miles south-south-east of Freyberg. Lat. 50. 35. N. long. 
13. 27. E. 
SEISTAN, or Segestan, an extensive province in the 
east of Persia, lying between Candahar and Korassan on the 
north, Mekran and Balouchistan on the south; about 300 
miles in length, and 160 in breadth. It formed anciently 
part of Ariana, and the country of the Sarangeans, and even 
in modern times was once flourishing, and rivalled in pros¬ 
perity the finest provinces of the empire. It was the coun¬ 
try of Jumsheid and Rustom, the heroes of the Shah Nama, 
or great Persian epic, and of Jacob Ben Leth, the conqueror 
of the caliph of Bagdad. In course of time, however, the 
winds which blow from the great moving sands of Mekran 
and Balouchistan, have covered all its fertile plains, and 
reduced it almost to a state of entire desolation. Its remnant 
of fertility is alone derived from the river Heermund, which, 
rising in the mountains of Cabul, traverses a great part of it 
from east to west, and falls into the lake of Durrah or Zareng. 
The only recent account of this region is from Captain Chris¬ 
tie, who in 1810 traversed it on his route from Balouchistan 
to Herat. Unless on the banks of the Heermund, the coun¬ 
try was little better than a desert, intersected by sand hills; 
water, however, being never wanting for a greater space than 
25 miles. In the way from Nooshky,. he did not see a 
single town or even village; and the only inhabitants of 
this solitary wild were a few Balouche and Patan shepherds, 
who lived in tents pitched, in the vicinity of the springs. 
The banks of the Heermund, however, consist of a valley, 
varying from one to two miles in breadth ; while the desert 
on each side rises in perpendicular cliffs. This valley is 
irrigated by the waters of the river, and covered with verdure 
and brush-wood. Along this valley are found an astonish¬ 
ing number of ruined towns, villages and forts, and at one 
of these, Kulcauput, a uoble palace in a tolerable state of 
preservation. The remains of a city named Poolkee, are 
described as. immense. The modern capital is Dooshah. 
forming a small and compact town, in the neighbourhood 
of which are immense ruins, situated in lat. 31. 8. N. long. 
63. 10. E., about eight or nine miles from the river. The 
western part of Seistan, to which the waters of the Heer¬ 
mund do not reach, consists of a vast and arid plain, inter¬ 
sected with one or two ranges of mountains, in the midst of 
which is situated the city of Kubbees. There is a path 
through it, by which couriers can go from Kerman to He¬ 
rat in eighteen days; but the risk of perishing is so great, 
that a person of that description demanded two hundred ru¬ 
pees to carry a letter from Mr. Pottinger. Although Seistan 
forms nominally a province of Persia, it is now entirely in¬ 
dependent of that empire, and has no political relations with 
it. It is divided into a number of small independent states, 
governed by chiefs who live in fortified villages, situated 
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principally on the banks of the Heermund. Bahram Khan 
Kyanee assumes the title of chief of Seistan; but he cannot 
raise a revenue of above 80,000 rupees, nor bring more than 
3000 men into the field. 
SEITAN, a name given by Avicenna, and other of the 
Arabian writers, to a species of prickly tree, often recom¬ 
mended in their prescriptions: probably a species of Acacia. 
SEITENDORF, a village of Prussian Silesia, in the circle 
of Hirschberg, with 900 inhabitants. 
SEITIL, in Commerce, a wine measure at Vienna; 168 
seitils = 15 English gallons. 
SEITSARI, a small island in the gulf of Finland, belong¬ 
ing to Russia. It is a barren spot, surrounded by sand¬ 
banks, and inhabited only by fishermen. 
SEITZ, or Zagiczi, a village of the Austrian states,, in 
Moravia, and the circle of Brunn, situated on a hill, and 
containing 1200 inhabitants. 
SEIVA, a small river of New Granada, in the province of 
Maracaibo, which enters the lake Maracaibo by the north 
side; 25 miles south-west of Maracaibo. 
SEIX, a small town in the south of France, department 
of the Arriege. In the neighbourhood are quarries of marble, 
and some mines of silver and copper. Population 2300. 
SE'IZABLE, adj. That may be seized; liable to be seized. 
To SEIZE, v. a. [saisir, Fr., seisia, Arm. the same. 
Serenius.] To take hold of; to gripe ; to grasp. 
Then as a tiger who by chance hath spy’d 
In some purlieu two gentle fawns at play, 
Strait couches close, then rising, changes oft 
His couchant watch, as one who chose his ground. 
Whence rushing he might surest seize them both. Milton. 
To take possession of by force. 
. At last they seize 
The sceptre, and regard not David’s sons. Milton. 
To take possession of; to lay hold on; to invade 
suddenly. 
In her sad breast the prince’s fortunes roll. 
And hope and doubt alternate seize her soul. Pope. 
To take forcible possession of by law.—An escheator of 
London had arrested a clothier that was outlawed, and seized 
his goods. Camden. —To make possessed; to put in 
possession of. 
So th’ one for wrong, the other strives for right: 
As when a griffin, seized of his prey, 
A dragon fierce encountereth in his flight, 
Through wildest air making his idle way. Spenser. 
So down he fell before the cruell beast. 
Who on his neck his bloody claws did seize; 
That life nigh crush’d out of his panting brest. Spenser. 
SEIZE, in Sea Language, is to join two ropes, or the two 
ends of one rope, together, &c., by several close turns of 
small rope, line or spun-yarn, round them, with two or more 
cross-turns, 
SE'IZER, s. One who seizes. 
SE'IZURE, s. The act of seizing. The thing seized. 
Sufficient that thy prayers are heard, and death, 
Then due by sentence when thou did’st transgress, 
Defeated of his seizure, many days 
Given thee of grace. Milton. 
The act of taking forcible possession. 
Thy lands, and all things that thou do’st call thine. 
Worth seizure, do we seize into our hands. S/ialspeare. 
Gripe; possession. 
And shall these hands, so lately purg’d of blood. 
Unyoke this seizure, and this kind regret ? Shafcspeare. 
Catch!—Let there be no sudden seizure of a lapsed sylla¬ 
ble to play upon it. Watts. 
SEJU'NGIBLE, adj. [sejungo, Lat.] Capable of being- 
separated. Unused. —The spawn and egg are sejungible 
from 
