The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 390

SAM WELLER. See WELLER.

SAMARCAND (33), a city of West Turkestan, situated at the western base of the Tian-Shan Mountains, 130 m. SE. of Bokhara. Suffered at the hands of Genghis Khan in the 13th century; was Timur's capital in the 14th century, and has since been held sacred by the Moslems. Captured by the Russians in 1868, who have improved it, and built a handsome suburb on the west. Manufactures silk, cotton, paper, &c.

SAMARIA, a city of a district of the name between Judea and Galilee in the Holy Land, and which became the capital of the North Kingdom of Israel after the revolt from the Southern; was desolated by the hosts of a.s.syria in 720 B.C., and repeopled afterwards by a.s.syrian settlers, who were converted to the Jewish faith, and ministered to by a Jewish priest; when the Jews rebuilt the Temple of Jerusalem, the Samaritans' offer to aid was rejected, and the refusal led to a bitter hostility between the Jews and Samaritans ever after.

SAMARITAN PENTATEUCH, a version of the Pentateuch in use among the Samaritans, and alone accepted by them as canonical. It is of value from its independence of other versions.

SAMARITANS. See SAMARIA.

SAMAVEDA, the section of the Veda that contains the chants, intended for singers.

SAMIAN SAGE, name given to Pythagoras as a native of Samos.

SAMNITES, a warlike people of ancient Italy in territory SE. of Rome; gave the Romans much trouble till, after two successive wars in 343 and 327 B.C., they were subdued in 290 B.C. A revolt in 90 B.C. led to their extermination as an nation.

SAMOA, or NAVIGATORS' ISLANDS (36), a group of 14 volcanic islands in the W. Pacific, of which three alone are of any size--Savaii, Upolu, and Tutuila; all are mountainous and richly wooded; climate is moist and warm; copra is the chief export, and cotton, coffee, tobacco, &c., are grown; the natives, a vigorous Polynesian race, have been Christianised; the islands are under the joint suzerainty of Britain, Germany, and the United States; the chief town of the group is Apia (2), at the head of a pretty bay in Upolu; near here R. Louis Stevenson spent the last five years of his life.

SAMOS, a fertile island in the aegean Sea, about 30 m. long and 8 wide, separated from the coast of Ionia, three-quarters of a mile wide; had an extensive trade with Egypt and Crete; came through various fortunes under the chief Powers of ancient and mediaeval Europe till it became subject to Turkey; had a capital of the same name, which in the fifth century B.C. was one of the finest cities in the world.

SAMOTHRACE, a mountainous, bleak island in the aegean Sea, NW. of the mouth of the Dardanelles; has only one village of 2000 inhabitants; was in ancient times place of CABIRI WORSHIP (q. v.).

SAMOYEDES, a people of the Mongolian race, occupying the N. sh.o.r.es of Russia and Siberia from the White Sea to the Yenisei; live by hunting and fishing, and are idol-worshippers; they are fast disappearing.

SAMPSON, DOMINIE, a character in Scott's "Guy Mannering."

SAMSON, ranked as judge of Israel, but the story of his life is as of a Jewish hero, distinguished for his feats of strength; employed in the service of his country against the Philistines.

SAMSON AGONISTES, the strong man of a nation or race caught in the net of his and their enemies, and, encompa.s.sed by them, wrestling in his soul's agony to free himself from them; the imagery here being suggested by the story of Samson in the hands of the Philistines.

SAMUEL, a Jewish prophet, born, of the tribe of Levi, about 1155 B.C.; consecrated by his mother from earliest years to the service of the Lord; who became a judge when he was 40, anointed first Saul and then David to be king over the till then disunited tribes of Israel, and thus became the founder of the Jewish monarchy.

SAMUEL, BOOKS OF, two books of the Old Testament, originally one, and divided in the Septuagint into two, ent.i.tled respectively the First and Second Books of Kings; the narrative embraces a period of 125 years, and extends from the time of the Judges to the close of the reign of David, including the intermediate judgeship of Samuel and the reign of Saul, with the view of exalting the prophetic office on the one hand and the kingly office on the other.

SAN ANTONIO (53), the second city of Texas, of Spanish origin, on a river of the name, 80 m. W. of Austin; has a Catholic college, cathedral, a.r.s.enal, &c.; does a good trade in the produce of a fertile neighbourhood, and manufactures flour, leather, beer, &c.

SAN DIEGO (16), a thriving port in S. California, situated on a handsome bay of the same name, 124 m. SE. of Los Angeles; wool is the chief export.

SAN DOMINGO (25), capital of the Dominican Republic, a fortified port on the S. coast of Hayti; has a 16th-century Gothic cathedral, college, hospital, &c.; founded by Columbus.

