SKA 



SKA 



SKANANDO Creek, a fmall water of Oneida creek, 

 which rifes in Augufta, Oneida county, runs northerly- 

 through the faid town and Vernon, and enters Oneida creek 

 near the S.W. corner of Vernon. It furnifhes good mill- 

 feats in Augufta and Vernon. Its courfe is about four 

 miles. 



SKANDA, in Hindoo Mythohxy, is a name of Kartikya, 

 commander of the celeiHal armie';. He is a reputed fon of 

 Siva, and his hiilory and exploits fill many volumes of 

 Eaflern poetry, tiaiiflated into a variety of lan^ages from 

 the Sanfcrit. He is alio called Divimatri, having the fami 

 meaning in Sanfcrit, as Dimeter or Bimater among weftern 

 mythologifts. Shanmuka, or fix-faced, Seftitimatriya, mean- 

 ing with fix mothers, are others of his names ; the origin 

 of which will be found under thofe articles, and Kartikya. 

 (See alfo Siva.) Sir W. Jones informs us that the Perfian 

 poets, in borrowing their romantic hiitories from thofe of 

 India, have ridiculoufly confounded the Skanda of the latter 

 with Skander or Iflvander ; their name of Alexander the 

 Macedonian, as well as of a hero in their earlier romances. 



SKANDERBORG, in Geography, a town of Denmark, 

 in North Jutland, where the kings of Denmark have a royal 

 palace : the chief trade of the inhabitants confifts in the 

 produce of the country, and agriculture; lo miles S.S.W. 

 of Aarhuus. N. lat. 56° 55'. E. long. 9° 54'. 



SKANEATETES, a lake of New York; 25 miles 

 S.S.E. of lake Ontario. 



SKANGERO, a fmall Grecian ifland below that of 

 Pelagnifi, and near the ifle of Dromi, in which are two 

 rocks, called the " Brothers." 



SKANKHEADHAW Lake, a lake of North Ame- 

 rica. N. lat. 49°4j'. W. long. 90" 45'. 



SKANO, a town of Sweden, in Schonen ; 20 miles 

 S.S.W. of Lund. N. lat. 55° 24'. E. long. 12° 34'. 



SKANTZE, a town of Sweden, ni Weftmanland ; 9 

 miles N. of Strocrafholm. 



SKAPTAA-JOKUL, lofty mountains Ctuated in the 

 interior of Iceland, and known to the natives themfelves 

 only by the remote view of their fummits, clad in perpetual 

 fnows. Thefe were the fcene of a moll dreadful volcanic 

 eruption in the year 1783. This is reprefented as the 

 moll tremendous, perhaps, in its nature and extent, by 

 which Icelanil, or any other part of the globe, has been 

 afflidled. The fudden extinction of a fubmarine volcano 

 near Cape Reikianes, which, during fome months, had cou- 

 tinued to burn with extreme violence, was fucceeded by fre- 

 quent and dr.'adful earthquakes, and by the burlling out of 

 the volcanic fire, in a traft of country nearly 200 miles 

 diftant. From this defolatc and unfrequented region vail 

 torrents of lava iliued forth, overwhelming all before them, 

 and filhng up the beds of great rivers in their progrefs to- 

 wards the lea. For more than a year, a denfe cloud of 

 fmoke and volcanic afhes covered the whole of Iceland, ob- 

 fcuring almoil entirely the light of the fun, and extending 

 itseffecls even to the northern parts of continental Europe; 

 the cattle, fheep, and horfes of the country were deilroyed ; 

 a famine, with us attendant difeafes, broke out among the 

 inhabitants ; and the fmall-pos invaded the ifland at the fnme 

 time with its former virulence and fatal efFefts. From thefe 

 combined caufes, more than 11,000 people pcrifhed during 

 the period of a few years ; an extent of calamity which can 

 only be underllood, by confidering that this number forms 

 nearly a fourth part of the whole prefent population of the 

 country. The deftrudion of the ftfhery upon the fouthern 

 coafts of the ifland, by the volcanic eruptions juil defcribed, 

 was another more permanent fource of dillrefs, which, even 



at the prefent time (1810) is not entirely removed. 

