(37 



SHUMLA. 



SUIT. 



siastically received by the inhabitants, and joined by the tenants of 

 the Earl of Shrewsbury, who accompanied him to Bosworth Field. 



The most important of the old castles of Shropshire are mentioned 

 in the notices of the towns referred to in a previous part of this article. 

 It remains to notice briefly a few others of which remains still exist. 



Acton Burnell Castle, 7 miles S. by E. from Shrewsbury, was 

 founded or restored by Robert Burnell, bishop of Bath and Wells, 

 treasurer and afterward* chancellor of England. It is remarkable as 

 being the place where a parliament was lield in 1234, in the reign of 

 Edward I. The Act entitled Statutum de Mercatoribus was passed 

 here. The remains of the castle consist of a square building, with a 

 tower at each corner. Cause Castle, near West bury, is a mere con- 

 fused heap of ruins, a great portion of the stone having been removed. 

 The site of the castle is one of the most lofty and commanding in 

 the western bonier of this county. Hopton Castle, situated a little 

 south of Chmbury, was held for the Parliament in the reign of 

 Charles I., and was besieged for upwards of a fortnight. It is now 

 in complete ruin. Whittington Castle, near Oswestry, was formerly 

 a place of considerable importance ; the ruins are extremely pictu- 

 resque, and include tight massive towers. The east wall is washed 

 by a lake. 



The remains of some of the abbeys in Shropshire are very beauti- 

 ful Buiidaa Abbey, situated at the village of Buildas, on the right 

 bank of the Severn, about 11 miles below Shrewsbury, was founded 

 iu the rear 1135. The walls are nearly entire. The buildiug is 

 cruciform, with a massive tower rising from the intersection. The 

 lower story of the tower remains, resting on four arches springing 

 from brackets in the walls. Of Haughmond, or Haghmond Abbay, 

 situated on a rising ground 4 miles east of Shrewsbury, and founded 

 in 1100, the chapter-house ia entire. It is oblong, the upper end 

 funning two sides of hexagon. Lillesha.ll, or Lilleshull Abbey, near 

 the village of Lille-shall, 3 miles S. from Newport, is an extremely 

 beautiful ruin. It was founded in the reign of Stephen. The church, 

 which was cruciform, was 228 feet in length. The south door com- 

 municating with the cloister is one of the richest early Norman arches 

 in the kingdom. The abbeys of Shrewsbury and Wenlock are noticed 

 elsewhere. There are also remains of an abbey near Alderbury, 

 called New or White Abbey, founded by Fulke Kitz-Warine, iu the 

 early part of the 13th century. At Chirbury, on the borders of 

 Montgomeryshire, are traces of an Augrotiuian priory, founded in tlie 

 reign of John ; its nave forms the present parish church. White 

 Ladi ' Priory, near Tong, on the borders of Staffordshire, is a pictu- 

 resque ruin, i-ituated in a sequestered spot. It was inhabited by 

 , or Cistercian, nuns at early as the reign of Richard I. or John. 

 White Ladies' and Btwcobel House, near it, afforded concealment for a 

 .-hurt time to Charles 1L after his defeat at Worcester. 



Stolitlict: Beligiotu Wonhip and Education. According to the 

 Returns of the Censui in 1851, it appears that there were then in 

 the County 679 places of worship, of which 291 belonged to the 

 Church of England, 273 to eight tedious of Methodist*. 59 to Inde- 

 pendents, 31 to Baptists, 11 to Roman Catholics, 3 to Quakers, 3 to 

 Plymouth Brethren, 2 to Irringites, 2 to Mormons, and 1 to Unita- 

 rians. The total number of sittings provided was 145,186. There 

 were C59 day schools in the county, of which 247- were public schools, 

 and 812 were private schools, with nn aggregate of 25,254 scholars. 

 Of Sunday schools there were 298, with 22,705 scholars. Of evening 

 schools for adults theie were 14, with 172 scholars. There were 8 

 literary and scientific institutions, with 802 members, and about 2500 

 volumes in the libraries belonging to them. 



