(Nov. 1904), p. 188; Trans. Amer. Inst. M.E., xx. 188;
Glückauf (14th June 1902); School of Mines Quart. iii. 277; Rev.
univ. des mines (July 1902); Bull. Soc. de l'Ind. Min. (1903), No. 1;
Ann. des mines de Belgique, x. pt. 1; Mining Jour. (21st April
1906).
Freezing Process: Glückauf (12th May 1906, 2nd June 1906); Östrr. Zeitschr. f. Berg- u. Hüttenwesen (14th, 21st and 28th July 1906, 14th, 21st and 28th April, and 5th May, 1900); Ann. des mines, xviii. 379; Génie civil (18th and 25th Jan. and 1st Feb. 1902); Mines and Minerals (July 1898), p. 565; Trans. Fed. Inst. M.E. 297; Coll. Guard. (1st Dec. 1893) p. 960, and (12th June 1896) p. 1108; Eng. and Min. Jour. (12th and 26th Oct. 1907). (R. P.*)
SHAGĪA (Shaigia, Shaikīyeh), a tribe of Africans of Semitic origin living on both banks of the Nile from Korti to the Third Cataract, and in portions of the Bayuda Desert. The Shagīa are partly a nomad, partly an agricultural people. They claim descent from one Shayig Ibn Hamaidan of the Beni Abbas, and declare that they came from Arabia at the time of the conquest of Egypt in the 7th century. They must have dispossessed and largely intermarried with a people of Nuba origin. They appear (from a statement by James Bruce) to have been settled originally south of their present country and to have moved northward since 1772. Formerly subject to the Funj kings of Sennar, they became independent on the decline of that state in the 18th century. They were overcome c. 1811 at Dongola by the Mamelukes, but continued to dominate a considerable part of Nubia. To the Egyptians in 1820 they offered a stout resistance, but finally submitted and served in the Egyptian ranks during the suppression of the Jā‛alin revolt (1822). For their services they obtained lands of these latter between Shendi and Khartum. At that time they were far more civilized than the neighbouring tribes. Freedom-loving, brave, enlightened and hospitable, they had schools in which all Moslem science was taught, and were rich in corn and cattle. Their fighting men, mounted on horses of the famous Dongola breed, were feared throughout the eastern Sudan. Their chiefs wore coats of mail and carried shields of hippopotamus or crocodile skin. Their arms were lance, sword or javelin. The Shagīa are divided into twelve clans. Their country is the most fertile along the Nile between Egypt and Khartum. Many of their villages are well built; some of the houses are fortified. They speak Arabic and generally preserve the Semitic type, though they are obviously of very mixed blood. The typical Shagīa has a sloping forehead, aquiline nose and receding chin. They have adopted the African custom of gashing the chests of their children. In the wars of 1884–85 General Gordon’s first fight was to rescue a few Shagīa besieged in a fort at Halfaya. In April 1884 Saleh Bey (Saleh Wad el Mek), head of the tribe, and 1400 men surrendered to the mahdi’s forces. Numbers of Shagīa continued in the service of General Gordon and this led to the outlawry of the tribe by the mahdi. When Khartum fell Saleh’s sons were sought out and executed by the dervishes. On the reconquest of the Sudan by the Anglo-Egyptian army (1896–98) it was found that the Shagīa were reduced to a few hundred families.
See Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, edited by Count Gleichen (London, 1905); A. H. Keane, Ethnology of the Egyptian Sudan (London, 1884).
SHAGREEN, a species of untanned leather with a roughened, granular surface. The word is the English form; cf. Ger. Schagrin, of Fr. chagrin, Ital. zagrin, zigrino; these are usually referred to Turkish and Persian saghri, lit. the back of a horse, and so applied to leather made from this part. The skin of the wild ass was especially used. The method of preparing the skins to secure the rough, granular surface is as follows. The seeds of a plant, usually some species of Chinopodium, are embedded in the skin while soft, the surface is then shaved down and soaked in water, when the edges of the indentations swell up. The leather is then dyed, green being a favourite colour. Shagreen is now commonly made of the skins of sharks and rays; the placoid scales of the shark skin giving the necessary roughened surface. Shagreen is used as an ornamental leather for making pocket-books, small cases and the like, and for the handles of swords, daggers, &c. The figurative use in French of “chagrin,” for anxiety, annoyance, was adopted in English in the 17th century. This application of the word is due to the rasping surface of the leather.
