SON 



Oftober. The branches, as he juftly obferves, arc fquare, 

 not round. The heart of the ivood is hard and durable. 

 Z,fOT« oppofite, on very (hort ftalks, eUiptic-oblong, ob- 

 tufe, with a fmall point, entire, fomewhat lucculent, a fpan 

 long, fmooth, with one rib, and numerous tranfverfe veins ; 

 their under fide glaucous. Flowers terminal, fohtary, of a 

 beautiful red. Fruh green, acid, fmelling like rotten cheefe, 

 falling out of the calyx when quite ripe. The Malays, &c. 

 eat it, as well as the young leaves, with fifh and other food. 

 The beautiful half-expanded /i3Wf« are worn as orna- 

 ments for the head, and are often imitated in gold. Rum- 

 phius fays it is ufual to deprefs the ftamens with two little 

 pegs, forced crofs-wife through the piftil. 



2. S. alba. White-flowered Sonneratia. (Mangium 

 cafeolare album ; Rumph. Amboin. v. 3. iil. t. 73.) — 

 Flowers in fix, or more, fegments, without petals? Leaves 

 elliptical or roundifh. Branches round. — Native of Itony 

 or rocky plains, overflowed by the tide, on the fea (hore of 

 the Molucca and neighbouring iflands, flowering in Augult 

 and September. Rumphius defcribes this as a large, thick 

 and rugged tree, like an oak, with fpreading and curved 

 branches, commonly laden with various parafitical plants. 

 The branches are round. Leaves fmooth, brittle and fuccu- 

 lent, with hardly any vifible veins, and of a rounder broader 

 ihape than the foregoing. Flowers two or three together at 

 the end of each branch. Calyx green, in fix, feven or 

 eight divifions. No mention is made of any petals. Stamens 

 long, white, with brown anthers. Style very long, with a 

 green Jligma. Fruit deprefled, as broad as the hand, in- 

 ternally dry, white, and granular, with an aftringent, and 

 (lightly acid flavour, but no fmell. It burfts at length into 

 feveral portions, but does not fall off" like the former, nor is 

 it fo generally eaten, except when drelled with fi(h. Rum- 

 phius fo clearly diftinguifhes this fpecies, which Gaertiier 

 millook for the former, and Linnxus confounded therewith 

 imder his Rhizophora cafeolarts, that though we have leen no 

 fpecimen, we have ventured to defcribe it. What thofe 

 horn-fliaped excrefcences are, which occupy the foil at fome 

 diftance from the bafe of this tree, from a fpan to a foot in 

 length, and of a corky fubilance, as defcribed by Rum- 

 phius, we can offer no conjefture. 



3. S. apetala. Small-flowered Sonneratia. Buchanan in 

 Symes's Embafly to Ava, oftavo, v. 3.313.1.25. — Flowers 

 in four fegments ; without petals. Leaves ovato-lanceolate. 

 Branches round, pendulous. — Native of the moiit inundated 

 fea-fhores of the kingdom of Ava, near Rangoon, flowering 

 in May. We have fpccimens communicated by Dr. Rox- 

 burgh to lord Valentia. This is defcribed as a moft beau- 

 tiful tree, refembling our Weeping Willow, but taller, with 

 fcattered, pendulous,- fmooth, round, flender branches. 

 Leaves few, oppofite, ilalked, ovato-lanceolate, entire, 

 fmooth, rather fleihy, about three inches long, moitly blunt, 

 a little unequal at the bafe, hardly an inch broad. Flowers 

 axillary and terminal, ftalked, drooping, greenifh, about an 

 inch in diameter, with white ftamens, the length of the 

 calyx, but no petals. Fruit orbicular, deprelTed, of eight 

 cells, with numerous angular feeds. The Jligma is remark- 

 able for its great fize, and conical figure, hollow underneath, 

 like a fort of cap. The want oi petals in this fpecies induces 

 us the more readily to believe, that they may alfo be want- 

 ing in the lafl, and thjt the accurate Rumphius has not 

 merely by accident omitted to mention them. 



SONNERSKARET, in Geography, a fmall ifland on 

 the E. fide of the gulf of Bothnia. N. lat. Sy' 25'. E. 

 long. 21° 32'. 



