SEINE

SEINE, one of the departments of the north-eastern part of France, taking its name from the river which passes through it, and containing Paris, the capital of that mighty kingdom. As that city is the most important portion of the department, the account of it in this work comprehends what is most remarkable. It is on every side surrounded by the department of the Seine and Oise, and extends over 47,548 French hectares, equal to 167$\backslash frac\{1\}\{2\}$ square miles, or 106,983 English acres. It is generally a level district, but intersected with some hills of inconsiderable height. The river Seine receives within the department the navigable river Marne, and the smaller streams of the Ourcq and the Erould. The Canal of St Denis unites the Seine with the Oise; and the Canal of Ourcq, which terminates in a reservoir between La Vilette and La Chapelle, supplies Paris with water, and being navigable, serves to maintain an intercourse between that city and the north of France. The canal is supplied with water from the small streams of the Griset, the Mai, the Therouanne, and the Beuvronne. The soil is for the most part by nature poor and sandy, but brought to a highly productive state by the vast quantities of manure furnished by the capital, and by the high state of the cultivation, which is mostly garden husbandry, whose products find advantageous markets in the metropolis. There are still some woods preserved, but mostly for the purpose of ornament, and to serve for the recreation of the inhabitants of Paris. The woods of Boulogne and of Vincennes occupy together about six thousand English acres. It is divided into three arrondissements, eight cantons, and eighty-one communes. The population, which includes Paris, amounted in 1821 to 822,171, in 1831 to 935,108, and in 1836 to 1,106,891, of which 909,126 were within the city.