: a AQUA. 



SIWAH. 



58t 



reat*, daw, and flow, and from an excise on pork, opium, and home- 

 Bid* (pint*. The total income for the year ending 30th April, 1859, 

 WM about 40,0001. The expenditure wai 21,1101., exclusive of the 

 ezpeoM* for the military and conricta. 



iroiiry. On the aiU of the present British Mttlement formerly 

 tood the capital of a Malay kingdom, the city of Singhapura (the 

 'Lion'* Town')! and Sir Stamford Raffle* was able in 1819 to trace 

 the outer line* of the old city. It was next the capital of the kingdom 

 of Malacca. This town wa taken in 1252 by a king of Java, and the 

 mifanne of the H wai transferred to too town of Malacca, which 

 mi then founded. After that event the town seems gradually to have 

 decayed, and the country to hare been abandoned. It waa then a 

 part of the kingdom of Jahore, which had been BO reduced by internal 

 dueord that *ome of the luperior officers had become independent 

 One of them, the Tumungong, or chief justice, had got possession of 

 the iaknd of Singapore and the adjacent country, and from him the 

 Brituh obtained in 1819 permission to build a factory on the south 

 ahore of the island. Soon afterwards a person who had some claim 

 to the throne of Jahore came to the British settlement, and received a 

 small pension. From this person, who was afterwards king of Jahore, 

 and the Turnungong, the British obtained in 1824 the sovereignty and 

 fee-simple of the island, as well as of all the seas, straits, and islands, 

 for the sum of 60,000 Spanish dollars, and an annuity of 24,000 Spanish 

 dollars for their natural lives. In 1823 Singapore was placed under 

 the provincial government of the Straits Settlement, which was fixed 

 on Penang, or Prince of Wales Island. In 1851, by an order of the 

 directors of the East India Company, Singapore, Malacca, and Prince 

 of Wales Island, were detached from the presidency of Bengal, and 

 constituted a separate government. 



SINIQAQLIA. [PfSARO-E-UKurao.] 



SINOPE. [PAPHLAOCHIIA.] 



SIl'HXO, called also Siphanto and Sifanno, an island in the Archi- 

 pelago, forming one of the group called the Cyclades, ia situated 

 between 86 50' and 37 10' N. lat, 25 10' E. long.; it lies opposite 

 Antipnro, S.E. from Serpho, N.E. from Milo, and S.W. from Paro. It 

 is oblong in form, and about 30 miles in circumference. [Ancin- 

 FELAGO, Grecian.] It was colonised by lonians from Athens. (Hero- 

 dotus, viii. 48.) In the reign of Polycratee, the tyrant of Samoa, about 

 B.C. 20, the inhabitants were very flourishing in consequence of their 

 gold and silver mines, and, according to Herodotus (iii. 57), they were 

 the most wealthy of the islanders. Their mines were afterwards less 

 valuable. Siphnus is very little noticed by ancient authors. From 

 Stephanus Byzantinus, Hesychius, and Suidas we learn that the 

 natives were of dissolute manners, insomuch that to do like a Siphnian 

 was a term of reproach. 



Fiedler mentions only two towns : Katlron, on a rocky hill 

 overlooking the sea, which is the residence of the governor ; and 

 Stawri, called Stavril by Tournefort, in the centre of the island. 

 Siphno is in the pashalic of Nakscha, The bishop is also bishop of 

 Milo. The population in the time of Toumefort was about 5000 ; 

 they were taxed in the year 1700 at 4000 crowns of French money. 

 The lands are chiefly laid out in vineyards. The chief trade is in 

 silk, figs, honey, wax, sesame, and cotton stuffs, which are celebrated 

 for their quality : the inhabitants import the raw material There 

 are Tery few sheep, horses, or horned cattle. The climate is good, and 

 the inhabitants long-lived. 



The antiquities of the island are few. On the south side, at Porto 

 Plati Qallo, are the remains of an old Greek town. Tournefort 

 peak* of a temple sacred to Pan near the castle, which is also noticed 

 by Carpacchi, and of several marble sarcophagi with good sculpture. 

 The Greek coins of Siphnus are very numerous : they are of gold, 

 silver, and copper. Enstron is a castle built apparently when the 

 Venetians first occupied the island. Various buildings bear the arms 

 of the Qosxadiui family, three of whom were still living there in the 

 time of Tournefort 



IRANU, or CERAM. [JAVA.] 



SIKH'IXD, Hindustan, a district in the protected Sikh territory, at 



the north-western extremity of the province of Delhi, is situated 



between 30* and 31" N. lat, 75* and 77 E. long., having the river 



butlej on the north, and on the east the head branches of the Jumna. 



It consist* of extensive plains, which, lying at the head of India, as its 



name imporli, divide the great desert from the lofty Himalayas, and 



n an open communication between the Punjab and the rest of 



fiutdosUn. The sacred river Sereswattee flows through the centre of 



The country is well peopled and generally cultivated, 



lical rains are not always sufficient to insure a crop. 



:r a rainy seMon, during which the banks of the streams are flooded, 



the plains are clothed with good pasture, and the climate, cooled by 



le rains, is temperate and healthy. In the hottest season, however, 



mbabiUnU an at times driven for shelter to subterranean 



dwelling*. The principal towns are, Patialah, which is the largest 



louruhiug ; Taknttir, an object of religious veneration to 



idoosj and SomanoA. Sirhind, the ancient capital, now a heap 



of ruins, stands on the road to Belaspoor, in 30 40' N. lat., 76 55' 



~j*l dUU , ut 27 mUei KW - froln Umballah, and 155 miles 

 h.N.W. from the city of Delhi. It was founded or rebuilt in the 

 14th ceutury, by Feroie 111., who erected a fort in the town, and 

 opened canals from the Sutle; and tho Jumna for the irrigation of the 



neighbouring district. Lying in the route of the Persian and Tartar 

 invaders of Hindustan, the town was exposed to the ravages of war, 

 and in 1707 ws pillaged by the Sikhs, a disaster from which it has 

 never recovered. 



