Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 22.djvu/60

 44 S I E S I E Baldassare Peruzzi (1481-1537), who was excellent in many branches of art and especially celebrated for his frescos and studies in per- spective and chiaroscuro ; Giovanni Antonio Bazzi, otherwise known as II Sodoma (1477-1549), who, born at Vercelli in Piedmont and trained at Milan iu the school of Leonardo da Vinci, came to Siena in 1504 and there produced his finest works ; Domenico Beccafumi, otherwise known as Micharino (1486-1550), noted for the Michel- angelesque daring of his designs ; and Francesco Vanui. Sculptors Side by side with these painters marches a notable band of andarchi- sculptors and architects, such as Lorenzo Maitani, architect of the tects. Orvieto cathedral (end of 13th century) ; Camaiuo di Crescentiuo ; Tino di Camaino, sculptor of the monument to Henry VII. in the Campo Santo of Pisa ; Agostiuo and Agnolo, who in 1330 carved the fine tomb of Bishop Guido Tarlati in the cathedral of Arezzo ; Lando di Pietro (14th century), architect, entrusted by the Sienese commune with the proposed enlargement of the cathedral (1339); Giacomo della Quercia, whose lovely fountain, the Fonte Gaia, in the Piazza del Campo has been recently restored by the sculptor Sarrocchi ; Lorenzo di Pietro (II Vecchietta), a pupil of Della Quercia and an excellent artist in marble and bronze ; Francesco di Giorgio Martino (1439-1502), painter, sculptor, military engineer, and writer on art; Giacomo Cozzarelli (15th century); and Lorenzo Mariano, surnamed II Marrina (16th century). (C. PA.) SIERADZ, a town of Russian Poland, in the govern- ment of Kalisz (Kalish), situated on the Warta, 127 miles south-west of Warsaw. It is one of the oldest towns of Poland, founded prior to the introduction of Christianity, and was formerly known as Syra or Syraz. The annals mention it in 1139. Several seims were held there during the 13th to 15th centuries, and it was a wealthy town until nearly destroyed by a fire in 1447. It is full of historical interest for the Poles. The old castle, which suffered much in the Swedish war, was destroyed by the Germans in 1800. There are two churches dating from the 12th and 14th centuries. Sieradz, after having been the chief town of a voivodztvo, has now no importance. Its population was 15,040 in 1884. SIERRA LEONE, a British colony on the West Coast of Africa, the capital of which, Freetown, lies in 8 39' N. lat. and 13 14' W. long. It consists of Sierra Leone proper, part of the Quiah country to the east, Tasso Island, &c., in the Sierra Leone estuary, part of the Bullom country to the north, the Los Islands to the north of the Mellicoury (Mellacoree) river, the Banana Islands to the south of the main settlement, Sherbro (Sherboro) Island and part of the Sherbro country, the Turner peninsula, W. E. Tucker's territory, and generally all the seaboard south to the mouth of the Manoh (Manna) river, which is now recognized as the northern boundary of Liberia. The British territory and protectorate are estimated to have an area of about 3000 square miles ; and, though it has not all been formally annexed, the whole coast region from the mouth of the Scarcies in 8 55' N. lat. to that of the Manoh in 6 55' may be considered as British, at least to the exclusion of any other European sovereignty. Sierra Leone proper is a peninsula about 18 miles long from north-west to south-east by about 12 broad. It lies between the Sierra Leone estuary on the north and Yawry Bay on the south. Lengthwise it is traversed by a range of high hills attaining a height of 3000 feet in the Sugar Loaf and nearly as much in Mount Horton farther south. From the mainland the peninsula is physically separated by the Bance or Bunce river (properly estuary), which receives the Waterloo Creek and other small streams. Towards the east and south-east the peninsula sinks to the level of the great alluvial zone which extends along the larger portion of this district of the African coast. The hills seem to consist of some kind of igneous rock (popularly misnamed granite) and of beds of red sandstone, the disintegration of which has given a dark -coloured ferruginous soil of moderate fertility. The " lofty green trees " which clothed the "mountain "at the time of its discovery (Cadamosto) have for the most part been de- stroyed, though Sugar Loaf is still timbered to the top and the peninsula is verdant with abundant vegetation. The Negroes give so little attention to agriculture that the local produce would not feed the population for three Map of Sierra Leone. months. Among the productions of the peninsula are cola nuts, ginger (in large quantities), malagetta pepper, castor -oil, maize, cassava, ground nuts, and (in small quantities) cotton. Native coffee was discovered in Quiah in 1796, and the growing of Liberian coffee and cocoa has since 1880 been attempted with some success. The rainfall of Sierra Leone, according to the Colonial Hospital observations at Freetown, is from 150 to 169 inches per annum. The three months of January, February, and March are practically rainless ; the rains, commencing in April or May, reach their maximum in July, August, and September, and rapidly diminish in October, November, and December. It sometimes rains for thirty hours on end, but generally twelve hours of rain are followed by twenty-four, thirty, or more hours of clear and pleasant weather. At the barracks (150 feet higher than the hospital) there are about 40 inches more rain, and at Kissy, 3 miles distant, some 18 or 20 inches less. The annual temperature indoors is from 78 to 86. The highest reading for 1880 was 95 and the lowest 69 '33. During the dry season, when the climate is very much like that of the West Indies, there occur terrible tornadoes and long periods of the harmattan, a north-east wind, dry and desiccating, and carrying with it those clouds of fine dust which the sailors designate " smokes." The dangers of the climate have long been exaggerated. The low swampy regions are like those of other tropical countries, and Freetown, being badly placed and carelessly kept, is too often a hotbed of malaria and fever ; but the higher districts are not the "white man's grave." According to the census of 1 880, the population of the colony was as follows: peninsula of Sierra Leone with British Quiah, 53,862 ; Isles de Los, 1371 ; occupiers of factories on the Sierra Leone river paying rent to Government, 52 ; island of Tasso, 828 ; British Sherbro (including Bonthe, Mocolo, Mokate, Runteh, York Island, Yelbana, Victoria, Tasso, Bendu, and Jamaica), 4333, total 60,446. But the census officials deem the actual population to be much greater, that of British Sherbro, for example, being pretty certainly 8000 or 9000. Ethnographically Sierra Leone is almost "an epitome of Africa." The following are the more im- portant races that can be distinctly classified : Mandingos, 1190 ; Timmanehs, 7443; Joloffs, 189; Baggas, 340; Mendis, 3088; Sherbros, 2882 ; Gallinas, 697 ; Limbas, 493 ; Susus (Soosoos), 1470 ; Fulahs, 225 ; Lokkos, 1454 ; Serrakulis, 129 ; Bulloms, 129 ; Krumen, 610. The direct descendants of the liberated slaves now number 35,430. The Akus or people of Yoruba and the Eboes from the eastern banks of the Niger are most easily distinguished. The white residents number only 163, almost entirely a floating population.