S I M 
S I M 
225 
distinct tribes, Persians, Arminians, and descendants of 
German colonists. The majority profess the religion of 
. the Greek church, but a number are Mahometans and Armi¬ 
nians. The surface of the country is generally flat; the only 
hills are ramifications of the Oural mountains towards the 
east of the province, but these are not of great height. Large 
tracks consist of unproductive steppes, but between these there 
are also districts of great fertility; and the climate being in 
in general good, it is very seldom necessary to import corn. 
Flax, hemp, and various kinds of fruit, thrive here very well; 
and iron, salt, and sulphur mines, are found in the hilly dis¬ 
tricts. The principal rivers are the Wolga and the Sura. 
The lakes are very numerous, being said to amount, great and 
small, to the number of 566. The province contains a few 
manufactures, chiefly of leather and linen •, but the general 
employment, particularly of the Tartar tribes, is grazing. 
The exports are very various; hemp, leather, cattle, distilled 
spirits, and in good years, some corn. The province is di¬ 
vided into ten circles. 
SIMBIRSK, the capital of the above government, is situ¬ 
ated at the confluence of the Sviaga and the Wolga; 410 miles 
east-south-east of Moscow, and 730 south-east of St. Peters¬ 
burg. It is a town of considerable size, having between 11,000 
and 12,000 inhabitants, and contains 10 churches or chapels, 
and several other public buildings. It stands partly on a 
plain, partly on a hill, the height of which, with the num¬ 
ber of large buildings and spires in the town, the gardens 
that surround it, and the size of the Wolga, here nearly two 
miles wide, give it an imposing appearance. Its position is 
favourable to trade. The chief articles of export are corn 
and fish. Wood is unluckily scarce in the neighbourhood, 
and is brought by the Wolga from a considerable distance. 
SIMCOE, a lake of Upper Canada, communicating with 
Lake Huron. 
SIMELIUM, a Latin term, used by some to signify a 
table, with ranges of little cavities in it, for the disposing of 
medals in chronological order. 
The word is but ill written ; it should rather be cimelium, 
as being formed of the Greek KeipyXiov, curiosities, or a 
cabinet of precious things. 
SIMEON, named Stylites, a distinguished person in 
the annals of fanaticism, was born about the year 392 at 
Sison, a town on the borders between Syria and Cilicia. He 
was the son of a shepherd, and followed the same occupation 
to the age of thirteen, when he entered into a monastery. 
After some time he left it, in order to devote himself to a 
life of greater solitude and austerity, and he took up his 
abode on the tops of mountains, or in caverns of rocks, 
fasting sometimes, it is said, for weeks together, till he had 
worked himself up to a due degree of extravagance. He 
then, to avoid the concourse of devotees, but probably to 
excite still greater admiration, adopted the strange fancy of 
fixing his habitation on the tops of pillars, whence the 
Greek appellation; and with the notion of climbing higher 
and higher towards heaven, he successively migrated from a 
pillar of 6 cubits to one of 12, 20, 36, and 40. This feat 
was considered as a proof of extraordinary piety, and mul¬ 
titudes flocked from all parts to pay their veneration to the 
holy man. Simeon passed 47 years upon his pillars, exposed 
to all the inclemency of the seasons. At length an ulcer 
put an end to his life, at the age of 69. His body was taken 
down from his last pillar by the hands of bishops, and 
conveyed to Antioch, with an escort of 6000 soldiers; and 
he was interred with a pomp equal to any thing that had 
been displayed for the most potent monarchs. These 
honours produced imitators, whose performances surpassed 
the original. One of them inhabited his pillar 68 years. 
The madness remained in vogue till the twelfth century, 
when it was suppressed. 
SIMEREN, a river which runs through the desert track on 
the northern border of Syria, and falls into the Euphrates at 
Roumkala. 
