628 SAM 
pose the sea to move or flow with great rapidity, and the 
swiftness of Samudra is proverbial. Perhaps, however, the 
allusion may be to its momentum, rather than its velocity. 
This personification of the sea is frequently mentioned in 
Hindoo books. Nadit is another name of Samudra, and 
Sagara; under which latter article of our work, and under 
Soma, farther mention will be found on the subject of this. 
We have never seen any picture or description of the person 
or attributes of Samudra, and know not, therefore, how he 
is represented in those particulars. His proverbial swiftness 
occurs in a translation from the Ramayana, under our article 
Tara. 
SAMUEL, an eminent prophet and judge of Israel for 
several years. 1!o Samuel have been ascribed the book of 
Judges, that of Ruth, and the first of the two books that bear 
his name. It is very probable that he composed the twenty- 
four first chapters of the first book of Samuel, as they contain 
nothing but what he might have written, and in which he 
had not a great share. Nevertheless, in these twenty-four 
chapters, there are some additions, which it is likely were 
inserted after his death. The two first books of Kings bear 
the name of the books of Samuel; but it must be observed 
that he could not have been the author of the second of these 
books, which contains an account of the transactions that 
happened after his death; nor could he have written the 
latter part of the first, since his death is mentioned in the 25th 
chapter. It has been supposed, that as Samuel was the author 
of the first twenty-four chapters, the work was finished by 
Gad and Nathan. This is the opinion of the Talmudists, 
which seems to be founded on 1 Chron. xxix. 29. But, in 
order to justify this opinion, it ought to be proved, that the 
books of Samuel, Gad, and Nathan, mentioned in this pas¬ 
sage, were the same with that of the first book of Kings: 
whereas these were three distinct books, which contained the 
life and actions of these three prophets. Diodorus of Tarsus, 
Theodoret, St. Athanasius, and St. Gregory, have observed, 
that the four books of Kings are only an historical abridg¬ 
ment of several books or memoirs of the prophets, which are 
cited in several places of them. Grotius ascribes this abridg¬ 
ment to Jeremiah, some to Isaiah, and most to Ezra. Dupin 
has mentioned several circumstances which shew that the 
books of Samuel, or the two first books of Kings, are neither 
Samuel’s, nor Gad’s, nor Nathan’s. As for the two last 
books, which are those only called by the Hebrews Mala- 
chim or Kings, since they contain the history of the kings of 
Israel and Judah, down to the captivity, which is related in 
the last chapter, they could not.have been finished till after 
that time. Several passages which shew that the kingdom 
of Judah was still in being, serve to render it probable, that 
this history was composed out of several memoirs, or rather, 
that he who digested and wrote it, has inserted those things 
in it which he found in the more ancient records without 
changing the forms of expression. The Talmudists attribute 
this work to Jeremiah, others to Isaiah, but the generality to 
Ezra. The first book of Samuel, or of the four books of 
Kings, comprehends the events that occurred under the 
government of Eli the high-priest, Samuel the prophet, and 
the reign of Saul. The second is the history of David’s 
government. The two last books of Kings contain the his¬ 
tory of Solomon, and afterwards the reigns of the several 
kings of Israel and Judah down to the destruction of Israel and 
the captivity of Judah. The four books contain the history 
of almost 600 years. 
Samuel began the chain of the prophets, which was never 
broken from his time to that of Zechariah and Malachi. 
(Acts iii. 24.) Besides the true history of Samuel, there are 
several traditions concerning this prophet among the Orien¬ 
tals. See D’Herbelot, Bibl. Orient, p. 735 and 1021. See 
also the History of the Afghans in the second volume of the 
Asiatic Researches, p. 119, &e. Dupin's Canon. 
SAMUEL, Point, a cape on the west coast of Admiralty 
island, north of Hood’s bay, in the North Pacific ocean. 
Lat. 57.28. N. long. 225. 33. E. 
SAMUELA, St., a small island in the North Pacific 
ocean. Lat. 62. 35. N. long. 190. 34. E. 
s :a m 
SALULCOTTA, a town of Hindostan, province of the 
Circars, and district of Rajamundry. In the vicinity of this 
place pepper has been found growing wild on the hills, and 
it was at one time in contemplation of the East India Com¬ 
pany to establish an extensive pepper farm here. but the 
extensive acquisitions of the British on the Malabar coast 
have now rendered that plan unnecessary. It is situated on 
the north bank of a small river, and a few miles from the 
sea. Lat. 17. 5. N. long. 82 30. E. 
