SUMBRIDOR 



SMYRNA. 



C9J 



. M | u ni ; UK! in an incloure near t'ulry churtli, t 

 . infirmary, and dupeumary. Then U a laving* bank in the 

 town. Tb manufacture of linm U carried on ; and there are soap- 

 aixl eaodte-warU, rope-walk*, flour-inilU, brewrries, and a distillery. 

 The nrrr b** an important salmon fishery. The port of Sligo is 

 under the control of (own aud harbour commissioner?, elected for 

 lifr, who bare much improved the harbour. The export* are 

 chiefly of com, meal, flour, butter, provision*, and linen-yarn ; and 

 U><> imporU are West India produce, tobacco, refined sugar, tea, 

 British spirit* wine, flax-seed, tallow, glass and earthenware, coals, 

 iron, Umber, and salt. In 1SJ3 there were registered as belonging to 

 the port, IS ve**rU under 60 tons, and 19 of SO tons and upwards, 

 with an aggregate tonnage of 4140 tons; also two steamers of HI 

 ^,^. During 1663 there rntered the port 201 sailing-vessels of 20,077 

 toM.and 177 steam-vessels of 24,634 tons; and there cleared 168 

 sailing-vesMls of 15,443 tons, and 73 steam-vessels of 24,419 tons. 

 The f **'* for the county, and quarter aud petty sessions, are held in 

 the town. Fain are held March 27th, May 7tb, July 4th, August 1 1th, 

 and October 9th. Tuesday and Saturday are the market-days. 

 Steamers ply regularly between Sligo and Glasgow. In a part of 

 the town, belonging to Lord Palmeraton, are some ruins of the 

 ancient monastery. 



8LIMBRIDGB. [GIXJUCESTERSIURE.] 



8LOEODE-UKRAINE. [CHARKOW.J 



SLOUGH. fBCCKINOHAMSHlBE.] 

 8LUYS. [ZEALAND.] 



SMM.ANK. [SWEDEN.] 



SMARDON. [KENT.] 



SMOLENSK, a government of European Russia, is situated between 

 53* 12' and 56 80'N. lat, 30 20' and 35 20' E. long., and is bounded 

 X. by the governments of Pskov and Twer; E. by those of Moscow, 

 Kaluga, and Orel ; S. by Czeruigov ; and W. by Mohilev and Witepsk. 

 The area is 21,572 square miles, and the population in 1846 amouuted 

 to 1,170,600. 



The country is a high undulating plain, broken only by low hills. 

 The soil is clay, mixed with sand aud black mould. Some parts are 

 Terr fertile, and all well repay the expense of cultivation. The prin- 

 cipal rivers are the DXIFPEK, which rises in this government, but is 

 not navigable in nil this port of its course ; the Ohscho, the Mischa, the 

 Kaspla, which run in a westerly direction to the Diina ; the Ugra, 

 which flows eastward to the Oka ; tho Gjat and the Wasuga, both of 

 which run into the Volga. There are, it is said, 150 lakes, but none 

 of considerable extent ; and many morasses. As the country lies high, 

 the climate U colder than that of other provinces in the same latitude, 

 The frost in winter is very severe, and the ice does not break up till 

 April ; on the other hand, the heat of the summer months is very 

 great, vegetation luxuriant, the weather not changeable, and the air 

 talubrious. 



The government produces vast quantities of rye and other groin, 

 hemp, flax, tobacco and hops, culinary vegetables, and some fruit ; 

 but the wealth of the country consists chiefly in its immense forests, 

 which supply timber for the use of the province itself, and also for the 

 navy, particularly fine masts, which are sent to Riga. The forests 

 abound in game of all kinds ; elks, deer, wild boars, wolves, bears, 

 and lynxes are found in them, and prodigious quantities of wild birds. 

 Much atteution is paid to the breed of horses, which are of a good 

 Lithuanian stock. Oxen are used in agriculture as well as horses, and 

 great numbers are fattened for exportation. Swine are very numerous, 

 but theep do not appear to thrive. The country people have great 

 numbers of be. s. The minerals are copper, salt, and bog-iron. The 

 rural population manufacture linen and woollen cloths for domestic use. 

