S H I 



SHI 



SHEVAPORUM, a town of Hindooilan, in the coun- 

 try of the Nayrs ; 15 miles E. of Tellicherry. 



SHEVGUNGA, a town of Hindooilan, in Marawar ; 

 20 miles S. of Tripattore. 



SHEVITOON Indians, Indians of North America. 

 N. lat. 47^ ;;o'. W. long. 104° 45'. 



SHEW-Box/or Prints. See Camera. 



SHEWAGE. See Scavage. 



SHEW-BREAD, in the Jewi/lj Economy. The Hebrew 

 (Exod. XXV. 30.) C'C Q:"l'^>^;''«; suTiii, tignifies literally 

 " bread of faces, or of the faces." This denomination was 

 given to the loaves of bread, which the priell of the week 

 placed every Sabbath-day on the golden table in the fanc- 

 tuary, before the Lord. Thefe loaves were of a fquare 

 form, with four faces, as the rabbins fay, and were twelve 

 in number, reprefenting the twelve tribes of Ifrael. They 

 fupplicd the place of thofe which had been expofed the whole 

 week, and none could lawfully eat them but the priefts. 

 This offering was accompanied with frankincenfe and fait. 

 Of the firft fruits and tenths prefented by the Ifraelites to 

 the priefts, the latter took that which was neceflary for 

 making the fhew-bread, asd for fupplying the fervlce of 

 the temple with any thing elfe which it was their duty to 

 furnifh. 



SHEWIN, or Sewix, in Ichthyology. See Grey. 



SHGIGATCHEE, in Geography. See Sgioatchee. 



SHIAB, a town of Arabia, in the province of Heds- 

 jas ; 84 miles S.E. of Calaat al Moilah. 



SHIANDAMANGALY, a town of Hindooftan, in 

 the province of Ti'.ievelly ; 10 miles S. of Tutacorin. 



SHIANSHIA, a town of Egypt ; 25 miles S. of Man- 

 fora. 



SHIANT Islands. See Shaint. 



SHIBBOLETH, or Sibboletu, a Hebrew word 

 which iignified fpica, or an ear of corn. It was ufed by 

 way of diftinguifhing the Ephraimites from the men of Gi- 

 lead. For the latter having killed a great number of the 

 former, fet guards at sll the paii'es of Jordan ; and when an 

 Ephraimite, who had cfcaped, came to the water-fide, and de- 

 fired to pafs over, they afted him if he was not an Ephraimite ? 

 If he faid no, they bade him pronounce Shibboleth. But 

 he pronoimcing it Sibboleth, according to the manner of 

 the Ephraimites, and thus not enunciating the firil letter, 

 was killed on the fpot : on this occafion, 42,000 Ephraim- 

 ites were killed. By thus not diltinguifhing between the \>} 

 and the tj», the fchin and the fin, they expofed themfelvcs 

 to this maffacre : hence the terms have been ufed to denote 

 the trivial grounds on which contending parties, particularly 

 in theological difputes, often differ, and proceed to think ill 

 of, and aftually to perfecute, one another. 



SHIBKAH, in Geography, an extenfive falt-plain of Al- 

 giers, overflowed in winter, but dry in fummer ; 10 miles S. 

 of Oran. 



SHICARAN, a town of Afiatic Turkey, in the pro- 

 vince of Diarbekir ; 18 miles W.S.W. of Hazou. 



SHIDES. See Shingles. 



SHIEL, Loch, in Geography, a lake in the parifh of Ard- 

 namurchan, and county of Invernefs, Scotland ; extending 

 ten miles in length, and two in breadth. Near its centre 

 rifes an illet, called Ifland Finan, which contains the ruins 

 of a chapel dedicated to the faint of that name. This lake 

 difcharges its waters into theWeftern ocean at Caltle Tioram, 

 by the river Shiel. Statiftital Account of Scotland, by 

 fir John Sinclair, vol. ii. 1 792. 



