SIBERIA. 177 
in the bed of which are several groves of date trees; but the 
country, generally speaking, is quite barren; 70 mdes north¬ 
east of Bunpoor. 
SIBBALDIA [so named by Linnaeus, in memory of Sir 
Robert Sibbald, professor of physic at Edinburgh], in Bo¬ 
tany, a genus of the class pentandria, order penlagynia, 
natural order of senticosae, rosaceae (Juss.) —Generic Cha¬ 
racter. Calyx: perianth one-leafed, half-ten cleft, with au 
erect base; segments half-lanceolate, equal, spreading, al¬ 
ternately narrower, permanent. Corolla: petals five, ovate, 
inserted into the calyx. Stamina: filaments five, capillary, 
shorter than the corolla, inserted into the calyx. Anthers 
small, obtuse. Pistil: germs five, o.vate, very short. Styles 
from the middle of the side of the germs, length of the 
stamens. Stigmas headed. Pericarp none. Calyx con¬ 
verging, concealing the seeds within its bosom. Seeds five, 
somewhat oblong. It sometimes, but very seldom, becomes 
luxuriant, by doubling the number of pistils, on the same 
plant.— Essential Character. Calyx ten-cleft. Petals five, 
inserted into the calyx. Styles from the side of the germ. 
Seeds five. 
1. Sibbaldia procumbens, or procumbent sibbaldia.— 
Stem procumbent; leaflets three-toothed wedge form.—Na¬ 
tive of the mountains of Lapland, Switzerland, Scotland 
and Siberia. 
2. Sibbaldia erecta, or upright sibbaldia..—Stem upright; 
leaves linear multifid. The leaves are very finely jagged, 
and the flowers flesh coloured.—Native of Siberia. 
3. Sibbaldia altaica.—Leaves linear-filiform, three-parted. 
Stem an inch high or more, almost naked, having only one 
flower, or else terminated by a corymb of from three to five 
flowers. 
Propagation and Culture. —Growing on moist ground 
in high mountains, it is with difficulty preserved in gardens, 
and rarely produces seeds there; the plants therefore must be 
procured from the places where they grow naturally, and if 
they are planted in a moist soil and shady situation, they will 
thrive tolerably well and produce flowers. 
SIBBENS, or Si wens, in Medicine, an infectious dis¬ 
ease, of a chronic nature, prevalent in the western parts of 
Scotland. It is said to be so denominated from the appear¬ 
ance of a fungous extuberance from some of the cutaneous 
sores, not unlike a raspberry ; the word sibben, or sivven, 
being the Highland appellation for a wild raspberry. 
Whence it has also been sometimes confounded with the 
yaws, a disease of tropical climates, brought from Africa, 
and so denominaled by the Negroes from the same fruit. 
SIBBERTOFT, a parish of England, in Northampton¬ 
shire; 16 miles north-north-west of Northampton. 
SIBBUL, a village of Barca, in Northern Africa; 25 miles 
west of Augila. 
SIBDON, a parish of England, in Salop ; 7 miles south¬ 
east of Bishop’s Castle. 
SIBERIA, is that part of the immense territory of the 
Russian empire, which lies to the east of the Ural chain of 
mountains, by which the empire is intersected from north 
to south, and thus divided into two parts, differing from each 
other both as to dimensions and quality. Siberia is describ¬ 
ed as a flat tract of land of considerable extent, declining 
imperceptibly towards the Frozen ocean, and by equally 
genjle gradations rising towards the south; where at last it 
forms a great chain of mountains, constituting the boundary 
of Russia on the side of China. The large portion of the 
habitable globe, now distinguished by the appellation of 
Asiatic Russia, extends from about the 37th degree east 
longitude to more than 190° or 170° west longitude; and 
assuming the degree in this high northern latitude at 30 
miles, the length may be computed at 4590 geographical 
miles. The greatest breadth from the cape of Cevero 
Vostochnoi, called in some maps Taimara, to the Altaian 
mountains south of the sea of Baikal, may be estimated at 
28°, or 1980 geographical miles. In British miles the 
length, at a gross computation, may be stated at 5350, and 
the breadth at 1960, which extent exceeds that of Europe. 
