Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/572

* SAMOS. 51-2 Atheiiinns, who expelled tlic inlmbitants, and sent thither n body of Athenian elenichs, who re- mained in possession till driven out by Perdiccas after the death of Alexander the Great. Kroni this time the island appears bnt seldom in history. It took the side of Anti- oehus and Alithridates ajjainst Komc, and in n.c. 84 was joined to the Province of Asia. Under the Byzantine emperors it was of some impor- tance.' In 1550 it passed into the hands of the Turks. When the Var of the (Jreek Revolution broke out none «ere more ardent ami deoted patriots than the Samians; and deep was their disappointment when, at the elose of the struggle, European pidicy assigned them to their former masters. The island, however, was plaeed in a semi-independent position in 1832, when it was constituted as a tributary prineipality, under a 'Prince of Samos,' who is a Greek Christian ap- pointed by the Sultan, and a national council, which regulates the assessment of the tribute and the internal atVairs of the island. The annual tribute amounts to 3011.000 piastres. Under this government the island iias rapidly increased in population and enjoys a tliriving trade. Con- sult: Panofka, lies Samiorum (Berlin, 1822) ; Guerin, Description de Vile de Patmos et de Samos (Paris, 1850) ; Fabricius, in Mitthcilun- gen des archiiologischen, Instituts (Athens, 188-i), on the aqueduct of Eupalinus; Tozer, Islands of the .Eiicun (Oxford, 1890). SAMOS'ATA. The ancient name of Samsat (<|.V.). SAM'OTHE'RITTM (Neo-Lat., from Gk. 2?- juos, Santos, Samos + Oiiplof, ihfrion, diminutive of eijp, thCr, wild beast). An extinct girafle, found fossil in Pliocene deposits of the island of Samos, in the Turkish Archipelago. See Sivatiierium. SAM'OTHKACE (Lat., from Gk. XapoBpfKri, SaiiiolhraLC'}, or Thracian Samos. An island in the north of the JEgeau, northeast of Lemnos {Stalimcne). It belongs to Turkey. It is a rugged and mountainous mass, about S miles long by 6 miles broad. Its principal summit (5240 feet) is the highest point in the Greek archipelago. From it the Iliad describes Posei- don as watching the battles around Troy, and in spite of the intervening Imbros, the white sum- mit can be seen from that point. During classi- cal times the island plays no part in history, except as the chief seat of the mysteries of the Gabeiri (q.v. ). In 1457 it was occupied by the Turks. An attempt to join in the Greek revolu- tion led, in September, 1821, to a savage massa- cre of the scanty population. At present the island contains but one town of an,y size, Chosa, situated in a valley a short distance from the shore. The ancient town can still be identified by its fortifications, and the site of the ancient temples has been carefully explored. The first excavators in 1863 and 1867 were French, and their great prize was the superb Nike of Samo- thrace, now in the Louvre, a very fine example of the Attic school of the end of the fourth cen- tury. Jlore important was the thorough clearing of the sanctuary in 1873-75 by the Austrians. Consult: Tozer, Islands of the JEgean (Oxford, 1890) ; Conze, Reise auf den Inseln des thrakis- chen Mecres (Ilanover, 1860) ; and especially, Conze, Hauser, and Niemann. Vntersiichiinricn auf Samothrake (Vienna, 1875) ; and Conze, Humann, and Benndorf, Xeue V ntersuchungen auf Samothrake (ib., 1880). SAMPSON. SAMOYEDS, sii'mo-yeds. A branch of the Finnu-lgrian (Finnic) section of the Lral-Al- taic stock of the Mongolian race, inliabiting the tundras of Northeastern Europe and Siberia. As Samoycd peoples are usually reckoned the follow- ing: Yiirak, nomads of the tundras of the Arctic Ocean from the European limit of the Samoyeds to the Asiatic (Yenesei) ; Tawgy, east of the Yurak to Khatanga Bay; Yeneseian Samoyeds, on the tundras of the lower Yenesei, between the Y'lirak and the Tawgy ; the so-called 'Ostyak-Sanioyeds' of the wooded country on the Obi and its tribu- taries between Tj'm and Tohulym ; the Soyotes of the Sayan mountain country, etc.; the Jlators, on the river Tuba, north of the Sayan foun- tains; the Koibals, on the upper Yenesei; the Karagass, on the Uda in the Sayan country; the Kamassinz, about Abakansk and Kansk, be- tween the Angara and the Y'enesei. The Yurak and Tawgj- are reindeer nomads chiefly, the Os- tyak-Samoyeds fishers and hunters for the most part, the Yeneseian Samoyeds partly reindeer nomads, partly hunters and fishers. The nomadic Samoyeds are tent-dwellers, the others lie in huts known as yiirts. The Samoyeds are strong- ly Mongoloid in ph_ysical type, with short stature, bracliycephalic head, oblique eyes, and straight hair. Their culture, except where Russian and Chinese influence is felt, is comparatively primi- tive. There is evidence that they once occupied a much greater territory than at present, par- ticularly to the south, but were driven back by Tatar invasions. The number of the Samoyeds is estimated at about 17,000 of whom about one-third live in European Russia. Consult; Castrgn, Ethnologische Vorlesungen iiber die alta- ischcn Viilker (Saint Petersburg, 1857) ; Miiller, Der ugrisohe Yolksstamm (Berlin, 1837) ; Pauly, Description efhnographique des peuples de la Rtissie (Saint Petersburg, 1862). SAMPHIRE (Critliin iim ). A genus of plants of the natural order Umbcllifera;. Common sam- phire (('ritluiuiiii maritiniuin), a perennial, ni; feet high, is a native of the llediterranean region of Europe growing chiefly on rocky cliffs near the sea. It is used in pickles and salads for its piquant, aromatic taste. It is easily cultivated in ordinary garden soil. Golden samphire {Inula crithmoidcs) , of the natural order Compositte, is similarlv used. SAMP'SON, William Thomas (1840-1902). An American na^l officer, born at Palmyra, N. Y. He graduated at the United States Naval Academ_y in 1861, and during the following three years was an instructor at the Academy. In June, 1804, he became executive officer of the iron-clad Patapseo of the Charleston blockading squadron, and was on board when that vessel was destroyed by a submarine torpedo, although he himself escaped unhurt. The ten years imme- diately after the Civil War were spent by liiin partly at sea and partly as an instructor at the Naval Academy. From 1879 to 1882 he com- manded the Sn^atara on the Asiatic station, was then for a period in charge of the Naval Observa- tory, and from 1S86 to 1890 was superintendent of the Naval Academy, which under his direction reached a higher standard of efficiency than ever before. When, in 1890, the San Francisco, the first modern steel cruiser of the new naw, was put in commission, Sampson, who had reached the grade of captain in the preceding year, was assigned to her command, retaining it luitil 1892.