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these contains the royal residence. These towns are surrounded with high mud walls; the houses being of clay, of a square form, with flat roofs; some of them have two stories. Moorish mosques also are seen in every quarter. According to the information of Mr. Park, 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. Their canoes are singularly constructed, being each formed of the trunks of two trees joined end-ways together. The Moors are powerful here, and influenced the king in Park's first visit to send him away; and even hastened to forbid his entrance into the city. Long. 2° 30′ W., lat. 14° 10' N.

SEGORBE, a town of Spain, in Valencia, on the Murviedro, which takes here the name of Segorbe. It stands in a fertile valley, surrounded by gardens, and has a number of squares, churches, and fountains. It is a bishop's see, and the cathedral has some good paintings; but the best are to be found in the church of the nunnery, which is the most elegant building in the town. Here are manufactures of paper, starch, and pottery. The chief natural curiosity is a fountain near the town, so copious as to turn two mill wheels at its source. Inhabitants 15,000. It lies thirty-four miles north-west of Valencia.

SEGOVIA, an inland province of Spain, in Old Castile, situated between the provinces of Madrid and Valladolid. Its territorial extent is 3650 square miles, intersected by the mountain ranges of the Sierra de Guadarama and de Ayllon. The soil is in many parts sandy or stony though there are some rich tracts 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, and in the hills the sky is generally clear, and the air healthy. The principal products are corn, wine, hemp, and flax. In the mountains are copper, iron, antimony; marble and porcelain earth. Sheep, however form the staple commodity, and wool the great article of export. The manufactures are of little account. Population 171,000.

SEGOVIA, a considerable town of Old Castile, is situated on a rocky eminence, between two deep valleys. Its form has been 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 is surrounded with a wall in the Moorish style, crowned at intervals with turrets; its circumference is between three and four miles; the streets are narrow, crooked, and in several parts very steep. Segovia is the see of a bishop, and 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 sixteenth century. Among the other public buildings are the convent of the Carmelites, and that of the Capuchins, with a subterraneous chapel: the alcazar or ancient palace, the apartments of which are incrusted with mosaic and other ornaments, and contain the statues of the princes who reigned in Asturias, Leon, and Castile, from the eighth to the sixteenth century. It

is used for a state prison. But the most remarkable monument of Segovia is the Roman aqueduct, of great boldness and grandeur. It is built of freestone without cement, begins about fifty paces from the town, and after extending in a direction at first from north to south, and afterwards from east to west, and distributing a copious supply of water to every part of the town, terminates at the alcazar. It contains in all 159 arches, supported on pillars, some of which are eighty feet in height. The town 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 other branches of industry are dyeing and the making of pottery, paper, and lead. The town contains several hospitals and an artillery school. Inhabitants 10,000. Forty-seven miles N. N.W. of Madrid. SEGRAIS (John Renaud de), a celebrated French poet, born at Caen in 1624. He studied in the college of the Jesuits at Caen. Being left by his parents, he raised himself by his talents to comparatively easy circumstances. He was not, however, without his patrons, the chief of whom were Madame Montpensier, and Madame de La Fayette. After spending many years with these ladies, as their gentleman in ordinary, he married a rich heiress in 1679. He was admitted a member of the French Academy in 1662, and modelled that of Caen on the same plan. His Nouvelles Françoises, La Princesse de Cleves, and Zaide, in prose, were admired for their style: but he was chiefly admired for his poems, viz. Diverses Poesies, 4to., Paris, 1658 : Athis, a pastoral; and his translation of Virgil's Georgies and Eneid. He died of a dropsy at Caen in 1701.

Fr. segregation,

SEGREGATION, n. s. from segregate. Separation from others. What shall we hear of this? -A segregation of the Turkish fleet, For do but stand upon the foaming shore, The chiding billows seem to pelt the clouds.

Shakspeare. Othello.

SEGUE, in the Italian music, is often found before aria, alleluja, amen, &c., to show that these portions or parts are to be sung immediately after the last note of that part over which it is written; but if these words, si placet, or ad libitum, are joined therewith, it signifies that these portions may be sung or not at pleasure.