SHAH, the title of the kings of Persia, the full title being padshah, i.e. “lord king,” Pers. pati, lord, and shah, king (see Padishah, the Turkish form of the word). The word shah is a much shortened form of the O. Pers. khsayathiya, probably formed from khsayathi, might, power, khsi, to rule. The Sanskrit kshatrani, dominion, is allied, cf. also “satrap.” From the Pers. shāh māt, the king is dead, is ultimately derived, through the Arab. pronunciation shāg, “check-mate,” then “check,” “chess,” “exchequer,” &c.
SHAHABAD, a district of British India, in the Patna division of Bengal, with an area of 4373 sq. m. About three-fourths of the area to the north is an alluvial flat, planted with mangoes, bamboos and other trees; while the southern portion is occupied by the Kaimur hills, a branch of the great Vindhyan range, and is a densely wooded tract. The chief rivers are the Ganges and the Sone, which unite in the north-eastern corner of Shahabad. In the southern portion large game abounds. The annual rainfall averages 43 in. In 1901 the population was 1,962,696, showing a decrease of 4.7% in the decade. The chief crops are rice, millets, wheat, pulses, oilseeds, poppy and sugarcane. Shahabad is protected against drought by a system of canals from the Sone, some of which are navigable. The district is traversed by the East Indian railway near the Ganges, and by a branch from Mogul Serai to Gaya, which crosses the Sone at Dehri-on-Sone, where are the workshops of the canal. The administrative headquarters are at Arrah. Among other historic sites, it includes the hill-fort of Rohtas, the tomb of Shere Shah at Sasseram and the battlefield of Buxar.
See Shahabad District Gazetteer (Calcutta, 1906).
SHAH ALAM (1728–1806), Mogul emperor of Delhi, son of Alamgir II., was born on the 15th of June 1728, and was originally known as the Shahzada Ali Gohar. Being proclaimed a rebel by his father, he fled to Shuja-ud-Dowlah, Wazir of Oudh, and on the death of his father in 1759 assumed the name of Shah Alam. He joined Shuja-ud-Dowlah against the British, but after his defeat at the battle of Buxar, he sought British protection. In 1765 he granted the diwani (superintendence of the revenue) of Bengal to Lord Clive for the East India Company in return for a payment of 26 lakhs a year. In 1771 he fell into the power of the Mahrattas, was installed emperor of Delhi, and lost the British subsidy. In 1788 the Rohilla chief Ghulam Kadir seized Delhi and put out Shah Alam’s eyes. Sindhia restored him to the throne, and after the Mahratta war of 1803 he was again taken under British protection. He died on the 10th of November 1806.
See W. Francklin, History of the Reign of Shah Alam (Calcutta, 1798).
SHAH JAHAN (fl. 1627–1658), Mogul emperor of Delhi, the fifth of the dynasty. After revolting against his father Jahangir, as the latter had revolted against Akbar, he succeeded to the throne on his father's death in 1627. It was during his reign that the Mogul power attained its greatest prosperity. The chief events of his reign were the destruction of the kingdom of Ahmadnagar (1636), the loss of Kandahar to the Persians (1653), and a second war against the Deccan princes (1655). In 1658 he fell ill, and was confined by his son Aurangzeb in the citadel of Agra until his death in 1666. The period of his reign was the golden age of Indian architecture. Shah Jahan erected many splendid monuments, the most famous of which is the Taj Mahal at Agra, built as a tomb for his wife Mumtaz Mahal; while the Pearl Mosque at Agra and the palace and great mosque at Delhi also commemorate him. The celebrated “Peacock Throne,” said to have been worth £6,000,000 also dates from his reign; and he was the founder of the modern city of Delhi, the native name of which is Shahjahanabad.
SHAHJAHANPUR, a city and district of British India, in the Bareilly division of the United Provinces. The city is on the left bank of the river Deoha or Garra, 507 ft. above the sea-level, with a station on the Oudh and Rohilkhand railway, 768 m. N.W. of Calcutta, and a military cantonment. Pop.
