SIX-MILE-BP.ID3E. 



SKYROS. 



the oasis (Diodor., xvii. 50) ; and thirdly, the temple of Jupiter 

 Amruon, which was surrounded by a shady grove. Cambyses made 

 an unsuccessful attempt to take the Ammonium (Herod., iii. 25); and 

 it was visited by Alexander the Great. In the reign of the Ptolemies 

 and under the Romans the oasis belonged to that nomos or province 

 which was called Libya (Ptolem., iv. 5). In the time of Strabo (xvii., 

 p. 813) the oracle wss almost entirely neglected. In the middle ages 

 the Arabs called this oasis Santariah. 



The Ammonium, during its most flourishing state in ancient times, 

 seems to have been well peopled ; and the inhabitants, who lived in 

 Tillages, are eaid to hare consisted of three distinct tribes. The 

 southern and western parts were inhabited by -'Ethiopians, the middle 

 part by the Nasamones, and the north by a nomadic tribe of Libyans. 

 The description which Diodorus gives of the beautiful climate of tbe 

 oasis, and of its fertility, especially in fruit, is still applicable to it ; 

 nearly the whole oasis forms an uninterrupted succession of meadows, 

 fields, and palm-groves ; and the gardens produce an abundance of 

 the most delicious fruits. The water however is said to be injurious 

 to camels. 



The present inhabitant* consist chiefly of Berbers mixed with 

 negroes, and all are very zealous Mohammedans. The principal place 

 in it bears the name of Siwab, and ha* about 8000 inhabitants. This 

 town and several other smaller places in the oasis are built upon 

 eminences, and surrounded by walls to protect them from hostile 

 inroads. The houses are all wretched huts, and the streets are narrow 

 and dark. 



Ruius of the ancient temple of Ammon are still visible. The 

 painting*, sculptures, and hieroglyphics which remain on the walls, 

 nra copied an-1 described in the work of MinutolL There are 

 also ruins of other places, especially in the neighbourhood of the 

 modem village of Shargi.th, which probably mark the sites of the 

 ancient villages. The Well of the Sun is near Sbargiah, and is still 

 remarkable for iti varying temperature. Catacombs cut in the rocks 

 have been discovered in four different parts of the oasis. 



SlX-MILE-imiDGE. [CLARE.1 



8KKEN-KI.K. (CHRISTIAKIA ; NORWAY.] 



SKKKH1ES. [DUBLIN.] 



SKIBBKKKKN, County Cork, Ireland, a market-town and the neat 

 of a Poor-Law Union, is situated on the river Ilan, in SI" 34' N. lat, 

 1 18' \V. long., distant by road 52 miles 8.W. from Cork, and 210 

 miles S.\V. from Dublin. The population in 1851 was 3856. Skib- 

 bcreen Poor-Law Union comprises 23 electoral divisions, with an area 

 of 115,024 acre*, and a population in 1851 of 38,059. The town 

 contains a parish church, chapels for Roman Catholics and Wesleyan 

 Methodist*, two National school*, a court-house, market-house, dis- 

 pensary, bridewell, and Union workhouse. In the town are flour- 

 mills and a brewery. Quarter and petty tenons are held. There are 

 six yearly fain, at which Urge quantities of yarns and coarse linens 

 are (old. 



SKIDDAW. [CCMEIILAXD.] 



SKIPTOX, or SKIPTOX-IX CRAVEN, West- Riding of Yorkshire, 

 a market-town and the seat of a Poor-Law Union, in the parish of 

 Skipton, is situated on an affluent of tbe river Aire, in 53* 58' N. lat, 

 a* r W. long., distant 44 miles W. from York, 218 miles N.N.W. 

 from London by roa/l, and 231 miles by the Great Northern and the 

 Leeds and Colne branch of the Midland railways. Tbe population of 

 the town of Skipton in 1851 was 4962. The living is a vicarage in 

 the archdeaconry of Craven and diocese of Ripon. Skipton Poor- 

 Law Union contains 47 township*, with an area of 147,597 acres, and 

 a population in 1851 of 23,363. 



