S 1 R 



S 1 R 



princes. Every hoiife and every ftreet, not oxceptinfr the 

 palace of the raja, exhibited marks of dilapidation. Many 

 of the inhabitants exprefled their forrow and regret on ac- 

 count of the events that had occurred, and fpoke of their 

 former fovereign with great tokens of feeling. Under its 

 Gurc'hali rulers the city is not likely to recover from this 

 forlorn condition ; for all clalfcs of people complain much 

 of the peculation of the chiefs, and of the injuftice, with 

 the want of method, that attends all their proceedings. 

 The inhabitants are compoied chiefly of the defcendants of 

 emigrants from the Dooab, Rohilcund, and Audh. The 

 Hindoos form the greatelf proportion : the number of Muf- 

 fulman families not exceeding fixty or feventy. Mod of 

 thefe are petty fhopkecpers, who, to gain a fcanty fub- 

 ftftence, are forced to enter into various fpeculatious ; and 

 a piece of filk or a fer of onions may be procured at the 

 fame fhup. The principal perfons are the agents of great 

 banking houfes at Najibabad and in the Dooab, who are em- 

 ployed m the fale and exchange of merchandize and coins. 

 They retlde here only eight mouths in the year ; quitting 

 the hills, and returning to their houfes, at the commence- 

 ment of the rainy fealon. The traffic in filver and fpecie 

 forms one of the m.oft profitable branches of commerce, and 

 is carried on to a confiderable amount. Bullion and coins 

 are imported, for the purpofe of being converted into te- 

 maflias, the currency of the hills ; and as a conllant coinage 

 of them is kept up at the mint, the fupplies are furnilhed 

 by the Serrafs, who receive a premium, agreeable to the 

 quality of the fdver, amouirting to one and a half, or two 

 per cent, on the Farrakabad or Barcli rupee. The temafha 

 is a fmall uneven filver coin, four of which pafs for the 

 nominal rupee of the hills ; and five for the Farrakabad or 

 Bareli. Spanidi dollars alfo find their way hither, and are 

 converted into the fame currency. The inferior coin is a 

 fmall piece, ten tacas of which are equal to one temafha. 



The other articles of Ipeculation conliil in the produce 

 of the hills, and imports from Bootan. The former are 

 I'han^ (hemp) ; a coarfe cloth, or fort of canvas, manufac- 

 tured Irom it, called bhattgela ; lead, copper, drugs, gums, 

 wool, and a fpecies of flannel made from it called /xvnc'A/' ; 

 from Bootan are received chaurs or cow-tails, mu(k in pods, 

 faffron, borax, fait, drugs of different kinds, and a few 

 fliawl:, which come by that route from Caflinicrc. Among 

 the drugs is one called nirbifi, or zedoary. Hawks are alfo 

 brought down from the hills. In exchange for the above, 

 the following articles are fupplied from the low countries. 

 Coarfe cotton and woollen cloths, filk,.ipiccs, Lahore fait, 

 fugar and tobacco. On all thefe goods a greater or lefs 

 duty i • levied at Sirinagnr, amounting, on an average, to one 

 ana in the rupee, or about eight and a xXnrA per cent. ; and 

 additional duties are collefked at diflerent polls, in their 

 tranlit through the country. 



The territories which formerly belonged to the raja of 

 Ririnagur, are now divided into 84 perganah-^, included in 

 three pat'his, or divifions, over each of which is appointed 

 a military governor, who ha: the fame jurifdidtion in his own 

 dillria. 



In the year 1 80^ an army of 8coo or 10,000 men was fcnl 

 from Napal, to execute a projedt which had been long 

 formed at the court of Napal, i'/'«. that of inv.iding the ter- 

 ritories of the raja ot Sirinagur, and extending their pof- 

 feflions to Calhmtre. The troops of the raja amounted to 

 I 5,000 or 20,000 men, principally mercenaries, who endea- 

 voured to fliun an engagement : the death of their chief 

 fecured the conqucll of the whole country to the Curc'lialis. 



On taking a view of Sirinagur from a height, it has the 

 ;<ppearance of a double valley ; one filuatcd on a level with 



Vol. XXXIIf. 



the river, the other on its banks, elevated about forty or 

 fifty feet, and extending along the bafe of the mountain. 

