S C Y 



S C Y 



kinds, in different counties. In moft of thofe more towards 

 the northern extremity of the ifland, they are of a much 

 greater length than thofe which are employed in the fouthern 

 diftrii^ls of the kingdom. Both the extremes are, however, 

 probably difadvantageou in fome refpefls. Thofe which 

 are neither too long nor too fhort are unqueftionably the beft 

 fitted for general ufe, and capable of being employed with 

 the greatelt eafe and convenience by the labourer. The 

 tool is commonly furni(hed and fitted up differently for dif- 

 ferent purpofes, as has been noticed under the heads to 

 which they belong. See Mowing, Reaping, 8cc. 



The ftiff Flemilh fcythe is in ufe in fome places for cut- 

 ting bean, and other ftrong crops of the corn kind. It has 

 the name of bean peck in fome parts of Effex ; and though 

 it is thought by fome to beat out the feed too much, in the 

 hands of workmen who underftand the ufe of it, very good 

 clean work can be made with it, without any fuch mifchief 

 taking place, and they rid work in this way much failer 

 than by the common tool and method. 



In Cheihire, they make ufe of a itrong tool of this fort, 

 called the bodding-fcythe, the blade of which is about twenty 

 inches in length, but curved in a different way to the com- 

 mon fcythe, the edge being nearly in one way of it, in a 

 ttraight direftion from the heel to the point ; but the flat 

 part of the blade forms a curvature, which varies about four 

 inches from a llraight line. The handle or fneath, to which 

 the blade is fixed, is about three feet fix inches long, and 

 has one fcythe-hke handle placed about eighteen inches from 

 the top. When the work is performed, one hand is placed 

 upon the top of the fhaft or fneyd, and with the handle in 

 the other, the crown of the rulh root is fcooped out by the 

 concave part of the blade, in coiifequence of a fmart ftroke 

 being given by the tool. The early fpring is confidered as 

 the mod proper feafon for effefting this fort of bufinefs ; 

 and it is advifeable to carry off the rufh roots, and form a 

 compoft with them ; the hod-holes, or cavities made by the 

 tool, being filled level with the furface of the ground with 

 fome earthy material, and fown with hay or grafs-feeds. 

 This tool is yet but little known, except in the above dif- 

 trift, where it has been ufed to confiderable extent in many 

 parts, with the moft beneficial effefts in clearing the lands 

 from rulhes ; many fcores of acres of low meadow and 

 marfliy lands having been in this way freed from them, and 

 with the aid of gutters, rendered of more than double their 

 former value. 



Short Itrong ftiff fcythes are made ufe of in moft places, 

 for clearing away and removing all forts of (hrubby plants 

 from grounds, fuch as thofe of the broom, briar, furze, 

 and feveral other fimilar kinds. 



SCYTHIA, in Ancient Geography, is a vaft territory, 

 which has been confounded by fome geographers with Ta- 

 tary or Tartary, of which it is only a part (fee Tartary), 

 extended from the liter, or Danube, that is, from about 

 the 25th to almoft the ii6th degree of E. longitude. It 

 was divided into Scythia in Europe, and Scythia in Afia ; 