 Mackenzie's Travels in Iceland. 



SKAPTAFELL, East, a dillrift of Iceland, on the 

 northern coaft, containmg 53 farms, 126 families, and a 

 population of 911 perfons. 



Skaptafell, Wejl, a diftri£l of Iceland, on the fame 

 coaft, containing 133 farms, 248 families, and 1539 inha- 

 bitants. 



SKARA, a town of Sweden, in Weft Gothland, the 

 moft ancient town of the country, and formerly the capital 

 of the kingdom of Gothland, and the refidence of many of 

 its kings. It had alfo feveral churches and convents, the 

 ruins of which are dill vifible. The town was totally de- 

 ftroyed by fire in 1719 ; and the number of its inhabitants 

 does not at prefent exceed 400. Its gymnafium or feminary 

 was eftablifhed in 1640, and its cathedral is one of the 

 largeft edifices of the kind in the whole kingdom. In 

 161 1 the royal palace, built near the t«wn in 154), to- 

 gether with the whole town, was reduced to allies by the 

 Danes. At a diftance from it Hands Bruntbo, an epif- 

 copal fee ; 50 miles E. of Uddevalla. N. lat. 58° 24'. E. 



SKARDSA, BlORNOa,in Biography, a learned Icelander, 

 was born at Ingelveflad in 1574. Ha\'ing loll his father at 

 eight years ot age, he was placed bv a relation under the 

 care of Segurd Jonfen, who being \\tA\ verfed m the ancient 

 hiftory of the country, infpired Biorno with a itrong tafte 

 for that kind of ftudy. On the death of his mafter, in 1602, 

 Biorno married, and having already been eleCled a magif- 

 trate, he applied himfelf with great diligence to hiftory and 

 jurifprudence. In old age he was borne down with heavy and 

 very fevere aiflidlions, became blind, and died a martyr to the 

 (lone in 1655. He collefteda variety of documents and cu- 

 rious fafts relating to the hiilory of Iceland, and was, on ac- 

 count of his great knowledge in this department of learning, 

 held in high eitimation by his countrymen. His chief publica- 

 tion was " The Annals of Biorn a Skardfa, five Annates, &c. 

 cum Jnterpretatione Latina, variantibus Ledlionibus, Notis 

 et Indice." He left behind him a great number of manu- 

 fcripts, both juridical and hiftorical, a catalogue of which 

 may be feen ia the Ecclefiallical Hiftory of Iceland by Jo- 

 hannseus ; in Einarus' Literary Hiilory ; and in the preface 

 to the fecond volume of his Annals. Among his MSS. is 

 one refpefting Iceland, of which Torfaeus made great ufc 

 in his " Gronlandia Antiqua." Gen. Biog. 



SKARDUPONEN, in Geography, a town of Pruffian 

 Lithuania ; i mile N.W. of Stalluponen. 



SKARO, a town of Norway; 32 miles N. of Sta- 

 vanger. 



SKARROE, a fmall ifland of Denmark, near the S. 

 coaft of Fyen ; 6 miles S. of Svenborg. N- lat. 55° 1'. 

 E. long. 10° 29'. 



SKARSTA, a town of Sweden, in Weft GotKland ; 

 40 miles E. of Uddevalla. 



SKATE, m Ichthytlogy, the Englifh name of a fpecies 

 of ray-fi(h, called by the generality of authors raia undulata, 

 and raij iitvis, and by fome rtibus. 



It is diilinguiflied by Artedi by the name of the Tariegated 

 ray-fifh, with the middle of the back fmooth, and with only 

 one row of fpines in the tail. 



This fpecies, which is the Raia Balis of Linnaus, (fee 

 R.VIA,) is the thiniieft, in proportion to its bulk, of any of 

 the genus, and alfo the largeft, fome weighing near two 

 hundred pounds. The nofe, though not long, is fliarp- 

 pointed ; above the eyes is a fet of (hort fpines ; the whole 

 upper part of a pale-brown, and in fome fpecies ftreaked 



with 