SEGUIERIA, in botany, a plant belonging to the class of polyandria, and the order of monogynia: CAL. pentaphyllous: PHYLLA oblong, concave, colored, and permanent: COR. none. The capsule is oblong and monospermous, the large ala terminating in small lateral alæ. There is only one species, viz. S. Americana.

SEGUR (Joseph Alexander, viscount de) second son of the marshal de Segur, engaged when young in military service, and was successively colonel of the regiments of Noailles, of royal Lorraine, and of the dragoons of his own name. Having attained the post of mareschal de camp in 1790, he gave up his time to literature. His first production was a romance, entitled Correspondence Secrète entre Ninon de l'Enclos, le Marquis de Villarceaux, et Madame de Maintenon. In 1791 he published another

romance, La Femme Jalouse; and between 1789 and 1804 a number of dramatic pieces. His last work, which has been translated into English, is entitled Les Femmes, leur Condition, et leur Influence dans l'Ordre Social, 1802, 3 vols. 8vo. He died at Bagnieres, July 27th, 1805. SEJANT, in heraldry, is used when a lion, or other beast, is drawn in an escutcheon, sitting like a cat, with his fore-feet straight.

power. The senate was summoned to meet in the temple of Apollo, near the imperial palace. Sejanus attended. A party of the prætorians followed him. Macro met him in the vestibule of the temple, and, with all demonstrations of profound respect, said, Be not surprised that you have no letter from the prince: it is his pleasure to declare you his colleague in the tribunitian power; I am going to deliver the emperor's orders.' Sejanus, flushed with his new dignity, entered the senate house; Macro followed him. As soon as the consuls arrived, he delivered the letter from Tiberius, and immediately went forth to the prætorian guards. He informed them that, by order of the prince, a large donative was to be distributed among the soldiers; adding that, by a new commission, he himself was appointed their commander; and, if they followed him to the camp, they would there receive the promised bounty. The prætorian guards followed, and Laco immediately surrounded the senate-house with a body of the city cohorts. Tiberius's letter to the consuls was confused, obscure, and tedious, only glancing at Sejanus; till at last the language of invective left no room for doubt. Sejanus sat benumbed, senseless, and stupid with astonishment. His flatterers, who had just congratulated him on his new dignity, deserted him on every side. He was commanded by the consul to rise and follow him, and, being loaded with irons, was conducted to prison. His downfall filled the city with exultation. The populace rejoiced at his sad catastrophe, and followed in crowds, pouring forth a torrent of abuse. They reviled him for his acts of cruelty, and dashed his statues to pieces. He was doomed by Tiberius to suffer death, and was strangled in prison. His body was dragged to the Gemoniæ, and, after every species of insult from the populace for three days, was thrown into the Tiber. Such was the end of this unprincipled monster. He fell a terrible example to all who endeavour by their vices to rise above their fellow citizens. His cruelties and his other crimes are related under the article ROME.

SEJANUS (Ælius), a native of Vulsinum in Tuscany, who distinguished himself in the court of Tiberius. His father was Seius Strabo; a Roman kinght, commander of the prætorian guards. His mother was descended from the Junian family. Sejanus first gained the favor of Caius Cæsar, the grandson of Augustus, but afterwards attached himself to the interest and views of Tiberius. The emperor, who was naturally suspicious of every other person, was free and open with Sejanus, and communicated his greatest secrets to this fawning favorite. Sejanus improved this confidence; and ingratiated himself with the soldiers and the senate. As commander of the pretorian guards he became the second man in Rome; and, by appointing his own adherents to places of trust and honor, all the officers and centurions became devoted to his interest. Yet, however successful with the best and noblest families in the empire, Sejanus had to combat many in the house of the emperor; but these seeming obstacles were soon removed. All the children and grandchildren of Tiberius were sacrificed to the ambition of this favorite, under various pretences. Livia, the wife of Drusus, the emperor's son, was corrupted by Sejanus; and this monster assisting her adulterer in the murder of her husband, consented to marry him, when Drusus was poisoned. But the marriage was strongly opposed by Tiberius. When Sejanus could not gain the consent of the emperor, he persuaded him to retire to solitude from the troubles of government. Tiberius, naturally fond of ease, retired to Campania, leaving Sejanus at the head of the empire. This was highly gratifying to the favorite. He called together his friends and followers; paid his court to the disaffected; held forth rewards and promises; and, having increased his partisans, resolved to seize the sovereign power. A powerful league was rapidly formed, and great numbers of all descriptions, senators as well as military men, entered into the plot. Among these, Satrius Secundus was the confidential friend and prime agent of Sejanus. But he resolved to betray the secret to Tiberius. For this purpose he addressed himself to Antonia, the daughter of Marc Antony, the widow of Drusus, and the mother of Germanicus. When this illustrious woman, who was honored by the court and revered by the people, heard the particulars, she sent immediate information to the emperor. Tiberius was astonished but not dismayed: the danger pressed; the time called for vigorous and decisive measures. He sent Macro to Rome, with a commission to take the command of the prætorian guards. In the morning, on the 15th day before the kalends of November, a report was spread that the emperor intended to asso- To all the duke of Norfolk's seigniories? ciate Sejanus with himself in the tribunitian