Skipton is an ancient town, which appears to have risen with the 

 Milt. The hooees are built of stone. The only public building 

 belonging to the town is the town-hall Skipton Castle, a little to the 

 art of the church, was formerly a place of great strength. It was 

 built originally by Robert At Romillo", about the end of the reign of 

 William the Conqueror. It stood a siege of three years against tbe 

 parliamentary army, but was compelled to surrender on Dec. 22nd, 

 1015. In 1649 it was dismantled by order of parliament ; but it was 

 afterwards rebuilt by the Countess of Pembroke as a reiidenc-. 

 Some parts of the oM castle are incorporated with the modern build- 

 ing. The parish church is a substantial and spaciou* structure, 

 parts of which *re of great antiquity. The district church of Christ 

 church was built in 1838; that of St. Mary's Embsay is a new 

 notion on the site of the first ecclesiastical foundation in Craven. 

 Tha Primitive Methodist* have two chapels, and the Wesleyan Metho- 

 diiU, Independent*, Swedenborgiana, and Roman Catholic.* have each 

 one chapel. There is a Free Grammar school, founded in 1548 by 

 William Knnystrd, canon- residentiary of St. Paul's, London. Tbe 

 number of scholars in 1854 waa above 60. Tbe income from endow- 

 ment is about 600/. a year. There are National and British schools, 

 a mechanic* institute, and a savings bank. The market, whicli is on 

 Saturday, is a vry large market for corn, and there are fairs on 

 alternate Mondays for cattle and sheep. A county court i* held. The 

 population is partly agricultural, the vicinity forming an excellent 

 grazing district, bat the cotton manufacture is the chief source of 

 employment. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal passes the town. 



.SKI'JU.AI-'.H, Kiat Ridin? of Yorkshire, a village and the seat of 

 a Poor-Law Union, in the parish of Swino, U situated in 53 SO* 



N. lat., 15' W. long., distant 9 milea N.N.E. from Hull, and 183 

 miles N. by W. from London. The population of the township of 

 j North Skirlaugh in 1851 was 190, of whom 68 were iu the Union work- 

 | house. Tbe living is a cbapelry annexed to the vicarage of Swine, 

 : iu the archdeaconry of the East Riding and diocese of York. Skir- 

 laugh Poor-Law Union contains 42 townships, with an area of 67,028 

 acres, and a population in 1851 of 9279. In the village is an elegant 

 chapel, erected early iu the loth century by Walter Skirlaugh, bishop 

 of Durham. 



SKULL, Cork County, Ireland, a village and the seat of a Poor Law 

 Union, is situated in the midst of wild romantic scenery, at the head 

 of Skull Harbour, in Roaring Water Bay, in 51 33' N. lat., 9 30' 

 W. long., distant by road 64 miles S.W. from Cork, and 222 miles 

 S.W. from Dublin. The population iu 1351 was 535, besides 1311 ia 

 the Union Workhouse. Skull Poor-Law Union comprises 11 electoral 

 divisions, with an area of 57,169 acres, and a population in 1851 01 

 | 16,418. The village contains a number of well-built houses ; a neat 

 parish church, built in 1720; a Roman Catholic and a Wcsleyan 

 Methodist chapel ; two National schools, and others partly endowed ; 

 a dispensary ; and the Union workhouse. The harbour is a convenient 

 and sheltered roadstead, with nn anchorage of three or fojr fathom*, 

 accessible at all times of the tide. A rock, midway in tbe entrance, 

 is dry at two hours' ebb. Behind the village Mount Gabriel rises to 

 the height of 1335 feet Skull ia said to have been anciently a seat 

 of learning, and to have derived its present name from its earlier title, 

 St Mary of tbe Schools. 



SKYE, Inverness-shire, Scotland, one of the Hebrides, lies between 

 57 2' and 57 41' N. lat, 5 37' and 6 40' W. long. It is separated 

 from the mainland by a narrow strait, forming the entrance to Loch 

 Alsh, in some parts not more thin a mile wMe. The extreme length 

 of the island, from the point of Sleat to the point of Ami, is about 

 44 miles; its breadth, at the northern fart of the island, slightly 

 exceeds 20 miles. The population in 1851 was 21,521. 



