Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/390

 SAB

SAC

S.

Sm the Italian mufic, ftands for folo ; it is ufed in pieces of mufic of feveral parts, to intimate, that in fuch places a voice, or inflrument, is to perform $ alone. See the article Solo.

SABAZIA, £«£a£ t «, among the Greeks, nocturnal myfterie; in honour of Jupiter Sabazius, into which all that were ini- tiated had a golden ferpent put in at their breads, and ta- ken out at the lower part of their garments, in memory of Jupiter's ravifhing Proferpina in form of a ferpent. Potter Arch;eol. Grsec. 1. 2. c. 20. T. 1. p. 429.

SABINA, favin, in medicine. See Savin.

SABINITES lapis, in natural hiflory, a name given to a flone in which are preferved the leaves of the common favin. See the article fojfile Plants.

SABLE (Cyd.)-~ Sable, in zoology, the name of the animal whofe fur is fo much valued, and fold under the fame name. It is a creature of the weafel kind, and called by authors muftella %ibellina. See the article Zibellina.

Sable mw/f, in natural hiflory, the name of an animal found in Lapland, and in other cold countries ; many extraordi- nary things are related of the manner of living of thefe crea- tures.

They are of the bignefs of a fquirrel, and their fkin is flreaked with brown and black ; there are alfo fome fpot: befide the {breaks ; the black is a very fine deep colour, the brown is pale ; they have two very fharp teeth above, and two below of the fame kind ; their feet are like a fquirrel's, and they have no tail ; they are ufually very fat and flefhy, and are fo quarrelfome and fierce an animal, that if a flick be held out to them they will bite at it, and will hold it fo faft, that they may be toiled and fwung about in the air by it without letting it go. In their march they ufually keep a direct line from north eafl to fouth weft, and always travel in thoufands in the fame troop. The whole number forms a fquare body, and they march only from the time of the twi- light to the morning, lying ftill all the day. They march in lines, which are fome ells diflant, but al- ways exactly parallel to each other, fo that the places they have gone over look like the furrows of a ploughed field. If they meet with any thing in their way that might deter another animal, it never flops them ; but, though it be fir a deep well, a pond, a torrent, or a bog, they without hi fitation venture through, and by that many thoufands of them are deftroyed, and are found dead in the morning, in the waters, or otherwife.

If they be met fwimming over lakes, and attacked by men in boats with the oars, boat hooks, or other inflruments ; they neither retreat nor offer to run up the oars, but hold on their courfe j and if they be put out of it they prefently return into it again. When they are met in the woods or fields, they fet themfelves up on their hinder feet, and make a fort of fqueaking noife, fomewhat like the barking of a dog j they will leap up at a man, and rife as high as his head, and in this manner they will defend their line a long time ; but if they find themfelves overpowered, they will difperfe and run into holes, or any other places of fecrecy, making a noife, which founds fomething like the word bioby blob.

They never come into a houfe, nor meddle with any thing that we eat ; if they chance to come to a houfe in their way, there they flop till they die ; but if they come to a flack of hay, or corn, they eat their way through. "When they march over a meadow they do it great damage, by eating the roots of the grafs ; but if they encamp there, they wholly deflroy the produce ; the land looks like a place where there had been a fire, and the whole furface looks as if fire wed with afhes.

They are faid to be very fruitful, bringing forth ei^ht or nine at a time ; but it is certain, at leaft, that they°bring forth more than one, for in their marches it is not unufual to fee a female with a young one in her mouth and another on her back. They feem no great delicacy to creatures of prey. If dogs or cats kill them they eat only the head, and when a bird of prey feizes them it only feeds on the entrails 5 it is faid only on the heart : the poor Laplanders, however^ in want of other food eat the whole body, and fay it is as well tailed as a fquirrel. In the feverity of winter thefe creatures lie under the fnow, and have their breathing holes as the hares, and other inhabitants of thefe places ufe to have. The Laplanders are always glad to fee thefe crea- tures on their march, for it always foretels plenty of more valuable, creatures among them : the fame cold that fends

thefe out, fending alfo a number of fowl, fquirrels, foxes., and other animals the fame way. Wormius has written a complete treatife on this animal, calling it mus nortoegtw, this is reprinted at large in his Mufeum. Phil. Tranf. N°25r. p. ii2.