SIMFEROPOL, or Akmetschet, a small town of Eu¬ 
ropean Russia, in the Crimea, and the seat of the govern¬ 
ment of Taurida. It stands on the river Salgir, at the foot 
Vol. XXIII. No. 1566. 
of a chain of mountains which extend quite across the 
peninsula from Kafl’a. Under the Tartars it was the residence 
of the Kalgha sultan, or commander of the khan’s army, 
and was sometimes called Sultan Sarai. At present it is an 
insignificant place, with 1600 inhabitants; 136 miles south- 
by-east of Cherson. Lat. 45. 12. N. long. 24. 8. E. 
SIMI. See Symi. 
SIMIA, a genus of the class and order of Mammalia 
Primates, of which the Generic Character is, that the in¬ 
dividuals have four front teeth in each jaw, which are 
approximate; the tusks are solitary, longer, and more 
remote; the grinders obtuse. The animals of this genus 
greatly resemble man in the uvula, eye-lashes, hands, feet, 
fingers, toes, nails, and other parts of the body; they, 
however, differ widely in the total want of reason : they have 
retentive memories, are imitative, and full of gesticulations; 
chatter with their teeth, and grin : they macerate their food 
in the cheeks before they swallow it: they are filthy, lasci¬ 
vious, thieving, gregarious, and the prey of leopards and 
serpents, the latter pursuing them to the summits of trees and 
destroying them. 
This race of animals, which is very numerous, is almost 
confined to the torrid zone; they fill the woods of Africa, 
from Senegal to the Cape, and from thence to Ethiopia: a 
single species is found beyond that line, in the province of 
Barbary : they are found in all parts of India, and its islands; 
in Cochin-china, in the south of China, and in Japan; and 
one kind is met with in Arabia : they swarm in the forests 
of South America, from the isthmus of Darien as far as 
Paraguay. 
These animals, from the structure of their members, have 
many actions in common with the human kind; most of 
them are fierce and untameable; some are of a milder 
nature, and will shew a degree of attachment: they feed on 
fruits, leaves, and insects; inhabit woods, and live in trees : 
they go in large companies. The different speGies never 
mix with each other, but always keep apart: they leap with 
great activity from tree to tree, even when loaded with their 
young, which cling to them: they are not carnivorous, but, 
for the sake of mischief, will rob the nests of birds of the eggs 
and young; and it is observed, that in those countries 
where apes most abound, the feathered tribe discover singu¬ 
lar sagacity in fixing their nests beyond the reach of these 
invaders. 
Mr. Ray first distributed the animals of this genus into 
three classes, viz., the simice, or apes, such as wanted tails; 
the cercopitheci, or monkies, such as had tails; and 
papiones , or baboons, those with short tails. 
From Ray, Linnaeus formed his method, which was fol¬ 
lowed by M. de Buffon, who made a farther sub-division of 
the long-tailed apes, or true monkies, into such as had 
prehensile tails, and such as had not. 
The genus is divided into the following sections: 
Section I. Apes without any tail. 
-II. Baboons with short tails. 
-III. Monkies. Tails long, not prehensile; 
cheeks pouched ; haunches naked. 
-IV. Sajapous. Tails prehensile ; no cheek. 
pouches, and their haunches are covered. 
- V. Sagoins. Tails not prehensile; no cheek. 
pouches; haunches covered. 
Of the whole genus, says Dr. Shaw, it may be observed 
that the baboons are commonly of a ferocious and sullen 
disposition. The larger apes are also of a malignant temper, 
except the orang-outang and the gibbons. The monkies, 
properly so called, are extremely various in their dispositions; 
some of the smaller species are lively, harmless, and enter¬ 
taining ; while others are as remarkable for the mischievous 
malignity of their temper, and the capricious uncertainty of 
their manners. It is no easy task to determine with exact 
precision the several species of this extensive genus; since, 
exclusive of the varieties in point of colour, they are often 
so nearly allied as to make it difficult to give real and dis¬ 
tinctive characters. We shall, as usual, follow Gmelin’s 
3 M Systema 
