620 
SAM 
and the use of which was lost by the people, during their 
sojourn in Babylon and Chaldeae; but was again restored 
after their return, on the same footing as before. He adds, 
that the inscriptions are pure Hebrew, such as it was 
spoken before the captivity: that the character, therefore, 
is the true ancient Hebrew character: that it was the custom 
to write each language in its proper character : that if they 
had departed from this rule, they had doubtless used the new 
character they brought with them from Babylon: that 
there could be no other reason, but that of settling all 
things on the same foundation they were on before the de¬ 
struction of Jerusalem, that could have induced them to use 
this character on their coins. And, lastly, that these medals 
were not struck by the Samaritans, but by the Jews, and in 
Jerusalem. 
F. Souciet is very full on all those points ; and, to the 
proofs drawn from medals, he adds two others foreign there¬ 
to : the first drawn from the resemblance of the Greek let¬ 
ters, introduced by Cadmus the Phoenician, with this He¬ 
brew character, which was the same with that of the Phoe¬ 
nicians, as the language of those people was the same with 
that of the Hebrews. The second drawn from several vari¬ 
ous readings in the scriptures, which cannot be well ac¬ 
counted for otherwise than by supposing, that the books 
written before the captivity were in the same characters with 
these medals, and which shew, that it is the conformity which 
certain letters have to that character, that has deceived the 
copyists. 
From the whole he concludes, that this character of the 
medals is the true ancient Hebrew character; and that, to 
judge of the various readings of the Hebrew text, and the 
differences of the ancient Greek and Latin translations, either 
from themselves, or from the Hebrew text, recourse must be 
had to this character. 
SAMAROBRIVA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Gaul, 
which, in the time of Caesar, was a place or passage over the 
river, as its name indicates, and in which were held the 
states of Gaul. It was the capital of the Arabian i in the 
time of the Notitia Imperii, and a place where arms were 
fabricated. 
SAMAROUSKOI, a village of Tobolsk, in Asiatic Russia; 
176 miles north of Tobolsk. 
SAMARRA, a garment worn by those condemned by the 
Romish inquisition to be burnt; such are impenitents, and 
those who confess themselves guilty of heresy,but repent, and 
renounce their errors before the execution. 
It is a kind of frock, made of sackcloth, of a saffron co¬ 
lour, and painted with tiames pointing downwards; some¬ 
times the unhappy sufferer's picture is drawn to the life on it, 
and sometimes devils are painted on it, dragging, as it were, 
the person-along with them to hell: on their frock there is 
likewise put the cross of St. Andrew, of a red colour on the 
back and heart: it-is otherwise called sambenito, or blessed 
sackcloth, and sa?nareta 
SAMARSKAIA, a fortress of Asiatic Russia, in the 
government of Oufa; 40 miles w'est of Troitsk. 
SAMATA, a village of Upper Egypt, on the left bank of 
the Nile; 7 miles north-west of Dendera. 
SAMATAN, a small town in the south-west of France, in 
Gascony, department of the Gers, on the Save. Population 
1600 ; 17 miles south-east of Auch. 
SAMAVAT, a town in the Syrian desert, to the west of 
the Euphrates, once bearing the name of the Celestial City, 
but now containing only a population of 300 Arabs, who 
levy exorbitant contributions on all the pilgrims that take 
this route to the holy cities; 90 miles west of Meshed Ali. 
SAMBA, Galera de, a point of the coast, in the pro¬ 
vince of Oarthagena, and New Kingdom of Granada. 
SAMBAC, an Arabian name for Jasminum. 
SAMBAH, a town of Hindostan, province of Lahore, 
belonging to the Seiks, Lat. 32. 34. N. long. 74. 8. E. 
