live N. of lat. 55°. The domestic sheep are of two species, the Russian and the broad-tailed Kirghiz; the latter are chiefly kept by the nomadic tribes, single herdsmen of whom sometimes possess flocks of 10,000 head. The horned cattle of Russia degenerate in size in Siberia. The horses are good, and generally white, but sometimes they are singularly marked. Fish are very numerous. Ducks, geese, swans, woodcocks, partridges, and other fowl abound in the S. part of the country.-The population of Siberia is composed of various tribes and races. More than half are Russians or their descendants, some of whom came to the country as volunteer immigrants, but the greater part were sent as exiles. These exiles consist of three classes, criminals and political and religious offenders. The worst class are condemned to the mines, and those whose offences have not been so great are employed at less laborious work, while the rest are formed into settlements under the supervision of the police, and receive grants of land for cultivation. None except the worst criminals are sent to Siberia without their families. In 1874, from May to October, 16,889 persons were banished to Siberia. Of these 1,700 were sentenced to hard labor, and 1,624 were drunkards and vagrants. They were accompanied voluntarily by 1,080 women and children over 15 years of age, and 1,269 younger children. Among the native tribes are the Samoyeds in the N. W., and the Ostiaks, who occupy the country S. of them as far E. as the river Yenisei; these people live by fishing and hunting, and but few of them have been converted to Christianity. In the S. W., besides some hordes of Bashkirs, are the Kirghiz, occupying the steppes of the Ishim and Irtish, commonly called from them the Kirghiz steppes; they are still in a barbarous state. Among the inhabitants of the W. parts of the Altai mountains the most numerous are the Calmucks, who have become partially civilized and have laid aside many of their national peculiarities; they manufacture iron and gunpowder, and cultivate some grain and tobacco, but their chief subsistence is drawn from their flocks and herds. Their religion is made up of various superstitions. On the slopes of the E. part of the Altai chain are several tribes known as Beruisses, Beltirs, Sagai, and Katchins. The Buriats are of Mongol origin, bear a strong resemblance to the people of N. China, and are the most numerous native tribe in Siberia; they are found chiefly about Lake Baikal and E. to the river Onon, a tributary of the Amoor. Most of the nations of N. E. Siberia may be referred to one or the other of three classes, the Yakuts, the Tunguses, and the Tchuktchis and Koriaks. The Yakuts, settled chiefly along the Lena, from its source to its mouth, are of Tartar origin, speaking a language said to resemble closely the Turkish. They are all more or less civilized by Russian contact, many having adopted the Greek faith, and are the most thrifty and industrious of the nations of N. Asia. The Tunguses, and the allied tribes, the Lamuts, the Monzhurs, and the Gilyaks of the Amoor river, all of Mongol origin, are found as far W. as the Yenisei and as far E. as Anadyrsk in lon. 169°. They are amiable, and easily governed and influenced. Their original religion was Shamanism, but they now profess almost universally the Greek faith. They train reindeer for riding and pack-carrying (the other nations using them only in sledges), and pay a regular tribute in furs to the government. The Tchuktchis and Koriaks, inhabiting the extreme E. part of Siberia, between the 160th meridian and Behring strait, strongly resemble the North American Indians in general appearance, and are tall, vigorous, and athletic. A part of them are settled along the seashore, but most are nomadic. The latter own large herds of reindeer, numbering frequently several thousand, and their wandering life is a necessity to provide food for them. The Tchuktchis and Koriaks are independent of civilization, impatient of restraint, and bold and self-reliant. They are the only Siberian tribes that ever made a successful stand against Russian invasion. Nearly all the Siberian nations eat a species of toadstool, called by them muk-amur, which in small doses produces all the effects of alcoholic liquor, but when eaten in large quantities is a violent narcotic poison. Its habitual use shatters the nervous system, and its sale to the natives by traders is made a penal offence by Russian law. In respect to religious belief the inhabitants are divided as follows: Orthodox Greeks, 2,875,533; Raskolniks, 65,505; Armenian Greeks, 9; Roman Catholics, 24,754; Protestants, 5,722; Jews, 11,400; Mohammedans, 61,083; pagans, 283,621. The population in towns numbers 113,236.