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 pop. (1901) 2783 It is the headquarters of the political agent for the Bhopawar agency, and of the Malwa Bhil corps, originally raised in 1837 and recently converted into a military police battalion.

SARDHANA, a town of British India, in Meerut district of the United Provinces, 12 m. by rail N.W. of Meerut. Pop. (1901), 12,467. Though now a decayed place, Sardhana is historically famous as the residence of the Begum Samru (d. 1836). This extraordinary woman was a Mussulman married to Reinhardt or Sombre (Samru), the perpetrator of the massacre of British prisoners at Patna in 1763. On his death in 1778 she succeeded to the command of his mercenary troops. Ultimately she was baptized into the Roman Catholic Church, and bequeathed an immense fortune to charitable and religious uses. She built in Sardhana a Roman Catholic cathedral, a college for training priests, and a handsome palace.

SARDICA, COUNCIL OF, an ecclesiastical council convened in 343 by the emperors Constantius and Constans, to attempt a settlement of the Arian controversies, which were then at their height. Of the hundred and seventy bishops assembled, about ninety were Homousians—principally from the West—while on the other side were eighty Eusebians from the East. The anticipated agreement, however, was not attained; and the result of the council was simply to embitter the relations between the two great religious parties, and those between the Western and Eastern halves of the Empire. For as Athanasius and Marcellus of Ancyra appeared on the scene, and the Western bishops declined to exclude them, the Eusebian bishops of the East absolutely refused to discuss, and contented themselves with formulating a written protest addressed to numerous foreign prelates. That they instituted a rival congress of their own in Philippopolis is improbable. The bishops, however, who remained in Sardica (mod. Sofia in Bulgaria) formed themselves into a synod, and naturally declared in favour of Athanasius and Marcellus, while at the same time they anathematized the leaders of the Eusebian party. The proposal to draw up a new creed was rejected.

Especial importance attaches to this council through the fact that Canons 3-5 invest the Roman bishop with a prerogative which became of great historical importance, as the first legal recognition of his jurisdiction over other sees and the basis for the further development of his primacy. “In order to honour the memory of St Peter,” it was enacted that any bishop, if deposed by his provincial synod, should be entitled to appeal to the bishop of Rome, who was then at liberty either to confirm the first decision or to order a new investigation. In the latter case, the tribunal was to consist of bishops from the neighbouring provinces, assisted—if he so chose—by legates of the Roman bishop. The clauses thus made the bishop of Rome president of a revisionary court; and afterwards Zosimus unsuccessfully attempted to employ these canons of Sardica, as decisions of the council of Nice, against the Africans. In the middle ages they were cited to justify the claim of the papacy to be the supreme court of appeal. Attacks on their authenticity have been conclusively repelled.

The canons are printed in C. Mirbt, Quellen zur Geschichte des Papsttums (Tübingen, 1901), p. 46 f.; Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, ed. 2, i. 533 sqq. See also, J. Friedrich, Die Unechtheit der Canones von Sardika (Vienna, 1902); on the other side F. X. Funk, “Die Echtheit der Canones von Sardica,” Historisches Jahrbuch der Görresgesellschaft, xxiii. (1902), pp. 497-516; ibid. xxvi. (1905), pp. 1-18, 255-274; C. H. Turner, “The Genuineness of the Sardican Canons,” The Journal of Theological Studies, iii. (London, 1902), pp. 370-397.

SARDINIA (Gr. , from a fancied resemblance to a footprint in its shape, Ital. Sardegna), an island of the Mediterranean Sea, belonging to the kingdom of Italy. It lies 7 m. S. of Corsica, from which it is separated by the Strait of Bonifacio, which is some 50 fathoms deep. The harbour of Golfo degli Aranci, in the north-eastern portion of the island, is 138 m. S.W. of Civitavecchia, the nearest point on the mainland of Italy. Sardinia lies between 8° 7′ and 9° 49′ E., and extends from 38° 52′ to 41° 15′ N. The length from Cape Teulada in. the S.W. to Punta del Falcone in the N. is about 160 m., the breadth from Cape Comino to Cape Caccia about 68 m. The area of the island is 9187 sq. m.—that of the department (compartimento), including the small islands adjacent, being 9294 sq. m. It ranks sixth point of size (after Sicily) among the islands of Europe, but it is much more sparsely populated.

