SEINE, or SEAN (O. Fr. seigne, mod. seine,

See also:

• LAT

Lat. sagena, Gr. vaytivrl, a draw-

See also:

• NET

net)  , a type of fishing net, consisting of an expanse of netting weighted at the bottom and floated at the top edge by corks, cast from a boat or ship to enclose a space of water and then drawn into the vessel or to shore . SEINE-ET-MARNE, a department of northern France, formed in 1790 of almost the entire district of Brie (half of which belonged to Champagne and half to Ile-de-France) and a portion of Gatinais (from Ile-de-France and Orleanais) . Pop . (1906) 361,939 . Area, 2289 sq. m . Seine-et-Marne is bounded N. by the department of Oise, N.E. by that of Aisne, E. by Marne and Aube, S.E. by Yonne, S. by Loiret and W. by Seine-et-Oise . The whole department belongs to the basin of the Seine, and is drained partly by that river and partly by its tributaries the Yonne and the Loing from the left, and from the right the Voulzie, the Yeres and the Marne, with its affluents the Ourcq, the Petit Morin and the Grand Morin . With the exception of the Loing, flowing from south to north, all these streams cross the department from east to west, following the general slope of the surface, which is broken up into several plateaus from 300 to . Soo ft. in height (highest point, in the north-east, 705 ft., lowest 105), and separated from each other by deep valleys . Most of the plateaus belong to the Brie, a fertile well-wooded district of a clayey character . In the south lie the dry sandy district of the Fontainebleau sandstones and part of the region known as the Gatinais . The climate is rather more " continental " than that of Paris—the summers warmer, the winters colder; the annual rainfall does not exceed 16 in .

There is a striking difference in temperature between the south of the department, where the famous

white grape (chasselas) of Fontainebleau ripens, and the country to the north of the Marne,—this river marking pretty exactly the northern limit of the vine . The wheat and oats of Brie are especially esteemed; potatoes, sugar beet, mangel-wurzel and green forage are also important crops, and market gardening flourishes . Provins and other places are well-known for their roses . The cider and honey of the department are of good quality . Thousands of the well-known Brie cheeses are manufactured, and large numbers of calves, sheep and poultry are reared . The forests (covering a fifth of the surface) are planted with oak, beech, chestnut, hornbeam, birch, wild cherry, linden, willow, poplar and conifers . Best known and most important is the forest of Fontainebleau . Large areas are devoted to game-preserves . Excellent freestone is quarried in the department, notably at Chateau-Landon in the valley of the Loing, mill-stones at La Ferte-sous-Jouarre; the Fontainebleau sandstone is used for pavements, and the white sand which is found along with it is in great request for the manufacture of glass . Along the Marne are numerous gypsum quarries; lime-kilns occur throughout the department; and peat is found in the valleys of the Ourcq and the Voulzie . Beds of common clay and porcelain clay supply the potteries of Fontainebleau and Montereau . Other industrial establishments are numerous large flour-mills, notably those of Meaux, the chocolate works of Noisiel, sugar factories, alcohol distilleries, paper-mills (the Jouarre paper mill manufactures bank-notes, &c., both for France and for foreign markets), saw-mills, printing works (Coulommiers, &c.) and tanneries .

Much of the

motive-power used is supplied by the streams . Paris is the chief outlet for the industrial and agricultural products of the department . Coal and raw material for the manufactures are the chief imports . The Seine, the Yonne, the Marne, and the Grand Morin are navigable, and, with the canals of the Loing and the Ourcq and those of Chalifert, Cornillon and Chelles, which cut off the windings of the Marne, form a total waterway of over 200 M . Seineet-Marne has 5 arrondissements (Melun, Coulommiers, Fontainebleau, Meaux, Provins), 29 cantons and 533 communes . It forms the diocese of Meaux (archiepiscopal province of Paris), and part of the region of the V army corps and of the academia (educational circumscription) of Paris . Its court of appeal is at Paris . Melun, the capital, Meaux, Fontainebleau, Coulommiers, Provins, Nemours and Montereau (qq.v.), are the more important towns in the department . Among other interesting places are Lagny (pop . 5302), with an abbey-church of the 13th century; Brie-Comte Robert, with a church of the early 13th century; Ferrieres, with a fine chateau built in 186o by Baron Alphonse Rothschild; Moret-sur-Loing, which preserves fortifications dating from the 15th century including two remarkable gateways; St Loup-de-Naud, with a church of the first half of the I2th century; Jouarre, where there is a church of the 15th century, built over a crypt containing workmanship of the Merovingian period; and Vaux-le-Vicomte with the famous chateau built by Fouquet, minister of Louis XIV . SEINE-ET-OISE, a department of northern France, formed in 1790 of part of the old province of tie-de-France, and traversed from south-east to north-west by the Seine, which is joined by the Oise . Pop .

