SHE 
apprehend and prosecute to conviction any 
such offender, shall have a reward of lOZ. j 
for which purpose he shall have a certifi- 
cate signed by the judge, before the end 
of the assizes, certifying such conviction, 
and where the offence was committed, and 
that the offender was apprehended and pro- 
secuted by the person claiming the reward ; 
and if more than one claim it, he shall 
therein appoint what share shall be paid to 
each claimant. And on tendering such cer- 
tificate to the sheriff, he shall pay the same 
within a mopth, without deduction, or for- 
feit double, with treble costs ; to be al- 
lowed in his accounts, or be repaid him out 
of the Treasury. And any person who shall 
in the night time maliciously and wilfully 
maim, wound, or otherwise hurt any sheep, 
whereby the same is not killed,.shall forfeit 
to the party grieved treble damages, by ac- 
tion of trespass, or on the case. 
By 28 George III. c. 38, every person 
who shall export any live sheep or lambs, 
shall forfeit Si. for every sheep or lamb, 
and shall also suffer solitary imprisonment 
for three months, without bail, and until the 
forfeiture is paid, but not to exceed twelve 
months for such non-payment ; and for 
every subsequent offence bl. a piece, and 
imprisonment for six months, and until the 
forfeiture be paid ; but not to exceed two 
years for the non-payment thereof. And 
all ships and vessels employed in the expor- 
tation of sheep shall be forfeited. 
Sheep shank, in naval affairs, a kind of 
knot made on a rope to shorten it, and is 
particularly used on runners or ties, to pre- 
vent the tackle from coming block and 
block. By this contrivance, the body to 
which the tackle is applied may be hoisted 
much highfer, or removed further, in a 
shorter time. 
SHEERING, or Shearing, in the wool- 
len manufacture, is the cutting off, with 
large sheers, the too long nap, in order to , 
make the cloth more smooth and even. 
Sheering, in the sea language : when a 
ship is not steered steadily, they say she 
sheers, or goes sheering ; or, when at an- 
chor, she goes in and out, by means of 
the current of the tide, they also says she 
sheers. 
■SHEERS, in naval affairs, an engine used 
to hoist in, or get out the lower masts of a 
ship. They are either placed on the side 
of a quay or wharf, or are fixed on board of 
an old ship cut down ; or, lastly, they are 
composed of two masts, or large spars lash- 
ed together, and erected in the vessel in 
§HE 
which the mast is to be placed or displac- 
ed ; the lower ends of the props resting 
on the opposite sides of the deck, and the 
upper parts being fastened together across, 
from which a tackle depends. 
SHEET, in naval affairs, a rope fastened 
to one or both of the lower corners of a sail, 
to extend and retain it in a particular situ- 
ation. When a ship sails with a side wind, 
the lower corners of the main and fore-sails 
are fastened by a tack and sheet ; the for-^ 
mer being to windward, and the latter to 
leeward : the tack is, however, only diffused 
with a stern wind, whereas the sail is never 
spread without the assistance of one or both 
of the sheets. The stay sails and studding- 
sails have only one tacjt and one sheet 
each ; the stay-sails tack are fastened for- 
ward, and the sheets drawn aft, but the 
studding-sail tackS draw the outer corner 
of the sail to the extremity of the boom, 
while the sheet is employed to extend the 
inner corner. 
SHEFFIELDIA, in botany, so named in 
honour of Mr. Sheffield, an eminent bota- 
nist of the University of Oxford, a genus 
of the Pentandria Monogjmia class and or- 
der. Natural order of Caryophyllei. Ly- 
simachire, Jussieu. Essential character : 
calyx five-cleft ; corolla bell-shaped j fila- 
ments ten, the alternate ones barren ; cap- 
sule one-celled, five-valved, many-seeded. 
There is only one species, viz. S. repens, 
a native of New Zealand and Easter Island. 
SHEKEL, in Jewish antiquity, an ancient 
coin, worth about 2s. sterling. 
SHELF, among miners, the same with 
what they otherwise call fast ground, or, fast 
country; being that part of the internal 
structure of the earth -which they find lying 
even, and in an orderly manner, and, evi- 
dently having retained its primitive form 
and situation, unmoved by the waters of the 
general deluge, while the circumjacent, and 
upper strata, have plainly been removed 
and tossed about. 
SHELL, a substance of a stony hardness, 
composed of carbonate of lime variously 
combined with animal gluten, and serving 
for the coverings and habitations of different 
animals, mostly of the order of Mollusca; 
allowing of the occasional protrusion of 
part of their naked body. The various 
forms, the beautiful colours, and the high 
polish which shells possess, have long ren- 
dered them objects of research to the 
curious naturalist : many of them, possess- 
ing these properties in a high degree; and 
G 3 
