S I R 



S I R 



tlie fize of a gnat, with a black abdomen, marked by three 

 yellow bands, the middle »( which is interrupted. It is 

 found in Sweden. 



Macilentus. Black ; abdomen eomprefled, yellow at 

 the fides. It inhabits Barbary, and refemblcs the next. The 

 head is black, with two yellow dots between the eyes ; the 

 thorax black, with a yellow dot, and a larger one beneath ; 

 the abdomen is yellow at the fides, and projefting into two 

 Iiaiids on the back ; the wings are hyaline ; the rib black 

 beyond the middle ; the legs are black ; the fore-thighs are 

 yellowifh. 



* Tabidus. Black ; fides of the abdomen dotted with 

 yellow ; fore-fhanks teltaceous. It inhabits England, and 

 a fpecimen is in fir Jofcph Banks's mufeum. 



SIRGAI-SOUSAI-PO, in Geography, a town of Chi. 

 nefeTartary. N. lat. 42° 15'. E. long. 117° 50'. 



SIRGIAN, Serjan, or Kerman, the ancient Car- 

 mana, a city of Perfia, which at a former period rivalled 

 the proudeft cities of the empire ; and its fituation, in the 

 direft road from the northern provinces of Perfia and Bu- 

 charia to Gombroon, then the great emporium of the In- 

 dia trade, contributed to the increafe of its opulence and 

 profperity. It has, however, fuffered much from deftruc- 

 tive wars, domeftic and foreign, and from the plunder of 

 an exafperated and licentious army. After having been 

 courageoiifly defended, in 1794, by Lutf Ali Khan, it was 

 betrayed into the hands of his rival Aga Mohamed Khan, 

 by Nujuf Kooly Khan, one of his treacherous adherents. 

 The city was abandoned for nearly three months to the rapa- 

 city of the foldiers, the walls and pubhc buildings were le- 

 velled with the ground, great numbers of the inhabitants 

 were put to death, and 30,000 of them were exiled into the 

 diftant provinces of the empire : nor will it probably ever 

 recover from the effefts of this dreadful calamity. The 

 prefent fortifications iuclofe but a fmall portion of the ancient 

 city, which is quite deferted, and in a molt ruinous condi- 

 tion. It is fituated on the weftern fide of an extenfive 

 plain, fo clofe to the mountains as to be completely com- 

 manded by two of them. The walls are high, and built of 

 mud, with 19 or 20 pofitions in each face, and a dry 

 ditch, 20 yards wide and 10 deep. It has four gates, and the 

 ark or citadel, where the governor refides, is on the 6. fide 

 of the fort. Its prefent population is not more than 

 20,000 fouls, of which fome few are Guebres ; there are 

 alfo Armenians, Jews, and Hindoos in the place. Its trade 

 is ftill very confiderablc ; and it is celebrated for its manu- 

 fafture of Ihawls, match-locks, and carpets, which are 

 chiefly exported to Khoradan and the northern provinces, 

 and returned in drugs, (kins from Bockhares, furs, filk, fteel, 

 and copper. Thefe articles, as well as piftachio nuts, car- 

 pets, rofe-buds for prefcrves, and bullion, are fent to India, 

 whence are imported, tin, lead, iron, chintz, wrought filk, 

 fpices, indigo, maltic, gold brocade, china and glafs-ware, 

 broad-cloth, hard-ware, &c. The bazar is well fupplied 

 with articles of every defcription, and in one part neatly 

 arched with a fine blue (lone, procured in the adjoining 

 mountains. There are nine faravanferas within the walls, 

 and many inforior ones both within and without. N. lat. 

 29° 30'. E.loiig. 56' 50'. 



SIRGOULIN, a town of Chinefe Tartary. N. lat. 

 41° 5 V- E. long 119"^ 14'. 



SIRGUNE, a river of Pruflia, which runs into the 

 Frifch Haff, below Elbing. 



