SCUTAGE 



SEA 



271 



stalked and heart-shaped, the pouches globose, 

 ovate, or elliptical. It is a variable plant, and 

 some of the other species described by botanists 

 are probably not essentially different. They possess 

 the same properties. Scurvy -grass is very common 

 on the shores of Britain, growing both on rocks 

 where there is little soil and in muddy places. It 

 is also found on high mountains. It is a very 

 widely distributed plant, and, being found on the 

 shores of almost all temperate parts of the world, 

 has often been of great benefit to sailors in times 

 when the modern precautions against scurvy at 

 sea were unknown. 



Scntage, or ESCUAGE (Lat. scutum, 'shield '), 

 a pecuniary fine or tax sometimes levied by the 

 crown in feudal times as a substitute for the per- 

 sonal service of the vassal. 



Scn'tarl (Italian or Levantine form of the 

 Turkish Uskildar), (1) a town of Asiatic Turkey, 

 on the eastern shore of the Bosporus, immediately 

 opposite Constantinople, of winch it is considered 

 a suburb. It is built on the slopes of a hill, and 

 bears a great resemblance to the Turkish capital, 

 though its streets are wider. It contains several 

 handsome mosques, bazaars, and baths, a royal 

 seraglio, and a college of howling dervishes, and 

 manufactures silks and cotton fabrics and leather 

 goods. It has long been famed for its extensive 

 cemeteries, adorned with magnificent cypresses, 

 the chosen resting-place of many of the Turks of 

 Constantinople from attachment to the sacred soil 

 of Asia. The population is variously estimated at 

 from 40,000 to 60,000. During the Crimean war 

 the enormous barracks built by Sultan Malinnid on 

 the southern outskirts of the town were occupied as 

 barracks and hospital by the English troops, and 

 formed the scene of Miss Nightingale's lataurs. 

 On the cliffs tardering the Sea of Marmora stands 

 a marble obelisk marking the site of the densely- 

 filled English burial-ground. A white tower (90 

 feet high ) near the shore, now used as a lighthouse, 

 is known as Loander's Tower (see HERO). Scutari 

 is the rendezvous and starting-)ioint of caravans 

 and travellers for the interior of Asia Minor. It 

 occupies the site of the ancient Chrysopolis ; and 

 about two miles to the south lies the village of 

 Kadikoi, the ancient Chalcetloti. 



(2) A town of European Turkey, situated at the 

 southern end of the Lake of Scutari, in Northern 

 Albania, 16 miles from the Adriatic, with which it 

 is connected by the river Bojana. It is overlooked 

 by an old Venetian citadel on a commanding height, 

 lias manufactories of arms and cotton goods, and 

 carries on a considerable trade, especially in wool 

 and skins. Pop. 2.">,000, of whom one-third are 

 Greek Christians. They have here a cathedral and 

 a bishop. 



Scylla and Charybdis, according to the 

 Homeric legend, were two sea-monsters who dwelt 

 on opposite sides of a narrow sea-strait. Scylla 

 possessed twelve feet, six long necks and mouths, 

 each with three rows of sharp teeth, and barked 

 like a dog. Charylidi.s thrice every day sucked 

 down tin- water of the sea, and thrice threw it up 

 again; she dwelt under a cliff on which grew a 

 conspicuous fig-tree. 1'lysscs passed l>etweeii these 

 voracious monsters, and Scylla snatched six seamen 

 from his ship. There are other Tensions of the 

 myth. In later times the names were applied to ;i 

 couple of ' races ' or rapids in the Strait of Messina, 

 Si-ylla being the one next the Italian shore. From 

 the supposed difficulty of navigating the strait 

 without getting into the one or the other of these 

 dangerous spots arose the proverbial 'To shun 

 Charybdis and fall into Scylla.' But the dangers of 

 these ' races ' have lieen very greatly exaggerated, 

 Scythe. Sec HEAPING. 