Vol. XXIII. No. 1563. • P 
The vast country of Siberia, says Mr. Tooke, contains, by 
calculation, upwards of 10- millions of square versts, com- 
prehending within it several kingdoms, taken by roving 
Kozaks (Cossacks) on their own account, and then sur¬ 
rendered to the tzar, who completed the conquest; at pre¬ 
sent this country consists of several of the most extensive 
governments. The farthest eastern boundary is that of Asia, 
and the seas of Kamtschatka and Ochotsk, and the northern 
is the Arctic ocean. On the west the frontiers correspond 
with those betweeu Asia and Europe, and the southern 
limits may be stated more at large in the following manner : 
The river Cuban, part of the Caucasian chain, and an ideal 
line, divide the Russian territory from Turkey and Persia. 
The boundary then ascends along the north of the Caspian 
through the steppe or desart of Issim, and the eastern shore 
of the river Ob, to its source in the Altaian mountains, where 
it meets the vast empire of China, and proceeds among that 
chain to the sources of the Onon, where it includes a con¬ 
siderable region called Daouria, extending about 200 miles 
in breadth, to the south of the mountains called Yablonnoy; 
the limit between Russia and Chinese Tartary being partly 
an ideal line, and partly the river Argoon, which joined with 
the Onon constitutes the great river Amur. Thence the 
boundary returns to the mountainous chain, and follows a 
branch of it to a promontory on the north of the mouth of 
the Amur. 
The population of Asiatic Russia may be regarded as 
primitive, except a few Russian colonies recently planted; 
and the Techuks in that part which is opposite to America, 
supposed to have migrated from that continent, in their per¬ 
sons and customs are different from those of the Asiatic 
tribes. Next to the Techuks, most remotely north, are the 
Yukagirs, a branch of the Yakuts, and further west the 
Samoyedes. South of the Techuks are the Koriaks, and 
further south the Kamtschadales, who are a distinct people, 
and speak a different language. The Lamutes are a branch 
of the Mandshures or Tunguses, who are widely diffused 
between the Yenisei and Amur, and the southern tribes, 
ruled by a khan, conquered China in the 17th century. 
The Ostiaks, and other tribes of Samoyedes, have penetrated 
considerably to the south between the Yenisei and the Irtisch, 
and are followed by various tribes of the Monguls, as the 
Kalmucks, Burats, &c., and by those of the Tartars or Huns, 
as the Teluls, Kirguses, and others. The radically distinct 
languages amount to seven, independently of many dialects 
and mixtures. 
The vast extent of northern Asia was first known by the 
name of Sibir, or Siberia; but the appellation is gradually 
passing into disuse. When the Monguls established a king¬ 
dom in these northern regions, the first residence of the 
princes was on the river Tura, on the scite of the town now 
called Tiumsn, about 180 miles south-west of Tobolsk; but 
they afterwards removed to the eastern shore of the Irtisch, 
and there founded the city of Isker near Tobolsk. This new 
residence was also called Sibir, of unknown etymology, and 
the uame of the city passed to the Mongul principality. 
Although this is doubted by Coxe, Pallas says that the ruins 
of Sibir are still visible 23 versts from Tobolsk, and that it 
gave name to the rivulet Sibirka, and the whole of Siberia. 
When the Russians began the conquest of the country, they 
were unapprized of its extent; and the name of this western 
province was gradually diffused over the half of Asia. The 
principality established by the Monguls under She.buni in 
1242 in the western part of Siberia, around Tobolsk and 
the river Tura, from which it has been sometimes called Tura, 
has been already mentioned. The actual conquest of 
Siberia commenced in the reign of Ivan Vassillievitch II., 
who ascended the Russian throne in 1534. Induced by 
the prospect of establishing a traffic for Siberian furs, he 
determined to undertake the conquest of the country, and 
in 1558 added to his titles that of lord of Sibir, or Siberia. 
Yarmak, a Cossack chief, being driven, by the Russian 
conquests in the south, to take refuge, with 6000 or 7000 
of his followers, near the river Kama, afterwards marched 
2 Z down 
