171 



SIERRA LEONE. 



SILESIA. 



678 



orer which they pa**. Sierra Leon* i* noted for tbo unhealthines* 

 of iu cliiuatr, bat ther* ii great variation in tliu point in different 

 rear*. In the interior the rain* are much !< abundant, and the heat 

 U four or five degree* le**. 

 fin 



fc fin different tribe* inhabit the coait of Sierra Leone, 

 all of whom belong to tbo negro race, but they hare attained different 

 degree* of civilimtion. The country north of the river Kaba i 

 occupied by the Mandinsoea, whoM chief town U Fouricaria. Be- 

 tween thU river and the Kokelle are tlie Timannee*. near the sea, and 

 the Limba farther inland. South of the Kokelle are the Kooranko, 

 and the moat eaatern portion is occupied by the Soolima. It i pro- 

 bable that there are other tribe* in thote part* of the country which 

 hare not yet been viaited by Europeans. The UandingoM, who are 

 Mohammedan*, hare made some progress in civilisation ; thoy are 

 distinguished by their activity and rertlestneas, and are penetrating 

 farther *outb, some of them having settled in the vicinity of the 

 American colony of Liberia. The Timannees occupy a country extend- 

 ing 90 mile* from east to west, and 55 miles from north to south. 

 Their country is divided into four nominal districts, governed by 

 headmen, who always assume the title of king. They cultivate the 

 ground, though with lass skill and industry than their neighbours. 

 The Timanneea are very docile; they soon accommodate themselves 

 to European habits, and are in general much attached to their em- 

 ployers. They have their fetishes and greegrees, and none of them 

 have embraced Christianity or Mohammedanism. Their towns are 

 Kambia, Porto Logo, Macabele, and Ma Yosso. The country of the 

 Liiub.i is still little known. The Kooranko occupy a country extend- 

 ing east to the banks of the Joliba. In language and costume they 

 closely resemble the Miui'lingoes, but they are by no means so hand- 

 some or so intelligent. The language, except a few words which have 

 suffered a little from corruption, is the same as that spoken by the 

 ICandingoea, but their manners bear a stronger affinity to those of 

 the Timannees. They dress however like the Mandingoes, with great 

 decency, and the manufacture of cotton-cloth is general among them. 

 The Kooranko country contains the towns of Seemeva, Kolakonka, and 

 Kamato. The Soolima, who occupy the country between the Koorauko 

 on the south and Foota Jallon on the north, are described as muscular 

 and short in stature, averaging in height from 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 

 8 inches. The capital of the Soolima is Falaba, which consists of 

 about 4000 huts, and contains about 10,000 inhabitants. Other towns 

 in the interior are Sangoora, Semba, Mousaiah, and Koukodoogore, 

 which have altogether about 15,000 inhabitants. 



The population of the colony in 1851 was 44,501. It included 

 individuals from as many as 100 African tribes. The number of Euro- 

 peans was little more than 100. Of 5223 slaves brought to the colony 

 in 1849 and 1850, as many as 3352 emigrated. The colony is 

 divided into 16 parishes, which are under the superintendence of the 

 Bishop of Sierra Leone, 13 European and three native clergymen. 

 There ore good stone churches iu almost every important village in 

 the colony. The Wesleyan Methodists have four ministers and 

 several native lay preachers. They have seven chapels in Freetown, 

 and eight in the villages. There are about 30 chapels belonging to 

 other sects; the ministers are generally persons of colour. Extensive 

 provision has been made for education in the colony. The Church 

 Missionary Society and the Wesleyans have schools in the villages 

 and many parts of the rural districts. In Freetown the Church 

 Missionary Society has a Grammar school and a female institution, 

 and near the town, the Fourah Bay Institution for general education 

 and the training of teachers and ministers. The Wesleyan Method- 

 ists have also a training school at King Tom's Point in Freetown, 

 in which the pupils are clothed and fed at the expense of the society. 



The affairs of the colony are administered by a governor and a 

 council of seven or more members, appointed by the crown at the 

 recommendation of the governor; the chief justice, queen's advocate, 

 and colonial secretary being members ex officio. The law courts are 

 the Assize, Royal Commission and Chancery courts, the Court of the 

 Ordinary, of the Recorder of Freetown, of Vice-Admiralty for adju- 

 dicating on captured slave ships, and the Police and Small Debt 

 courts. The revenue is derived from customs duties, of which the 

 inot important is an ad-valorem duty of four per cent, on all British 

 and foreign goods imported, and from a few local taxes, the most 

 productive being the spirit licence. A house and land tax first levied 

 in 1852 produced in that year 3075/. African produce pays no duty. 

 The revenue for 1852 was 19,886Z. 11. Zd., the expenditure was 

 iy,703/. Hi. 2d. The principal articles exported from the colony are 

 teak timber, camwood, ginger, pepper, palm-oil, nuts, gum-copal, cola- 

 nut*, and ivory. The chief imports are India goods, cotton manu- 

 facture*, arms, ammunition, hardware, beads, sprits, ale, and wine 

 from Great Britain ; and tobacco, lumber, and cotton goods from the 

 United States. The Bsheries of the Banana Islands and the Isles de 

 Los* employ from 150 to 200 boats and canoes, and from 1000 to 

 1500 men. 



