472 



>l MM HAD 



SIMJAPOKK 



with impartiality, and by the treaty of Salhye 

 (1783) Sinilia was recognised an a sovereign prince 

 and continued in all his possessions. In I7S4 

 he captured the stronghold of Gwalior, and in 

 ihc following year marched on Delhi, and sule- 

 quently seized Agra, Alighnr, and nearly the whole 

 of the Diiali (ii.v. ). The manifold advantages of 

 European discipline had struck him forcihlv during 

 the war with the British, and, with the aid of an 

 ahle French officer, he raised and drilled an army 

 of troops, with whom he reduced Jodhpur, I'dai- 

 pur. and Jeypore, three Rajput states, an<l effec- 

 tually humbled the pride of Holkar. See H. G. 

 Keene's Mddhana Rao SindJiia ( ' Rulers of India' 

 series, 1892). DAULAT RAO SINDIA (1794-1827) 

 continued his granduncle's policy, and during 

 i In- troubles which convulsed Holkar's dominions 

 at the commencement of the 19th century ravaged 

 Indore and Poona, hut was routed in 1802 by 

 Holkar. Having joined the rajah of Berar in 

 a raid on the Nizam (1803), he brought down 

 upon himself the vengeance of the East India 

 Company. The confederated Mahrattas were 

 routed at Assaye and Argaum by Sir Arthur 

 Wellesley, and were scattered irretrievably at 

 Laswari by Lord l.ake. Thereupon Sindia has- 

 tened to sign a treaty by which ail his possessions 

 in the Doab and along the right bank of the Jumna 

 were ceded to the British. Gwalior was, however, 

 restored in 1805, and from that time became the 

 capital of Sindia's dominions. During the reign of 

 MUOAT (JANAKJi) i:\ii IvJT i:!., a minor, the 

 Gwalior dominions were in such a state of anarchy 

 that the British felt called upon to interfere ; a 

 war ensued, and the Mahrattas were routed at 

 Maharajpur (Deceml*r 29, 1843) by Lord Gough, 

 and at Panniar by Major-general Grey on the same 

 day. Gwalior foil into the hands of the British, 

 4th January 1844, and Sindia submitted to the 

 conditions demanded of him, besides maintaining a 

 contingent force of sepoys at Gwalior. During the 

 Mutiny BAJI RAO (1843-86), successor of Mugat, 

 took the field against the Gwalior contingent, 

 which had joined the rebels ; but most of his troops 

 deserted him during the l>attle (June 1 ), and he 

 narrowly escaped by fleeing to Agra. He was 

 subsequently reinstated by Sir Hugh Ro.se, and 

 received from the British government substantial 

 marks of its goodwill and approbation. He wits 

 succeeded by his adopted son in 1886, when the 

 British cantonment was removed from Gwalior. 



Simlibad. See SEVEN WISE MASTERS. 

 Nino. See TRHIONOMETRY. 



Sin-eaters, a rhuw of men formerly employed 

 in Wales and on the Welsh border, in connec- 

 tion with funeral rites, to eat a piece of bread 

 and drink a cup of ale placed on the bier, ami 

 so symbolically take upon themselves the sins 

 of the deceased. AH soon as this was done the 

 sin-eater 'pronounced the ease and rest of the 

 soul departed, for which he would pawn his own 

 sou I, 'and so took his way, having freed the dead 

 sinner from the necessity of walking an unquiet 

 ghost. The name may be dne to a mistaken inter- 

 pretation of Hosea, iv. 8' They eat up the sin of 

 my people;' bnt the real origin of this strange 

 custom must undoubtedly lie found in the Levitiral 

 tcape.ffoat (Levit. xvi. 21-22). Aubrey is the 

 chief authority for this usage, and describes it as 

 once common in Shropshire, Herefordshire, and 

 Nort li Wales. It seems also to have been prart ised 

 in Galloway- See the paper by E. Sidney Hart- 

 Ian. I in ftpAfWV in 1892. 



