roads, &c. The harbour has a safe entrance, and is very secure, being a strait, with the island of St. Vincent to the left, for the extent of half a mile. The high land occasions much variation in the winds. The part called the narrows is defended by two forts, on passing which there is a kind of lagoon of three or four leagues in length, almost full of mangroves. Population 7000. Long. 46° 21′ W., lat. 23° 59′ 30′′. S. SANZ (- -), a learned Spanish Dominican, who was made a bishop by the pope, and was sent out as a missionary to China in 1715. The pope afterwards appointed him vicar for the province of Fokien. But a persecution arising against the Christians, he was beheaded at Macao, in 1747. SAONA, an island of the West Indies, to the south-east end of Hispaniola. From the sea it has a low level appearance, and is twenty-one miles in extent, and seven wide. Its nearest or north-west part is only half a league from Point Palmilla. The flats and rocks around the island are very visible, even at a great depth, from the limpid state of the water. Its west harbour is in the west end. A range of small hills in the middle, facing the south, tempers the climate, and fertilises the soil. It abounds in fish, and terrestrial and aquatic wild birds. Saona, by the natives called Adamancy, once boasted a cacique, and subjects independent of Haiti, and was afterwards held by the Jesuits, who improved its soil, and had several settlements here. At present it lies neglected, except by a few solitary fishermen, who annually visit it, to collect tortoise shell, or ensnare the wild cattle. It was discovered by Columbus in 1494. Long. 69° 42′ W., lat 18° 8' N. SAONE, a river of France, which, rising among the Vosges mountains, passes by Chatillon, Gray, Auxonne, Verdun, Chalons, Macon, &c., and, after a course of about 200 miles, joins the Rhone at Lyons. In its course it receives the Doubs, Ouche, and other streams, and is navigable to Auxonne. It gives name to the following departments:: SAONE, UPPER, a department of France, including the northern part of Franche Comté. and enclosed on the north by that of the Vosges, and on the east by that of the Upper Rhine. Its superficial extent is about 2500 square miles, and very mountainous, being intersected by branches of the Vosges chain. The principal rivers are the Saone, the Oignon, the Drugeon, and the Amance. The climate is temperate; the soil generally stony, but in some places highly fruitful. The principal products are corn, timber, hemp, wine, and fruit. Of mineral products, iron and coal are the most important. The department belongs to the sixth military division, and to the jurisdiction of the cour royale of Besançon. It is divided into three arrondissements, twenty-seven cantons, and 640 communes. The chief town is Vesoul. Population 312,000. SAONE AND LOIRE, a department of France, comprehending the southern part of Burgundy, and bounded by the departments of the Jura, the Rhone, and the Allier. It has a superficial extent of 3500 square miles, covered with moun tains, hills, and forests, but separated by extensive plains and valleys. The principal rivers are the Saone, the Loire, the Arroux, the Doubs, and the Seille. This department contains also a canal which joins the Saone and Loire. The climate is salubrious; the soil in some places stony and sandy; in others rich and fertile. The productions are vines, corn, and hemp, and various fruits; iron, marble, alabaster, crystal, coal, and other minerals, are also abundant. The Macon wine of this department is celebrated. It belongs to the eighteenth military division, to the diocese of Autun, and the jurisdiction of the cour royale of Dijon, and is divided into the five arrondissements of Macon, (the capital), Autun, Chalons, Charolles, and Louhans. SAP, n. s., v. a., & v. n. Saxon SAP'LESS, adj. SAP'PY. ræpe; Belg. sap; Lat. sapa. The vital Juice of plants; the juice that rises and circulates vert; proceed by secret means; the adjectives corresponding. in trees and herbs: hence to undermine; sub both made under cover, of ten or twelve feet broad, when the besiegers come near the place, and the fire from the garrison grows so dangerous that they are not able to approach uncovered. There are several sorts of saps; the single, which has only a single parapet; the double, having one on each side; and the flying, made with gabions, &c. In all saps traverses are left to cover the men. SAPHIES, a kind of charms, consisting of some scrap of writing, which the