SARDANAPALUS 



SARDINIA 



163 



blood-red by transmitted light. It is rare, and 

 brings a much higher price than common cornelian. 

 The name is probably from Sardis. The Sardonyx 

 is an Onyx (q.v. ) containing layers of sard. 

 Sardanapa lus. See ASSYRIA. 

 Sardes. See SARDIS. 



Sardine (originally 'the Sardinian fish,' and 

 applied to a kind of tunny ), the French name for 

 Pilchard (q.v.), in England used for small pilchards 

 'specially prepared. In France and Portugal sar- 

 dines are cured with oil in tin boxes, forming a 

 much-esteemed delicacy, and, at the same time, 

 a most wholesome article of food ; in this form 

 they are exported to all parts of the world. To 

 cure them in this way, they are first carefully 

 washed in the sea, then sprinkled with fine salt, 

 and after a few hours the head, gills, &c. are 

 removed ; they are then washed again, and spread 

 out on willow branches or wire-work, exposed 

 to the sun and wind, if the weather is dry, but 

 in damp and rainy weather to a current of air 

 under cover. They are next put into boiling oil, 

 in which they remain for a short time, and when 

 they are taken out the oil is drained away from 

 them as much as possible, and they are put into 

 the tin boxes whose shape and appearance are 

 go familiar to every one. The lioxes, being filled 

 with sardines, are filled up with oil, the lid is 

 soldered on, and they are placed for a short time 

 in boiling-water, or exposed to hot steam. The 

 boxes which have leaked or have burst in boiling 

 kre rejected, and those which remain sound are 

 now ready for the market. Sardines have of late 

 years been much less abundant off the French 

 coasts. Sardines A I'huile are made from sprats at 

 Deal in Kent. Maine, U.S., now produces large 

 quantities of excellent sardines from a small kind 

 of herring, Eastport canning as many as 600,000 

 cases in a year. In the south of France sardines 

 are sometimes cured in red wine. 



Sardinia, an island of Italy, after Sicily the 

 largest in the Mediterranean, lies 135 miles \V. 

 of the Tiber mouth, and immediately south of 

 Corsica, being separated from it by the Strait of 

 Bonifacio, 7i miles wide. In shape it resembles 

 an oblong set on end, with a deep wide bay, the 

 Gulf of Cagliari, in the south, and another, the 

 Gulf of Porto Torres, in the north. From north to 

 south it measures 170 niiles, and from east to west, j 

 i>n the average, 75 miles. Area, 9206 -|. m. I ill 

 various point* along the shores lie islands, the 

 largest being San Antioco, San Pietro, Dell' 

 Asmara, Maddalena, Caprera, Tavolara, &c. The 

 surface is generally mountainous, the configuration 

 that of a tableland running up into ranges ami 

 isolated peaks. The highest points occur along 

 the eastern side of the island, and reach 6233 feet 

 in Gennargentu in the centre, and 4287 in the 

 mountains of Limbara in the north. The western 

 side of the island ranges at about 1240 feet, though 

 the extinct volcano of Monte Ferru reaches 3400. 

 The south west corner is separated from the main 

 iiia^s of the island by the low alluvial plain of 

 Campidano, which stretches from the Gulf of Cag- 

 liari to the Gulf of Oristano, on the west coast ; 

 at both extremities of it there are extensive salt 

 lagoons. The only other low-lying tracts are the 

 lower portions of the river valleys. The streams, 

 however, are mostly short, the longest not exceed- 

 ing 65 miles. The north-eastern shores are lii^'li 

 and rocky. On the west the coast-line is more 

 irregular than on the east ; the grotto of Neptune, 

 on this west coast, is one of the finest in Europe. 

 Ever since the time of the Roman possession the 

 climate of the island has )>een in evil repute. This 

 is because of the malaria that prevails in the low- 

 lying tracts, where there is often much stagnant 



water after the rains, and much decaying vegetable 

 matter in the hot season. The parts that he at a 

 higher level are quite as healthy as the correspond- 

 ing districts of Italy. A more extended cultivation 

 of the soil and the drainage of the marshes or 

 inland lagoons would greatly diminish the malaria, 

 as experiment in certain districts has proved. 



Sardinia is in nearly all respects a backward 

 island. It has fine natural resources fertile soil, 

 valuable mines, extensive forests, rich fisheries, 

 and excellent facilities for manufacturing industry. 

 But owing to the old-fashioned conservatism of the 

 people, their apathy, their primitive methods of 

 agriculture, lack of enterprise and capital, and 

 want of means of communication, and long years 

 of negligent if not inefficient government, its 

 resources are by no means developed to the extent 

 they could be ; many lucrative industries are in 

 the hands of foreigners, others are neglected by the 

 Sardes, and those that they do cany on are often 

 carried on in a half-hearted manner and with 

 olisolete methods. Feudalism was not finally 

 abolished in the island until 1856. Of the total 

 area alxnit one-third is arable land, one-third 

 pasture, and nearly one-third (28 per cent.) forest. 

 The first place amongst the natural resources is 

 taken l>y the agricultural products, in spite of the 

 backward farming, the heavy taxation, and the 

 extremely minute subdivision of the soil. The 

 principal produce is wheat, barley, beans, potatoes, 

 wine (21,500,000 gallons per annum), olive-oil (14 

 million gallons), oranges, lemons, tobacco, flax and 

 hemp, cheese, butter, and wool. The breeding of 

 horses is an important industry ; and large numbers 

 of cattle, sheep, swine, and goats are kept. The 

 growing of fruits anil the breeding of the domestic 

 animals are lx>th carefully attended to, and the 

 products of Init li industries are improving ; but the 

 only improvement in the management of the soil 

 is the drainage of the marshes by the government 

 (who own one-fifth of the 'area) and private 

 individuals. Besides lieing in ancient times the 

 granary of Rome, Sardinia was renowned for its 

 mineral wealth. After lying unused from the fall 

 of the Roman empire the' mines were again worked 

 by the Pisans in the 14th and 15th centuries; but 

 work was not resumed in them with any degree of 

 energy until towards the middle of the 19th cen- 

 tury. At the present time some 10,000 persons are 

 employed in extracting of lead (with silver) and 

 zinc, and to a less extent lignite, antimony, and 

 manganese. Iron and copper also exist. Granite, 

 marble, and clay for pottery are quarried. Salt is 

 manufactured from sea-water, chiefly by convicts 

 at Cagliari. The mines are mostly situated in the 

 south-west, in the neighliourliood of Iglesias. The 

 total produce for a year averages 675,000 in value. 

 The centre and north of the island are chiefly 

 covered with forests, though they are being all too 

 rapidly diminished. The commonest as well as the 

 most valuable trees are the oak, ilex, cork, and 

 wild olive, which yield timber, cork, bark for tan- 

 ning, acorns, and charcoal to the annual value of 

 close upon 300,000. The seas yield large quanti- 

 ties of tunny, sardines, anchovy, and coral, though 

 t lif lislieries, except for tunny, are not prosecuted by 

 Sardinians, but by Italians; the native fishermen 

 prefer to catch trout, eels, lobsters, crabs, &c. in the 

 livers and inland lagoons. Sardinia has no exten- 

 sive manufacturing industries, though there is some 

 tanning and making of cigars, aerated waters, 

 macaroni, flour, and spirits. There are, however, 

 a variety of domestic industries for home use ; most 

 of the women still pljr the spinning-wheel. Until 

 the year 1828 Sardinia had no roads for wheeled 

 vehicles, the Roman roads having gone to ruin 

 centuries ago. Now there are good roads through- 

 out the island ; and they nn- supplemented by 350 