-Although the manufactures of Siberia are not extensive, a remarkable spirit of enterprise among the people is rapidly developing the industrial resources of the country. In most of the chief towns there are manufactories of cotton and woollen cloths, linen, glass, iron, earthenware, and leather; and others are springing up all over the country. The internal commerce is of great importance, consisting principally of skins, furs, cattle, fish, both dry and salted, caviare, soap, and tallow. The transit trade between China and European Russia is also largely carried on across Siberia. The sole entrepot of this commerce was formerly at Kiakhta, S. E. of Lake Baikal, but trade is not now restricted to it. The principal exports to China are cotton and woollen cloths, linen, furs, gold and silver articles, and leather; the imports, tea, both leaf and compressed in cakes, sugar, silks, cottons, wool, cattle, leather, furs, grain, dried fruit, and colors. This trade has been chiefly carried on by means of the rivers which flow into Lake Baikal, thence through the Upper Tunguska to Yeniseisk, thence after a land carriage of about 40 m. passing through | A well organized insurrection of Polish exiles was promptly suppressed in 1866. In 1871 the Russians took possession of the whole of the island of Saghalien, which by a treaty concluded in 1867 had been divided between Russia and Japan, and in 1875 the Japanese government resigned all claims to it.-See Atkinson, "Oriental and Western Siberia" (London, 1858); Pumpelly, "Across America and Asia" (New York, 1870); and Kennan, "Tent Life in Siberia" (New York, 1870). the Ket, the Obi, and the Irtish to Tobolsk, entire country was effected in about 80 years. whence there is again a land conveyance of The Amoor region was soon after visited by a about 500 m. across the Ural mountains to Pole and some other exiles escaped from YePerm. In winter it is maintained by means niseisk, who built a small fort on the river; of sledges. But recently the tendency of the but having quarrelled with the Tunguses, they trade has appeared to be to take the sea route offered the conquest to the emperor of Russia, by the coast of China to Nikolayevsk, and and begged forgiveness for their former ofthence up the Amoor by steamboat. There is fences, while the Tunguses about the same time also a considerable caravan trade with Ili, applied to the emperor of China for assistance. Tashkend, Khokan, &c. A great deal of the This led to disputes between the two governtrade of the country is transacted at fairs held ments, but war was prevented, and the bounat stated periods. The most important fairs dary between China and Siberia established, are at Obdorsk near the mouth of the Obi, Tu- by a treaty concluded at Peking in 1689. A rukhansk on the Yenisei, Ustyansk on the Ya- second treaty was made in 1727, confirming the na, Ostrovnoye on a tributary of the Kolyma, former and confining commercial intercourse to Tiumen on a W. tributary of the Irtish, and Ir- Kiakhta and Maimatchin. The Amoor counbit in the E. part of the government of Perm. try was finally ceded to Russia in 1858, and During the summer steamers ply on all the in 1860 a treaty was concluded by which the large streams of central and southern Siberia whole line of the frontier was thrown open and on Lake Baikal, so that there is less than for traffic. The transportation of criminals to 1,000 m. of wagon transit between St. Peters-Siberia was begun by Peter the Great in 1710. burg and the mouth of the Amoor. A great railway across the continent is projected, to connect European Russia with Peking. The proposed western terminus is Yekaterinburg on the E. slope of the Ural mountains, whence the line will pass through Shadrinsk, Omsk, Tomsk, and Krasnoyarsk to Irkutsk.