credulous negroes believe capable of protecting them from all evil. The writers of saphies are generally Moors, who sell scraps of the koran for this purpose to a people who believe neither the koran nor the prophet. Accordingly any piece of writing may be sold as a saphie; and Mr. Park found the negroes disposed to place greater confidence in the saphies of a Christian than in those of a Moor. Mr. Park being at Koolikorro, a considerable town near the Niger, and a great market of salt, his landlord, hearing that he was a Christian, immediately thought of procuring a saphie. For this purpose he brought out his whalha, or writing board, assuring me (says our author), that he would dress me a supper of rice if I would write him a saphie to protect him from wicked men. The proposal was of too great consequence to me to be refused; I therefore wrote the board full, from top to bottom, on both sides; and my landlord, to be certain of having the whole force of the charm, washed the writing from the board into a calabash with a little water; and, having said a few prayers over it, drank this powerful draught; after which, lest a single word should escape, he licked the board until it was quite dry. A saphie writer was a man of too great consequence to be long concealed. The important information was carried to the dooty, who sent his son with half a sheet of writing paper, desiring me to write him a naphula saphie (a charm to procure wealth). He brought me as a present some meal and milk; and when I had finished the saphie, and read it to him with an audible voice, he seemed highly satisfied with his bargain, and promised to bring me in the morning some milk for my breakfast. Our author contrived to turn this absurd superstition to his own advantage, by writing saphies for his subsistence when his money was exhausted. SAP'ID, adj. Lat. sapidus. Tasteful; SAPIDITY, n. s.palatable: making a powerSAP'IDNESS. ful stimulation upon the palate the noun-substantive corresponding. Thus camels, to make the water sapid, do raise the mud with their feet. Brone. As for their taste, if their nutriment be air, neither can it be an instrument thereof; for the body of that element is ingustible, and void of all sapidity. Id. Vulgar Errours. If sapidness belong not to the mercurial principle of vegetables and animals, it will scarce be discriminated from their phlegm. Boyle. The most oily parts are not separated by a slight decoction, till they are disentangled from the salts; for if what remains of the subject, after the infusion and decoction be continued to be boiled down with the addition of fresh water, a fat, sapid, odorous, viscous, inflammable, frothy water will constantly be found floating atop of the boiling liquor. Arbuthnot. SA'PIENCE, n. s. Į Fr. sapience; Lat. saSA'PIENT, adj. Spientia. Wisdom; sageness; knowledge: the adjective corresponding. Ne only they that dwell in lowly dust; The sons of darkness and of ignorance; But they whom thou, great Jove, by doom unjust, Didst to the top of honour earst advance : They now, puft up with's deignful insolence, Despise the brood of blessed sapience. Spenser. Because enterprises guided by ill counsels have equal success to those by the best judgment conducted, therefore had violence the same external figure with sapience. Raleigh. King James, of immortal memory, among all the lovers and admirers of divine and human sapience, accomplished at Theobalds his own days on earth. Wotton. Immense, and all his father in him shone. Milton. ld. By sapience, I mean what the ancients did by philosophy; the habit or disposition of mind which importeth the love of wisdom. Many a wretch in Bedlam, Grew. Swift. SAPINDUS, the soap-berry tree, in botany, a genus of the digynia order and octandria class of plants, natural order twenty-third, trihilatæ : CAL. tetraphyllous, petals four: CAPS. corneous, walited, and ventricose. There are ten species, the following are the most important : 1. S. rigidus, with rigid acute-winged leaves, grows in India. This has a strong woody stalk, which rises about twenty feet high, sending out many strong ligneous branches, covered with a smooth gray bark, and garnished with winged leaves, composed of many spear-shaped lobes; they are of a pale green, and sit close to the midrib, which has no border or wing like the other. The end of the branches are divided into two or three foot-stalks, each sustaining a loose spike of flowers; these are succeeded by roundish berries. 