S I F 



of Ruffia, called Cape Taimura by captain King. N. lat. 

 78^. E. lonp. loi'^ 14'. 



SIEVERO-ZAPADNOI, a cape on the north coalt 

 of Ruffia. N lat. -jf. E. long. 94° 14'. 



SIEUGUR, a town of Hindooltan, in Malwa ; 9 miles 

 S. ofTandla. 



SIEVI, a town of Sweden, in the government of Ulea ; 

 45 miles S. of Brahellad. 



SI EUR, a title of honour, or quality among the French ; 

 chiefly ufed among the lawyers, and in public ads, and 

 other writings of that kind. 



The title fieur is alfo given by a fuperior to an inferior, 

 in his letters and other private writings. 



In this fenfe, author* fometimes ufe it, by way of mo- 

 defty, in fpeaking of themfelves : thus, at the heads of 

 books, we fee Traduftion du fieur d'Ablancourt ; CEuvres 

 du fieur d'Efpreaux, &c. 



SiEUR is alfo a term exprefiing feigneury, or lordlhip : as 

 ecuyer or fieur of fuch a place. 



SIFACE, GiovAN Francesco, Detto, in Biography, a 

 celebrated opera finger in the fervice of the court of 

 Modena, who obtained the title of Siface from his admi- 

 rable performance of the part of Syphax, in the old opera 

 of Mitridate, modernized by Metattafio, and fet by Porpora 

 for Venice in 1730. Algarotti highly praifes the pathetic 

 manner in which he fung. Though it is confidently alTerted, 

 in the work of a late hiftorian, that Siface had been in 

 England as a finger in the chapel of king James II., ytt 

 we can trace no proof of this affertion. 



In travelhng from Ferrara to Modena, he miferably loft 

 his life in a quarrel with an infolent and brutilh poltilion. 



SI-FANS, or Tou-FANs, in Geography, fubjefts of the 

 Chinefe empire, who inhabit to the welt of China, and the 

 provinces of Chen-fi and Se-tchuen. Their country is only 

 a continued ridge of mountains, inclofed by the rivers 

 Hoang-ho on tlie N., Ya-long on the W., and Yang-tfe- 

 kiang on the E., between the 30th and 35th degrees of 

 north latitude. The Si-fans are divided into two kinds of 

 people ; the one are called by the Chinefe Hack Si-fans, 

 the other yellow, dillinftions arifmg from the different 

 colours of their tents. The black are the molt clownifh 

 and wretched ; they live in fmall bodies, and are governed 

 by petty chiefs, who all depend upon a greater. 



The yellow Si-fans are fubjeCt to families, the oldeft of 

 •which becomes a lama, and allumes the yellow drefs. Thefe 

 lama-princes, who command in their refpeftive dillridfs, 

 have the power of trying caufes, and punilhing criminals ; 

 but their government is by no means burdenfome : pro- 

 vided certain honours are paid them, and tliey receive 

 punctually the dues of the god Fo, which amount to very 

 little, they molelt none of their fubjefts. The greater part 

 of the Si-fans live in tents ; but fome of them have houfes 

 built of earth, and even brick. Their habitations are not 

 contiguous ; they form at moll but fmall hamlets, confid- 

 ing of five or fix famihes. They feed a great number of 

 flock.'!, and are in no want of any of the neceilaries of life. 

 The principal article of their trade is rhubarb, which their 

 country produces in great abundance. Their horfes are 

 fmall ; but they are well-fhaped, lively, and robuft. 



Thefe people are of a proud and independent fpirit, and 

 acknowledge with reluftance the fuperionty of the Chinefe 

 government, to which they had been fubjected : when they 

 are fummoned by the mandarins, they rarely appear ; but the 

 government, for political reafons, winks at this contempt, 

 and endeavours to keep thefe intradtable fubjedts under 

 liy nulduefs and moderation : it would, befides, be difficult 



S I G 



to employ rigorous means in order to reduce them to perfect 

 obedience — their wild and frightful mountains (the tops of 

 which are always covered with fnow, even in the month of 

 July) would afford them places of flielter, from which they 

 could never be driven by force. 



The cuftoms of thefe mountaineers are totally different 

 from thofe of the Chinefe. It is, for example, an aft of 

 great politenefs among them to prefent a white handkerchief 

 of taifcty or hnen, when they accoll any perfon whom they 

 are dcfirous of honouring. All their religion confills in 

 their adoration of the god Fo, to whom they have a An- 

 gular attachment : their fuperftitious veneration extend* 

 even to his miniilers, on whom they have confidered it a» 

 their duty to confer fupreme power, and the government 

 of the nation. 



Some of their rivers walh down gold mixed with their 

 fands : they are acquainted with the art of applying it to 

 ufe, and form it into vafts and fmall ftatues, of which they 

 often make offerings to their idol ; it even appears that the 

 ufe of gold is very ancient among them ; for Chinefe 

 books relate, that under one of the emperors of the dynafty 

 of Han, an officer having been fcnt to the Si-fans to com- 

 plain of the ravages committed by fome of their chiefs, 

 they endeavoured to appeafe him by making him a prefent 

 of a piece of gold plate, which the oiBccr refuled, telling 

 the Si-fans, that rice ferved up in golden didies was to him 

 infipid food. 



Thefe people have loll much of their ancient fplendour ; 

 for the Si-fans, who at prefent are confined in a wild country, 

 where they have not a fingle city, eiijoved formerly an ex- 

 tenfive dominion, and formed a powerful and formidable 

 empire, the chiefs of which have often given great uiieafinefs 

 to the emperors of China. They podeflcd towards the 

 eail feveral trafts qi land, which at prefent make part of 

 the provinces of Se tchuen and Chen-fi ; they even extended 

 their conquelts to China, fo as to render themfelves mailers 

 of feveral cities of the fecond clafs, of which they formed 

 four principal governments : in the weft, they feized upon 

 all the countries which lie beyond the river Ya-long, and 

 reach as far as the boundaries of Cachemir ; but inteftine 

 divifions infenfibly weakened this great monarchy, and at 

 length brought it to ruin. The Chinefe annals fix the 

 epocha of its downfall about the year 1227 : fince that 

 time, the Si-fans have retired to their native mountains, 

 where, from being a conquering and polilhed people, they 

 have again funk into their original barbarity. 



SIFEABAD, a town of Hmdoollan, in the province of 

 Sirhind ; 10 miles S. of Sirhind. 



SIFEED Rook, or White River, a river of Perfia, fo 

 named from the foam occafioned by the rapidity of the 

 current, that flows in a meandering courfe through Ghilan 

 to the Cafpian fea. 



SIFFLET, Fr. a cat-call. According to M. Laborde, 

 it was during the reign of Auguftus that clapping of hands 

 and cat-calls were introduced in the Roman theatres. Eflai 

 fur la Mufique. 



SIFTE, in Geography, a pretty confiderable village of 

 Egypt, between Cairo and Damietta. It has three mofques, 

 and a church belonging to the Copts, the congregation of 

 which confifts of 300 families. See Sedfe. 



SIG, in jigriculture, a provincial term applied to urine, 

 or chamber-ley, as employed by the farmer. 



SiG, in Geography, a lake of Ruflia, in the government 

 of Olonetz, about forty miles in circumference ; 40 miles 

 W. of Povenetz. 



SIGA, in Ancient Geography, a river of Africa, in Mau- 

 ritania 