 The Smolensk carpets are in great repute. There are numerous saw- 

 mill*, brandy-distilleries, tanneries, soap and candle manufactories, and 

 ome glau-worlu. 



The export* are agricultural produce of the different kinds above 

 named; hemp-seed, linseed, horse-hair, hides, hogs' -bristles, wool, 

 honey, wax, matts to Riga, timber and firewood to the Dnieper, boats 

 nude for the navigation of the Oka, the Volga, and the Diina; horses, 

 oxen, wine, wdt-pork, Ullow, and lard. Most of the articles are con- 

 veyed by land to Riga, Wilno, and Moscow ; a great part of the cattle 

 are driven to Poland, and thence to Germany; and the timber is 

 floated down the rivers which fall into the Diina, the Oka, and the 

 VO!K*. The import* are colonial produce, wines, manufactured 

 good*, and various other articles. The principal commercial towns 

 are Wiauna and Gahatak. Smolensk, situated on the main road to 

 Moscow, likewise take* an active share in the foreign commerce, but is 

 chiefly engaged with inland and retail trade. 



Th great majority of the inhabitants belong to the Greek Church, 

 tinder the bishop of Smolensk, whose diocese is co-extensive with the 

 government, and ha* 608 parishes. There are a few Poles, Jews, and 

 German*. Smolenk i* within the limits of the university of Moscow. 

 Elementary education is extending among the population, but is still 

 in a backward slate. The government is divided into 12 circles. 

 ?!?'?"'*' th8 chief town of tho government, is in 64 50' N. lat., 



I' E. long., on the right bank of the Dnieper, which is here navie- 



ble, and crowd by a wooden bridge. It is surrounded with a wall 



feet high and 16 feet thick, nearly two miles in circuit, but in many 



part* out of repair, and hag a strong citadel Smolensk is one of the 



most ancient towns in Russia. I U name occurs in the Russian annals 

 an far back as A.D. 879. The Lithuanians obtained possession of it in 

 1413. In the next two hundred and fifty years it was repeatedly 

 taken and retaken by the Pole* and Russians, till it was finally taken 

 by the latter in 1654, In 1812 the first serious conflict between tho 

 French and the Russians took place (August 16 and 17) under the walls 

 of Smolensk, when it was bombarded and set on fire. The KIVIK-II 

 on their retreat in November following blew up part of the work*. 

 Though not a handsome city, Smolensk is now much superior to what 

 it was before 1812, when it was almost entirely built of wood. Tbo 

 part rebuilt since that time is more regular; the houses are generally 

 of stone, and many of them handsome. The public buildings are 

 numerous : there aru sixteen Greek churches, three convents, one 

 Roman Catholic and one Lutheran chapel, numerous charitable insti- 

 tutions, a gymnasium, a seminary for priests, a military school, &e. 

 In a military point of view Smolensk is considered a place of great 

 importance, as it commands the road to Moscow, the heart of tho 

 Russian empire. The manufactures are linen, leather, silks, hats, and 

 soap ; there is also a brisk trade in the natural productions of the 

 country. The population at the lowest estimate is 12,000 ; some late 

 writers state it at 20,000. 



Widsma, about 110 miles from Smolensk, on tho road to Moscow, 

 is a considerable town, with 12,000 inhabitants. It is situated on a 

 river of the same name, and is built on a hill, and surrounded with a 

 wall. There being large vacant spaces, it covers a great extent of 

 ground, so that viewed at a distance it looks much more considerable 

 than it really is, an illusion which is aided by the steeples aud domes 

 of nearly thirty churches. 



Poretttchje, on the Kaspla, which is here navigable, is a town with 

 6000 inhabitants, 50 miles N.N.W. from Smolensk. It has a consider- 

 able transit trade between Smolensk aud Riga. 