2. S. saponaria, with winged leaves, grows naturally in the islands of the West Indies, where it rises with a woody stalk from twenty to thirty feet high, sending out many branches garnished with winged leaves composed of several pairs of spear-shaped lobes. The mid-rib has a membranaceous or leafy border, running on each side from one pair of lobes to the other, which is the broadest in the middle between the lobes; the flowers are produced in loose spikes at the end of the branches; they are small and white, and make no great appearance. These are succeeded by oval berries, as large as middling cherries, sometimes single, at others two, three, or four are joined together; these have a saponaceous skin or cover, which encloses a very smooth roundish nut of the same form, of a shining black when ripe. The skin or pulp which surrounds the nuts is used in America to wash linen; but is very apt to burn and destroy it if often used, being of a very acrid nature. 3. S. trifoliatus, the three-leaved soap-berry nee. All these plants are propagated by seeds; they must be put into small pots, and plunged into a hot-bed of tanner's bark. In five or six weeks the plants will appear, when the glasses of the hot-bed should be raised every day in warm weather, to admit fresh air to the plants. In three or four weeks after the plants appear they will be fit to transplant, when they must be shaken out of the pots, and carefully parted, so as not to injure their roots, and each planted into a separate small pot, and plunged into the hot-hed again, observing to shade them from the sun until they have taken new root; after which time they must have free air admitted to them every day when the weather is warm, and will require to be frequently watered. SAPLING, n. S. a young plant. From sap. A young tree; Look how I am bewitched; behold mine arm Is, like a blasted sapling, withered up. Shakspeare. Nurse the saplings tall, and curl the grove With ringlets quaint. Milton. A sapling pine he wrenched from out the ground, The readiest weapon that his fury found. Dryden. Slouch turned his head, saw his wife's vigorous SAPONARIA, sopewort, in botany, a genus of the digynia order, and decandria class of plants, natural order twenty-second, caryophyllea: CAL. monophyllous and naked; there are five ungulated petals: CAPS. oblong and unilocular. There are nine species. Of these the most remarkable is the S. officinalis, which is a British plant, has a creeping root, so that in a short time it would fill a large space of ground. The stalks are about two feet high, and of a purplish color. The foot-stalks of the flowers arise from the wings of the leaves opposite; they sustain four, five, or more purple flowers each; which have generally two small leaves placed under them. The stalk is also terminated by a loose bunch of flowers growing in form of an umbel; they have each a large swelling cylindrical empalement, and five broad obtuse petals, which spread open, of a purple color. These are succeeded by oval capsules, with one cell filled with small seeds. The decoction is used to cleanse and scour woollen cloths; the poor people of some countries use it instead of soap for washing; from which use it had its name. SAPOR, n. s. Lat. sapor. Taste; power of affecting or stimulating the palate. There is some sapor in all aliments, as being to be distinguished and judged by the gust, which cannot be admitted in air. Browne. The shape of those little particles of matter which distinguish the various sapors, odours, and colours of Watts. bodies. SAPOR I., king of Persia, succeeded his father Artaxerxes about A. D. 438. He enlarged his dominions by taking Mesopotamia, Syria, and Cilicia; but proved a most haughty and cruel tyrant, particularly to the Roman emperor Valerian, whom he took prisoner, and after every possible insult put him to a cruel death. After this he was very unsuccessful; was repeatedly defeated by Odenatus, prince of Palmyra; and at last assassinated by his own subjects, A. D. 273. He was succeeded by his son Hormisdas. SAPOR II., king of Persia, grandson of Sapor I., succeeded his father Hormisdas, A. D. 310. He was a very active and warlike monarch, and His proved very troublesome to the Romans. victories alarmed the emperor Julian so much that he marched against him in person; but in a rencounter with the troops of this prince received his mortal wound. Jovian made peace with Sapor; but the latter afterwards renewed hostilities, invaded Armenia, and defeated the empe ror Valens. Sapor died