The island is mountainous in the main, almost continuously so, indeed, along the east coast, and very largely granitic, with a number of lofty upland plains in the east, and Volcanic in the west. The highest point in the north-east group of the island (called"Gallura) is Monte Limbara (4468 ft.), S.E. of Tempio. This mountain group is bounded on the S.E. and S.W. by valleys, which are followed by the railways from Golfo degli Aranci to Chilivani, and from Chilivani to Sassari: The north-Western portion of the island, called the Nurra, lies to the west of Sassari and to the north of Alghero, and is entirely volcanic; so are the mountains to the south of it, near the west coast; the highest point is the Monte Ferru (3448 ft.). East of the railway from Chilivani to Oristano, on the other hand, the granitic mountains continue. The highest points are Monte Rasu (4127 ft.), S. of Ozieri, in the district called Logudoro, on the chain of the Marghine, which runs to Macomer, and, farther S., in the region called Barbargia, the Punta. Bianca Spina,” the highest summit of the chain of Gennargentu (6016 ft.), These two groups are divided by the deep valley of the Tirso, the only real river in Sardinia, which has a course of 94 m. and falls into the sea in the Gulf of Oristano. South of Gennargentu, in the district of the Sarcidano, is the Monte S. Vittoria (3980 ft.), to the west of which is the deep valley of the Flurnendosa, a stream 76 m. long, which rises south of Gennargentu, and runs S.E., falling into the sea a little north of Muravera on the east coast. Still farther W. is the volcanic upland plain of the Giara (1998 ft.) and south of the Sarcidano are the districts known as the Trexenta, with lower, fertile hills, and the Sarrabus, which culminates in the Punta Serpeddi (3507 ft.), and the Monte dei Sette Fratelli (3333 ft.), from the latter of which a ridge descends to the Capo Carbonara, at the S.E. extremity of the island. South of Oristano and west of the districts last described, and traversed by the railway from Oristano to Cagliari, is the Campidano (often divided in ordinary nomenclature into the Campidano of Oristano and the Campidano of Cagliari), a low plain, the watershed of which, near S. Gavino, is only about 100 ft. above sea-level. It is 60 m. long by 7-14 broad, and is the most fertile part of the island, but much exposed to malaria. South-west of it, and entirely separated by it from the rest of the island, are the mountain groups to the north and south of Iglesias, the former culminating in the Punta Perda de Sa Mesa or Monte Linas (4055 ft.), and the latter, in the district known as the Sulcis, reaches 3661 ft. It is in this south-western portion of the island, and more particularly in the group of mountains to the north of Iglesias, that the mining industry of Sardinia is carried on.

The scenery is fine, but wild and desolate in most parts, and of a kind that appeals rather to the northern genius than to the Italian, to whom, as a rule, Sardinia is not attractive. The railway between Mandas and Tortoli traverses some of the boldest scenery in the island, passing close to the Monte S. Vittoria. The mountains near Iglesias are also very fine.

Coast.—The coast of Sardinia contains few seaports, but a good proportion of these are excellent natural harbours. At the north-eastern extremity is a group of islands, upon one of which is the naval station of La Maddalena: farther S.E. is the well-protected Gulf of Terranova, a part of which, Golfo degli Aranci, is the port of arrival for the mail steamers from Civitavecchia, and a port of call of the British Mediterranean squadron. To the south of Terranova there is no harbour of any importance on the east coast (the Gulf of Orosei being exposed to the E., and shut in by a precipitous coast) until Tortoli is reached, and beyond that to the Capo Carbonara at the south-east extremity, and again along the south coast, 'there is no harbour before Cagliari, the most important on the island. In the south-west portion of Sardinia the island of S. Antioco, joined by a narrow isthmus and a group of bridges to the mainland, forms a good natural harbour to the south of the isthmus, the Golfo di Palmas; while the north portion of the peninsula, with the island of S. Pietro, forms a more or less protected basin, upon the shores of which are several small harbours (the most important being Carloforte), which are centres of the export of minerals and of the tunny fishery. Not far from the middle of the west coast, a little farther S. than the Gulf of Orosei on the east coast, is the Gulf of Oristano, exposed to the west winds, into which, besides the Tirso, several