SAMUR, a river of Shirvan, in Persia, which rises in the 
mountains of Lesghistan, and fall into the Caspian. At its 
mouth is a small town of the same name; 15 miles south of 
Derbend. 
SAMYDA of Theophrastus], in Botany, a genus 
of the class decandria, order monogynia.—Generic Charac¬ 
ter. Calyx : perianth Ohe-leafed, coloured within ; tube 
bell-shaped, ten streaked; border five-cleft; segments ovate, 
flat, spreading very much, blunt, two cf them augmented 
with a point. Corolla none. Nectary one-leafed, conical, 
truncate, ten-streaked, almost the length of the calyx, and in¬ 
serted into its border at the base; mouth bluntly ten-toothed 
or eight-toothed. Stamina: filaments none. Anthers ten 
or eight, oblong, erect, small, placed on the teeth of the 
nectary. Pistil: germ oVate.' Style awl-shaped, erect, 
length of the nectary. Stigma capitate obtuse. Pericarp: 
capsule roundish, four-grooved, coriaceous, thick, one-celled 
four-valved. Seeds very many, subovate, obtuse, marked 
with a little pore at the base, fastened to the valves, wrapped 
in a pulpy pellicle.— Essential Character. Calyx five- 
parted, coloured. Corolla none. Nectary, bell-shaped, 
staminiferous. Capsule berried within, four-valved, one- 
celled. Seeds nestling. 
1. Samyda nitida.—Flowers eight-stamened, leaves cor¬ 
date, smooth.—It shoots sometimes to the height of seven or 
eight feet. The leaves are shining and very slightly crenate ; 
rudiments or segments of the nectary soft, red; flowers in 
slender axillary racemes.—Native of Jamaica. 
2. Samyda macrophylla —Flowers eight-stamened, leaves 
ovate, acute, smooth, axils of the veins villose beneath, 
corymb terminating.—Branches, smooth, round, scarred 
with the fallen leaves, yellowish.—Native of the East 
Indies. 
3. Samyda multiflora.—Flowers eight-stamened, leaves 
oblong, toothed, attenuated to both ends, tomentose beneath, 
peduncles one-flowered, aggregate, axillary.—Stem shrubby, 
branches woody, round.—Native of the West Indies. 
4. Samyda villosa.—Flowers ten-stamened, leaves oblong, 
sub-serrate, oblique at the base, silky, villose beneath, pedun¬ 
cles solitary, axillary.—Shrub a fathom high. Flowers large, 
white.—Native of Jamaica, in the mountains: flowering in 
spring. 
5. Samyda glabrata.—Flowers ten-stamened, leaves, ovate- 
lanceolate, quite entire, shining, peduncles axillary, one-flow¬ 
ered.—A small "tree with a trunk ten or twelve feet high, 
smooth, unarmed. 
6. Samyda spinescens.—Flowers ten-stamened, terminat¬ 
ing, leaves lanceolate-ovate, obtuse, crenate, smooth, branches 
patulous, spinescent.-—A small tree.'—Native of Hispaniola, 
where it flowers in December and January. 
7. Samyda pubescens.—-Flowers twelve-stamened, leaves 
ovate, tomentose beneath.—Native of America. 
8. Samyda serrulata.—Flowers twelve-stamened, leaves 
ovate-oblong, serrulate.—Shrub three or four feet high, with 
round somewhat villose branchlets. Peduncles axillary 
solitary, one-flowered, very short.—Native of America. 
9. Samyda polyandra,—Flowers many stamened.—Na¬ 
tive of New Caledonia. 
Propagation and Culture. —These plants are propagated 
by seeds procured from the countries where they naturally 
grow; sow them upon a hot-bed in the spring ; and when 
the plants come up set them in small pots filled with good 
kitchen garden earth, plunge them into a hot bed of tanner’s 
bark, and treat them in the same way as other tender plants 
from the same countries Keep them in the bark-bed till 
they have attained strength, and they may be exposed in 
summer. 