SIRHIND, a circar of Hindooftan, between the foubah 

 of Delhi and Lahore, bounded on the N. by Thibet, (m the 

 E. by the Jumnah, which feparatcs it from Schaurunpour, 



on the S. by the circar of Nardeck, and ou the W, by 

 Moultan and the province of Jallindar. — Alfo, a town of 

 Hindooftan, and capital of the above-mentioned circar, N. 

 of Delhi, fuppofcd by fome to be built on the fpot where 

 the battle was fought between Alexander and Porus. Juf- 

 tinian is faid to have had filk from hence : it is an ancient 

 city, but, hke moft of the Indian citic, has greatly declined: 

 between it and Delhi are extenfive plains, within which ace 

 fituated the towns of Panniput and Carnawl, famous for 

 great battles, both in ancient and modern times ; 140 miles 

 S.E. of Lahore. N. lat. 30° 41' 30". E. long. 76^ 6'. 



SIRHUD, literally meaning a boundary, and meta- 

 phorically applied to a cold region, a diftriA of Perfia, 

 comprehending moft of the mountainous part of the province 

 of Fars, extending from the latitude of Kazaroon to that of 

 the town of Yczdekhaft, fituated on the bed of what ap- 

 pears to have been formerly a river, which feparatcs this 

 province from Irak. The plains which here interfeft the 

 mountains feldom exceed eight or ten miles in breadth, but 

 vary in length from 15 to 100. They are in general fertile, 

 and afford abundance of pafturage ; neither are they fo de- 

 ficient in water as fome have fuppofed. It is the want of 

 population and of encouragement to induftry that retards 

 their improvement. 



SIRI, among the Romans, were fubterranean caves or 

 vaults, in which wheat could be kept found and frefh for 

 fifty years. 



SiRi, VlTTOniO, in Biography, a writer in politics and 

 hiftory, was born at Parma about the year 1 607 : he was 

 educated for the Itudy of theology, and took the habit of 

 the Benediftine order, in the monaftery of St. ,)ohn, and 

 there began to publifti a work entitled " Mercurio Politico," 

 by which he acquired fome temporary celebrity. Fifteen 

 volumes of this work appeared fucceifively, containing an 

 account of the public events from 1635 to 1655. After 

 this he added to it " Memorise Recondits," in eight vols. 

 which going back to 1601 come to 1640. The autlior not 

 only records fafts, but endeavours to inveftigate caufes in 

 the fecret negociations of cabinets, and to give the docu- 

 ments confirming his narrative. Of thefe pieces, a great 

 number is to be found in his publications, communicated 

 by popes' nuncios and the ambaffadors of diiTereiit crowned 

 heads, and efpecially by the miniilers of Louis XIV. 

 Through the influence of cardinal Mazarin, lie was invited 

 by that monarch to Paris, and prefented to a lecular abbey, 

 on which occafion he quitted his religious habit for tliat of 

 an ecclefiaftic. He affumed to himfelf the title of ciuiiifel- 

 lor, almoner, and hiitoriographer to his moft Chrilliaii ma- 

 jcfty, and he fpcnt all the latter years of his life .it Paris, 

 where he died in the year 1685, at the age of 78. He is 

 charafterized by biographers as a man without any fixed 

 principles, who had a venal pen, which was always ready to 

 juftify and defend any caufe, provided he was liberally paid 

 for his fervices ; yet the opportunities he poflefl'ed of gain- 

 ing information from authentic fources, and the number of 

 original documents publifhed by him, have given a marked 

 value to his works as materials for the hiftory of his time. 

 The circumftances of his being a foreigner, and writing in 

 Italian voluminous publications little read in France, are 

 faid by I^e Clerc to have iiiduced him to fpeak more freely 

 of Louis XIII., his brother and minilltrs, than tin' French 

 writers have done. The firll four volumes of his " Memnris 

 Reconditx" are extremely rare. A tranflalion into the 

 French language, of the moll important parts of all his 

 works, has been pubhftied in feveral volumes by M. Re- 

 quier. Sin is laid alio to have written under a feigned name 

 fume pieces refpefting the war of Montfefrat. 



8 Sini, 