SAN FRANCISCO (342), capital of California, and commercial metropolis of the W. coast of America; occupies the NE. corner of a tongue of land stretching between the Pacific and San Francis...o...b..y, which, with San Pablo Bay and Suisun Bay--extensions to the N.--forms a handsome land-locked sheet of water 65 m. long, communicating with the ocean by Golden Gate Strait; has practically sprung into existence since the discovery of gold in 1847, and is now a s.p.a.cious and evenly laid-out city, with every modern convenience--electric light, cable tramways, &c.; many of the dwelling-houses are of wood, but marble and granite give dignity to Government buildings, hotels, theatres, &c.; there is a remarkable number of religious sects; has a fine park, many free schools, a number of colleges, and a university; as the western terminus of the great continental railroads and outlet for the produce of a rich wheat district it has a large shipping trade; important industries are shipbuilding, whale-fishing, sugar-refining, iron-works, &c.

SAN JOSe (18), a city of California, and capital of Santa Clara county, on the Guadalupe River, 50 m. SE. of San Francisco; has a couple of Catholic colleges, a Methodist university, pretty orchards, &c.; fruit-canning and the manufacture of flour and woollen goods are the chief industries. The name also of small towns in Guatemala, Lower California, and Uruguay.

SAN JOSe (19), capital of Costa Rica, situated on a fertile and elevated plain between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific; grain, the vine, and many fruits are grown in the neighbourhood; flour-milling and distilling (Government works) are the princ.i.p.al town industries; there is a university.

SAN JUAN (125), a mountainous province of the Argentine Republic, on the Chilian border; is rich in metals, but, save coal, not worked; agriculture is the chief industry. San Juan (12), on a river of the same name, is the capital, lies 98 m. N. of Mendoza; has public baths, a bull-ring, library, &c.; exports cattle and fodder, chiefly to Chile. The name of numerous other towns in different parts of Spanish South America.

SAN MARINO (8), a little republic of Europe which has maintained its independence since the 4th century; comprises a town (same name) and several villages occupying rocky and elevated sites on the eastern slopes of the Apennines; some agriculture and cattle-rearing are done; is under the friendly protection of Italy.

SAN REMO (12), a town in Northern Italy, on a bay in the Gulf of Genoa, in the Riviera, 26 m. NE. of Nice; is sheltered by a semicircle of hills, and from its mild climate is a favourite winter resort; trades in olive-oil, palms, and lemons.

SAN SALVADOR (20), capital of SALVADOR (q. v.), situated on a fertile and elevated plain at the base of an extinct volcano; has suffered frequently and severely from earthquakes, and after the disaster of 1854 a new town, Nueva San Salvador, was built 12 m. to the SW., only to suffer a similar fate.

SAN SEBASTIAN (30), a fortified seaport of North Spain, on a small peninsula jutting into the Bay of Biscay, 10 m. from the French frontier; is guarded by a strong citadel, and since its bombardment by Wellington in 1813 has been s.p.a.ciously rebuilt; has a beautiful foresh.o.r.e, and is a favourite watering-place; has a fair export trade.

SAN STEFANO, a Turkish village, a few miles W. of Constantinople, where a preliminary treaty was signed between Turkey and Russia after the war of 1877-78.

SANCHEZ, THOMAS, a Spanish casuist, born at Cordova; author of a treatise on the "Sacrament of Marriage," rendered notorious from the sarcastic treatment it received at the hands of Pascal and Voltaire (1550-1610).

SANCHO PANZA, the immortal squire of Don Quixote. See PANZA, SANCHO.

SANCHONIATHON, a Phoenician historian of uncertain date; author of a history of Phoenicia, of which only a few fragments remain, and that of a translation into Greek; he is supposed to have lived in the time of Semiramus.

SANCROFT, WILLIAM, an English prelate, born in Suffolk; rose through a succession of preferments to be Archbishop of Canterbury; was with six other bishops committed to the Tower for pet.i.tioning against James II.'s second Declaration of Indulgence; refused to take the oath of allegiance to William and Mary, and was driven from his post, after which he retired to his native place (1616-1693).

SAND, GEORGE, the a.s.sumed name of Aurore Dupin, notable French novelist, born in Paris; married Baron Dudevant, a man of means, but with no literary sympathies; became the mother of two children, and after nine years effected a separation from him (1831) and went to Paris to push her way in literature, and involved herself in some unhappy _liaisons_, notably with ALFRED DE MUSSET (q. v.) and Chopin; after 1848 she experienced a sharp revulsion from this Bohemian life, and her last twenty-five years were spent in the quiet "Chatelaine of Nohant"