-Siberia is divided into two military circumscriptions, East and West Siberia: the former comprises the governments of Irkutsk and Yeniseisk, and the provinces of Transbaikal, Yakutsk, Amoor, and the Littoral; the latter the gov- SIBLEY, a S. county of Minnesota, bounded ernments of Tobolsk and Tomsk, together with S. E. by the Minnesota river; area, about 500 the Kirghiz territories of central Asia. The sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 6,725. The surface is respective capitals are Irkutsk and Omsk. undulating and the soil fertile. Lake MinneEach of these two great divisions, which were tonka, 30 m. long, is in this county. The chief formed on the present basis in 1865, has a mil- productions in 1870 were 237,706 bushels of itary governor general, who is also command-wheat, 142,060 of Indian corn, 221,416 of oats, er-in-chief of the troops, and has control of all affairs, civil and military. Each of the governments and provinces has also a civil governor, subordinate to the governor general, who is assisted by a council of regency. A vice governor fills his place in case of his absence or sickness.-Genghis Khan conquered a part of Siberia, and his successors reduced the country lying on both sides of the Irtish. About 1580 the Russian family of Strogonoff, to whom the czar had granted lands on both sides of the Ural mountains, applied to a Cossack chief, Yermak Timofeyeff, for assistance against the khan Kutchum, who ruled the country on the Tobol and Irtish rivers. Yermak invaded the country and made extensive conquests. Other adventurers followed up his successes, which resulted in 1587 in the subjection to Russia of the khanate of Sibir (called after a town of that name, whence the name Siberia). Tobolsk, Tiumen, Pelymsk, and rezov were soon after founded and settled by Europeans. In 1604 Tomsk was founded, and the Cossacks, pushing eastward, founded successively Kuznetsk, Yeniseisk, Irkutsk, Selenginsk, and Nertchinsk, and at last reached the shores of Behring strait. The conquest of the 34,545 of barley, 32,659 tons of hay, 19,600 lbs. of wool, and 310,217 of butter. There were 1,726 horses, 3,531 milch cows, 5,952 other cattle, 3,666 sheep, and 3,990 swine. Capital, Henderson. SIBOUR, Marie Dominique Auguste, a French prelate, born at St. Paul-Trois-Châteaux, Drôme, April 4, 1792, assassinated in Paris, Jan. 3, 1857. He was educated at Avignon and at Paris, was for a time professor in the seminary of St. Nicholas du Chardonnet in Paris, was next vicar to the parish of St. Sulpice and to the chapel of the missions étrangères, in 1822 became canon of the church of Nîmes, in 1838 vicar general of that diocese, in 1840 bishop of Digne, in 1848 archbishop of Paris, as successor to Affre, and in 1852 a senator. In 1857, while opening the yearly nine days' devotion in honor of St. Geneviève in the church of St. Etienne du Mont, he was stabbed to the Be-heart by a priest named Verger, whom he had recently suspended. He was distinguished for religious and charitable activity, and published Institutions diocésains (2 vols., 1845). SIBYL (Gr. oißvλha), a name applied to several women reputed prophetic in the ancient mythical period. Some authors say there visited England, taking with him his pupils Massieu and Clerc. He published several works on deaf-mute instruction. (See DEAF AND DUMB, vol. v., p. 733.) SICILIES, The Two (It., Regno delle Due Sicilie), formerly a kingdom of southern Italy, including the island of Sicily, with various smaller islands, and the kingdom of Naples. At the time of its incorporation with the dominions of Victor Emanuel in 1860, the area was 43,225 sq. m., and the population 8,703,130. It now forms six main divisions of the king were four, others ten, viz.: the Babylonian, the Libyan, the Delphian, the Cimmerian, the Erythræan, the Samian, the Cumaan (sometimes identified with the Erythræan), the Hellespontian or Trojan, the Phrygian, and the Tiburtine. Counsel and help were sought from them under the belief that they were able to predict, to avert calamities, and to appease the gods. The most famous of all was the Cumaan sibyl, so called from Cumæ, her residence in Campania. According to an ancient Roman legend, she offered to sell Tarquinius Priscus nine books, which the kingdom of Italy, viz.: the island of Sicily, with refused. Burning three, she offered the remaining six for the same price that she had asked for the nine; refused again, she burned three more, and still demanded the same price for the remaining three. The king purchased these, and the sibyl vanished. They were the famous sibylline books, and were preserved in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, in care of two officers (duumviri), afterward 10 (decemviri), and finally 15 (quindecemviri), who alone, directed by the senate, might inspect their contents. Of these nothing definite is known. The sibylline books having perished when the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus was burned in 