Savinyi Bantu. In 1853 the county possessed 11 savings banks at 

 Bridgeoortb, Klleamcre, Lillvahall, Market Drayton, Newport, 

 Onrestry, Shiffnall, Shrewsbury, Wellington, Wenlock, and Whit- 

 church. The total amount owing to depositors on November 2th 

 1853 was 035,9 IU. lo. 6U 



SIll'MLA, orSIIUMNA, a fortified town in European Turkey, is 

 situated on the northern slope of an offset of the Balkan Mountains, 

 which forms the watershed between the Paravati and the Akeli 

 Komcbik rivers, near the point indicated by 43" 18' N. lat., 27 2' 

 E. long. ; 225 miles N.N.W. from Constantinople, 65 miles S.IO. from 

 KusUchuk, 48 miles nearly due W. from Varna, and 60 miles a by W. 

 from Silutria, with all which towns it is connected by track-roads. 

 Roads, or tracks, from the principal fortresses of the lower Danube 

 and the Dobruscha on the north, and from the several passes of the 

 Eastern Balkan on the south, converge upon Shumla; these ad vantages 

 and its strong position make it the ' Key of the Balkan.' And yet it 

 is not the town that is so strong, though it is defended by a wall and 

 a eiUdcl ; but on the heights that command it ou the south and west 

 the Turks have formed entrenched camps, so a* to prevent any enemy 

 from reaching the passes of the Balkan by this route, and are enabled 

 to detach forces for the defence of any point in the range that is threat- 

 ened. The place itself bu little resemblance to a town or a fortress; 

 it is more like a vast Bulgarian Tillage, each house standing within 

 it* own yard and gate, which inclose also the stables and cowhouses. 

 The streets, so called, are dirty and unpaved. In 1S47, when visited 

 by General Jochmus. there were about 5000 Turkish and 1000 

 Christian families in Shumla, which would give a population of 30,000 ; 

 SO moeqnrs and baths, one Greek and one Armenian church, and 

 three Christian schools (in which the Bulgarian language, a Slavonic 



dialect, is taught), cavalry aud infant barracks, aud a new hospital. 

 Three new forts had been built iu the plain, aud one on the heights, 

 and the garrison was only about 1000 infantry and SOO cavalry ; but 

 after the outbreak of the war with Russia the fortifications were greatly 

 extended and completed by Omer Pasha, who made Shumla his head- 

 quarters for a considerable part of 185 4. 



Shumla is usually a place of some commerce ; English and other 

 foreign manufactures are exposed for sale in the baz?.ar. It had 

 formerly, perhaps still has, considerable cotton, silk, and woollen 

 manufactures, which supplied a great part of Bulgaria aud Wallaohia, 

 but the Austrian trade since the establishment of steam navigation 

 ou the Danube, has injured these branches of commerce. There is 

 also a good trade in copper and tin wares. The mausoleum of 

 Djezair Hassan Pasha is named as one of the most attractive objects 

 iu Shumla. There are some Roman remains in the shape of decaying 

 fountains and arches, and in the plain that skirts the town to the 

 north and east there are many of the tope's, or mounds, which abound 

 in Bulgaria. The Paravati River, which runs east of Shumla generally 

 in a narrow valley to the se. at Varna, is the ancient Lyginos. The 

 A'amcAii, which drains the northern and southern slopes of the Little 

 Balkan and enters the sea 14 miles south of Varna is the ancient 

 Pamytiu. 



Shumla first came into the hands of the Turks by capitulatiou in 

 1387. The Russian armies in their attacks upon Turkey have beeu 

 thrice repulsed from Shumla: in 1774 under Rumjanzow, in 1810 

 under Kaminskoi, and in 1S2S under Wittgenstein. Soon after how- 

 ever Marshal Diebitsch, after fighting a battle at Kulefcha, a littla to 

 the east of Shumla, marched eastward by Pravati, and, forcing the 

 passes of the Eastern Balkan, male himself master of Adrianople. 



