697 



SODOM. 



SOLOTHURN. 



598 



noee slightly aquiline, the eyes lively and expressive, and the month 

 well-formed. Their hair curia naturally, but does not approach to a 

 woolly or crisp texture. Their general complexion is fair, but a few 

 of them are as dark as the Hindoos. As they frequently change 

 their abode?, and live in a country not abounding in building mate- 

 rials, they inhabit the numerous caverns which are found in the lime- 

 stone hills of their country. They are Mohammedans, but they do 

 not show much zeal in reference to religions duties. They are divided 

 into families or tribes. 



Socotra possesses no place which can be called a town. The capital 

 is Tamarida, which is built not far from the northern shores, and 

 contains a population of about 150 persons: 



Socotra was known to Ptolemscus, and to Arrian. It wag visited 

 by the Portuguese Fernandez Perara in 1504, and taken possession of 

 by Albuquerque in 1507. It is not known at what time the Portu- 

 guese evacuated the island, bnt they probably left before the 16th 

 century elapsed. It then returned under the sway of the saltan of 

 Kisseen on the southern coast of Arabia. It now belongs to the 

 Imam of Muscat. 



SODOM. [D*AD SKA.] 



SOFA 'LA is a country on the east coast of Africa, extending from 

 Cape Corrientes (25 S. lat) to the vicinity of the river Ltjabo, the 

 most southern arm of the Zambesi (19 S. lat). This country, 

 together with the province of Senna [SEKSA], was formerly known 

 by the name of Monomotapa, and was noted for the quantity of gold 

 which was supposed to exist there. The name of Monomotapa is 

 now antiquated, and the few gold-mines which exist are included in 

 the province of Senna. [SzznrA, vol tv., coL 499.] 



The coast is low, and beset with shoals and sandbanks. Along the 

 coast are the Bazaruta Islands, Chnluwan, and other islands. The 

 mouth* of several rivers have been visited. The most northern is the 

 river Boozy, commonly called Jam, which falls into a large shallow 

 bay called Massangrany. The river Sofala forms at its mouth a 

 tolerable harbour, which is difficult of access on account of the bar. 

 The most southern river is Inhamban, which is easy of access, and 

 forms an excellent harbour. Ships may ascend to the town, about 

 8 miles from the entrance. 



Ivory and bees*-wax constitute the principal articles of export : 

 they are sent to Mozambique. The native tribes are warlike. They 

 use tpean, and shields made of hide. They are divided into numerous 

 tribes, and their chiefs come annually to the Portuguese settlement*, 

 where they receive tome trifling presents. The most northern of the 

 Portuguese settlements is Sofala, which consists only of a paltry fort 

 and a few miserable mud-huts. The most important settlement is 

 Inhamban, which is a small trading town with tolerably good 

 bondings. 



Sofala was visited in 1480 by Pedrao Cavalhao, a Portuguese, 

 before the way to India by sea was known. Albuquerque took pos- 

 session of it, and in 1508 the fort of Sofala was built. The Portuguese 

 have remained in possession of the country; bat these settlements 

 have been neglected. 



SOHA.M, Cambridgeshire, a town, in the parih of Sonata, is situated 

 in 52* W N. lat, 0* 20' E. long., distant 19 miles 1T.E. by N. from 

 Cambridge, and 68 miles N. by E. from London. The population of 

 the town in 1851 was 2756. The living is a vicarage, with the curacy 

 of Barway annexed, in the archdeaconry of Sudbury and diocese of 

 Ely. Soham parish church is a spacious cruciform edifice of the 

 transition period from Norman to early English, and has a very fine 

 embattled tower at the west end, erected in the 15th century ; the 

 chancel has been recently restored. There are chapels for Wesleyan 

 and Primitive Methodists, Independents, Baptists, and Unitarians ; an 

 Endowed and a National school. St Felix, the first bishop of the 

 East Angles, is said to have founded a monastery at Soham, and to 

 have placed here (about 630) the episcopal see, afterwards removed 

 to Dunwich. In the vicinity of the town ore orchards, gardens, and 

 dairies ; and cheese is made similar to the Stilton cheese. Trade in 

 corn, coals, and malt is facilitated by a navigable cut from the river 

 OUM to Soham. A fair for cattle is held on May 9th, and a feast or 

 pleasure fair is held for three days about the middle of June. A 

 county court is held hi the town. 



SOIONIES. [HAISAULT.] 



SOISSON9, an episcopal town fa France, capital of the second 

 arromlissement In the department of Aisne, is prettily situated on the 

 left bank of tho river Afcne, 60 miles N.E. from Paris, on the high 

 road from Paris to Brussels, in 49' 22" 53" N. lat, 3 19' 40" E. long., 

 at an elevation of 162 feet above the level of the sea, and has 7893 

 inhabitants in the commune, which does not comprise all the suburbs. 

 It is the Auyuita Sueuionum of the Romans, which D'Anville and 

 others identify with the Noviodunum of Caanr (' De Bell. Qall.,' ii. 12.) 

 The city gave title to a bishop from very early times. The Roman 

 roads popularly called ' Chausaees de Brunehaut ' arc dear this town, 

 which in the later period of the Roman domination was one of the 

 most important places in the north of Gaul; and ono of the last 

 which remained under the government of the emperors. It was the 

 seat pf government of -Kgiilius and his son Syagrius, and near it the 

 latter was defeated A.D. 486 by Clovis, who made Sotwona the capital 

 of the Franks. 



