Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 22.djvu/110

 S I N S I N The commercial movement of the port has rapidly attained vast dimensions. While in 1851-52 the total exports and imports amounted to 5,739,556, they reached 10,371,300 in 1859-60, 18,292,180 in 1870, 23,050,943 in 1880, and 25,931,930 in 18837 There is no railway in the island ; but in 1886 a steam tramway was opened from Taujong Pagar to Elgin Bridge. Till quite recently the town was practically without defences ; but since 1885 the colony has constructed a series of batteries at Sera- pong, Blakan Mati, .Mount Palmer, &c., at a cost of 75,000, and the home Government has expended 90,000 on the ordnance. The name Singapore or Sinhapura, i.e., Lion City, was originally given to a town founded by Hinduized Malay or Javanese settlers from Sumatra at an early date in the Christian era. The com- mercial importance of the place in the 14th century is attested by Barros, but the Sanskrit origin of the name had by his time been forgotten, and he was taught to derive it from Malay words. Not long afterwards the town must have fallen into decay, and at the beginning of the present century the only trace of its existence was certain rock-inscriptions in a very old character, and the whole island had not more than 150 inhabitants. Alexander Scott recognized the excellent position of the island in the 18th century, and Sir Stamford Raffles, whose attention was called to it by Captains Ross and Crawford of the Bombay marine, fixed on it as the site of the great commercial emporium which he determined to found for the encouragement of British trade in the East. In 1819 permission was obtained to build a British factory on the south coast ; and in 1824 the island was purchased from the sultan of Johor for 60,000 Spanish dollars (13,500) and a life annuity of 24,000 dollars (5400). The city became the capital of the Straits Settlements instead of Prince of Wales Island in 1832. See Belcher, Voyage of the Samarany ; Collingwood's Naturalist's Rambles in the Chinese Seas ; 'The Directory of the Straits Settlements for 1SS6; the Journal of the Straits Branch, of the Royal Asiatic Socit.ty, published at Singapore ; and other works quoted under the heading STBAITS SETTLEMENTS. SINGBHUM, a British district in the lieutenant- governorship of Bengal, lying between 21 59' and 22 53' N. lat. and between 85 2' and 86 56' E. long. It has an area of 3753 square miles, and is bounded on the N". by the districts of LohArdaga and Manbhum, on the E. by Midnapur, on the S. by the tributary states of Orissa, and on the W. by LohardagA and the tributary states of ChutiA NAgpur. Its central portion consists of a long undulating tract of country, running east and west, and enclosed by great hill ranges. The depressions lying between the successive ridges comprise the most fertile part, which varies in elevation above sea-level from 400 feet near the SubarnarekhA on the east to 750 feet around the station of ChaibAsA. South of this an elevated plateau of 700 square miles rises to upwards of 1000 feet. In the west of the district is an extensive mountainous tract, sparsely inhabited by the wildest of the Kols ; while in the extreme south-west corner is a still grander mass of mountains, known as "Saranda of the seven hundred hills," rising to a height of 3500 feet. From the LayAdA range on the north-west of Singbhum many rocky spurs strike out into the district, the more prominent of them attaining an elevation of 2900 feet. Among other ranges and peaks are the Chaitanpur range, reaching an elevation of 2529 feet, and the KApargAdi range, a conspicuous ridge rising abruptly from the plain and running in a south- easterly direction until it culminates in Tuiligdr Hill (2492 feet). The principal rivers are the Subarnarekha, which with its affluents flows through the eastern portion of the district ; the Koel, which rises west of Ranchi, and drains the Saranda region; and the Baitarani, which touches the southern border for 8 miles. About two- thirds of Singbhtim. district is covered with primeval forest, containing some valuable timber trees ; in the forests tigers, leopards, bears, buffaloes, and several kinds of deer abound, and small herds of elephants occasionally wander from the MeghAsani Hills in Morbhanj. The climate is dry, and the hot season is extremely trying, the thermometer frequently registering 106 F. in the shade; the average annual rainfall is about 57 inches. The census of 1881 disclosed a population of 453,775 (226,681 males and 227,094 females); Hindus numbered 447,810, Moham- medans 