SAMOTH RACE SAMUEL. 



87 



Fouinis. During the Greek revolution, owing to 

 the many refugees from Natolia, Scio, Ipsara, and 

 other places, the island contained about 50,000 

 Greek inhabitants (where there were formerly only 

 12,000). Near Samos lies the island of Icaria (Ni- 

 caria), inhabited by 300 Greeks. This island is 

 celebrated as being the place near which Icarus, the 

 son of Daedalus (q. v.), fell into the sea, and where 

 his dead body floated on the shore; whence the 

 name. In 1821, the inhabitants of Samos took up 

 arms at the report of the execution of the patriarch. 

 They fortified the harbour on the Little Bogas, to 

 guard against an attack from the coasts of Natolia, 

 and soon collected about 10,000 men. From that time 

 the Samians continually attacked the neighbouring 

 coasts of Asia, and Scala Nuova in particular. July 

 16, 1821, the island was attacked by the Turks, 

 but without success. The Turks, in August, 1824, 

 again made a more furious attack; but the Greek 

 fleet, commanded by Miaulis, repulsed the Turkish. 

 Samos has lately been visited by an earthquake of 

 an extraordinary nature, that produced a large open- 

 ing in one of the highest mountains of the island, 

 from which suddenly issued an enormous torrent of 

 water, overflowing the country, and making its way 

 to the sea. By degrees, the inundation subsided, 

 and terminated in forming a river, which has its 

 source at the opening formed in the mountain. 



SAMOTHRACE; an island in the ^gean sea, 

 not far from Lemnos, on the coast of Thrace, op- 

 posite the Trojan territory, and celebrated for its 

 mysteries, the priests of which were at first the 

 Cabiri, and afterwards the Dioscuri. An initia- 

 tion into these mysteries was supposed to have 

 efficacy in preserving persons from dangers by sea; 

 and it is related of the Argonauts, that, at the sug- 

 gestion of Orpheus, who was one of the initiated, 

 they were landed at Samothrace. Over these mys- 

 teries there rests an impenetrable obscurity, which 

 also extends to the deities that were revered. It 

 appears certain that the Egyptian and Phoanician 

 religious rites and ceremonies were afterwards united 

 and mingled with those of the Greeks, and that, 

 still later, the religious worship of the Samothrac- 

 ians was introduced into Etruria, although the 

 names of the divinities were changed. Neverthe- 

 less, out of respect for its mysteries, this island en- 

 joyed, even under the Roman dominion, a certain 

 degree of freedom; and, even after the birth of 

 Christ, these long celebrated mysteries still enjoyed 

 reputation. 



SAMOYEDES, or SAMOIDES; a nomadic people 

 traversing the immense frozen deserts which extend 

 along the ocean forming the northern boundary of 

 European and Asiatic Russia. They extend from 

 the river Mezen, on the European side, nearly to the 

 Lena on the Asiatic; Ion. 40 to 120 E., upwards of 

 2000 miles ; in breadth the territory varies from 300 

 to 600. The population of this cold, dreary and 

 barren country is not supposed to exceed 20,000. 

 The Samoyedes call themselves Khasova, and are 

 divided into three tribes the Vanoites on the Pet- 

 chora and Oby, the Tysia-Igoley on the Mezen, and 

 the Khirutches in the interior of Siberia. They are 

 of small stature, usually between four and five feet : 

 have a flat, round, and broad face, thick lips, wide 

 nose, little beard, black hair, in small quantity. 

 They live by hunting, are extremely superstitious, 

 and generally peaceable. As they are unacquainted 

 with the art of writing, their traditions are imper- 

 iectly preserved only in their songs. When the 

 victorious Russians first became acquainted with 



them, they had already been chased from their na- 

 tive seats by the Tartars, and separated from tlieir 

 kindred tribes. Their original country is unknown, 

 but they appear to have come from the south. 

 Their principal wealth consists in herds of rein-deer, 

 which supply them with food, clothing, tents, uten. 

 sils, &c. 



SAMP. A word borrowed from the North 

 American Indians, to denote maize, broken coarsely, 

 boiled, and mixed with milk. 



SAMPHIRE (crithmum maritimum) ; an umbelli- 

 ferous plant, remarkable for its lanceolate, fleshy 

 leaflets, which grows wild along the sea-coast of 

 Europe. Where it abounds, it is used by the in- 

 habitants as a pickle, as an ingredient in salads, or 

 as a potherb. It can be cultivated in gardens upon 

 beds of sand and rubbish, or in pots; and it is use- 

 ful to furnish the stocks with a supply -of salt ; for, 

 like other maritime plants, it posseses the power of 

 decomposing sea- water and retaining the soda. The 

 seed is very similar to a grain of barley. 



SAMSON, judge of Israel, son of Manoah, a 

 Danite, was born, according to Usher, about 1 1 55 

 B. C., and was educated, from his birth, according 

 to the commands of an angel, a Nazarite. At the 

 age of eighteen years, he fell in love with a young 

 Philistine girl, whom he married. At the wedding- 

 feast, Samson, who had formeily torn a lion in 

 pieces, and afterwards found a swarm of bees in the 

 carcass, proposed a riddle to the guests, wagering 

 thirty shirts and as many suits of clothes that .hey 

 could not guess it in seven days : " Out of the eater 

 came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth 

 sweetness." The secret of his riddle being betrayed 

 to them by his bride, Samson reproached them with 

 ploughing with his heifer; but went to Askalon 

 killed thirty Philistines, and gave their clothes to 

 his guests. His wife having, during his absence in 

 his own country, married again, he caught 300 

 foxes, and, tying them together, tail to tail, with a 

 fire-brand between them, let them loose in the 

 fields of the Philistines. His own countrymen hav- 

 ing afterwards delivered him up bound into the 

 hands of his enemies, he snapped the cords asunder, 

 and killed 1000 Philistines with the jaw-bone of an 

 ass. From this period Samson was judge of Israel 

 for twenty years. While he was on a visit to Gaza, 

 the gates of the city were watched by the Philis- 

 tines, with the intention of killing him as he went 

 out in the morning; but he rose by night, and car- 

 ried off one of the gates of the city to a distance of 

 twenty or thirty miles. Not long after he fell in 

 love with Delilah, to whom he foolishly revealed 

 the secret of his strength. By cutting off his hair, 

 which was a violation of his obligation as a Nazar- 

 ite, she deprived him of his peculiar powers, and 

 betrayed him to his enemies, who put out his eyes, 

 and set him to work in a mill with slaves. At a 

 great festival in honour of Dagon, Samson was 

 brought out to furnish sport to the Philistines. But, 

 his hair had grown again ; and, his vigour having 

 returned with it, he took vengeance on his enemies 

 by pulling down over their heads the building in 

 which they were assembled, and under the ruins of 

 which he also perished with them. Milton has 

 made his death the subject of a drama Samson 

 Agonist es. 



SAMUEL ; a prophet, and the last of the judges 

 of Israel. From his youth he w;is marked out as 

 destined by God to reform the dissolute and irre- 

 ligious practices of liis nation. He grew up devoted 

 to the temple service; and sensible of the faults 



