SARCOPHAGUS 



52U7 



SARDINIA 



lie bishop have their residence in Saratov. Popu- 

 lation, 1910, 217,400. 



SARCOPHAGUS, sahr kahj'agus, a stone 

 coffin which is usually placed in a vault or 

 tomb instead of being buried. The marble 

 receptacles containing the bodies of George 

 Washington and his wife, which may be viewed 

 in the family vault at Mount Vernon, are ex- 

 amples of sarcophagi. The name, which is 

 from a Greek word meaning flesh-eating, refers 

 to an ancient belief that coffins made out of a 

 certain stone found in Asia Minor would con- 

 sume the bodies placed within them. The sar- 

 cophagi of the ancient Egyptians, who regarded 

 n caskets as the homes of their dead, are 

 the oldest known. The bodies of the kings who 

 built the Pyramids for their tombs were placed 

 in mummy cases, and these cases placed in great, 

 hollowed-out blocks of granite. The cover of 

 the stone receptacle often had the form of a 

 curving roof, to carry out the idea of a house. 

 Later the sarcophagus itself was fashioned to 

 resemble the swathed mummy. The Greeks 

 and Etruscans followed the custom of elabo- 

 rately decorating the sides of their stone coffins 

 with figures in relief. .See list of related sub- 

 jects, following the article BURIAL. 



SARDANAPALUS, sahrdanapa'lus. See 



ASSURBANIPAL. 



SARDINE, sahrdcen, a small, olive-green 

 fish from two to four inches in length, which is 

 of great commercial value because of its fine 

 flavor. It is a member of the herring family. 

 Sardines are marketed in canned form, and are 

 put up in oils, especially olive oil. The most 

 important fisheries are found along the coasts 

 of the Mediterranean Sea and the coast of the 

 Bay of Biscay, France. In the United States 

 young herring and menhadden are packed in 

 oils and marketed as sardines. A species re- 

 lated to the European fish the California sar- 

 is abundant on the American Pacific coast 

 and is a valuable food fish, but it is not canned. 

 California sardine grows to be a foot long, 

 and is dark bluish on tin upper parts and 

 silvery below. The following operations take 

 place in the preparation of canned sardines: 

 After the entrails have been 

 are washed, <! :n boiling oil. 



I in tin boxes 



.1 \\itli pure olive or other oil. 

 After the lids are soldered on the boxes are 

 placed in bo: r or sul> the 



fumes of hot steam. Sur : sar- 



winc, are a delicacy known 

 in the south of France (see HERRING). 



SARDINIA, sahr din' i a, an island in the 

 Mediterranean Sea, belonging to the kingdom 

 of Italy. The island of Corsica, birthplace of 

 Napoleon Bonaparte, lies directly to the north, 

 the two islands being separated by the Strait 

 of Bonifacio, nine miles wide; 115 miles north- 

 east of the northeastern extremity of Sardinia 

 lies the nearest point of the Italian peninsula. 



SARDINIA AND VICINITY 

 The small corner map shows location of Sar- 

 dinia ami its sister island. Corsica, with respect 

 to the mainland. 



Only one of the Mediterranean islands Sicily 

 is larger than Sardinia, the area of which, in- 

 cluding the coast islets, is 9,308 square miles 

 almost exactly that of the state of New Hamp- 

 shire. It is irregularly oblong in shape, and is 

 168 miles in length and about half as WL!< 



Commercially. Smlinia is important chiefly for 

 its minerals and agricultural products. Moun- 

 tains are found in nearly all parts, but those in 

 the southwestern section have the richest mines. 

 Lead, silver, zinc, antimony, lignite, granite and 

 salt are the chief products of the mines, and 

 nnual yield is valued at about $4,000,000. 

 Wh. at. oranges, olives, lemons and grapes are 

 raised on the fertile plains between the moun- 

 tains, and the raising of cattle is rapidly in- 

 creasing in importance. About one-fifth of the 

 land is forest-covered. The island has railroad 



