SHREW.

found in fields and gardens, sometimes living on the ground, and sometimes burrowing like the mole.

Shrike, a class of birds found in all parts of the world except South America. They are called butcher birds from the habit of fastening their prey on thorns. They feed on insects, mice, frogs and small birds, which they tear with their strong bills instead of their talons as the other birds of prey do. There are about thirty species, of which the butcher bird, or great American shrike, is one of the best known. It is about 10 inches long, the wings and tail

SHRIKE.

dark-brown, the other plumage gray tinged with pale-blue. They are useful in gardens and fields, destroying mice and insects.

Shrimp, a class of soft-shelled water animals, like the lobster. They are long, tapering to the fan-like tail, with a hump on the back. They are almost transparent, and the colors are such that they are not readily seen when lying on the sand at the bottom of the water. When alarmed they bury themselves in the sand. They are used

SHRIMP.

Shubrick, WILLIAM BRANFORD, an American naval officer, was born in Charleston, South Carolina, Oct. 31, 1790. He entered the navy in 1806. In the war of 1812, he aided in the defense of Norfolk; and in 1813, on the Constitution, he helped capture three ships of war, taking command of one of them, the Levant. In 1838 he was head of a squadron in the West Indies, and in 1847 of one in the Pacific, where he captured Mazatlan on the Gulf of California, helping to establish the government of the United States in California.. He had command in the Paraguay expedition in 1859. He retired in 1862 with the rank of rear-admiral, and died at Washington in 1874.

Shufeldt, ROBERT WILSON, an officer of the United States navy, was born at Red Hook, New York, in 1822. He entered the navy, rising to the rank of commander in 1853, when he resigned. In the civil war he was commander of the steamship Conemaugh, at Charleston, South Carolina, and took part in the battles of Morris Island. In 1870 he became commander of the monitor Miantonomah, and later had charge of the surveying expedition to Nicaragua. He left the service in 1884, with the rank of rear-admiral.

Siam (si-am'), GULF OF, an arm of the China sea, south of Siam and west of Cochin China. It is 245 miles wide at its entrance, and extends inland 390 miles.

Siam, KINGDOM OF, is in the IndoChina peninsula, and covers about 300,000 square miles, being nearly 1,100 miles long and 750 wide. The plain of the Menam valley and the Korat tableland, from 400 to 1,000 feet high, form the larger part of the country. The Menam, 600 miles long, is the principal river, and the Mekhong or Cambodia river is partly within the territory, but is of little use for navigation, being

obstructed by falls and rapids. Gold has been found in Siam from the earliest ages, and the mines are now being worked by European speculators; cop- | per, tin, iron, rubies and sapphires are also found. The animals are those of the tropical regions, the elephant being tamed and used for labor in the teak forests. Some of the famous white elephants are kept in the royal courtyard at Bangkok, but are not held sacred, or fed on golden dishes, according to the stories. The climate is healthy, with two seasons, the wet and the dry, and a rainfall of 54 inches. April is the hottest month of the year. The population is from 8,000,000 to 10,000,000, of which about one-third are pure Siamese. There are perhaps 1,000,000 Chinese and Burmese, Malays, Cambodians and the Laos, or Shans. The Siamese are small, well shaped, olive colored, with black | hair. They are peaceful, vain, social and lazy, very fond of bright colors and jewelry. The children's heads are shaved except a tuft on the crown, which is cut off with great ceremony when they are grown. Their houses are built of wood, thatched with palm leaves and stand on piles. The banks of the rivers are often lined with wooden houses floating on rafts or bundles of bamboo. The food of the country is mainly rice, fish and fruit, and a liquor made from rice is used as a drink, but there is very little drunkenness. Betelnut chewing and tobacco smoking are almost universal, the teeth being colored black by the nut and other materials used for the purpose. The Laos or Shans are closely related to the Siamese, about 2,000,000 of them being under the rule of Siam, while other tribes are subject to China. The religion of Siam is Buddhism, and all the Siamese enter the priesthood for a time. The temples are numerous, with gilded minarets, roofs of colored tiles and quaint pagodas. Siam is governed by a king, the present ruler being Chulalongkorn I., who succeeded to the throne in 1868. He is anxious to improve his country, and is interested in the introduction of railroads and telegraph lines, and through his influence Siam joined the postal union in 1885, and has an electric light company to light the streets of Bangkok, and schools for teaching English. The chief production of the country is rice, with tobacco, coffee, hemp, cotton and tropical fruits. Manufactures are not developed; only coarse cloth and silk, rough paper

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SIBERIA

and water jars and tiles are made in the country.

Siamese history begins with the year 1350. Cambodia was conquered and made tributary in 1532 and the present dynasty was founded in 1782. Ayuthis was the capital until it was burnt by the Burmese after a siege of two years in 1768. Bangkok was made the capital by a general named Phya Tak, who drove the Burmese from the country and became king. See Siam or the Heart of Farther India, by Coit; A Thou sand Miles on an Elephant, by Hallett.