A. D. 380, after a long and prosperous reign of seventy years. SAPPERS are soldiers belonging to the royal artillery, whose business it is to work at the saps, for which they have an extraordinary pay. A brigade of sappers generally consists of eight men, divided equally into two parties; and, whilst one of these parties is advancing the sap, the other is furnishing the gabions, fascines, and other necessary implements. They relieve each other alternately. SAPPHIC AND ADONIAN, or adonic verse, in the ancient poetry, a beautiful kind of verse, so named from Sappho, the poetess, and Adonis, the favorite of Venus. The Sapphic verses consisted of five feet each; of which the first was a trochee; the second a spondee; the third a dactyl; and the two last trochees. The Adonian consisted of five syllables, forming a dactyl and a spondee. Each stanza consisted of three lines Sapphic and one Adonian, thus: Aure-am quis quis mědi- | ōcri- tus caret ti, caret tātěm obsoleti | invi- denda Sobrius aula. SAPPHIRA, the wife of a rich merchant in Gueldres, equally distinguished for her beauty and her misfortunes. Rhinsauld, a German officer, and governor of the town of Gueldres, fell in love with her; and, not being able to seduce her either by promises or presents, he imprisoned her husband, pretending that he kept up a traitorous correspondence with the enemies of the state. Sapphira yielded to the passion of the governor to relieve her husband from chains: but private orders had already been given to put him to death. His unhappy widow, overwhelmed with grief, complained to Charles duke of Burgundy. He ordered Rhinsauld to marry her, and to make over to her all his possessions. As soon as the deed was signed, and the marriage over, Charles commanded him to be put to death. Thus the children of a wife whom he had seduced, and of a husband whom he had murdered, became lawful heirs to all his wealth. SAPPHIRE, n. s. Lat. sapphirus. A precious stone of a blue color. In enrolled tuffs, flowers, purfled, blue and white, Like saphire, pearl, in rich embroidery. Shakspeare. She was too saphirine and clear for thee; Clay, flint, and jet now thy fit dwellings be. Donne. A few grains of shell silver, with a convenient proportion of powdered crystal glass, having been kept three hours in fusion, I found the coliquated mass, upon breaking the crucible, of a lovely saphi rine blue. Saphire is of a bright blue color. Boyle. lle tinctures rubies with their rosy hue, And on the saphire spreads a heavenly blue. Blackmore. That the saphire should grow foul, and lose its beauty, when worn by one that is lecherous, and many other fabulous stories of gems, are great arguments that their virtue is equivalent to their value. Derham. SAPPHIRE, a genus of precious stones, of a blue color, and the hardest of all except the ruby and diamond. They are found in the same countries with these jewels, also in Bohemia, Alsace, Siberia, and Auvergne. M. Rome de l'Isle mentions one found at Auvergne, which appeared quite green or blue according to the position in which it was viewed. They are seldom found of a deep blue color throughout, or free from parallel veins. The late unfortunate Louis XVI. had one with a stripe of fine yellow topaz in the middle. Some are found half green and half red, and are foliated like the ruby. The finest sapphires come from the East Indies. In Scotland they have been found of a hardness and lustre equal to the oriental, both light and deep colored. When powdered, they are fusible with borax, magnesia, or microcosmic salt, into a transparent glass. Jameson considers it as a species of rhomboidal corundum. It is the telesie of Hauy, and the perfect corundum of Bournon. The following is Jameson's description of it abridged by Dr. Ure:-Colors blue and red; it occurs also gray, white, green, and yellow. It occurs in blunt-edged pieces, in roundish pebbles, and crystallised. The primitive figure is a slightly acute rhomboid, or double threesided pyramid, in which the alternate angles are 86° 4′ and 93° 56'. The following are the usual forms:-a very acute, equiangular, six-sided pyramid; the same truncated on the summit; a perfect six-sided prism; an acute, double, sixsided pyramid the same acuminated, or truncated in various ways. Splendent, inclined to adamantine. Cleavage parallel with the terminal planes of the prism. Fracture conchoidal. From transparent to translucent. Refracts double. Brittle. Specific gravity 4 to 4-2. Its constitu ents are, Alumina, Infusible