Scythians, a nomad race of Asia known to the 

 ancient writers. The name bore two significations, 

 meaning (1) the Scythians proper or Scolots, (2) 

 all the nomad tribes (Sacte, Sarmatians, Massa- 

 retie, Scolots) who dwelt in the steppes from what 

 is now Hungary to the mountains of Turkestan. 

 Some modern authorities believe them ( the Scyth- 

 ians proper) to have been of Mongolian origin ; but 

 the evidence for their having been Aryans, akin to 

 the Sarmatians and to the Thracians, is growing 

 steadily stronger. They inhabited the vast treeless 

 plains that stretch from the Danube north-east and 

 east to the Volga, were nomads, keeping herds of 

 horses, cattle, and sheep, lived in tent-covered 

 wagons, fought with taws and arrows on horse- 

 back, made drinking-skulls of the heads of their 

 slain enemies, were filthy in their habits, never 

 washing, and worshipped without images various 

 gods like those of the Aryan Greeks. From the 

 Greek colonies established north of the Euxine 

 they learned something of the arts of civilisation ; 

 one of their kings, Anacharsis (q.v.), even went to 

 Athens to learn at the feet of Solon. In the 7th 

 century B.C. the Scythians (i.e. some of the nomad 

 races of the steppes) in vailed Media, and were only 

 got rid of after ten years' occupation by Cyaxares 

 making all their chiefs drunk at a banquet, and 

 then slaying them. About the same period (626) 

 certain fair-haired men from the north invaded 

 Palestine and Egypt; these have been identified 

 with the Scythians, and were the same, in all prob- 

 ability, as the riders and bowmen of whom the 

 prophet Jeremiah s]>eaks (chap, iv.-vi.). In 515 

 Darius crossed the Hellespont and went north over 

 the Danube into the country of the Scythians 

 (Seolots); but the difficulties and dangers of the 

 wholly unknown country compelled him to retreat, 

 suffering heavy losses. Shortly after the middle of 

 the 4th century the Scythians (Scolots) in Europe 

 were sulxliied and in great part exterminated by 

 the Sarmatians. The Scythians of Asia, however, 

 after about 128 B.C. overran Parthia( Persia), routed 

 several Parthian armies, and levied tribute from 

 the Parthian kings. They founded also in the east 

 of the empire the kingdom of Sacastane, so that 

 that part of Asia was long known as Indo-Scythia. 

 During the first century before and the first century 

 after Christ hordes of Scythians, having overthrown 

 the Bactrian and lotto-Greek dynasties of Afghan- 

 istan and India (125-25 B.C.), invaded Northern 

 India ; and there they maintained themselves with 

 varying fortune for five centuries longer. Their 

 kings were warm supporters of northern Buddhism ; 

 indeed an attempt has been made to show that 

 Buddha was of Scythian descent. The Jats of 

 India, and the Rajputs, have both been assigned 

 the same ancestry. Greek influence told strongly 

 on the Scythian conquerors : Greek was even used 

 as the official language of several dynasties in 

 Bactria ami the Punjab. 



See Kawlinson's and Sayce's editions of Herodotus; 

 Muhaffy, The Greek World under Komiin Kirny (\<M); 

 fres>raStyt/<o-Sak(n(188fi); Kraue,ri*toin</(1891); 

 Zeuss, Die Dfutxchen vnd Hire A achlxtrgtnmme (1837); 

 Neumann, Die Hellcnen im Sknlhenlunde (1855) ; Mullen- 

 hoff and Cuno, Vie Myt/ten (1871). 



S-!i. All primitive peoples appear to have 

 experienced a feeling of dismay when they braved 

 thr dangers of the sea. The great majority of the 

 civilise<r nations of antiquity took but little interest 

 in the physical phenomena of the ocean. The few 

 facts IBM were known with reference to the sea 

 were limited to maritime nations like the Phoe- 

 nicians. Among the learned men of antiquity two 

 views were held with reference to the distribution 

 of land and water. The Homeric school to which 

 Eratosthenes and Strata belonged regarded the 

 old world as a single bland surrounded by the 