SEID MOUSTAPHA, a Turkish engineer, employed by Selim III., in whose misfortunes he became involved, and perished in the insurrection at Constantinople in 1808. He published in 1803 a French work, entitled Diatribe sur l'Etat actuel de l'Art Militaire, du Génie et des Sciences à Constantinople, 8vo. M. Langlès reprinted it in the Magasin Encyclopédique, 1809, vol. v.

SEIGNIOR, n. s.`
SE IGNIORY,
SE'IGNIORAGE,
SE IGNIORIZE, V. a.

Fr. seigneur; Lat. senior. A lord. The title of honor given by Italians: seigniory is a lordship; seigniorage a tribute or acknowledgment due to lordship: seigniorize to play the

lord.

O'Neil never had any seigniory over that country, but what by encroachment he got upon the English. Spenser.

Were you not restored

Shakspeare. Henry IV.

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William, earl of Pembroke, being lord of all Leinster, had royal jurisdiction throughout that province, and every one of his five sons enjoyed that seigniory successively.

As fair he was as Cytherea's make, As proud as he that seignioriseth hell.

Davies.

Fairfax.

Those lands were seigneurial. Temple. They brought work to the mint, and a part of the money coined to the crown for seigniorage. Locke. SEIGNIOR is particularly used for the lord of the fee as of a manor, as seigneur among the feudists is he who grants a fee or benefit out of the land to another; the reason is, because, having granted away the use and profit of the land, the property or dominion he still retains in himself.

SEIGNIOR, GRAND, a title given to the emperor of the Turks.

SEIGNIORAGE is a prerogative of the king, whereby he claims an allowance of gold and silver bought in the mass to be exchanged for coin. See COINING.

SEIKS, a numerous and powerful nation of Hindostan Proper, consisting of several small independent states, who have formed themselves into a kind of federal union. They possess the whole country of Lahore, the principal part of Moultan, and the west part of Delhi. This territory extends about 400 miles from northwest to south-east, and in general is between 150 and 200 broad; although in the part between Attock and Behker, along the banks of the Indus, the extent is not less than 320. Their capital is Lahore. Their government is said to be very mild, but in their mode of warfare they are cruel and barbarous. Their army consists almost entirely of cavalry, of which they can bring at least 100,000 into the field. Like the other Hindoos, they are very tolerant in matters of religion, and require only a conformity in certain signs and ceremonies; but they are more liberal than the other Hindoos, as they admit proselytes; although those from the Mahometan system are not much esteemed.

SEIL, one of the Western Islands of Scotland, on the coast of Argylshire. It is about three miles long, and two broad, and is separated from the mainland by a narrow strait, over which there is a bridge. The surface is mostly level, but has a few eminences, the tops of which afford a pleasant view of the numerous islands adjacent, and of the distant mountains of Mull and Jura. The island abounds with basaltes, schistus, quartz, pyrites, slates, and other minerals.

SEIN, an island of France, on the coast of Brittany, and in the arrondissement of Quimper. It is inhabited by fishermen, who have retained the language and manners of ancient Brittany. It lies in long. 4° 42′ W., lat. 48° 2′ N.