SIRINAGUK. [CASHMERE.] 



SIROD. [JuKA, Department of.] 



SISSONNk [AisxE.] 



SISTERON. [ALPES, BASSES.] 



SISTOVA, a town in Bulgaria, is situated on a height above the 

 right bank of the Danube, 37 miles above Ruatschuk, and 25 miles 

 below Nikopoli, and has about 21,000 inhabitant*. The town is 

 defended by a citadel, and inclosed by a dry ditch and palisade. Tho 

 houses are low and ill-built The mosques, of which there are eight, 

 are the only buildings worth notice. Sistova is a place of considerable 

 commerce, and is looked upon by the Bulgarians as their proper 

 capital. lu ordinary times it has a good trade in corn, hides, leather, 

 foreign manufactures, and colonial produce. Tho Turks and Austriuii.i 

 concluded a peace at Sistova in 1791. 



SITK1I A, the moat important of the Russian settlements on the west 

 coast of North America. Its proper name is New Arkhiinghel.sk. This 

 place lies in 57 2' 50" N. lat, 135 18' W. long., and is built on one 

 of the group of islands which received from Vancouver the name of 

 King George Ill's Archipelago. The population is about 1200, of 

 whom 500 are employed by the Russian American company. The 

 harbour, which Vancouver named Norfolk Sound, but which is now 

 better known aa the Bay of Sitkha, ia spacious and safe, and offers 

 excellent anchorage opposite the settlement. The place itself ia sur- 

 rounded by a wooden wall, and inclosed by mountains of considerable 

 elevation, which are almost covered with forests, in which excellent 

 timber is found. With the exception of the governor's house the 

 dwellings are described as being little better than wooden hovels, 

 huddled together without order or design. Ship-building constitutes 

 the moat important of the branches of industry, and the vessels of 

 the Russian American Company are built here. New Arkuaughelsk is 

 the centre of the administration of the Russian territories in America, 

 over which the American Company exercises sovereign powers, nearly 

 in the same way as the Hudson's Bay Company over a much more 

 extensive portion of North America. The collecting of furs is the 

 exclusive object of both companies, and New Arkhanghelsk may be 

 compared with Fort York, which lies nearly under the same latitude 

 on the eastern coast of America. The climate is milder here than on 

 the east coast of America in the same latitude. A considerable amount 

 of rain falls at Sitkha. 



SITKHIN, EAST and WEST. [ALEUTIAN ISLANDS.] 



SITKOPF. [JAPAN.] 



SITTINGBOURNE. [KENT.] 



SIVAS, or SIWAS, a town in Asia Miuor, on the north bank of 

 the river Kizil-Irmiik, in 39 25' N. lat, 30 55' E. long. ; 100 miles 

 S.W. by W. from Trebizoud, and 100 miles N.E. from Kaisariyeh. It 

 ia the capital of a pashalic which comprehends the whole eastern part 

 of Asia Minor, and which still bears the name of Rum. The valley 

 of the Kizil-Irmdk, the ancient Halys, here spreads out into a broad 

 and fertile plain. The situation, being level, with the exception of 

 only one small circular elevation in the south-west, the whole city is 

 seen to much advantage when approached from the north. It is 

 interspersed with trees, without being buried in them, like most of 

 the towns in these parts. The great number of chimneys seeu above 

 the house-tops indicate that the winter is severe ; and the inhabitants 

 affirm that it is as cold as at Erz-rum. The houses are well-built, 

 partly tiled, partly flat-roofed, and intermingled with gardens. These, 

 with the numeroua minarets, give a cheerful aspect to the place. The 

 bazaars are extensive and well stocked with goods, including many of 

 British manufacture. The consumption of Sivas itself, and the circum- 

 stance of its furnishing supplies to many places, causes its transit- 

 trade to be extensive. Sivas is inhabited by about 6000 families, of 

 whom 1000 or 1100 are Armenians, and the rest Moslems. An 

 Armenian hiatoriau states that the town contained 120,000 inhabitants 

 iu the time of Tamerlane ; and that it capitulated to him on condition 

 thnt their lives should be spared, which condition he most barbarously 

 violated. 



SIWAH is the modern name of the oasis in the Sahara, which 

 was called by the Greeks and Romans Ammonium, Ammonia, or 

 Ammoniaca, from the celebrated oracle aud temple of Jupiter Ammon, 

 with whose worship the Greeks became acquainted through tlio 

 Cyrenicans. The town of Siwah is iu 29 12' N. lat, 26 17' E. long., 

 aud is about 160 English miles from the sea-coast The whole oasis 

 is about 15 geographical miles long and 12 miles broad, but Diodorus 

 (xvii. 50) says that the length and breadth arc about 50 stadia, which 

 would ouly make a little more than 5 geographical miles. The surface 

 ia undulating, arid in the north it is surrounded by high limestone 

 hills ; it is watered by many springs of fresh as well as of salt-water, 

 the latter of which probably ariae from the masses of salt mentioned 

 by Herodotus. Tho ancients speak of three things as remarkable iu 

 this oasis : first, a well, called the Well of the Sun, of which the 

 water waa warm iu the morning and evening, and cold at uiid-dny 

 (Herod., iv. 181; Diodor., xvii. 50; Lucr., vi. 849, Ac. ; Pomp. Mela, 

 i. 8) ; secondly, a Urge palace of the ancient kiugs of the Amiuoiiians, 

 which was surrounded by a triple wall, aud situated iu the centre of 



