Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/160

SHURI. 126 SIAM. Japan, G 7). It is a straggling town, with the SHtTYA, shoo'yi. A district town in the Gov- castle or King's palace perched on a hill about eriiiiiciit uf Vladimir, Russia, 18ij miles northeast 500 feet high in the centre. Population, in 1898, of Moscow (Map: Russia, F 3). It has exten- 24,809. si^'6 cotton miHs. Population, in 1897, 18.968. SHUSAN, shoo'san. An ancient city of Per- sia. See SuSA. SHUSHA, shoo-sha'. A district town in the Government of Yelizavetpol, Transcaucasia, 80 miles south of Yelizavetpol ( Map : Russia, G 7 ) . It produces mainly silk and leather. Poimlation, in 1897, 25,650, chiefly Armenians. SHUSH'WAP (properly Suq-apmuq) . An interesting tribe of Salishan stock (q.v.) occu- pying an extensive territory extending from the niain divide of the Rocky Mountains to Fraser River and from Quesnelle to Shushwap Lake, Southern British Columbia. They are divided into several local bands or village communities, and their houses were circular dugouts set about four feet below the surface of the ground and roofed with logs and thatch covered with earth. Their dress was of furs or buckskin and tattooing was practiced by both sexes, together with the wearing of nose pendants. They excelled in the making of beautiful basketry from split pine roots and mats woven from rushes. The Shushwap hunted deer with dogs and snowshoes. They used sea-shells and copper bracelets as currency medi- um, obtaining copper by trade or from a digging within their own territory. Food was boiled in baskets of water heated by means of hot stones, and roots were steamed or baked in pits in the ground. The tribe did not have the clan system. Inheritance was in the male line, and there was an order of hereditary chiefs, who regulated the divi- sion of labor, decided the time for the salmon-fish- ing and parceled out the fish .and berry harvest, hut did not lead in war, that duty failing upon elective war captains. Their weapons were the bow, lance, stone club, and a sort of bone sword, besides which they had body armor of quilted elk- skin or strips of wood. In times of danger they sometimes took refuge in stockades. Slaves were held by war and purchase and were frequently killed by the grave of their owmer, usually being buried alive with the corpse. The mourning period lasted for a year, ending with a feast at the grave, on which occasion the son adopted his dead father's name. There were many pecu- liar marriage, puberty, and hunting ceremonies and tabus. With the exception of a few families all are now civilized and Christianized by the effort of Catholic missionaries, and are reported by their agent to be generally industrious, law- abiding, progressive, healthy, and increasing in numbers. They numbered, in 1903. from 1200 to 1.500. SHUSTEE, shoo'ster, or SSUSHTER (an- ciently Sosira). A city in the Province of Kbuzis- tan, Persia, on the Karun, 30 miles southeast of Dizful (Map: Persia, C 5). It is poorly built, with narrow unpaved streets and houses of mud and stone. On an abrupt sandstone hill above the city stands the citadel, partly in ruins. Among the mosques is the im- posing Masjed i Juma. In the early part of the nineteenth century Shuster was the capi- tal of the province and had a population of 45,- 000. Population, in 1901, about 18.000. SHUTTLE. See Loom; Sewing Machine. SHY'LOCK. The Jew usurer in Shakespeare's ^]cl■challt of Venice, the central figure in the play, standing for the vengeful spirit of an op- pressed race. SIALKOT, se'al-kot', or Sealkote. The capi- tal of the District of Sialkot in the Punjab, India, on the Aik River, 72 miles by rail north- east of Lahore (Map: 'ndia, B 2). Objects of in- terest are the ruins of an old fort, and the Chris- tian training school and mission college. The city is the commercial centre of a productive agricultural and cotton-growing section, and manufactures paper, cotton goods, silks, shawl trinuning, pottery, cutlery, etc. Population, in 1901, 37.956. SIAM, sl-am'. An independent kingdom of Southeastern Asia, bounded on the north by Burma and French Indo-China (the Shan States), on the east by French Indo-China, on the south by Cambodia, the Gulf of Siam, and the Straits Settlements, and on the west by the Indian Ocean and Burma. Apart from its long, narrow- arm, known as Lower Siam, extending southward in the Malay Peninsula to the Straits Settlements, it forms a com])act region, known as Upper Siam, lying approximately between latitudes 12° and 20° 40' N., and longitudes 98° and 106° E. The British have been constantly encroaching on the northwest and southwest and the French on the east. Area, estimated at 236,- 000 square miles, about one-fourth being in the Malay Peninsula, Siam slopes south and southeast from the moimtainous, region in the north to the Gulf and the Mekong, the southern part descending in three large terraces to Bangkok. The average elevation of the country is 600 feet. In the west- ern portion of LTpper Siam the large valley of the Menam River (q.v.). with that of its great tributary the Me Ping from the northwest, forms the characteristic feature. The Menam rises in the low mountain district of the Laos country in the extreme north of Siam and flows south, emp- tying into the Gulf of Siam below Bangkok. This area abounds with swamps, briny wastes and jungles, but the national wealth and com- merce are found here, and it constitutes the real Siam, the bulk of the population living along these streams. The western boundary of Siam marks in the main the high granite baetbone of the Peninsula. The Salwin River flows on the west, but forms a section of the boundary. The eastern part of Siam is characterized by the val- ley of the Nam Mun River. This stream flows eastward and enters the great Mekong, which lines the border from the north to the southeast. The central portion of LTpper Siam is formed by the Korat plateau — the watershed between the Menam and the Nam Mun. This region — to the northeast of Bangkok — is little known. The Laos inhabitants in the north live usually in small communities on the river banks. Siam is in general a well-watered land. The great Tonle Sap Lake lies in the southeast, and extends into Cambodia. The geology of the country has not been fittingly studied, but the limestones and dolomitic formations, the basaltic districts and