SAMBALLAS, a name given to a numerous cluster of 
small islands near the coast of America, in the Spanish 
Main, of which three clusters are called Cavesas, Mulatas, 
and Sagua. These islands are scattered at very unequal 
SAM 
distances, some only one, some two, some three, and some- 
four miles from the shore and from one another, extending 
a very considerable distance along the northern shore of the 
isthmus of Darien. They seem to lie as it were parcelled 
out in clusters; and between most of them are navigable 
channels, by which ships may pass through, and range 
along the coast of the isthmus, the sea between them and it 
being navigable from one end to the other, and affording 
everywhere good anchoring in firm sandy ground, with 
good landing, either on the islands or the main. In this 
long channel, a number of ships may always find shelter, 
be the wind which way it will; so that it was the general 
rendezvous for the privateers on this coast. Most of these 
islands are low, flat and sandy, covered with a variety of 
trees, and abound with shell-fish of several kinds; some of 
them also afford springs of fresh water, and convenient places 
for careening ships. The long channel between the Sam- 
ballas and the isthmus is from two to four miles in breadth, 
extending from Point Samballas to the gulf of Darien ; and 
the coast of the isthmus is full of sandy bays, with many 
brooks of fresh water. Lat. 9. 26. N. long. 78. 25. W. 
SAMBALLAS POINT, or Point San Blas, a cape of 
America, on the north coast of the isthmus of Darien. Lat, 
9. 36. N. long. 70. 14. W. 
SAMBAR POINT, the south-west point of the large 
island of Borneo. 
SAMBARA, the name of a tyrant in Hindoo legends, 
destroyed by Kama, the god of love, in punishment of in¬ 
dignities offered by him to his wife Reti, a personification 
of afijection, who had been reduced in one of her avataras, 
or incarnations, to the situation of cook to the tyrant 
Sambara. 
SAMBASS, a town and river on the west coast of Borneo. 
The river has a wide entrance, and is in Lat. 1. 12. -N. long. 
109. 5. E, The town is about forty miles up the river. The 
houses here, as in almost all the other sea-port towns in Bor¬ 
neo, are built of timber and bamboos, raised on wooden 
stalks or piles, on low swampy morasses. It is an excellent 
market for opium, the consumption being above 500 chests 
per annum. In consequence of the predatory and piratical 
habits of the inhabitants, whose armed powers are continually 
on the watch, both in Sambass and in Borneo proper, to 
dart out on the defenceless trading vessels, it has become ex¬ 
tremely unsafe for the European trader to venture near any 
of the extensive coasts of Borneo, particularly the north-west 
coast. A large Portuguese ship with a valuable cargo, was 
thus assaulted and carried into Sambass by these pirates, 
which was the occasion of the attack of the Sultan, by a 
British armament, in 1812. The assailants were, however, 
repulsed with considerable loss, and suffered still more from 
the pestilential effects of the climate. In 1813, asecond attack 
was made on it, and with complete success. Lat. 1. 3. N. 
long. 109. 25. E. 
SAMBAYA, or Solo River, a river on the north coast 
of the island of Java, and the largest in the island. It is 
navigable, in the rainy season, as far as the residence of the 
Soosoohoonan, or Emperor of Solo; and it appears, from a 
recent survey made by Captain Colebrooke, of the royal 
artillery, that the impediments which obstruct its passage in 
4he dry season, might be removed without much labour or 
expense; thus facilitating the commercial intercourse with 
the interior of that fertile and populous country. 
SAMBEK, or Sambok, a small town in the west of Hun¬ 
gary ; 14 miles north-north-west of Buda. 
SAMBELONG ISLANDS, two or three islands in the 
Indian sea, among the Nicobar islands, so called, a little to 
the north of the Great Nicobar. Lat. 41. 20 N. long. 100. 
36 E. 
SAMBER, a town of Hindostan, province of Ajmeer, and 
district of Jyepore. It is situated in the vicinity of a salt 
lake, 13 miies long by two broad, from whence the greater 
part of Hindostan proper is supplied with salt, and which is 
greatly preferred by the natives to the sea salt, although it 
has frequently a bitter taste. It is, however, the source of 
great prosperity to the town, which is consequently one of the 
most 