 including, however, the two Sarmatias, or Sauromatias, 

 now the Circaffian Tartary, which lay between and fepa- 

 rated the two Scythias from each other. Sarmatia was alfo 

 diftingui(hed into European and Afiatic, divided from the 

 European Scythia by the river Don or Tanais, which falls 

 into the Palus Mseotis, and from the Afiatic by the Rha, 

 now Volga, which empties itfelf into the Cafpian fea. (See 

 Sarmatia.) Accordingly the two Scythias were only 

 parted by the boundaries of Europe and Afia, that is, by 

 the river Tanais, delcending, as it is fuppofed, from the 

 Riphxan mountains into the Palus Maeotis. For, beyond 

 thole mountains northward, the Scythians did not advance 



into any of thofe remote regions ; fo that thefe were tlic 

 proper confines of the Afiatic Scythia on the weft. The 

 northern boundaries reached to the Hyperborean or Frozen 

 fea, called alfo by the ancients the Scythian fea, the Cro- 

 nian, Amalchian or Almachian, the Dead fea, and by fome 

 other names equally expreffive of extreme cold and ice. Oa 

 tiie eaft, they are fuppofed to have extended to the pro- 

 montory of Tabis, and to have been bounded by the Caflian 

 mountains, which parted Scythia from the kingdom of 

 Seres, now Katai, Cathay, or Northern China ; and even 

 this laft was by fome of the ancients taken for part of 

 Eaftern Scythia ; fo that, on that fide, it had no other 

 boundaries, according to Ptolemy, than the unknown traAs 

 beyond it : and on the fouth it was bounded by the Indian 

 fea, by mount Caucafus, and the Cafpian. As to the more 

 northern parts of Scythia, it is, on account of its extreme 

 cold, uninhabitable, except by wolves and other wild beafts; 

 and hence they feem to have been unknown to the ancients 

 beyond the 50th degree north. Tlie territory beyond that 

 degree was denominated Terra incognita. But the fouthern 

 regions, better known to them, were divided into three 

 parts, vi%. Scythia within, and Scythia without, or be- 

 yond Imaus, and Sarmatia, which, as we have already faid, 

 lay between the former and the European Scythia, and 

 which had been fo blended with it, that the only difference 

 between them was the name. Accordingly, Ptolemy 

 bounds the Scythia on this fide of Imaus on the weft by 

 Afiatic Sarmatia, by mount Imaus on the eall, by the 

 Terra incognita on the north, and on the fouth and louth- 

 eaft by the Sacx, Sogdiani, and Margiani. The principal 

 mountains in this part Ptolemy reckons to be the Alani to 

 the eaft ; the Rhyranici, from which flowed the Rhymnus 

 into the Rha ; the Norofus, from which fprung the Daix, 

 the Afpifii, the Sapuri, the Syebi, and the Anaici. The 

 rivers were the Rhymnus, the Daix, the Jaxartes, the 

 Jaftus, the Polytimetus, and the Oxus. The inhabitants 

 of this part, according to the fame geographer, were, to- 

 wards the north, the Alani, Sufobeni, and Agathyrfi ; and 

 next to thefe, the Snetiani, the Maflaei, and the Syebi ; near 

 the Imaus were the Thaces ; near the eaftern fources of the 

 Rha, the Rhobafci, Azani, and Jordii ; to the fouth, and 

 near the river, was the country called Conadipfas regio ; 

 and near this, Corafphi, Orgazi, Jotae, and Aonfi ; next 

 to thefe, the Jaxartx, a confiderable nation, on the river of 

 the fame name ; to the fouth of the Satiani were the Molo- 

 geni, and next to them the Samnitae ; and below the Meffsi 

 and the Alani mountains were the Zaretae and the Sazones ; 

 to the eaft of the Rhymnic mountains were the Tybiacae ; 

 and below them the Zarets, Tabeini, Jaftx, and Macha- 

 geni, near mount Noroflus ; above them were the Orofljes 

 and Noroffi ; and more to the fouth, the Cachaffas Scythae ; 

 to the weft of the Afpifii, the Afpifii Scythas ; and eaft of 

 them, the Galadlophagi Scythae ; and eaft of the Syebi, 

 the Tapurei, and the Afcatancas Scythae. The Anaci lay 

 to the fouth of the Agathyrfi, and to the eaft of the Ta- 

 purei. The Afcatancae extended to mount Imaus ; and near 

 the Jaxartes, between the mouths of the two rivers, were 

 the Ariacx, the Sagaraucae, and the Rhibii, near the Oxus. 

 The Scythia beyond Imaus, according to the fame geo- 

 grapher, was bounded on the nortli by the mountains, on 

 the eaft by Serica, on the fouth by part of India on this 

 fide of the Ganges, and on the weft by the interior of 

 Scvthia and the Sacas. The mountains of this part are the 

 Auxacii, Caffii, and Emodi. The inhabitants were, towards 

 the northern part, the Abii ; to the fouth, the Hippophagi 

 Scythae, thofe of the Regio AuxaiAis, and the Rcgio Cafia, 

 the Chatae-Scythx ; and near the Emodi, the Charauni- 



10 Scyths. 