 The lower one, in which the city Ifands, has apparently 

 been formed by the receding of the Alacananda from the 

 louth fliore ; and although the period be too remote to afcer- 

 tain the fact, the appearance of the ridge or bank, marking 

 the concavity, would incline one to fuppofe that fuch has 

 been the cale ; and that, in its prefent progrefTlve inclina- 

 tion, it is gradually returning to its former channel. From 

 the bottom of the upper valley, to the city, is a fpace ot 

 three or four furlongs, laid out in fmall fields and inclofures, 

 with a few mango trees, thinly fcattered among them. 

 Oppofite to the city, the Alacananda divides into two or 

 three dreams, which reunite about one mile below. On 

 one of the fmall iflands are the ruins of buildings, which 

 were formerly connefted with the city. The afpeft of the 

 furrounding mountains is very barren ; here and there a foli- 

 tary tree may be feen ; but the general features betray a 

 rocky and unfriendly foil, and the little vegetation that i.^ 

 produced on them is foon parched up and dried. On the 

 oppofite fide of the river, feveral hamlets are feen, fituated 

 along the foot of the hills, with which a communication is 

 open, by a jhula to the W. and a ferry boat to the E. of 

 the city. One of the largeft of thefe villages is called Rani 

 Hat't, containing a temple facred to raja Ifwara, at whole 

 flirine fome rites are performed, in imitation of the myfteries 

 obfervcd in the temple of the Cyprian goddefs. It is in- 

 habited chiefly by dancing women ; and the ceremony of 

 initiation to this fociety confilts in anointing the head with 

 oil, taken from the lamp placed before the altar ; by which 

 aft they make a formal abjuration of their parents and kin- 

 dred, devoting their future lives to prolfitution. A ftiort 

 dillance beyond it is a Mat'h or fane of Rallea Devi, the 

 god of love ; whofe (hafts, if we may beheve the reports 

 and complaints of his numerous votaries, arc tainted with a 

 fatal and pernicious poifon : indeed, his wounds appear to 

 be fo generally diftufed, that four-fifths of the inhabitants 

 are fuppoled to labour under the cflefts of them, and the 

 calamity is heightened by their ignorance of proper remedies 

 to check their progrefs. Afiatic Relcarchcs, vol. xi. 



SiKixAGUR, a town of Bengal; 20 miles N.N.E. of 

 Calcutta. N. ht. 23° 7'. E. long. 88=48'. 



SIRIS, Sil!0, or Siiino, in Ancient Geography, a river of 

 Italy, near the Acinis, in Lucania. See Sinno. 



Siiu.s, a very ancient town of Italy, in Lucania, faid by 

 Strabo to have been founded by I'rojans, and eminent for 

 its college of priefl.8 (killed in cabaliltic lore. It was fitu- 

 ated at the mouth of a river of the lame name, now called 

 Sinno (which fee), and became a depcndance ol Heraclca, 

 to which the principal inhabitants of Siris were obliged to 

 remove. When the lonians took pofTeflion of this city, 

 they changed its name into that of Policrain. In procel's 

 of time-, the Tarentines drove the inhabitants from Siris, 

 and having lent 3 colony into this country, they built He- 

 raclea at a fmall diltance from Sirl^. Str.ibo dillinguiflieR 

 thefe two towns; but Pliny (1. iii- c. lo.) fays that they 

 were the fame under diflerent names. The adjacent country 

 wss called Siritis, or Sireiiti^. — .Alfo, a town of Pxonia, in 

 Thrace. 



SIRISHEK, in Geo^^ruphy, a town of Perfia, in Kho- 

 rafl'an ; ;^o miles S.S.W. ot Herat. 



SIRIUM, m Botany. See S wr.M.t'M. 



SIRllK^, J ijii. , in /IJIronomy, the Dog-flar, a very 

 briglit liar of the firll magnitude, in the mouth of the con- 

 lleiiatioii Cams Major, or the Great Dog. 



Tliis, indeed, is the brightell of all the flars in our firma- 

 mcnt, and, ihcrefoie, probably, fays Dr. Malkelync, the late 



1 adroiiomcr 



