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SIERRA MORENA SIKHS. 



were landed (1787) upon a district purchased from 

 the king of Sierra I.eonc. These negroes and the 

 white females sent with them were mostly of indif- 

 ferent characters, and a severe mortality ensued 

 among them. In 1792, about 1200 negroes, who 

 had been seduced from their masters in the United 

 States during the revolutionary war, were also 

 landed at Sierra Leone; and several years later 

 the colony was increased by 550 Maroons from 

 Nova Scotia. Little progress, however, had been 

 made in the objects for which the colony was 

 formed, and, in 1807, it was surrendered into the 

 hands of the crown. At that period Great Britain 

 received permission from several powers to treat as 

 pirates such of their subjects as should be found 

 engaged in the slave-trade north of the line; and 

 the liberated negroes seized by her cruisers were 

 placed at Sierra Leone. For the first six months 

 they receive a daily allowance from the govern- 

 ment, after which lands are assigned them, and they 

 are left to support themselves. The number thus 

 liberated has been about 40,000; and although 

 their wild and improvident habits have thrown 

 many difficulties in the way of the benevolent 

 exertions of the British authorities, recent accounts 

 give decided proofs of great improvements in 

 the spirit and condition of the colonists. Free- 

 town, the principal place of the colony, has an 

 excellent harbour on the river Sierra Leone, about 

 six miles from the sea (lat. 8 32' N.), and upwards 

 of 6000 inhabitants. Regent's town, six miles 

 south of Freetown, founded in 1816, has a popula- 

 tion of 1300; and in the vicinity are several vil- 

 lages, with the more distant stations of Waterloo, 

 Wellington, and Hastings. Bathurst, on the 

 Gambia, is a settlement also connected with this 

 colony. 



SIERRA MORENA. See Moreno., Sierra. 



SIERRA NEVADA (Spanish, Snowy Range); 

 a chain of mountains in Spain, the most elevated 

 range in the peninsula, which derives its name from 

 the perpetual snow that covers its loftiest summits. 

 It extends through Granada and Andalusia, from 

 west to east, and terminates on the shores of the 

 Mediterranean, in several promontories, of which 

 that of Gibraltar is the most remarkable. The 

 highest peak is Cumbre de Mulahacen, which has 

 an elevation of nearly 14,000 feet. The principal 

 river which descends from the Sierra Nevada is the 

 Xenil. See Granada. 



SIESTA (Spanish, for noon); the heat of the 

 noon ; whence it came to signify the rest or nap 

 taken after dinner during the season of heat. 



SIG-35UM; a celebrated cape on the coast of 

 Asia, with a town of the same name, not far from 

 Troy, near which the Greeks encamped during the 

 Trojan war. Here Achilles drew his fleet on 

 shore, and here he was buried with his friends 

 Patroclus and Antilochus. Large mounds of earth 

 are still to be seen here, which have been taken 

 for their tombs. A remarkable inscription has been 

 found upon a block of marble at Sigaeum, of which 

 a part, written in the JEolic dialect, is thought to 

 be prior to the time of the poet Simonides. The 

 people in the neighbourhood considered this monu- 

 ment as a sort of palladium ; and the sick laid or 

 seated themselves upon it, so as almost to obliterate 

 the inscription. However, it has been copied 

 entire, and was carried to England by lord Elgin. 



SIGHT. See Eye, and Optics. 



SIGNALS; certain notices used to communicate 

 inti'lligence to distant objects. At sea, they are 



, made by firing artillery, displaying flags and pen. 

 dants, lanterns, or fire- works, as rockets and false 

 fires; and these are combined by multiplication and 

 repetition; by which combination of preconcerted 

 signals, the admiral conveys orders to his fleet, 

 every squadron, every division, and ship, of which, 

 has its particular signal. Every ship to which a 

 signal is made, immediately answers it by hoisting 

 some particular flag, to show that she has received 

 and understands the order thereby conveyed. All 

 signals at sea may be reduced to three different 

 kinds, viz. those which are made by the sound of 

 particular instruments, as the trumpet, horn, or 

 fife, to which may be added striking the bell, or 

 beating the drum ; those which are made by dis- 

 playing pendants, ensigns, and flags of different 

 colours, or by lowering or altering the position of 

 sails; and, lastly, those which are executed by 

 rockets of different kinds, by firing cannon or small 

 arms, by artificial fire-works, or by lanterns. All 

 signals, to be effectual, must be simple, and com- 

 posed in such a manner as to express the same 

 signification, at whatever mast-head or yard-arm 

 they may be displayed. They should be issued 

 without precipitation, exposed in a conspicuous 

 place, so as to be seen at a distance, and sufficient 

 time should be allowed to observe and obey them. 

 Signals are very numerous and important, and are 

 all communicated in the instructions sent to the 

 commander of every ship of the fleet or squadron, 

 before their putting to sea. Few subjects have 

 more seriously engaged the attention of nautical 

 men. In the land forces, signals are made by the 

 firing of cannon, or by sound of trumpet. Bal- 

 loons are sometimes used for signals. For the 

 Telegraph, see that article. 



SIGNATURE ; among printers, a letter or 

 figure at the bottom of the first page of a sheet or 

 half sheet, by which the order of the sheets is de- 

 signated, so as to guide the binder. Every succes- 

 sive sheet has a different letter or figure; and, 

 where letters are employed, if the sheets are more 

 numerous than the letters of the alphabet, then a 

 small letter is added to the capital one, as, A a, B b, 

 &c. In large volumes, the signatures are some- 

 times composed of letters and figures, thus, 5 A, 

 5 B. It is now becoming more common, Tiowever, 

 to use only figures. 



SIGNET ; one of the king's seals, made use of 

 in sealing his private letters, and all grants that 

 pass by bill, signed under his majesty's hand. It 

 is always in the custody of the secretaries of state. 

 See Seal. 



SIKHS, OR SEIKS ; a religious sect in Hindoo- 

 stan, which professes the purest Deism. It is 

 chiefly distinguished from the Hindoos by worship- 

 ping one only and invisible God. It was founded 

 by the estimable Nanac Shah, of the caste of 

 Cshatriyas and the Hindoo tribe of the Vedis, who 

 was born A. D. 1469, in the village of Talwandi 

 (now the town of Rajapoor), in the province of 

 Lahore. When Nanac was very young, lie met 

 some fakirs, who converted him to the Nagornai 

 worship, which consists in the adoration of one 

 God. His lively imagination made him dissatisfied 

 with traffic; and, to gratify his thirst for know- 

 ledge, he travelled through Hindoostan, Persia, 

 and Arabia, visited Medina and Mecca (the Mo- 

 hammedan places of pilgrimage), and the sacred 

 sects of the Hindoos in Vatala, and the Picos 

 (Mohammedan saints) in Moultan. Afterwards he 

 became acquainted with the system of the Ssufi, 