(rgo6) 749,753• Area, 2184. sq. m . It is bounded by the departments of Seine-et-Marne on the E., Loiret on the S.,

Eure-et-Loir on the W., Eure on the N.W. and Oise on the N . It encloses the department of Seine . The Epte on the north-west is almost the only natural boundary on the department . The streams (all belonging to the basin of the Seine) are: on the right the Yeres, the Marne, the Oise and the Epte, and on the left the Essonne (joined by the Juine, which passes Etampes), the Orge, the Bievre and the Mauldre . Seine-et-Oise belongs in part of the tableland of Beauce in the south and to that of Brie in the east . In the centre are the high wooded hills which make the charm of Versailles, Marty and St Germain . But it-is in the north-west, in the Vexin, that the culminating point (690 ft.) is _ reached, while the lowest point, where the Seine leaves the department, is little more than 40 ft. above the sea . The mean temperature is 51° F . Seine-et-Oise is a flourishing agricultural and horticultural department . Wheat, oats, potatoes and sugar-beet are important crops . Versailles, Rambouillet, Argenteuil are among the numerous market-gardening and horticultural centres, and wine is grown at Argenteuil and in other localities on the right bank of the Seine .

Mitch-cows and

draught-oxen are the chief livestock, and poultryfarming is prosperous, the town of Houdan giving its name to a well-known breed of fowls . Forests occupy about 190,000 acres, the largest being that of Rambouillet (about 32,000 acres) . Oak, hornbeam, birch and chestnut are the commonest trees . Building, paving and mill stones, gypsum, cement, &c., are produced by the department which is very rich in quarries . There are mineral springs at Enghien and Forges-les-Bains . The most important industrial establishments are the national porcelain factory at Sevres; the government powder-mills of Sevran and Bouchet; paper-mills, especially those of Essonnes and its vicinity, which are among the most important in Europe; textile works, flour-mills, foundries and engineering, metallurgical or railway works at Evry-Petit-Bourg, Villeneuve-St Georges (pop . 9508) and elsewhere; agricultural implement factories at Dourdan and elsewhere; sugar-refineries and distilleries; crystal works (Meudon), laundries, large printing establishments, close to Paris; factories for chemical products, candles, hosiery, perfumery, shoes and buttons; zinc-works, saw-mills . Seine-et-Oise exports chiefly the products of its farms and quarries . Its imports include coal, raw material for its industries, wine, kaolin and wood . The railways of all the great companies of France (except the Southern) traverse the department, but most of the lines belong to those of the Western and Northern systems . The Seine and the Oise, and the canals of Ourcq and Chelles provide about 120 M. of waterway . Seine-et-Oise is divided into six arrondissements (Versailles, Corbeil, Etampes, Mantes, Pontoise, Rambouillet) with 37 Cantons and 691 communes .

It forms the diocese of Versailles and part of the educational circumscription (academie) of Paris and of the regions of the II., III., IV. and V. army corps, the troops in its territory being under the command of the military government of Paris . Its court of appeal is also at Paris . The most notable towns in the department are Versailles, the capital, Corbeil, Sevres, Etampes, Mantes, Pontoise, Rambouillet, Argenteuil,

Poissy, St Cloud, St Cyr, St Germain-en-Laye, Meudon, Montmorency, Rueil and Marly-le-Roi (see separate articles) . Other places of interest are Montfort-l'Arnaury, which has a Renaissance church with fine stained glass, a gateway of the 16th century and a ruined chateau once the seat of the powerful family of Montfort; 1\(lontlhery, which preserves the keep (13th century) and other ruins of a celebrated fortress which commanded the road from Paris to Orleans; Roche-Guyon, seat of the family of that name, which has two chateaus, one a feudal stronghold, the other also medieval but altered in the 18th century; Vigny, with a Gothic chateau of the 15th century; Ecouen, where there is a chateau of the 16th century once the property of the Conde family, now a school for daughters of members of the Legion of Honour; Dampierre, which has a chateau of the 17th century once the property of Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine; Maisons-Lafhtte (pop . 8117), with a chateau of the same period once belonging to the family of Longueil . The chateau of Malmaison (18th century) is famous as the residence of the Empress Josephine . Of the churches of the department, which are very numerous mention may be made of those of Jouy-le Moutier (11th and 12th centuries) ; Beaumont-sur-Oise (13th century) ; Taverny (12th and 13th centuries) ; Longpont (remains of an abbey-church dating from the 11th to the 13th centuries) . Near Cernay-la-Ville are interesting remains of a Cistercian abbey and near Levy-St-Nom those of the abbey of Notre-Dame de la Roche, including a church (13th century) with stalls which are among the oldest in France and the tombs of the Levis-Mirepoix family . SEINE-INFERIEURE, a department of the north of France, formed in 1790 of four districts (Norman Vexin, Bray, Caux and Roumois) belonging to the province of Normandy Pop . (1906) 863,879 . Area 2448 sq. m Seine-Inferieure 1s bounded N.W. and N. by the English Channel for a distance of 8o m., N.E by Somme, from which it is separated by the Bresle, E. by Oise, S. by Eure and the estuary of the Seine, which separates it from Calvados . It is divided almost equally between the basin of the Seine in the south and the basins of certain coast streams in the north .