2329, and Christians 2988. The only town containing a population of more than 5000 is Chaibasa, the civil station and administrative headquarters of the district, with 6006 inhabitants. The staple crop of Singbhum is rice, and the other chief crops are wheat, Indian corn, pease, gram, mustard, sugar-cane, cotton, and tobacco. The principal manufactures are coarse cotton cloth?, brass and earthenware cooking utensils, and soapstone platters. Cereals, pulses, oil-seeds, stick-lac, and iron comprise the chief exports ; and the imports include salt, cotton thread, English cloth goods, tobacco, and brass utensils. Colonel Dalton, in his Ethnology of Bengal, says that the Singbhum Rajput chiefs have been known to the British Govern- ment since 1803, when the marquis of Yfellesley was governor- general of India ; but there does not appear to have been any intercourse between British officials and the people of the Kolhan previous to 1819. The Hos or Larka Kols, the characteristic aboriginal race of Singbhum district, would allow no stranger to settle in, or even pass through, the Kolhan ; they were, however, subjugated in 1836, when the head-men entered into engagements to bear true allegiance to the British Government. The country remained tranquil and prosperous until 1857, when a rebellion took place among the Kols under Parahat Raja. After a tedious campaign they surrendered in 1859, and the capture of the raja put a stop to their disturbances. SINGING. See VOICE. SINHALESE. See CEYLON. SINIGAGLIA, or SENIGALLIA (the official form), a city of Italy, in the province of Aucona, in 43 43' 16" N. lat., on the coast of the Adriatic, 17 miles by rail north of Ancona. It is well built, with broad and well-paved streets, and has the general appearance of a thriving commercial town. A modern cathedral, erected subsequent to 1787, a large Jewish synagogue, a theatre, the com- munal buildings, and the old palace of the dukes of Urbino are the more notable buildings. The communal library was founded by Cardinal Nicola Antonelli in 1767 ; and the principal hospital and one of the orphanages date from 1534. The port is formed by the lower reaches of the Misa, a small stream which flows through the town between solid embankments constructed of Istrian marble. Between July 20 and August 8 Sinigaglia annually holds one of the largest fairs in Italy, which dates originally from 1200, when Sergius, count of Sinigaglia, received from the count of Marseilles, to whose daughter he was affianced, certain relics of Mary Magdalene. The fair has diminished in importance since the opening of the railway, but formerly it used to be visited by merchants from France, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, and especially the Levant. The population, exclusive of the suburbs, was 10,501 in 1861 and 6634 (commune 22,499) in 1881. Sinigaglia is the ancient Sena (2,-ivn) or (to distinguish it from Sena Julia, i.e., Siena) Sena Gallica, a town of the Galli Senones (^fivwvfs), whose name appears as Senogallia as early as Pliny. Sena was made a Roman colony immediately after the conquest of the Senones in 289 B.C. It was the rendezvous of the consuls Livius and Nero before the battle of the Metaurus, also known as the battle of Sena, in which Hasdrubal was defeated (207 B.C.). The sack of the town by Pompey, Sulla's lieutenant, in 82 B.C., is the only other notable fact in its ancient annals. Ravaged by Alaric, fortified by the exarch Louginus, and again laid waste by the Lombards in the 8th century and by the Saracens in the 9th, Sinigaglia was at length brought so low by the Guelf and Ghibelline wars, and especially by the severities of Guido de Montefeltro, that it was chosen by Dante as the typical instance of a ruined city. In the 15th century it was captured and recaptured again and again by the Malatesta and their opponents. Sigismond Malatesta of Rimini erected strong fortifications round the town in 1450-1455. The lordship of Sinigaglia was bestowed by Pius II. on his nephew Antonio Piccolomini, but the people of the town in 1464 placed themselves anew under Paul II., and Giacomo Piccolo- mini in 1472 failed in his attempt to seize the place. Sixtus VI. assigned the lordship to the Delia Rovere family, from whom it was transferred to Lorenzo di Medici in 1516. After 1624 it formed part of the legation of Urbino. SINKING FUND. See NATIONAL DEBT, vol. xvii. p. 245. SINOPE, or in Turkish SiNt)B, a town and seaport on the north coast of Asia Minor, on the isthmus and peninsula of Boztepeh, which forms part of the most northerly projection of the Anatolian seaboard. Though