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SHAMOKIN

1734

SHARIC

of Nature; Features of Coasts and Oceans; and Kentucky. His death occurred on April 10, 1906.

Shamo'kin, Pa., a borough of Northumberland County, eastern central Pennsylvania, 20 miles south of Danville, Montour County, and 18 southeast of Sunbury, the county-seat. It is on the Northern Central and Reading railroads, in the center of the great anthracite region. It contains manufactories, machine-shops, foundries, flour and planing mills and other industries. The town has good schools, several churches, a public library and all improvements of a progressive place. Population 19,588.

Sham'rock, a ternate-leaved plant, adopted by the Irish as their national emblem. There have been many warm disputes to determine the veritable shamrock. Some writers contend for the woodsorrel, the leaves of which unfold about St. Patrick's Day, while others claim that the white clover is the favored plant. Legends make out that St. Patrick (q. v.}> when preaching the Gospel to the benighted inhabitants of Ireland, illustrated the great doctrines of the trinity by the triple leaf of the shamrock. The leaf of the white clover is the one now generally worn by Irishmen on St. Patrick's Day.

Shanghai (shdng-hd'%), a city in central China, in the province of Kiangsu and its most important seaport, is 12 miles from the mouth of the Yangtse-Kiang. The Chinese part of the city has narrow, dirty streets, and is surrounded by a wall, with crowded suburbs. The French and English portions on the north, parallel with the river, are well-lighted and paved, with handsome houses and fine public buildings. The city is strongly fortified. Shanghai was opened to foreign commerce in 1842, and nas a large trade with Great Britain, Hong-Kong, India and the United States in silk, tea, cotton, rice, sugar, paper, hemp, wheat, oils, flower and fruit-seeds, fans and medicines. About 2,900 vessels enter the port annually. Population 651,000.

Shan'ly, Charles Dawson, poet, humorist and engineer, was born in Dublin, Ireland, March 9, 1811, and educated at Trinity College. He came to Canada and settled near London, Ont., in 1836, soon afterwards editing Punch in Canada. He was the engineer of Hoosac Tunnel, and well-known both in Canada and the United States as a humorist, art-critic and writer of ballads and serious as well as lighter verse. He died in Florida, while in search of health, on April 15, 1875.

Shan'non, the largest river of Ireland, rises in Cuilcagh Mountains and flows into the 4-tlantic on the southwestern coast of Ireland. From Limerick to the sea, a distance of 70 miles, it forms an estuary or inlet ten miles wide at the sea. Large vessels can reacii Limerick, and smaller ones ascend

as far as Athlone, while two canals connect the river with Dublin.

Shans, a group of tribes living on the borders of Burma, Siam and China. They are descended from one of the original races of China, and have been pushed southward, entering the valley of the Irawadi about the 6th century. The Shans and the Laos (g. v.) are the same people, and both are closely related to the Siamese. They are a lazy, gay people, fond of gambling and cock-fighting, though not unwarlike. The women enjoy equal freedom with the men; slavery in a mild form exists; and serfdom is universal. Their religion is Buddhism. Their country is a succession of wide river-valleys separated by ridges, with extensive forests of teak and with iron, rubies, silver, gold, copper, coal and petroleum among its minerals. Trade is largely in the hands of the Chinese, but the Siamese are noted for their chased work in gold and silver. The first important Shan state was the Mau kingdom, whose ruler conquered Burma and parts of Siam and the Malay Peninsula. Mau princes ruled until 1554, when most of the Shan states became tributary to the emperor of Pegu. In 1774-7 Siam (g. v. ) conquered the southern states. The Shans governed by Siam are estimated at 2,000,000, but the numbers ruled by China and those of the independent tribes are unknown. The Shans in the native territories of British India number approximately 238,000. The area of the Shan states is 68,165 square miles. See Colquhoun's Among the Shans and Cheek's Siam and Laos. Shark, any member of a large group of cartilaginous fishes with external gill-clefts.

The sharks, rays and skates are united into a large subclass of fishes called Selachii. The s h a r ks have gill-op e n i n gs along the sides of the neck, while the rays and skates have them on the under surface of the expanded head. Sharks vary in size from the dogfishes (q. v.}, about three feet long, to the basking shark, 35 or 40 feet long. They are very voracious and destroy many fish. With four exceptions all are carnivorous. They are more numerous in warm seas, but are widely distributed. The white shark, which reaches 25 feet, is the so-called man-eater. These animals are common in warm seas and occasionally wander to our coasts. They follow ships for great distances to obtain the refuse thrown overboard. The blue shark, from 15 to 20 feet long, shares the title of man-eater with the foregoing. Among the sharks found along the Atlantic

WHITE SHARK