Siamese Twins, the name of two children, Eng and Chang, born in Siam in 1811. They were united by a band of flesh growing from chest to chest. They were shown as curiosities in the principal cities of Europe and America, and finally settled in North Carolina, where they married two sisters. The civil war ruined them financially, and they again made the tour of Europe, exhibiting themselves in 1869. They died two hours and a half apart, Jan. 17, 1874.

Siberia (si-be'-ri-a), a large territory belonging to Russia in northern Asia. It covers 4,833,500 square miles, stretching from the Chinese empire to the Arctic ocean. A large part of the region is only imperfectly known. It is, however, covered with a network of highlands and mountain ridges of which the Great Altai and Sayan mountains, separating Siberia from Mongolia; the Barguzin and South Muya ridges, with others still unnamed; the Stanovoi mountains, which form a high wall on the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk, are the most important. Some of the peaks of the Altai mountains, and a few others rise into the region of perpetual snow. A belt of forests on the northwestern border of the central plain, and beyond that another belt 500 miles wide of high plains, 1,700 feet to 2,500 feet high, and most of it very fertile, end in an immense lowland stretching to the shores of the Arctic ocean. These lands in western Siberia are very fertile, and are now the granary of Siberia, and contain one-third of the population. Between the Obi and the Irtysh are great marshes, which can only be crossed when frozen, and farther north still, the "tundras" (salt prairies and frozen swamps), where the ground is frozen hundreds of feet deep, and only thaws on its surface in the summer. Trees disappear, only a few low bushes, and a few flowering plants surviving the

cold. Yet some 50,000 human beings call this region home, and wander over it with sledges drawn by reindeer and dogs. In the southeastern part of Siberia in the Amur province are high plains, covered with oak forests, and rapidly filling with emigrants from Russia; while there are fertile tracts on the frontier of Corea, and a splendid harbor at Vladivostok, on the Gulf of Peter the Great. The large rivers of Siberia-the Obi, Yenesei, Irtysh, Lena and Amur, being some of them-assist greatly in the interior communication of this great country, and two lines of railroad have already entered Siberia on the west. Siberia is the coldest country in the world, and yet the summers are much warmer than is usually supposed, and melons are grown in the open air in some parts, and barley sown in May will ripen by August. The summers, however, are short and by November all the rivers are frozen, and in the extreme north the thermometer has recorded 75° and 85° below zero. The air is very dry and there is no wind, which makes the cold more endurable. The native tribes of Siberia, almost exterminated by their various conquerors, number hardly 700,000 and with about 3,000 Coreans and 15,000 Manchurians and Chinese, added to the Russians, make up the population of 4,598,500, which is increased yearly by about 50,000 Russian immigrants. The Russians belong to the Greek church; the Turkish tribes are Mohammedans; while others are Buddhists. The exiles, who are sent to Siberia from Russia at the rate of 20,000 a year, add but little to the population. They are worn out by the hard two years' journey on foot, and a number of years' imprisonment, and those who survive, looking upon Russia as their home, perish, many of them, in their vain efforts to return. Siberia is very rich in minerals, but mining is still undeveloped; gold, silver, lead, copper and iron are mined, however, in considerable quantities. The chief occupations are farming and cattle breeding, while hunting is profitable for the valuable furs of the sable, ermine, gray and white foxes; and fishing is carried on extensively.

The earliest inhabitants of Siberia are called by some writers Yeniseians, who were followed by a race of considerable skill, judging from their relics found in mounds. The Turks conquered the country in the 11th century, and were conquered themselves

SICILIAN VESPERS

by the Mongols two centuries later. The Russians invaded the region first in 1580, by a band of Cossack robbers, followed for two centuries by other bands of Cossacks, traders and hunters, dissenters flying from religious persecution, and peasants escaping from serfdom. In the first 80 years the Cossacks had reached the Sea of Okhotsk, but Russia's possession was not acknowledged by China before 1857. Behring strait was discovered in 1648 by the Cossack Dejnef, who sailed around the northeastern end of Asia; but as his discovery was not made known, the honor still belongs to Behring. In 1878-'79 Nordenskiold sailed through the Arctic ocean, Behring strait, China sea, Indian ocean and Suez canal, and returned to Sweden, thus going entirely around Asia for the first time. See Through Siberia, by Lansdell; Tent Life in Siberia and Siberia and the Exile System, by Kennan.

Sibyl (sib'-yl), a name given to certain inspired prophetesses in the mythical period. Their number varies, but is generally fixed at ten, of whom the most celebrated was the Cumaan, who is mentioned in the sixth book of Æneid as leading Virgil into the lower world. According to Livy she came from the east to King Tarquin, offering him nine books of prophecies, but at such an enormous price that he refused to buy. She then destroyed three, and returning, offered the remaining six at the same price, and was again refused; destroying still another three, she asked as much for the three left, which Tarquin's curiosity induced him finally to buy. They contained advices regarding the religion and government of the Romans, and were carefully guarded in the temple of Jupiter until 83 B. C., when the temple was burned. A new collection was made of about 1,000 lines, gathered from all the cities of Greece, Italy and Asia Minor, which was kept until some time between 404 and 408, when it was publicly burned. The Sibylline oracles, written in Greek, in 14 books, containing 4,000 lines, are entirely distinct, being a series of pretended prophecies written by Alexandrine Jews and Christians.

