SITTING BULL 



539G 



SKAGERRACK 



SITTING, sit'ing, BULL (1837-1890), an 

 American Indian chief, born somewhere in the 

 territory now comprising North and South Da- 

 kota. His childhood name was SACRED STAND, 

 but when in his fourteenth year he killed and 

 scalped his first victim he was called Sitting 

 Bull, to show that he approached in power his 

 father, Jumping Bull. As a prominent chief of 

 the Sioux Indians, he led his tribes in numerous 

 raids during the War of Secession, and though 

 driven out of his territory into Yellowstone Park, 

 was not subdued until 1866. In that year he 

 pretended to accept peace, but in reality se- 

 cretly led many attacks on settlements. General 

 George A. Custer with a picked force of caval- 

 rymen was sent against him, but in June, 1876, 

 Sitting Bull and his tribe massacred the whole 

 company on the Little Big Horn River. 



The chief then fled to Canada, but was al- 

 lowed to return in 1881. He immediately be- 

 gan to incite rebellion among the redmen, and 

 in 1890, when the Indians were excited over 

 the report of a Messiah coming among them, 

 he aroused so much hatred among the warriors 

 that the government ordered his arrest. While 

 resisting this order on December 15, 1890, he 

 was killed by the Indian police. He was a 

 natural enemy of the whites, and his entire ca- 

 reer was one of secret or open murder. 



SIUT, or SIOUT, se oof (also written As- 

 SIUT and ASYUT), the capital of the province of 

 Siut and the principal town of Upper Egypt, is 

 situated about 248 miles by rail south of Cairo, 

 on the west bank of the Nile River and on the 

 Nile Valley Railroad. Siut is the official resi- 

 dence of the governor of Upper Egypt. Though 

 it is located at the head of the caravan route 

 connecting with the Libyan and Sudan oases, it 

 is of less importance as a trading center than 

 formerly because of the development of new 

 commercial routes. In the production of pipe 

 bowls and pottery, however, the town has long 

 been famous ; the people also make tulle shawls 

 of a high grade. The town has substantial 

 houses, a college and several fine mosques, and 

 in the vicinity there are numerous ruins of 

 ancient Egyptian structures. A large barrage 

 was recently constructed in the river at this 

 point for irrigation purposes (see EGYPT, sub- 

 head A griculture, page 1967). In 1914 the town 

 had an estimated population of 42,750. 



SIVA, se'va, the third god of the Hindu 

 triad, Brahma, Vishnu, Siva. He is repre- 

 sented with five heads and three eyes. He 

 carries the Ganges on his head, wears a neck- 

 lace of human skulls and carries a trident or 



pole supporting a skull and one or two human 

 heads. His color is black, fitting a destroyer, 

 and his weapons are an ax, a thunderbolt and 

 a bow. He either sits on or is clothed in a tiger- 

 skin, or may be clothed in a deerskin with a 

 deer in one hand. He has one thousand names. 



SIX'TUS, the name of five Popes of the 

 Roman Catholic Church, of whom the most 

 important were Sixtus IV and Sixtus V. 



Sixtus IV, born in 1414, was of humble 

 family, but by his undoubted ability won pro- 

 motion in the Church until, in 1467, he attained 

 the rank of cardinal. Four years later he was 

 elected to the Papal chair on the death of Paul 

 II in 1471. The most famous memorial to his 

 reign is the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, 

 though he also beautified Rome in other ways. 

 He was much concerned in political intrigues, 

 largely because of the actions of different mem- 

 bers of his family, whom he had elevated to 

 high positions. This advancement of his rela- 

 tives is probably the most regrettable circum- 

 stance of his career as Pope. He died in 1484, 

 having occupied his high office nearly thirteen 

 years. 



Sixtus V, Pope from 1585 to 1590, was, like 

 Sixtus IV, of humble parentage, and like him 

 was a member of the Dominican brotherhood. 

 He was bom in 1521, was created bishop in 1566 

 and cardinal in 1570. Even in the latter high 

 office he had yet come little before the public 

 and there was much doubt at his election as 

 Pope in 1585 as to what policies he would pur- 

 sue. From the first he showed great vigor, 

 firmness and zeal for reform, directing his ef- 

 forts especially against the bands of robbers 

 and outlaws who infested the country about 

 Rome. So effectively did he deal with these that 

 his name remains until the present the syno- 

 nym for speedy justice against wrongdoers. He 

 strove to advance the cause of the Church 

 as against the newly-risen Protestantism, but 

 reproved Philip II for the excess in severity 

 which was practiced in Spain in the name of 

 the Inquisition. It was he who blessed the Span- 

 ish Armada when it went to its destruction in 

 the campaign against England, and who erected 

 the Vatican Library. A.MC c. 



For a list of the Popes see the article POPE, in 

 which is also included a detailed account of the 

 method of election to the Papal chair. 



SKAGERRACK, sgahg'errak, also spelled 

 SKAGER-RAK and SKAGERRAK, is a broad arm of 

 the North Sea, 130 miles in length, which di- 

 vides Norway and Sweden at the extreme south 

 and separates those two countries from Jutland 