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vers work much prejudice to the commonwealth of
fishermen, and reap small gain to themselves.
Id. Survey of Cornwall.

The SEINE IS one of the four great rivers of France, and the only one of the four that flows into the English Channel. Rising in the mountains of Burgundy, it first flows northward through Champagne to Troyes, receives the Aube, and, turning to the west, is joined by the Yonne from the south, and before reaching Paris, by the Marne, from the west. At Paris, the Seine varies from 300 to 500 feet in width; and it soon after receives the Oise, when, pursuing a winding course to the north-west, it passes Rouen, and discharges itself into the sea at Havre de Grace. Its volume of water is less than that of the Loire or Garonne, and far smaller than that of the Rhone; but, its course being in general through a flat country, it is of easy navigation, and communicates by canals with several other rivers to the north and south. It admits vessels of considerable burden as far as Rouen, and boats to Troyes. Its mouth, however, is of difficult navigation, from the accumulation of sand. Its course exceeds 400 miles in length.

SEINE, a department in the north of France, which, though the smallest in the kingdom, takes the first rank in wealth and population as containing the capital. It is in fact little more than the capital; its district forming a tract nearly square, of which the breadth is about sixteen miles. Its surface is in general level, the soil fertile, and its product partly corn and vines, but more fruit and vegetables. It is divided into three arrondissements, viz. Paris, St. Denis to the north, and Sceaux, to the south of the capital, subject in a judicial sense to the royal court of Paris; in an ecclesiastical, to the archbishop of the city. The number of villas and country seats, though great, is far less considerable than in the district of London. The population is about 70,000, exclusive of Paris, which contains 713,000. See PARIS.

SEINE, LOWER, a department of the north of France, bounded on the north and west by the English Channel. Its extent is about 2500 square miles; in general level, or undulating, the hills seldom attaining the height of mountains. The coast is for the most part bounded with sandy downs; the climate humid, and suitable to corn and pasture, but by no means to the vine. The observations in our article NORMANDY, in regard to soil, mode of culture, extent of pasturage, and state of the peasantry, are applicable to this department. The principal fruits are pears and apples; the drink cider; the exports horses, black cattle, cheese, and butter. Hemp, flax, and cole-seed, are cultivated to a great extent: the only large river is the Seine. The fisheries at Dieppe and other parts of the coast supply fish for Paris. The department is divided into the five arrondissements of Rouen (the capital), Havre de Grace, Dieppe, Yvetol, and Neufchatel. Population about 660,000, of whom about a twelfth part are Protestants.

SEINE AND MARNE, a department of France, occupying the western part of Champagne. Its extent is about 2320 square miles; consisting of gently undulating plains; its climate mild, and

its soil fertile. The rivers are the Seine, the Marne, the Great and Little Morin, and a number of lesser streams: the canal of Briare, which connects the Seine with the Loire, traverses the southern cantons. The products here, as in the north of France generally, are wheat, barley, oats, flax, hemp, and vines. Paris affords an ample market for produce. This department is subject, in a judicial sense, to the royal court of the capital; in an ecclesiastical, to the bishop of Meaux. It is divided into the arrondissements of Melun (the chief town), Coulommiers, Meaux, Fontainbleau, and Provins. Population about 310,000.

SEINE AND OISE, a department of France, adjacent to that of the Oise, and to that of the Seine and Marne. It comprises in an interior circle the district of Paris, under the name of department of the Seine, and has, exclusive of that district, an extent of 2200 square miles, with a population of 440,000. The surface is level, or gently undulating, the climate temperate, and the soil good. Its chief rivers are the Seine, the Marne, and the Oise. Its products are wheat, barley, oats, hemp, and flax; also fruit and vegetables. Vines are reared in small quantities, and the drink of the peasantry is cider. Paris is the great market. The chief manufactures are those of printed calicoes at Jouy, of porcelain at Sevres, of arms and clocks at Versailles. This department is subject to the royal court of Paris, and is divided into the six arrondissements of Versailles (the capital), Mantes, Pontoise, Corbeil, Etampes, and Rambouillet.