83 B. C., a new collection was compiled by ambassadors sent to the various sibylline oracles in Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor, and was deposited in the new temple of Jupiter. In the reign of Augustus spurious prophetic books multiplied in private hands, and the emperor ordered 2,000 of them to be burned. Those volumes in custody of the state, revised by Tiberius, were preserved in two gilt chests in the temple of Apollo. Eight books of apocryphal Christian literature, collected after the 2d century, entitled "Sibylline Oracles," and still extant, consist of a heterogeneous mixture of heathen, Jewish, and Christian poems. An edition of these books was published by Gallæus in 1689 (4to, Amsterdam), and fragments have been edited by Angelo Mai (Milan, 1817) and Struve (Königsberg, 1818). SICARD, Roch Ambroise Cucurron, abbé, a French philanthropist, born at Fousseret, near Toulouse, Sept. 20, 1742, died in Paris, May 10, 1822. He was educated at the university of Toulouse, entered holy orders, received instruction from the abbé de l'Epée, opened the school for deaf mutes at Bordeaux in 1786, and became vicar general of Condom and canon of Bordeaux. In 1789, on the death of De l'Epée, he was appointed his successor in the institution at Paris. His former church preferments caused him to be suspected, and on Aug. 26, 1792, he was imprisoned, and barely escaped death at the September massacre. His lectures attracted many of the more eminent literary men of Paris; but he incurred the wrath of the directory, and was banished for his strictures upon the government. He improved De l'Epée's method by the addition of signs for metaphysical ideas. In 1815 he seven provinces (see SICILY), and the conti- the latter promoted public prosperity, and was a stanch supporter of Pope Alexander III. and the cities of Lombardy against the emperor Frederick Barbarossa. William II. died without issue, and his kingdom was claimed by his aunt Constantia, who had married the son of Frederick Barbarossa. Her husband, Henry VI., upheld her rights against the usurper Tancred, and finally in 1194 united the kingdom of Naples and Sicily to the empire. On his premature death in 1197, his Italian crown passed to his son, afterward the emperor Frederick II. The exertions of this prince to annihilate the Lombard league and to strengthen his dominion over Italy drew upon himself and his descendants the persecution of the papal court; and during the minority of Conradin, his grandson, the Roman see took the kingdom. Manfred, a natural son of Frederick II., at first regent for his nephew Conradin, then king on the pretended death of this young prince (1258), was finally defeated and slain at the battle of Benevento (Feb. 26, 1266), by Charles of Anjou, who had been crowned as his successor by Pope Clement IV., | and who now usurped the power in the two kingdoms. Conradin, the last of the Hohenstaufen, was utterly defeated at Tagliacozzo, Aug. 23, 1268, and beheaded at Naples, Oct. 29. The exasperation produced by Charles's despotism finally culminated (March 30, 1282, at the hour of vespers) in the revolt and massacre at Palermo provoked by the licentious brutality of a Frenchman, and the expulsion of the French from Sicily, an event known as "the Sicilian vespers," and Pedro III. of Aragon, the husband of Constantia, Manfred's daughter, became king. Charles strove in vain to regain possession of Sicily. For more than a century and a half the island (mainly ruled by a younger branch of the house of Aragon) and the continental kingdom were separated from each other, and the sovereigns of both parts styled themselves kings of Sicily. The destinies of the house of Anjou at Naples, obscured during the later years of Charles I. and the reign of his son Charles II. the Lame, brightened again under Robert the Wise (1309– '43), the patron of Petrarch; but the reign of his granddaughter, Joanna I., was marked by all sorts of domestic crimes and disorders. After her execution by order of the king of Hungary (see JOANNA) in 1382, a bloody contest raged between Louis I., the head of the second house of Anjou, her adopted son, and Charles of Durazzo, her lawful heir. The latter finally triumphed, but was called to Hungary by discontented nobles in 1385, crowned king, and murdered soon after. His son Ladislas, scarcely 10 years old, was overthrown by the Angevine party, who called in Louis II. of Anjou in 1389; but in 1399 he reascended his throne, and crushed the adherents of