SEIRACH, lake in Eeay parish, Caithness.
SEISTER, lake, about 2 miles long, amid dismal expanse of moss, 11 miles east of Thurso, Caithness.
SELIBISTER, section of north-eastern peninsula of Sanday Island, Orkney.
SELIVOE, bay in Sandsting parish, Shetland.
SELKIRK, town in Selkirkshire, and parish partly also in Roxburghshire. The town stands on right side of Ettrick liver, at terminus of branch railway, 6 mile? south-by-west of Galashiels ; sprang from a hunting-seat of the Scoto-Saxon kings ; figured notably in the wars of the Succession; lost many of its best men, 'the Flowers of the Forest,' on the field of Flodden ; was famous during several centuries for its shoemakers or 'sutors,' celebrated in song ; appeared, at beginning of present century, to be going rapidly to decay ; underwent sudden revival, with subsequent steady prosperity, as a seat of woollen manufacture ; ranks now as the capital of Selkirkshire, and as a burgh uniting with Galashiels and Hawick in sending a member to Parliament ; stands on tabular ground contiguous to a haugh, with charming environs, comprising Haining Park and mansion; comprises a spacious market-place, well-edificed streets, and a number of elegant private residences ; was designed in 1877 to be much improved by formation of new drainage works ; publishes a weekly newspaper ; has a head post office with all departments, a railway station, 3 banking offices, 2 hotels, a recent suite of county buildings, a steepled town hall, monuments of Sir "Walter Scott and Mungo Park, Established churches of 1863 and 1867, a Free church, a United Presbyterian church of 1880, another United Presbyterian church, Evangelical Union, Episcopalian, and Roman Catholic churches, a grammar school, and 2 large primary public schools ; and gives the title of earl to a branch of the Douglases. Real property in 1880-81, 22,788. Pop. 6090. The parish consists of a main body measuring 7J miles by 7 in Selkirkshire, and two small sections in Roxburghshire, and comprises 21,210 acres in the main body, and 1348 acres in the sections. Real property, exclusive of the burgh, in 1880-81, 14,923 and 1381. Pop., quoad civilia, 7432; quoad sacra, 7369. The Tweed traces all the northern boundary, the Ettrick intersects the main body to conflux with the Tweed, and the Yarrow joins the Ettrick at If mile west-south-west of the town. About 3000 acres of the land are under the plough, about 1000 are under wood, and the rest nearly all consists of pastoral or waste hills with cfcief summits from 1519 to 1718 feet high. Chief seats are Bowhill, Haining, Philiphaugh, Sunderland Hall, and Broadmeadows ; chief antiquities are Newark Castle and Oakwood Tower; and other chief objects of interest are the battlefield of Philiphaugh and the birthplace of Mungo Park.
SELKIRK AND GALASHIELS, railway, 6J miles long, from junction with Hawick branch of North British near Galashiels station south-by-westward across the Tweed to Selkirk. It was authorized in 1854, opened in 1856, and amalgamated with the North British in 1859.
SELKIRKSHIRE, inland county be-tween Peeblesshire and Roxburghshire. Its length southward is 28 miles; its greatest breadth 17J miles ; its area 260 square miles. The boundary round the south, to the extent of about one-third of the entire circumference, is a lofty water-shed of the Southern Highlands, but all elsewhere is irregularly defined and mostly arbitrary. All the surface lies on a base of from 280 to nearly 800 feet above sea-level ; a belt on the east side is comparatively low ; tracts along the Ettrick, the Yarrow, the Tweed, and the Gala are pleasant vale ; the rest of the land consists chiefly of hills and mountains, with intersection of glens and heughs ; and the part near and on the sweep of watershed southern boundary contains a number of summits from 1800 to 2269 feet in altitude. St. Mark's Loch and the Loch of the Lowes are in the south-west, and some small lakes are in the east. Sheep-farming in the higher parts, and arable husbandry in the lower ones, are skilful and effective. Woollen manufacture, at Selkirk and Galashiels, is extensive and flourishing. The only towns are Selkirk and part of Galashiels ; and no village is so large as to have 300 inhabitants. The territory belonged to the Caledonian Gadeni, was overrun by the Saxons, and formed the chief part of the royal sporting-ground of Ettrick Forest. Real property in 1880-81, exclusive of railways, 125,079. Pop. in 1871, 14,005 ; in 1881, 25,562.
SELLAY, pastoral island in Harris parish, Outer Hebrides.
SELLER, headland, 17 miles north-north-east of Stornoway, Outer Hebrides.
SELLMOOR, hill, 1368 feet high, in eastern vicinity of Stow, Edinburghshire.
SELMA.
SEMMIEDORES, popularly St. Madoes parish, Perthshire.
SEMPILL, estate in Lochwinnoch parish, Renfrewshire. It has given the peerage title of baron since 1489 to a distinguished family of its own name. Sempill House, long inhabited by that family, stood in High Street, Paisley, and passed into a state of decadence.
SENWICK.
SERF (ST.), island, with remains of ancient priory, in south-east of Loch Leven, Kinross-shire.
SERVENT, rivulet, making cascade of about 110 feet, falling afterwards 20 feet into natural tunnel, and entering upper part of Loch Leven, on south-east verge of Inverness-shire.