SHIELD, an ancient weapon of defence, in form of a 

 light buckkr, borne on the arm to fend off lances, darts, 

 &c. 



The form of the fhield is reprcfented by the efcutcheotJ 

 in coats of arms. 



The (hield was that part of the ancient armour on which 

 the perfons of diftinftion in the field of battle always had 

 their arms painted ; and moft of the word^ ufed at this time 

 to exprefs the fpace that holds the arms of families, are de- 

 rived from the Latin name for a fhield, fcutum. The French 

 efcu, and efcvjfwn, and the Englifh word, efcutcheon, or, as 

 we commonly fpeak it, fcutcbeon, is evidently from this 

 origin ; and the Itahan fcudo fignities both the ihield of 

 arms, and that ufed in war. 



The Latin name clypeus, for the fame thing, feems alfo 

 to be derived from the Greek word y'Xvlfit, to engrave ; and 

 it had this name from the feveral figures engraved on it, 

 as marks of diftniftion of the perfon who wore it. 



Tile fhield in war, among tlie Greeks and Romans, was 

 not only ufeful in the defence of the body, but it was alfo a 

 token or badge of honour to the wearer, ar.d h" who re- 

 turned from battle without it, was always treated with in- 

 famy afterwards. 



People have at all times thought this honourable piece of 

 the armour the properelt place to engrave or figure on the 

 figns of dignity of the poileflor of it ; and hence, when 

 arms came to be painted for families in after-times, the 

 heralds always chofe to reprefent them upon the figure of a 

 fliield, but with feveral exterior additions and ornaments, as 

 the helmet, fupporters, and the reft. 



The form of the fhield has not only been found different 

 in various nati ons, but even the people of the fame nation, 

 at different times, have varied its form extremely ; and 

 among feveral people there have been fhields of feveral forms 

 and fizes in ufe, at the fame period of time, and fuited to 

 different occafions. 



The moft ancient and univerfal form of fhields, in the 

 earlier ages, feems to have been the triangular, vulgarly 

 called the heater fhield, from its refemblance to that inltru- 

 ment of houfewifery. This we fee inftances of in all the 

 monuments and gems of antiquity : our own moft early mo- 

 numents fhew it to have been the moft antique fhape alfo 

 with us, and the heralds have found it the molt convenient 

 for their purpofes, when they had any odd number of figures 

 to reprefent ; as if three, then two in the broad bottom 

 part, and one in the narrow upper end, it held them very 

 well ; or if five, they flood as conveniently, as three below, 

 and two above. Moft of the monumental figures of crofs- 

 legged knights are armed with triangular fh elds, which ar» 

 generally a little convex, or curved in their breadth ; their 

 upper extremity terminated by a line parallel to the horizon, 

 and their fides formed by the interfedion of the fegments of 

 two circles. Such are generally reprefented on ancient feals 

 and windows : fometimes, though not often, their furfaces 

 are flat. On the infide of the Norman fhields were two or 

 more loops of leather, or wooden handles, through which 

 the arm and hand were palled, when the fhield was brafed, 

 and prepared for ufe ; at other times it was carried by a 

 leathern thong worn round the neck. The other form of a 

 fliield, now univerfallv ufed, is fquare, rounded, and pointed 

 at the bottom : this is taken from the figure of the Sam- 

 nitic fhield ufed by the Romans, and fince copied very gene- 

 rally by the Englifh, French, and Germans. See Target. 



The fliield, though it was not entirely relinquifhed fo 

 long as the ufe of the long and crofs bows continued, feems 

 to have undergone fome alteration in its form ; the triangu- 

 lar, or heater fhield, gradually giving place to thofe of a 

 circular or reftangiilar figure. Shields were firil left off by 

 the cavalry ; they were, however, ufed in the army of king 

 Edward I., at the fiege of Karlaverok, in the year 1300. 



A fort . 