SEIR, or Hor, a mountain of Asia, in Arabia Petrea, which anciently bounded Judea on the south, and separated it from Idumea, or Edom. It was so named from Seir, a chief of Edom the progenitor of the Horites: Gen. xxxvi. 20. It is now called Sardeny, and is 140 miles east of Cairo.

SEISIN, in English law, signifies possession, as premier seisin, for the first possession, &c. See SEIZIN. A seisin in law is held to be sufficient to avow on; though, to the bringing of an assize, actual seisin is required; and, where seisin is alleged, the person pleading it must show of what estate he is seised, &c. Seisin of a superior service is deemed to be a seisin of all superior and casual services that are incident thereto; and seisin of a lessee for years is sufficient for him in reversion.

SEISIN, LIVERY OF, in English law, is an essential ceremony in the conveyance of landed property; being the pure feudal investiture, or delivery of corporeal possession of the land or tenement. Nam feuda sine investitura nullo modo constitui potuit: an estate was then only perfect when, as Fleta expresses it, fit juris et seisinæ conjunctio. See FECFMENT. Investitures, in their original rise, were intended to demonstrate, in conquered countries, the actual possession of the lord; and that he did not grant a bare litigious right to the soldier, but a peaceable and firm possession. At a time when writing was seldom practised, a mere oral gift, at a distance from the spot that was given, was not likely to be either long or accurately retained in the memory of by-standers. After

wards they were retained as a public and notorious act, that the country might testify the transfer of the estate; and that such as claimed title by other means might know against whom to bring their actions. In all well governed nations, some notoriety of this kind has been held requisite, to acquire and ascertain the property of lands. Even in ecclesiastical promotions, where the freehold passes to the person promoted, corporal possession is required at this day to vest the property completely in the new proprietor; who, according to the distinction of the canonists, acquires, the jus ad rem, or inchoate and imperfect right, by nomination and institution; but not the jus in re, or complete and full right, unless by corporal possession. Therefore in dignities possession is given by instalment; in rectories and vicarages by indiction; without which no temporal rights accrue to the minister, though every ecclesiastical power is vested in him by institution. So also even in descents of lands, by the English law, which are cast on the heir by act of the law itself, the heir has not full and complete ownership, till he has made an actual corporal entry into the lands: for, if he dies before entry made, his heir shall not be entitled to take the possession, but the heir of the person who was last actually seized. It is not therefore only a mere right to enter, but the actual entry, that makes a man complete owner, so as to transmit the inheritance to his own heirs: non jus, sed seisina, facit stipitem. Yet, the corporal tradition of lands being sometimes inconvenient, a symbolical delivery of possession was in many cases anciently allowed; by transferring something near at hand, in the presence of credible witnesses, which by agreement should serve to represent the thing designed to be conveyed; and an occupancy of this sign or symbol was permitted as equivalent to occupancy of the land itself. Among the Jews we find the evidence of a purchase thus defined in the book of Ruth : ch. iv. 7. With the Anglo-Saxons the delivery of a turf was a necessary solemnity to establish the conveyance of lands. And, to this day, the conveyance of copyhold estates is usually made from the seller to the lord or his steward by delivery of a rod or verge, and then from the lord to the purchaser by re-delivery of the same in the presence of a jury of tenants. Conveyances in writing were the last and most refined improvement. The mere delivery of possession, either actual or symbolical, depending on the ocular testimony and remembrance of the witnesses, was liable to be forgotten or misrepresented, and became frequently incapable of proof. Besides, the new necessities introduced by commerce required means to be devised of charging estates, and of making them liable to a multitude of minute designations, for the purpose of raising money, without an absolute sale of the land; and sometimes the like proceedings were found useful to make a decent and competent provision for the numerous branches of a family; none of which could be effected by a mere simple, corporal transfer of the soil from one man to another. Written deeds were therefore introduced, to specify and perpetuate the