SONNET, SoNETTO, in Poetry, a kind of compofi- 



SON 



tion properly contained in fourteen verfes ; ii/z. two ftanzaf, 

 or meafures, of four verfes each, and two of three ; the 

 eight firft verfes being all in two rhymes. 



Thefonnetis of Italian origin, and Petrarch is allowed to 

 be the father of it ; it is held the mofl difficult and artful of 

 all poetical compofitions, as requiring the utmoft accuracy 

 and exaftnefs. It is to end with fome pretty ingenious 

 thought : the clofe mufl be particularly beautiful, or the 

 fonnei is defeAive. 



In Malherb, and fome other French poets, we meet with 

 fonnets, where the two firfl ftanzas are not in the fame 

 rhyme ; but they are held irregular ; and, in effeft, great 

 part of the merit of thefe pieces confifts in a fcrupulous ob- 

 fervance of the rules. 



Ronfard, Malherb, Maynard, and Gombaut, have com- 

 pofed abundance of fonnets ; but, among two or three 

 thoufaiid, there are Icarcely two or three worth much. 



Pafquicr obferves, that Du Bellai was the firft wlio intro- 

 duced fonnets into France. But Du Bellai liimfelf fays, 

 that Merlin de S. Gelais firft converted the Italian fonnets 

 into French. 



Of twenty-three fonnets which were written by our great 

 poet Milton, that addreffed to Henry Laws is one of the 

 bell ; and yet this fhews how difficult and unnatural the con- 

 ftruftion of this fpecies of poem is in the Englifh language ; 

 whereas, from the great number of fimilar terminations in 

 the Italian tongue, and the fuccefs of Petrarch, it has long 

 been the favourite meafure of Italy for fhort compofitions. 

 However, Muratori thinks it extremely difficult for his 

 countrymen to make a good foiinet ; and he compares this 

 kind of poem to the bed of Procruftes, where the legs of 

 thofe that were too fhort were flretched, and thofe too long 

 were cut to the fize of the bed. 



Antonio a Tempo, a civilian at Padua, in his Treatife on 

 Poetry, 1332, diftinguifhes fixteen different kinds of fonnet. 

 Burney's HilL Mufic, vol. ii. p. 324. 



SONNEWALDE, in Geography, a town of Saxony ; 

 10 miles S. of Luckau. N. lat. 51° 40'. E. long. 



•3° 38'- 



SONNINO, a town of Campagna di Roma; 6 miles 



N. of Terracina. 



SONNO, a town of Japan, in the ifland of Niphon ; 18 

 miles N.W. of Iwata. 



SONOKI, a town of Mingrelia ; 45 miles S.E. of 

 Anarghia. 



SONORA, or Senora, a province of New Spain, 

 filuated between 35° and 27° N. lat. and 110° and 117° 

 W. long.; bounded N. by New Mexico, W. by California, 

 S. by Sinaloa and the gulf, and E. by Bifcay and New- 

 Mexico. Its greateft length from N. to S. is about 420 

 miles, and its breadth from E. to W. 380 miles. The air 

 is dry and pure, and the climate generally healthy, though 

 near the gulf the ground is marlhy, and it is, in fome of 

 the diftricls, infalubrious. Sonora abounds in rich gold 

 and filver-mines, particularly the former. Like Bilcay, it is 

 deftitute of timber, but it has fome rich foil near the gulf. 

 Its rivers are the Rio de I'Afcenfion, which enters the gulf 

 of Cahfurnia about N. lat. 31°, and the Rio Yaqui, which 

 difcharges itfelf into the fame gulf at Guyamas, at N. lat. 

 28°. Its animals are the deer, cabrie, and bear, and large 

 lizards, which are tamed by the inhabitants, and trained to 

 catch mice. The population of Sonora may be eftimated 

 at 200,000 fouls, confifting of Spaniards, Creoles, Metifs, 

 and Indians. The capital of Sonora is Arifpaa, fituated in 

 N. lat. 21" and W. long. 111°, near the head of the river 

 Yaqui ; celebrated for the urbanity and hofpitality of its in- 

 habitants, 



