Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 22.djvu/759

 S U T S U W 727 8602 permanent pasture, and 252 fallow. The principal corn crop is oats, which occupied 8392 acres, barley occupying 1845, rye 63, pease 24, and wheat only 19. Potatoes occupied 2014 acres and turnips and swedes 2981. Cattle, chiefly West Highland, short- horn, and crossbred, numbered in 1886 12,806, of which 5576 were cows and heifers in milk or in calf ; horses, which include a large number of ponies, although Clydesdales are used on the large farms, numbered 2665, of which 2015 were used solely for purposes of agriculture ; sheep, the rearing of which is the staple business of the county, the principal breed being Cheviots, numbered 211,825, of which 158,961 were two years old and above; and pigs, 1037. According to the Report of the Crofters Commission, there were four deer forests within the county, all belonging to the duke of Sutherland, viz., Ben Armin and Coir-na-i'earn, 35,840 acres; Dunrobin, 12,180; Glencanisp, 34,490; and Reay, 64,600 ; in all 157,110 acres, or more than one-ninth of the total area. There is a comparatively small area under woods, only 12,260 acres in 1881. According to the latest (1873) owners and heritages Return the land was divided among 433 proprietors possessing 1,297,253 acres at an annual value of 71,494, or Is. l^d. an acre all over. There were 348 proprietors who possessed each less than one acre, the total amount which they owned being only 59 acres. The bulk of the land is possessed by the duke of Sutherland, who owned 1,176,45-1 acres, the other proprietors possessing above 10,000 acres each being Sir Charles W. A. Ross, 55,000 ; E. C. Sutherland- Walker, 20,000 ; Sir James Matheson, 18,490 ; and the executors of Gordon M'Leod, 11,000. The total valued rental of the county in 1674 was only 27,193 Scots or 2266 sterling, while in 1885-86 it was 103,979. Communication. The county is well supplied with roads con- sidering its mountainous character and its sparse population. Helmsdale affords the means of export for a considerable amount of fann produce. The Highland Railway enters the county at Inver- shin and after passing northwards to Lairg turns eastwards to the coast, which it skirts to Helmsdale, whence it turns north-westwards along the banks of the Helmsdale, bending afterwards eastwards at Forsinard into Caithness. Industries. Various textile manufactures at one time established in the county have been discontinued, the only important manu- facture now remaining being that of whisky at Clyue and Brora. Herring fishing prosecuted from Helmsdale is an important in- dustry, and the cod, ling, and other deep-sea fishings engage a large number of boats and men. There are valuable salmon fisheries in several of the rivers. Administration and Population. The county contains 13 entire parishes and part of the parish of Reay, the remainder being in Caithness. The county returns one member to parliament, and one is returned for the Wick group of burghs. Dornoch, the only royal burgh, had but 497 inhabitants in 1881, while Golspie had 1548 and Helmsdale 794. The population has not varied greatly in numbers since the beginning of the 19th century. In 1801 the numbers were 23,117, and in 1881 they were 23,370, a gradual decrease having taken place since 1851, when the numbers reached 25,793. In 1881 there were 11,219 males and 12,151 females. Sutherland is the most sparsely peopled county in Scotland, there being only 12 persons to the square mile, while the average for Scotland is 125. Sutherland forms a joint sheriffdom with Ross and Cromarty, and a sheriff-substitute resides at Dornoch. Small debt circuit courts are held at Helmsdale, Tongue, Melvich, and Scourie, and justice of peace courts at Dornoch, Golspie, Brora, and Helmsdale. History and Antiquities. The ancient Celtic inhabitants were almost entirely expelled by the Scandinavian settlers who occupied the county after its conquest by the Norse jarl Thorfinn in 1034. The remains of Pictish towers are numerous, as are also stone circles. Of other antiquities mention may be made of the vitrified fort on Dun Creich and of the extensive remains of Dun Dornadilla in Durness parish. After the conquest of the district by the Scot- tish kings, Sutherland was conferred on Hugh Freskin (a descendant of Freskin of Moravia or Moray), whose son William in 1228 was created earl of Sutherland by Alexander II. The nineteenth earl of Sutherland was created duke in 1833. The seat of the ancient episcopal see of Sutherland and Caithness was at Dornoch, where a cathedral was erected by Gilbert of Moravia (1222-1245), of