The Seine receives from the right

hand before it reaches the department the Epte and the Andelle from the Bray district, and then the Darnetal, the Cailly, the Austreberthe, the Bolbec and the Lezarde . The main coast streams are the Bresle (which forms the ports of Eu and Treport), the Yet-es, the Arques or Dieppe stream (formed by the junction of the Varennes, the Bethune and the Eaulne), the Scie, the Saane, the Durdent . The Pays de Caux, the most extensive natural division, is a system of plateaus separated by small valleys, terminating along the Seine in high bluffs and towards the sea in steep chalk cliffs 300 to 400 ft. high, which are continually being eaten away and transformed into beds of shingle . The Bray district in the south-east is a broad valley of denudation formed by the sea as it retired, and traversed by valleys covered with excellent pasture . The highest point (about 800 ft.) is on the eastern border of the department . In the comparatively regular outline of the coast there are a few breaks, as at Le Treport, Dieppe, St Valery-en-Caux, Fecamp and Havre,. the Cap de la Heve, which commands this last port, and Cape Antifer, 12 or 13 M. farther north . Le Treport, Dieppe, Veules, St Valery, Veulettes, Fecamp, Yport, Etretat and Ste Adresse (to mention only the more important) are fashionable watering-places . Forges-les-Eaux (in the east of the department) has cold chalybeate springs of some note . The winter is not quite so cold nor the summer so hot as in Paris, but the average temperature of the year is higher . The rainfall at Rouen is 28 in. per annum, increasing towards Dieppe . In general the department is fertile and well cultivated . Along the Seine fine meadow-land has been reclaimed by dyking; and sandy and barren districts have been planted with trees, mostly with oaks and beeches, and they often attain magnificent dimensions, especially in the forest of Arques and along the railway from Rouen to Dieppe; Pinus sylvestris is the principal component of the forest of Rouvray opposite Rouen .

The forest of Eu covers 36 sq. m. in the north-east . Of the arable crops wheat and oats are the principal,

rye, flax, colza, sugar beet and potatoes being also of importance . Milch cows are kept in great numbers especially in the Bray district, and Gournay butter and Gournay and Neufchatel cheese are in repute . The farms of the Caux plateau are each surrounded by an earthen dyke, on which are planted forest trees, generally beech and oak . Within the shelter thus provided apple and pear trees grow, which produce the cider generally drunk by the inhabitants . With the exception of a little peat and a number of quarries, Seine-Inferieure has no mineral source of wealth; but manufacturing and especially the textile industry is well developed . Rouen is the chief centre of the cotton trade, which comprises spinning and the weaving of rouenneries, indiennes (cotton prints), cretonnes and other cotton goods . Elbeuf is the centre of woollen manufacture . Flax-spinning, the dyeing and printing of fabrics and other accessory industries also employ many hands . Engineering works, foundries and iron ship-building yards are found at Havre and Rouen . Wooden ships are also built at Havre, Rouen, Dieppe and Fecamp . Other establishments of importance are the national tobacco-factories at Dieppe and Havre, sugar-refineries, distilleries, glass-works, potteries, paper works, soap-works, chemical works, flour-mills, oil-factories, leather works, &c .

The

fisheries are the great resource for the inhabitants of the sea-board . Fecamp, which plays a very important part at the Newfound-land fisheries, sends large quantities of cod, herrings, mackerel, &c., into the market; Dieppe supplies Paris with fresh fish; St Valery sends boats as far as Iceland . The principal ports for foreign trade are Havre, Rouen and Dieppe . The chief imports of the department are cotton, wool, cereals, hides, coffee, timber and dye-woods, indigo and other tropical pro-ducts, coal, petroleum, &c . The exports include industrial and dairy products . Seine-Inferieure is served principally by the Western railway, but the Northern railway also has several lines there . The Seine and other rivers provide 85 m. of navigable waterway . The canal of Tancarville from Quillebeuf to Havre is about 15 m. long, that from Eu to Treport about 2 M . The department is divided into five arrondissements (Rouen, Dieppe, Havre, Neufchatel and Yvetot) 55 cantons and 76o communes . It forms the diocese of the archbishopric of Rouen and part of the region of the III. army corps and of the academie (educational division) of Caen . Its court of appeal is at Rouen, the capital . Rouen, Havre and Dieppe and in a lesser degree, Elbeuf, Fecamp, Harfleur, Lillebonne, Yvetot, Eu, Le Treport, Aumale, Etretat, Bolbec, Barentin and Caudebec-en-Caux (see separate articles) are noteworthy towns for commercial, architectural or other reasons .

The following places are also of architectural interest . St

Martin-de Boscherville, where there are remains of an important abbey including a fine church in the Romanesque style of the early 12th century and a Gothic chapter-house of the latter half of the 12th century; Valmont, which has fine ruins (16th century) of the choir of a Cistercian abbey-church; Varengeville, well known for the manor (16th century) of Jacques Ango (see DIEPPE) ; Graville-Ste Honorine, with a Romanesque church and other remains of an ancient abbey; Montivilliers, which has a fine abbey-church of the 11th, 12th and 16th centuries; and Arques, Boos, Martainville, Mesnieres and Tancarville which have old chateaus of various periods .