Sicilian Vespers, the name given to the massacre of the French in Sicily, March 30, 1282, the first stroke of the vesper bell being the signal for beginning. Charles of Anjou, brother of Louis IX. of France, had conquered Naples and Sicily, but was hated by his

Sicilian subjects for his cruelty and injustice. The inhabitants of Palermo at that signal rose against their French oppressors, killing men, women and children to the number of 8,000, an example followed throughout the island, where the French were hunted like wild beasts. The 600th anniversary of the Sicilian Vespers was celebrated in 1882. See The War of the Sicilian Vespers by Amari, translated by the earl of Ellesmere.

Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean sea, is also the most populous and the most fertile. It lies off the coast of Italy, separated from it by the Strait of Messina, two miles wide. It covers 9,828 square miles and is shaped like a triangle. Sicily is a plain 500 to 1,900 feet above the sea, crossed in the northern part by a chain of mountains, the highest peak being 6,467 feet high. From the center of the chain a range branches off, going through the heart of the island to the southeast. The lower mountain slopes are usually covered with groves of oranges and olives, and the plain with fields of wheat. Mt. Etna rises from the vineclad plain of Catania, 10,850 feet, with a base of 400 square miles. The climate is warm except in the mountain regions. Magnificent forests of oak, ilex, beeches, chestnuts and pine are still found, though many have been recklessly destroyed. Dates, figs, almonds, lemons, olives, pomegranates and grapes are very abundant. The wheat of Sicily is one-seventh that of all Italy, and the barley one-half of the crop of the kingdom. It manufactures two-thirds of the wine of Italy, and exports a large amount of sumac for tanning. The only mineral product obtained on the island is sulphur, of which there are some 300 mines. The sardine fisheries employ a large number of persons, but manufactures are few-mainly cement, crockery, gloves, macaroni and soap. The people are devout and superstitious, and three-fourths of them cannot read.

There were early Phoenician settlements in Sicily, but the real settlers were colonies of Greeks who founded cities on the east and south coasts, from 735 to 579 B. C. The first struggle with Carthage ended for 70 years by the great victory at Himera over Hamilcar, in 480, was followed by a Phoenician invasion under Hannibal, but Dionysius the Tyrant checked the Carthaginian conquests; in 210 B. C. the island became

SICKLES

a Roman province, was conquered by the Vandals 440 A. D., ceded to Theodoric, and regained by Belisarius (535), The Saracen occupation, dating from 827, lasted until the Normans took possession in a series of struggles lasting from 1038 to 1090. The Norman, Roger, count of Sicily, in 1130 took the title of "king of Sicily and Italy." In 1194 the crown went by marriage to the German emperor, until 1264, when the pope, Urban IV., a Frenchman, gave Sicily to Charles, count of Anjou. Manfred, the last German ruler, died fighting against the invader, and his son-in-law Peter of Aragon continued the contest,_ending with the crowning of his son Frederick in 1296. The contests of France and Spain for Sicily and Italy continued and in 1502 Ferdinand of Aragon defeated the French at Mola, and became king of Naples and Sicily. The peace of Utrecht (1713) gave Sicily to the duke of Savoy, who in 1720 exchanged it with Charles VI. of Austria for Sardinia, but in 1738 Don Carlos, of Spain, was king of the two Sicilies. The Bonaparte rule began with the taking of Naples in 1798, lasting until 1808, when Ferdinand IV. was allowed to remain king of Sicily, afterwards taking by the treaty of Paris his old kingdom of the Two Sicilies. At last, May 11, 1860, Garibaldi, with his thousand heroes, took Palermo, and entered Naples in triumph, and the people of Sicily and Naples by a popular vote joined themselves to the Sardinian kingdom.

THE TWO SICILIES, a kingdom of southern Italy, included the island of Sicily, several smaller islands and the kingdom of Naples. See History of Sicily, by Freeman; and his shorter history in "Story of the Nations" series.

Sickles, DANIEL EDGAR, an American general, was born in New York, Oct. 20, 1823. In 1847 he was sent to the state legislature, and in 1853 went to England as secretary of legation, and became a member of congress in 1856. When the civil war broke out he was made colonel of a regiment he had raised in New York, and as brigadiergeneral commanded in the battles of Chickahominy. At Antietam and Fredericksburg he commanded Hooker's division of the 3d corps, and with the rank of major-general served at the head of the 3d corps at the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, losing a leg in the fight. After the war he was commander of the military district of North and South Carolina until 1867,