Among the other towns are Dorogobusch, on the Dnieper, a pretty 

 and well-built town, 50 miles E. by N. from Smolensk, with 400i) 

 inhabitants, who have some manufactures and considerable trade ; 

 Gsfiatut, or Gjat, which is situated on the river Gjat, on the road to 

 Moscow, in the east of the province, and has 3000 inhabitants, who 

 have a considerable transit trade in corn, hemp, iron, and river-barge-, 

 for the construction of which the neighbouring forests afford excellent 

 materials; and Roslarl, 70 miles S.S.E. from Smolensk, which has 

 large corn-stores, several mills, and about 4000 inhabitants. 



SMYRNA (Ismir), one of tlie most ancient Greek cities in A.-i;i 

 Minor. There was an Old Smyrna and New Smyrna. The old town 

 lay on the north-east side of the Hermecan Gulf or Gulf of Smyrna. 

 According to some traditions it was originally an -'Kulian colony, and 

 was afterwards taken possession of by some Ionian exiles of Colophon. 

 (Herod., i. 16, 149.) It is eaid by Strabo to have been founded by an 

 Ionian colony of Ephesua, where a part of the old town is said to 

 have borne the name of Smyrna from an Amazon of the same name. 

 Afterwards however the Ephesian colonists are said to have been 

 expelled by the yEolians, and to have fled to Colophon, whence a short 

 time after they returned, and recovered their original home. (Strabo, 

 xiv.) Subsequently, about the year B.C. 700, Smyrna, which had 

 hitherto belonged to ^Eolis, was admitted into the Ionian con- 

 federacy. This ancient town of Smyrna was by some supposed 

 to have been the birthplace of Homer ; and in its vicinity, on tho 

 banks of the little river Meles, there was a grotto in which Homer 

 was said to have composed his poems. The Lydiau king Sadyattca 

 took and destroyed Smyrna, and distributed the inhabitants among 

 a number of villages in the neighbourhood. (Strabo, xiv., p. 61C ; 

 Herod., i. 16.) In this state they remained, according to Strabo, for 

 400 years; after which the town was rebuilt with great splendour by 

 Antigonus and Lysimachus, or, according to Pausauias (vii. 5, 1 ), 

 and Pliny (v. 31), by Alexander the Great This new town ho\ve\ir 

 was 20 stadia distant from the site of Old Smyrna, and 320 stadia 

 from Ephesus, and was situated on the north bank of the river Meles, 

 covering the plain as far as the sea, and occupying also a part of a till 

 which Pliny calls Mastusia. The city was or soon became the finest 

 and largest in Asia Minor. (Strabo, xiv., p. 646 ) When Asia Minor 

 fell into the hands of the Romans, Smyrna became the seat of a con- 

 ventus juridicus (Pliny, v. 31), and nourished as a commercial town. 

 Trebonius, one of Coesar's murderers, was besieged in Smyrna by 

 Dolabclla, who took the city, and destroyed a great part of it (Strabo ; 

 Cic., ' Philip.,' xi. 2.) But Smyrna soon recovered and flourished as 

 before. Christianity was early established here, chiefly owing to the 

 zeal of St. Polycarp, who was the first bishop of Smyrna, aud suffered 

 martyrdom there. (Iren., Hi., 3, 4.) Smyrna appears in early times, 

 as at present, to have been subject to frequent earthquakes. It was 

 destroyed by an earthquake in A.D. 178, but it was restored by the 

 emperor Marcus Aurelius. Before the introduction of Christianity 

 the SmyrnRans worshipped chiefly the heroine Smyrna, Nemesis, 

 Homer, and the mother of the gods, whose temple stood near the fioa- 

 coast, and whose head ia represented on the coin of which a repre- 

 sentation is given in this article. 



During the Eastern empire Smyrna again experienced several severe 

 vicissitudes. Towards the close of the llth century it fell into tho 

 hands of Tzachas, a Turkish pirate, atd was nearly destroyed by a 

 Greek fleet under John Ducas. It was restored by the emperor 

 Couinenus, but soon after fell into the bunds of the Genoese, who 