his rival. He was succeeded in 1414 by his sister Joanna II., whose reign of 21 years was as shameful and disastrous as that of Joanna I. After adopting in succession Alfonso V. of Aragon and Louis III. of Anjou, she finally, on the latter's death, bequeathed the crown to his brother René. After a few years' war René was expelled by Alfonso V., who received the investiture of his new kingdom from Pope Eugenius IV., and thus reunited the two parts of the old monarchy. On his death in 1458 he left the kingdom of Naples to his natural son Ferdinand I., who finally maintained his rights against John of Calabria, son of King René, while Sicily as well as Aragon fell to his brother John II. In 1494 the kingdom of Naples was suddenly conquered by Charles VIII. of France, and its possession was disputed by the French and Spaniards until Ferdinand the Catholic became master of it in 1503, and was successively known as Ferdinand III. of Naples and Ferdinand II. of Sicily. The oppressive rule of the Spanish viceroys resulted in 1647 in the rising under Masaniello at Naples, and in other commotions; the disturbances created by the former lasted for years, though Masaniello was speedily assassinated (July 16, 1647). During the war for the Spanish succession the people sided with Philip V., the Bourbon king; but in 1707 they accepted his competitor Charles of Austria, afterward emperor of Germany as Charles VI., whose title to Naples was confirmed by the treaty of Utrecht in 1713, while Sicily was given to Victor Amadeus of Savoy. The latter exchanged Sicily in 1720 for Sardinia, and the two kingdoms remained under the rule of Charles VI. till 1734, when they were conquered by Don Carlos, son of Philip V. of Spain, who was crowned at Palermo in 1735 as Charles III., and acknowledged as king of the Two Sicilies. In 1759, on his succession to the throne of Spain, his son Ferdinand IV. became king of Naples and Sicily. Under the influence of his wife Queen Caroline and her favorite the prime minister Acton, he joined the first coalition against France, and in 1799 the French established the Parthenopean republic in the Neapolitan territory. This was overthrown after a few months, and Ferdinand restored. He retained the island of Sicily with the assistance of England, but after his violation of the treaty of Paris which in 1801 he had concluded with France, Napoleon deposed the Bourbons, and in 1806 gave the throne of Naples to his brother Joseph, and in 1808 to Murat. In 1815, after the overthrow of Murat, Ferdinand was restored; and on Dec. 12, 1816, he assumed power over the two countries as Ferdinand I. of the (united) kingdom of the Two Sicilies. He abrogated the constitution which he had granted while in Sicily. The rising under Pepe in 1820 obliged him to adopt the Spanish liberal constitution of 1812, but with the aid of Austria he soon suppressed it. On his death, Jan. 4, 1825, he was succeeded by his son Francis I., who had become popular by his liberalism, but whose reign was notorious for his subserviency to Austria. He died in 1830. His son and successor, Ferdinand II. (1830-'59), | following the E. coast to near Taormina, 30 m. was the most odious of all the Bourbon rulers from Messina, where it is joined by a chain from his sanguinary repression of insurrections from the west which keeps much nearer the in Sicily and Naples. His excesses aroused the N. than the S. W. shore, and sends off spurs national spirit and paved the way for liberty. to the coast in the former direction. The His son Francis II. adhered to his despotic first chain, now called Pelorian, was anciently system. In 1860 Garibaldi invaded Sicily, con- known as Neptunius Mons; the second is now quered it, and crossed the strait of Messina. called Madonian, and was anciently known as On his approach in September toward Naples the Nebrodian. No part of this chain rises Francis fled to Capua. There he rallied an above 6,300 ft., and in the west it becomes army, which was however compelled to sur- much broken. About half way across the islrender with the fortress, Nov. 2, the court and a chain of great hills breaks off from the retiring to Gaëta. The two kingdoms were Madonian mountains, runs W. of the high plamerged with Victor Emanuel's possessions, and teau of Etna to the southeast, and is cut up by the flight of Francis from Gaëta and the sur- numerous and precipitous ravines, but sinks render of that stronghold to Gen. Cialdini, into a flat country as it approaches the S. E. Feb. 13, 