SABURRjE, in natural hiflory, the name of a genus of fof- fils found in form of powder, and ufually confounded among the fands, and called by the fame name. Thefe are not compofed like the genuine fands of pure natural concretions, but are irregular particles, feeming to have been the frag- ments of other large bodies. They are not to be diffolved or difunited by water, but retain their figure in it, and do not cohere by means of it into a mafs. They are often very opake, and in many of the fpecies will ferment with acids, and are often fouled with heterogene particles, taking in the coarfer, flony, mineral, and metalline particles, and are according to their colour divided into feveral kinds.

White Saburr^:. Of thefe confiding of pure fpar we have three kinds. 1. A fine fnow white one ; and 2. A dull coarfe white one found in different places onMendip Hills ; and 3. A fine cream coloured one found only in the iflands of the Archipelago. Of thefe containing heterogene particles we have nine fpecies. 1. A bright coarfe white one compofed of cryflal and fpar found in Leicefterfhire.

2. A white coarfe one with mica? common in Wales.

3. A dull white fine one found in Nortbamptonfhire. 4. A dull greyifh white coarfe one common in Yorkfhire. 5. A fine dull brownifh white one common in Leicefterfhire.

6. A fine glittering greyifh white one found in Yorkfhire.

7. A fine greenifh white fpangled one found in Dorfeti'hire.

8. A dull coarfe greenifh grey one common in Yorkfhire ; and 9. The pu/vis puteolanus, a fine dull looking grey one found in Italy. See Puteolanus.

ittf*/ Saburrje. Of thofe which are pure we have five fpecies. 1. A fine pale red one found in Briftol. 2. A coarfe mining pale red one found on the coafl of Fife. 3. A coarfe mining greyifh red one found on the fhores of the ifland of Minorca. 4. A coarfe greenifh red dull one found on the fhores of fome parts of the Mediterranean. 5. A fine mining ferrugincous one found about Lifbon. Of thofe variegated with talcy fpangles we have nine fpecies. 1. A fine red one with mica? found about Minorca. 2. A coarfe red variegated one with micas. 3. A large bright flein co- loured one with mica?. 4. A fine brownifh red variegated one with mica?. 5. A fine fleih coloured micaceous one, all from the coafls of Scotland. 6. A fine whtifh red one with mica?, and variegations, found on the fhores of the northern iflands. 7. A brownifh red coarfe one found on the fhores of the Red Sea. 8. A large coarfe blackifh red one found on the fhores of Sicily ; and 9. A coarfe fhining green- ifh red one found on the fhores of the Mediterranean.

Green SaburrjE. Of thefe we have only two known fpe- cies. 1. A coarfe beautifully green dull one, which was the chryfocolla of the antjents, fee Chrysocolla. And 2. A fine fhining green one found on the fhores of the Red Sea.

Yellow Saburr^e. We yet know only one fpecies of this kind, which is the fhining gold coloured micaceous one, which has deceived the world very often into an opi- nion of its containing gold. It is very common in Virgi- nia and elfewhere.

Black Saburr^e. Of this we have one pure fpecies, a fine black one variegated with white, common in France. Of thofe containing talcy particles we have two known fpecies. 1. A fine variegated black and white one, with mica? found on the fhores of the Mediterranean ; and 2. A coarfe variegated black and grey one, frequent on the fhores of Wales ; and befides thefe there are three of this colour which are full of metalline particles. 1. A ferrugineous black glittering one found on the fhores of Italy. This is the fhining black fand, as it is called, ufed to throw over writing. 2. A coarfe glittering brownifh black one, com- mon on the fhores of Wales, and ufed there on the fame oc- cafion ; and 3. A fine bluifh black glittering one, common alfo on the fhores of Wales. All thefe are principally made up of lead ore. Hill's Hift of Foil. p. 569. SACABURGH, Sacabere, or Sakebere, in our old writers, one that is robbed, or by theft deprived, of his mo- ney or goods s and puts in furety to profecute the thief with frefh fuit ; according to Selden, in his titles of honour, and Briton, c. 15 & 29. with whom agrees Bracton (lib. 3. tract. 2. C. 32. n. 2. J Furtum vera man'ifejhtm eji, ubi Intro detrehenfui Jit Jeijttus de aliqito latrocinio, fcil. Honhabend 2 and