which the ancient tower, attached to the modern parish church, still remains. See Sir Robert Gordon's History of ihe Earldom of Sutherland, 1813; Hugh Miller's Sutherland as it is, 1S43 ; and C. W. G. St John's Tour in Sutherland- thire, 1849. (T. F. H.) SUTTEE, the name given by English writers to the rite of burning a widow on the funeral pyre of her husband as practised among certain Hindu castes, and especially among the Rajputs. The word sail (as it should rather be written) properly denotes the wife who so sacrifices herself, not the rite itself, and means "a good woman," "a faithful wife." The sacrifice was not actually forced on a wife, but it was strongly recommended by public opinion as a means to her own happiness and that of her husband in the future state, and the alternative was a life of degraded and miser- able widowhood. The practice was current in India when the Macedonians first touched that country (Diod. Sic., xix. 33), and it lasted into the 19th century, having been toler- ated even by English rulers till 1829. (See INDIA, vol. xii. p. 806.) The subject is illustrated by copious quota- tions from ancient and modern authorities in Yule's Anglo- Indian Glossary, p. 666 sq., and by comparison of similar rites among^ other nations in Tylor's Primitive Culture, ch. xi. ^ It has its root in the primitive view of the future life, which regards the dead as having similar needs to the living. The wife is sent into the world of shades with her husband, just as arms, clothing, or treasure are buried in his tomb, or slaves are slain to attend their master in the underworld. The Indian custom is not, therefore, properly a part of Brahmanism ; but it was adopted by the ministers of that religion, who strained their sacred texts to find support for it. SUTTON COLDFIELD, an ancient market town and municipal borough of Warwickshire, England, is situated on the London and North-Western Railway, 8 miles south of Lichfield and 7 north-east of Birmingham. The town has been greatly increased of late years by the erection of villas for persons having their business offices in Birming- ham, Walsall, and other towns. The church of the Holy Trinity Early English and Late Perpendicular, restored in 1874 and enlarged in 1879 contains a fine Norman font and the tomb of Bishop Vesey. He obtained from Henry VIII. the grant of the park and manorial rights for the benefit of the town, the annual value (now about 2000) being expended in charities and education. On the pictur- esque park near the town, 2400 acres in extent, the in- habitants have the right of grazing horses and cattle at a small fee. A town-hall was erected in 1859; in it there is a good library. The corporation formerly consisted of a warden and 24 members ; but in 1885 Sutton obtained a municipal charter, by which it is divided into six wards, with an alderman and three councillors for each ward. The population of the township in 1871 was 5936, and in 1881 it was 7737. Sutton was at one time a royal manor and an apanage of the earls of Warwick. It owes much of its prosperity to the gifts of John Vesey (Voysey), bishop of Exeter in the 16th century, who was a native of the place. In its charter of incorporation, 20th Henry VIII., it is called the royal town of Sutton Coldfield. SUTTON-IN-ASHFIELD, a town of Nottinghamshire, England, is situated on an eminence on the Nottingham and Worksop and the Erewash Valley Railways, 3 miles west-south-west of Mansfield. The church of St Mary Magdalene of the 12th century was restored in 1868. In the churchyard is a yew tree reputed to be 700 years old. There are a number of collieries and limeworks in the vicinity. Cotton hosiery and thread are the principal manufactures. The duke of Portland is lord of the manor. The population of the urban sanitary district (area, 4855 acres) in 1871 was 7574, and in 1881 it was 8523. SUWALKI, a government of Russian Poland, occupies the north-east corner of the kingdom, extending to the north between East Prussia and the Russian governments of Kovno, Vilna, and Grodno. Its area is 4846 square miles. It covers the east of the low swelling, studded with lakes, which skirts the south coast of the Baltic (see POLAND), its highest parts reaching 800 to 1000 feet above the sea. Its northern slopes descend to the valley of the lower Niemen, while in the south it falls away gently to the marshy tract of the Bebrz. The rivers flow there in deep gorges and valleys, diversifying the surface. Suwatki is watered by the Niemen, which forms its eastern and its northern boundary and is largely used as a channel of communication ; it has many affluents from both slopes