Portree, the only town in the island, has been already noticed. 

 [INVERNESS-SHIRE.] The island throughout is extremely mouut:iinou>. 

 The Cuchullins, a chain of hills stretching alon; the south-western 

 coast, are remarkable for their craggy peaks and fantastic outlines. 

 They are generally of granitic formation, but one group is composed 

 principally of hyperstbene rock. The highest peak of these moun- 

 tains is about 3220 feet The coast is indented with lochs, and there 

 are several small inland lakes, the most remarkable of which is Loch 

 Coruuk, celebrated in Sir Walter Scott's ' Lord of the Isles.' Tho 

 margin of this loch is composed of rough and precipitous rocks, 

 rising to a gigantic height The cave of Strathaird, the most remark- 

 able of the natural beauties of Skye, is a cavern, the roof, floor, and 

 walls of which ara entirely covered with stalactites, many of them 

 assuming elegant and fanciful forms. Tha soil of Skye is unpro- 

 ductive. There is scarcely any wheat grown, potatoes being the 

 principal produce. The herring fishery furnishes a subsistence to the 

 poorer population for a few months in the year. 



SKYKOS (Scyrot), an island in the yEge.in Sea, belonging to Turkey, 

 lies east of the island of Eubcoa, in 39" 10' N. lat, 25" 12' E. long. 

 The earliest inhabitants were Pelasgians and Carians, and Dolopes. 

 Horn rr record* the capture of it by Achilles (' II.,' x. 664), who is 

 said to have been discovered there disguised in female attire before 

 the Trojan war. Theseus was sent into exile to this island, and was 

 murdered by Lycomedcs, its king, who became jealous of his popu- 

 larity. (Pausan., lit 6.) In o.c. 476 it was taken by Cimon, when 

 the inhabitants were enslaved, and a colony was sent thither from 

 Athens. (Thucyd., i. 98.) Six or seven years after this event the 

 bone* of Theseus were removed to Athens. The island afterwards 

 passed out of tbe hands of the Athenians, but was restored to them 

 by the peace of Antalcidas, B.C. 3SC. It was taken by Demetrius 

 Poliorcetes, and again given to Athens B.C. 196, in the treaty between 

 Rome and Philip of M need on. (Livy, xxiiii. 30.) 



The island is 60 miles round. On the west side is a large bay 

 (Paoormo) with several islets, the most western of which, Styro Poulo, 

 is 8 miles from the nearest part of the island. The harbour here ia 

 called Kalamitz'i by the Greeks, and by the Italians Gran Spiaggia. 

 Opposite to thin, on the other side of the island, is Part Akhi/i,wuw<l 

 from the Homeric hero Achilles. The isthmus between those two 

 points divides tbe island into two parts : tbe southern portion is un- 

 cultivated, full of high mountains, intersected by deep gullies, and 

 rugged and bare, except at their summits, where they are covered 

 with oak, fir, and beech. Mount Cocyln, on the east coast, a little to 

 the south of Port Akhili, U 2588 feet high. At the southern extre- 

 mity of the island is a port called Trimpoucliait, or Trcbokhi, 

 corruptions of Tre Bocke, or the Three Mouths. It is rurrounded by 

 wooded hills, and ha* three entrances, the one on each side being 

 about one-third of a mile in width, and the middle one rather 

 narrower. They are all safe and deep. There is a depth of about 20 

 fathoms water in the centre of the harbour. 



The northern division of the island is less mountainous. Tho town 

 <>f M. Heorge (llayio Otorgioi), on the east coast, covers the north and 

 west side* of a high rocky hill. It contains nearly the whole popu- 

 lation of the inland, which is about 3000. It is'the seat of a bishop. 

 On the s'.i-nmit of this hill are the ruins of a castle built during the 

 middle ages, and many house*, all abandoned, which are used by tho 