Frutvun, the capita], stands on the north side of the peninsula, and 

 on tliu left bank of the Sierra Leone River, about 6 miles from the 

 MM, in 8 Y N. lat, 13 9' W. long., on an inclined plane at the foot 

 of some hills, on which are the governor's residence or Fort Thorn- 

 ton, the barrack*, and some other public buildings. It is 50 feet 

 above the tea-level at high-water mark, and is regularly laid out in 



fine wide itreets, thickly interspersed with orange, lime, banana, and 

 cocoa-nut tree*. Many of the houses are commodious and substantial 

 stone building*. The population of Freetown is about 16,000. The 

 town contain* St George's church, a good stone building; several 

 chapels and school-house* ; the Church Missionary and Wesleyan 

 Missionary institutions ; a Grammar school ; a market-house, fish- 

 market, custom-house, and jail, including the lunatic asylum. The 

 navigable entrance of the river is narrow, there being an extensive 

 shoal with steep sides in the middle of the river, called the Bulloin 

 shoal*. Tho river can only be entered with a sea breeze, which, 

 though tolerably regular, is not always certain either in strength or 

 duration. Kitty, a small village 2 miles E. from the town, has a 

 church and parsonage, and a hospital, to which is appended the lower 

 hospital, a building between the village and the sea. Jtegent'a-Town, 

 at the basin of Sugar-Loaf Hill, 6 miles S. from Freetown, consists 

 of a number of streets regularly laid out, and contains a good stone 

 church, a parsonage, several school-houses, including a missionary 

 training institution, a government house, and several warehouses. 

 Many houses of the natives are built of stone. Gloucester, between 

 Freetown and Hegeut's-T own, has a neat stone church and missionary 

 residence, with a government establishment for African children under 

 a native schoolmaster. There are many other villages in the colony, 

 with populations varying from 100 to nearly 2000. Iu the eastern 

 districts are Wellington, Newlands, Allen's-Town, Hastings, Stanley, 

 Victoria, Rokelle, Waterloo, Calmout-Town, Campbell-Town, and 

 Macdonald. In the western district are Kent, Russell, York, and 

 Sussex. In the mountainous district are Bathurst, Charlotte, Leicester, 

 Gloucester, Wilberforce, Congo-Town, Murray-Town, Aberdeen, 

 Lumley, Goderich, and Adoukia. 



The British Colony of Sierra Leone was established in 1787 by some 

 philanthropists, who intended to show that colonial productions could 

 be obtained without the labour of slaves. In that year 470 negroes, 

 then living in a state of destitution iu London, were removed to it ; 

 and in 1790 their number was increased by 1196 individuals of the 

 same race, who had been settled in Nova Scotia, but could not bear the 

 severity of that climate. Ten years later, 550 Maroons were trans- 

 ported from Jamaica to Sierra Leone ; and in 1819, when a black 

 regiment iu the West Indies was disbanded, 1222 black soldiers and 

 their families were settled there. Since the abolition of the slave-trade 

 in 1807, the slaves captured by the British cruisers have been settled 

 in the colony, and the population has been thus so much increased, 

 that in 1820 it amounted to 12,000, and in 1846 to about 45,000 ; 

 since then it has been kept nearly stationary by emigration. In 1818 

 the Isles de Loss, and more recently the Banana Islands, were added 

 to the colony by purchase. 



SIERRA MADRE. [MEXICO.] 



SIEKRA MORENA. [ANDALUCIA.] 



SIERRA NEVADA. [ANDALUCIA; CALIFORNIA.] 



SIGEAN. [AUDE.] 



SIGMARINGEN. [HOHENZOLLERN.] 



SIGNAKH. [GEORGIA.] 



SIGOOAM. [ALEUTIAN ISLANDS.] 



SIGUENZA. [CASTILLA LA NUEVA.] 



SIHUN, RIVER. [ANATOLIA.] 



SILCHESTER. [HAMPSHIRE.] 



SILEBY. [LEICESTERSHIRE.] 



SILESIA (Schlesien), a province of Prussia, is situated between 

 49 40' and 52 8' N. lat., 14" 25' and 19 15' E. long. It is bounded 

 N.W. by Brandenburg; N.E. by Posen; E. by Poland; S.E. by Austrian 

 Galicia ; S. by Austrian Silesia ; and S.W. by Bohemia. The province 

 is 210 miles in length from north-east to south-west, and from 70 to 

 80 miles in breadth from east to west. The area of the province is 

 15,695 square miles. The population iu 1852 amounted to 3,173,171, 

 of whom 34,373 were Jews, and the remainder Protestants and 

 Catholics in nearly equal numbers. The river Oder, which becomes 

 navigable soon after entering the Prussian boundary, divides the 

 province in its whole length into two nearly equal parts, which are 

 very different from each other. That on the left bank, which is 

 called the German side, is hilly, but has a very fertile soil, 

 which amply rewards the labour of the husbandman. That on thu 

 right bank, called the Polish side, consists chiefly of a sandy and not 

 very fruitful soil. There are however some sandy tracts on the German 

 side, and some rich and productive spots on the Polish side. The 

 country is highest on the south-eastern frontier, and declines more 

 towards the north-western frontier, where it is the lowest. 



Where the frontiers of Silesia and Bohemia meet, a mountain chain 

 rises, which extends southward to the sources of the Breswa and the 

 Ostrawitza, where it joins the Carpathians, divides the basin of the 

 Oder on the one side from those of the Elbe and Danubo on the other, 

 and forms the natural boundary between Silesia and Bohemia and 

 Moravia. This chain, called by the general name of the Sudetic chain, 

 is divided into different parts, bearing different names, as the Iserge- 

 birge, the Riesengebirge, the loftiest and wildest part of the whole 

 chain, the Schneekoppe, which is 4950 feet, above the level of the sea, 

 the Glatz Mountains, &c. In the interior there are some ranges uncon- 

 nected with the great chain the principal of which is the Zobtenge- 

 birge, 2318 feet above the level of the sea. On the right side of the 

 Oder, from the part where its courjs is to the northward, the high 