(General Jochmus, in London Geographical Journal, vol. xxiv.) 



SHUSTER. [PEBSIJL] 



SIAK. [SUMATRA.] 



SIAM, in Asia, including the countries tributary to or dependent 

 on it, extends from 4 to 22 N. lat, 9S to 105 20' E. long. It com- 

 prehends a vast extent of country iuthe peninsula beyond the Ganges, 

 and the larger part of the Malay peninsula. It is bounded E. by the 

 kingdom of Cochin-China, or Annum ; N. by the province of Yun-nnn, 

 China, and that port of Laos which is subject to the Birmans ; W. by 

 the Birmon empire, from which it is separated by the river Saluen, 

 the British province of Tenasserim, and the Gulf of Bengul ; and S. 

 by the independent states of the Malay peninsula, Perak, and Pahaug. 

 The area is very variously estimated, but U probably not less than 

 250,000 square miles. The population was estimated by Crawford at 

 2,790,000, but more recent travellers estimate it at from 5,000,000 to 

 6,000,000, which is probably much more nearly correct. 



Surface, etc. Siain possesses a great extent of coast. That portion 

 of the Indian Ojcan which is called the Gulf of Siam, and extends 

 from south-east to north-west above 500 miles, with an average width 

 of about 250 miles, is almost entirely surrounded by the countries 

 subject to Siam. The Gulf of Bengal forms a coast-line of 529 miles; 

 and the Indian Ocean, with the Gulf of Siam, one of 1467 miles. 



A considerable portion of Siam is covered with mountains and hills. 

 The mountainous and hilly part appears to be connected with two 

 chains of mountains, running south and north, and terminating at 

 their northern extremity in the snow-covered mountain ranges which 

 surround the elevated table-land that forma the centre of the C'li 

 province of Yun-uau. Between these two ranges lies the wide valley 

 of the river Meuaui. 



The western of the two great chains, called by geographers the 

 Mountains of Siam, separates the basins of the rivers Saluen and 

 Menam, and occupies also the northern portion of the Malay peninsula, 

 as far south as 11* N. lat. Towards its southern extremity (betwc. n 

 15* and 12 N. lat), it is probably not more than 70 miles ncrops, 

 but is divided into two ridges, which inclose the narrow valley in 

 which the Tenasserim River runs southward. The whole of this 

 range appears to be covered with jungle or high trees. Some of the 

 summits rise, according to a vague estimate, to between 5000 and 

 6000 feet. The ridge which extends along the eastern banks of the 

 Tenasserim River is called by the Siamese Sam-ra-yot, or the ' Time 

 Hundred Peaks.' It consists of lofty mountains, extremely rugged 

 on their flanks as well as summits, and rising in innumerable bold 

 conical peaks. This ridge, which lowers considerably as it approaches 

 Kwi Point (12 N. lat.), does not come near the Gulf of Siam, but 

 leaves between it and the shores a level country, apparently alluvial, 

 on which rise some insulated peaks. Tho mountains of Siam termi- 

 nate near 11 N. lat, on the isthmus of Krah. Three passes are 

 known to lead over the.-.e mountains between Teuosserim and Siam, 

 but only one of them seems adapted to facilitate the intercourse 

 between the two countries. It leads from Moltnein, near the con- 

 fluence of the river Ataran with the Saluen, along the banks of the 

 Ataran to it* source, where the range is passed at a pl.'ice called 

 Prasong-tshu, or the ' Three Pagodas.' Thence it pauses into Siam, 

 and traverses the rich and fertile valley of the river Mekhlong nearly 

 to its mouth, at the town of the same name. 



The high ground which traverses the isthmus of Krah from north 

 to south, extending from 12 to 9 N. lat, can hardly bo called 

 hilly. It is separated from both the mountains of Siam aud those of 

 the Malay peninsula, which lie north and south of it, by deep and 