before the blowpipe. It becomes electrical by rubbing, and retains its electricity for several hours; but does not become electrical by heating. It occurs in alluvial soil, in the vicinity of rocks belonging to the secondary or floetz-trap formation, and imbedded in gneiss. It is found at Podsedlitz and Treblitz in Bohemia, and Hohenstein in Saxony; Expailly in France; and particularly beautiful in the Capelan mountains, twelve days' journey from Sirian, a city of Pegu. Next to diamond, it is the most valuable of the gems. The white and pale blue varieties, by exposure to heat, become snowwhite, and when cut exhibit so high a degree of lustre that they are used in place of diamonds. The blue stone to which the ancients applied the name of sapphire was different from ours: it was spotted with golden spangles; it was, indeed, the same as the lapis lazuli. SAPPHO, a celebrated poetess of antiquity, who has been often styled the Tenth Muse, born at Mitylene, in the isle of Lesbos, about A.A.C. 610. She was contemporary with Stesichorus and Alcæus. The last was her countryman, and some think her suitor. A verse of this poet, in which he intimates to her his passion, is preserved in Aristotle, Rhet. lib. i. cap. 9, together with the damsel's answer. Of the numerous poems this lady wrote, nothing remains but some small fragments which the ancient scholiasts have cited; a hymn to Venus, preserved by Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and a short ode. She fell in love with Phaon, and did all she could to win him, but in vain. She followed him into Sicily, whither he retired to avoid her; and during her stay in that island composed the Hymn to Venus, still extant, in which she begs so ardently the assistance of that goddess. But her prayers proved fruitless; Phaon was cruel to the last, and Sappho at length went to the promontory Leucas, and threw herself into the sea. See LEUCATE. The Mitylenians held her merit in such high esteem, that they stamped their money with her image; and the Romans afterwards erected a noble statue of porphyry to her. Vossius says that none of the Greek poets excelled Sappho for sweetness of verse; and that she made Archilochus the model of her style, but softened the harshness of his expression. Rapin observes that Longinus had great reason to extol the admirable genius of this woman; for what remain of her works are delicate, harmonious, and impassioned to the last degree. SAR'ABAND, n. s. Fr. sarabande; Span. çarabande. A Spanish dance. The several modifications of this tune-playing quality in a fiddle, to play preludes, sarabands, jigs, and gavots, are as much real qualities in the instrument as the thought is in the mind of the composer. Arbuthnot and Pope. A SARABAND is a musical composition, in the Chenevix. triple time, the motions of which are slow and serious. See Music. Saraband is also a dance to the same measure, which usually terminates when the hand that beats the time falls; and is otherwise much the same as the minuet. The saraband is said to be originally derived from the Saracens, and is usually danced to the sound of the guitar or castanettes. Klaproth. Red. 90-0 6.5 7.0 1.2 296 SARACENS. SARACENS, a name given to the former inhabitants of Arabia; so called from the word sara, which signifies a desert, as the greatest part of Arabia is; and, this being the country of Mahomet, his disciples were called Sara cens. Under the article ARABIA, and still more fully under MAHOMET, we have given an account of the rise, progress, and establishment of the Mahometan system of imposture and superstition; previous to which event the name of Saracens was hardly known in Europe. Of his flight from Mecca to Medina, A. D. 622, and consequent origin of the Mahometan era of the Hegira, we have also given a particular account, with his various and rapid successes, for ten years after the commencement of that era. By the year 631, the ninth of the Hegira, the principal men among the Arabs, and the whole of the Koreish, his most inveterate opponents, had submitted, and by the year 632 the whole peninsula of Arabia was reduced under his subjection and superstition. But in that year, the tenth of the Hegira, while fresh embassies of submission were daily arriving, this famous impostor died in Medina, in the chamber of his best beloved wife, in consequence of a poisoned dish presented to him three years before, by Zainoh, the daughter of Hareth, an Arabian chief, of which he had eaten but a small quantity. The death of Mahomet threw all Mecca into consternation. The veneration of the people was so great that they could hardly believe his death possible. Abu Becr, however, at last convinced them that, though God was immortal, his prophet was mortal. Warm disputes followed between the Mohajerin and the Ansars; about the election of a caliph, as his successor. Ali, the son-in-law of Mahomet, who had married the prophet's daughter, Fatima, certainly had the best title; but Abu Becr was preferred by the influence of Omar, and chosen by both parties. 