peculiar purposes of the party who conveyed; yet still, for a very long series of years, they were never made use of, but in company with the more ancient and notorious method of transfer by delivery of corporal possession. Livery of seisin, by the common law, is necessary to be made upon every grant of an estate of freehold in hereditaments corporeal, whether of inheritance or for life only. In hereditaments incorporeal, it is impossible to be made; for they are not the object of the senses; and in leases for years, or other chattel interests, it is not necessary. In leases for years indeed an actual entry is necessary, to vest the estate in the lessee; for a bare lease gives him only a right to enter, which is called his interest in the term; and, when he enters in pursuance of that right, he is then, and not before, in possession of his term, and complete tenant for years. This entry by the tenant himself serves the purpose of notoriety as well as livery of seisin from the granter could have done. And this is one reason why freeholds cannot be made to commence in futuro, because they cannot be made but by livery of seisin; which livery, being an actual manual tradition of the land, must take effect in præsenti, or not at all. Livery of seisin is either in deed or in law.

SEISIN, LIVERY OF, IN DEED, is thus performed. The feoffer, lessor, or his attorney, come to the land or to the house; and there, in the presence of witnessess, declare the contents of the feoffment or lease on which livery is to be made. And then the feoffer, if it be of land, doth deliver to the feoffee, all other persons being out of the ground, a clod or turf, or a twig or bough there growing, with words to this effect: I deliver these to you in the name of seisin of all the lands and tenements contained in this deed.' But, if it be of a house, the feoffer must take the ring or latch of the door, the house being quite empty, and deliver it to the feoffee in the same form; and then the feoffee must enter alone, and shut the door, and then open it and let in the others. If the conveyance or feoffment be of divers lands, lying scattered in one and the same county, then in the feoffer's possession, livery of seisin of any parcel, in the name of the rest, sufficeth for all; but, if they be in several counties, there must be as many liveries as there are counties. For, if the title to these lands come to be disputed, there must be as many trials as there are counties, and the jury of one county are no judges in another. Besides, anciently, this seisin was obliged to be delivered coram paribus de vicineto, before the peers or freeholders of the neighbourhood, who attested such delivery on the back of the deed. And though afterwards the ocular attestation of the pares was held unnecessary, and livery might be made before any credible witnesses, yet the trial, in case it was disputed, was still reserved to the pares or jury of the county. Also, if the lands be but on lease, though all lie in the same county, there must be as many liveries as there are tenants; because no other livery can be made in this case but by the consent of the particular tenant, and the consent of one will not bind the rest.

And in all these cases it is usual to indorse the livery of seisin on the back of the deed, specifying the manner, place, and time of making it, together with the names of the witnesses.

SEISIN, LIVERY OF, in law, is where the same is not made on the land, but in sight of it only, the feoffer saying to the feoffee 'I give you yonder land; enter and take possession.' Here, if the feoffee enters during the life of the feoffer, it is a good livery, but not otherwise, unless he dares not enter through fear of his life or bodily harm; and then his continual claim, made yearly in due form of law, as near as possible to the lands, will suffice without an entry. This livery in law cannot, however, be given or received by attorney, but only by the parties themselves.

SEISTAN, or SEGESTAN, an extensive province 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 Sarangea, and in modern times was flourishing. It was the country 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 blew from the great moving sands of Mekran and Balouchistan, have covered all its plains, and reduced it almost to desolation. Its remaining fertility is derived from the river Heermund, which, rising in Cabul, traverses a great part of it from east to west. A recent account of this region is given by captain Christie, who in 1810 traversed it on his route from Balouchistan to Herat. 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 is irrigated by the waters of the river, and covered with verdure and brushwood. Along this valley are found an astonishing number of ruined towns, villages, and forts, and at one, Kulcauput, a noble 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 long. 63° 10′ E., lat. 31°8′ N., about eight or nine miles from the river. The western part of the country, to which the waters of the Heermund do not reach, consists of a vast arid plain, intersected 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 Herat in eighteen days; but the risk of perishing is so great that a person of that description demanded 200 rupees to carry a letter. Although Seistan forms nominally a province of Persia, it is now entirely independent, and is divided into a number of small states, governed by chiefs who live in fortified villages, chiefly situated on the banks of the Heermund. Bahram Khan Kyanee assumes the title of chief of

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