Under the early Prankish prince*, Soissons continued to bo of 



importance. Here Clovis espoused Clotilde ; and upon the division 

 of his dominions among his descendants, it gave name to one of the 

 kingdoms formed out of them. Here, A.D. 752, Childe'rie III., the last 

 Merovingian king, was deposed, and Pepin, son of Charles Martel, the 

 first of the Carlovingian dynasty, was raised upon a shield and pro- 

 claimed king in the Champ-de-Mars. Not content with this the then 

 ordinary mode of inauguration, Pepin employed the ceremonies of the 

 church at his coronation, and had himself consecrated in the cathedral 

 of Hoissons by the Pope's Legate. Charlemagne established famous 

 schools in Soissons for the education of the clergy and the sons of the 

 rich, in the monastery of St-Meclard. The same abbey waa twice the 

 prison of Charlemagne's son, the emperor Louis le Debonnaire, and in 

 the abbey church he was deposed by a decree of a council at the 

 instigation of his own son Lothaire. In 922 Charles the Simple 

 was defeated at Soissons by the troops of Robert, who fell in the 

 battle. Under the kings of the third race Soissons waa the capital of 

 a county, and received from Louis VI. a municipal charter ; but the 

 burgesses, weary of the contentions which they had with their 

 counts, surrendered their charter to the king Charles IV., in 1325. 

 Philippe VL (de Valois) granted them some privileges, but would not 

 re-establish the municipality. In 1413 the town, then garrisoned by 

 the Bourguignon party, was taken by the rival faction of the Arruagnaeg, 

 who committed the most dreadful excesses. Having again fallen into 

 the hands of the Bourguignons, it was a second time taken and pillaged 

 by the Armagnacs. In the religions wars of the 10th century it 

 suffered again. In the campaign of 1314 it was twice taken by the 

 allies and as often retaken by the French ; it was a third time besieged 

 by the allies, bombarded, and much damaged. 



A handsome stone bridge over the Aisne unites the town to the 

 suburb of St-Vaast on the right bank. The town and the suburb of 

 St-Vaast are fortified ; the circuit of tho walls includes many gardens 

 and void spaces. The other suburbs are without the walls. The 

 streets are for the most part neatly built, and well laid out; the 

 houses are built of stone, and many of them covered with slate. The 

 cathedra], founded in the 12th century, is a large and fine gothic 

 church, with a tower 160 feet high. The painted gloss in the rose 

 windows of the transept, and in the nine large ogival windows which 

 light as many chapels behind the choir, are admirable specimens of the 

 art Of the abbey of St- Jean-des-Vignes (in which Thomas a Becket. 

 archbishop of Canterbury, was received in his exile), the west front of 

 the church, with its two noble towers and spires, remains and is of rich 

 gothic architecture. On tho right bank of the Aisne are some remains 

 of the abbey of St.-Mddard, mentioned above, the crypt and supposed 

 prison room of Louis le Debonnaire ; but tho chief part of the site is 

 occupied by an asylum for deaf-mutes. In the crypt were buried 

 kings Clothaire and Siegebert These fine old abbatial buildings were 

 demolished in the fury of the first French revolution. Soissons has 

 an excellent public library of above 24,000 volumes, and several 

 hundred valuable manuscripts; a college, a diocesan seminary; tri- 

 bunals of first instance and of commerce ; public walks, a theatre, and 

 baths. 



The manufactures are carpets, wooflens, hosiery, coarse linen, twine, 

 beer, seed-oil, leather, room paper, Ac. Considerable trade is carried 

 on iu corn, flour, peas and beans, in hemp and flax for the supply of 

 Paris ; timber, firewood, and charcoal, which are sent down the Aisne 

 to the capital There is a good weekly market A linen market is 

 held on the last Saturday of every month ; two six-day fairs are held, 

 one the week before Whit-Sunday, and another the week after Martin- 

 mas. A railway has been commenced to connect Soiaaons with the 

 Paris-Amiens railway, between Senlis and C'reiL 



SOKENS, THE. [ESSEX.] 



SOKNA. [FEZZAW.] 



SOKOLOW. fPoLASD.] 



SOL-GALITZKAIA. [COSTBOMA.] 



SOLANA. [CASTILI-A-LA-NCKVA.] 



SOLESMES. [NoBD.] 



SOLEURE. [SOLOTHUBN.] 



SOLIHULL, Warwickshire, a town, and the seat of a Poor-Law 

 Union, in the parish of Solihull, Is situated in 52 25' N. lat, \ 45' 

 W. long., distant 13 miles N.W. by N. from Warwick, and 103 miles 

 N.W. by W. from London. The population of the parish of Solihull 

 in 1851 was 3277. The living is a rectory in the archdeaconry of 

 Coventry and diocese of Worcester. Solihull Poor-Law Union contains 

 11 parishes and townships, with an area of 46,015 acres, and a popu- 

 lation in 1851 of 11,931. The houses in the town are generally 

 modern and well built, and some of them are handsome. The church 

 is a large and curious cruciform building, partly of decorated and 

 partly of late perpendicular character. There are in Solihull chapels 

 for Baptist*, Independents, and Roman Catholics. The Grammar 

 school, founded in the 43rd of Queen Elizabeth, is free to sons of 

 residents; in 1851 tho number of scholars was 16. There are a Free 

 school for boys, and Palmer's Charity school for boys and girls. An 

 annual fair is held on April 29th. 



SOLIMA.VSK. [PEiiM.] 



SOLINQEN. [DOssELDOBP.] 



SOLOMON'S ISLANDS. [NEW GEORGIA.] 



SOLOR, [SONDA ISLANDS.] 



SOLOTHURN, or SOLEURE, a canton of Switzerland, is bounded 