1861, removed the last obstacles to point of Sicily. The island is watered by nunational unity, and Victor Emanuel received merous streams, the most important of which on Feb. 26 the title of king of Italy. See are the Alcantara (anc. Taurominius) and GiaGiannone, Storia civile del regno di Napoli (4 retta or Simeto (Symathus) on the E. coast, vols., Naples, 1723; new ed., 13 vols., Milan, the Salso (S. Himera), Platani (Halycus), and 1823 et seq.); Colletta, Storia del reame di Belici (Hypsas) on the S. W., and the Termini Napoli dal 1734 sino al 1825 (2 vols., Capo- (N. Himera) on the N. They are nearly all lago, 1834; English translation, 1858); and mere torrents, dry or nearly so in summer, Reuchlin, Geschichte Neapels während der letz- but swelling into floods during the seasons of ten siebzig Jahre (Nördlingen, 1862). heavy rains; and few of them are navigable even at their mouths. The largest lake is that of Lentini, near the E. coast, between Catania and Syracuse; it is about 12 m. in circumference, but shallow and stagnant.-Sicily contains no strata corresponding to those of the Silurian, the old red sandstone, the carboniferous, or the new red sandstone formation; granite and limestone are found in some places, and near Etna a large tract is covered with volcanic products. Different kinds of fine stone abound, and amber is procured near Catania. Small quantities of argentiferous lead, quicksilver, iron, copper, and antimony are found, but they are seldom worked. The other minerals include marble, petroleum, emery, alum, rock salt, agates, and sulphur, the most important of all. The climate is temperate and agreeable. The thermometer rarely rises higher than SICILY (anc. Trinacria, from its triangular shape, Sicania, and Sicilia), the largest island of the Mediterranean, forming part of the kingdom of Italy, separated from Calabria by the strait of Messina, between lat. 36° 38' and 38° 18' N., and lon. 12° 25′ and 15° 40′ E. The northern side is 180, the southwestern 171, and the eastern 113 m. long; area, 11,291 sq. m.; pop. in 1872, 2,584,099. The extreme points of the island are Capo di Faro or Cape Peloro (anc. Pelorus) at the northeast, Cape Passaro (Pachynus) at the southeast, and Cape Boeo (Lilybaum) at the northwest. It is divided into the provinces of Caltanisetta, Catania, Girgenti, Messina, Palermo, Syracuse, and Trapani. Capital, Palermo. The coast has numerous indentations, the largest of which are the gulf of Castellamare on the northwest, the gulf of Patti on the northeast, and the bay of 92° F. and seldom sinks below 36°, and the Catania on the east; the best harbors are those of Palermo, Messina, Agosta, and Syracuse. The tides on the coast are slight and irregular. Of the two principal currents of the Mediterranean, that from the Atlantic and that from the Black sea, only the first is felt upon the shores of Sicily, and in its set through the strait of Messina it causes the whirlpool at the N. end called by the ancients Charybdis. Most of the mountains of Sicily are regarded as part of the system of the Apennines. The northern part of the island is generally high, the mountains in several places coming close to the sea; but in the opposite direction they recede to a considerable distance, and the coasts are of moderate elevation. The celebrated volcano Mt. Etna rises in solitary grandeur (upward of 10,800 ft.) from the E. coast, midway between the N. and S. extremities of the island. (See ETNA.) A range of mountains runs from Cape Peloro, on the strait of Messina, to the S. W., mean annual temperature at Palermo is about 64°. The annual fall of rain is about 26 inches, nearly all during the winter months. In summer the weather is settled, but after the autumnal equinox it becomes for a time hazy and boisterous. Thunder storms are violent and frequent; and the sirocco, or S. E. wind, blowing for three or four days at a time, is very distressing in some parts of the island. There are two kinds of level ground in Sicily. Of the first an example is found in the dreary wastes along the S. shore, where the limestone rock coming near the surface supports a scanty vegetation; and of the second in the fertile plains of Palermo, Catania, and Castellamare, filling up the curves of the mountains which recede from the sea. The hilly regions are varied with undulating slopes and bold crags, the former of which are clothed with forests of fine timber, or covered with excellent pastures. In the fertile plains cultivation is general, and |