'Ali, after some remonstrances, submitted: but his superior right is defended even to the present period, by a numerous party of Mahometans, hence called Shites, or Sectaries. Upon Abu Becr's accession many of the Arabs refused to pay the tribute imposed on them by Mahomet; whereupon Abu Beer sent Khaled, with an army of 4500 men, who totally defeated them, brought off much plunder, and made many of them slaves. He also killed Moseilama, and defeated Toleiah, two pretended prophets, who attempted to imitate Mahomet in his posture. He next sent his son Osama into Syria, where he plundered the country and did much damage to the Greeks. He soon after sent Khaled to invade Irak, which he accomplished, and put an end to the kingdom of Hira, collecting 70,000 pieces of money, and subjecting the people to tribute. He next prepared to invade Syria, and, having collected a great army, gave Yezid Ebn Abu Sosian the command of it, with the following among other advices-Treat your men with lenity: if you be victorious, kill neither old people, women, nor children cut down no palm trees, nor burn any fields of corn: spare all fruit trees, and slay no cattle but such as you use: put none of the religious persons to the sword: offer no violence to the places they serve God in.' The Greek emperor was much alarmed, and sent a party of Greeks to reconnoitre the enemy, who falling in with a party of Arabs, a battle ensued, in which the Greeks lost 1200 men, while the Saracens lost only 120. Many skirmishes followed, and much rich spoil was taken by the Saracens, and sent to the caliph. Another party of Greeks, however, were more successful against Abu Obeidah, whom they totally defeated, and who was therefore displaced by Abu Becr. Khaled was sent to reduce Bostra, a rich city of Syria, which he accomplished chiefly by treachery. Being joined by Obeidah's troops, he laid siege to Damascus with 45,000 men. The Greek emperor sent an army of 100,000 men, under general Werdan, to relieve it; but they were attacked by Derar Ebn Al Wazar, at the head of a numerous body of Saracens; and, though the Greeks were at first so successful as even to take Derar himself prisoner (who had plunged into the heart of the Christian army, killed the standard-bearer, and seized the standard, which was a cross richly adorned with precious stones), yet the Saracens completely defeated them, Khaled himself turning the fortune of the day, by arriving with a fresh body of foot and 1000 horse. Werdan, however, having still an army of 70,000 men, made a fresh attempt to relieve Damascus; but being again completely defeated, with the loss of 50,000 men, Damascus was soon after taken, A. D. 634; and that very day Abu Beer died of a consumption, aged sixty-three. Abu Beer was succeeded by Omar I., who was saluted with the title of emperor of the believers, and replaced Abu Obeidah in the command, being displeased with Khaled for his cruelties; whereas Obeidah was mild and merciful to the Christians. Khaled, however, bore his disgrace with magnanimity, and swore he would obey the new caliph. Obeidah, however, some time afterwards voluntarily yielded the command to Khaled, as being possessed of more military skill. Under these commanders, the Saracens soon after reduced the fortresses of Kinnisrin, Baalbec, Adestan, Shaizar, and Hems: upon which the Greek emperor Heraclius sent against them an army of 240,000 men, under Manuel; but this numerous body was utterly defeated by Khaled, near a village called Yermouk; where, according to the Arabian historians, the Christians lost 150,000 men killed, and 40,000 prisoners, while the Arabs lost only 4030 men; but this seems incredible. The defeat of Yermouk was followed by the loss of Jerusalem, and all Palestine. Omar, hearing of the success of his troops, immediately set out to visit Jerusalem, in a kind of pilgrimage, being dressed in a coarse habit made of camels' hair, praying daily, and performing numberless su |