Sinrmre (Lat. tine cura, 'without care'), in 

 common language, an office which has revenue 

 without employment. In the canon law a sinecure 

 an ecclesiastical benefice, such as a chaplainry, 



canonry, or chantry, to which no cure of souls is 

 at ladicd. and where residence is not required. The 

 strictest kind of sinecure is where the benefice is a 

 donative, and is conferred by the pat ion expre--ly 

 without cure of souls, the cure either not existing, or 

 lieing committed to a vicar. Sinecure rectories were 

 abolished in 1840. Sinecure offices were formerly 

 very numerous in the Knglmh public service. They 

 were used to enrich ministers of state and their 

 families ; Sir It. \Valpole, for example, presented 

 his son Horace to three or four sinecure places 

 which brought him in a large income. The num- 

 ber of such places has lieen greatly diminished by 

 modem reforms ; the stewardship of the Chiltern 

 Hundreds (q_.v. ) and some other offices of merely 

 nominal profit are retained, because by accepting 

 one of them a member of the House of Commons- 

 is enabled to vacate his seat. 



Sinew. See TENDON. 



Siiiiiailfoo. the principal city of the Chinese- 

 province of Shen-hsi, on a tributary of the Hoang- 

 ho. Pop. stated at 1,000,000. 



Singapore, a British dependency in Asia, the 

 most important of the Straits Settlement-, consists 

 of the island of Singapore (27 miles long, 14 broad ; 

 area, 206 sq. m. ), separated from the southern ex- 

 tremity of the Malay Peninsula hy a strait only half 

 a mile wide at its narrowest, and of a great number 

 of very small islands along its shores. The surface 

 is undulating, the highest point reaching 520 feet 

 only. The climate is hot and moist, but the soil 

 is not particularly fertile ; nevertheless the island 

 is perpetually clothed with verdure, and yields 

 good crops of coffee, pine-apples, cocoa-nuts, aloes, 

 and every kind of fruit, especially East Indian 

 fmit (e.g. mangosteen and durian). Gamhier, 

 pepper, and nutmegs used formerly to be the 

 staple crops ; but all three are cultivated to a 

 much smaller extent than formerly. This island 

 was purchased in 1824 from the sultan of Johore 

 for 12,500 and a liferent of 5000. Pop. of island 

 ( 1881 ) 172,993 ; ( 1891 ) 182,650. 



The capital of the dependency, Singapore, is the 

 only town on the island. It occupies a pleasant 

 site on the south-east coast, on the Strait of 

 Singapore, the principal waterway for vessels 

 trading between eastern Asia and India and 

 Europe. This city was founded by Sir Stamford 

 II. illlcs in 1819 as an emporium for British 

 trade in the East Indies, and it has since that time 

 advanced and grown in prosperity till it has 

 become the most important trading-place in the 

 south east of Asia, its only competitor being 

 Batavia in Java, from which it is 600 miles distant. 

 Singapore is a picturesque, well-built town, \\ith 

 fine public buildings and all kinds of appliances 

 in the nature of public works. It possesses a 

 governor's residence, St Andrew's Protestant cathe- 

 dral (1861-70), a Roman Catholic cathedral, Mo- 

 hammedan mosques, Hindu temples, Chinese joss- 

 houses, Rallies museum ( 1 823). the supreme law- 

 courts, post-ottice (1883), hospitals, gaol, barracks, 

 and Fine botanical ami zoological gardens. It is 

 defended by numerous lialteries and forts, and is 

 a naval coaling station and depot. The docks, 

 stores, and dwelling bouses extend for t\ miles or 

 more along the sea-front. The harlHiur is spacious 

 and safe and remarkably easy of access, and its dock 

 accommodat ion embraces two gnu ing -docks, an 

 admiralty dock, and several docks of the ordinary 

 kind. It is a free jHirt, no duties being levied 

 except on wines ana beer. The annual trade of 

 Singapore has increased at a remarkable rate since 

 t lie city was founded. The total trade in Isjli was 

 under 2,000,000; in 1851 about 4,000,000. In 

 1887 the exports were (taking the dollar at 4s.) 

 valued at 15,012,066; the imporU, 18,423,947. 



