of strife. They captured Acre in 1191, and Richard Cœur-de-Lion defeated Saladin, took Cæsarea and Jaffa, and obtained a treaty for three years by which the coast from Jaffa to Tyre was yielded to the Christians. Saladin died at Damascus, March 3, 1193. Saladin was not merely a great soldier; his wise government left traces which lasted for centuries in the citadel of Cairo and in canals, dikes and roads. He lives in history as the Moslem hero of the third crusade and as the Moslem ideal of chivalry. The chivalrous side of his character is seen in Scott's The Talisman.
Sal′aman′ca, a Spanish city on the Tormes, 110 miles northwest of Madrid. From the 13th to the end of the 17th century it was the seat of one of the most renowned universities in Europe. In the 16th century there were from 6,000 to 8,000 students; now there are some 1,200. The library contains 70,500 volumes. The city, which once had a population of 50,000, is still surrounded with walls, pierced by ten gates. Its houses, convents, churches, streets and squares preserve much of their appearance during the middle ages. The great square was used for bullfights, and can hold 20,000 spectators. The town was captured by Hannibal in 222 B. C. The Moors were driven out of it in 1055. The French captured it in 1812. Population 24,000. Salamanca also is a province; area 4,829 square miles; population 320,765.
Sal′aman′der, a tailed amphibian, with a body shaped like a lizard and often mistaken for one of those reptiles. The group includes mud-puppies, newts and the like. They are abundant in many places both in the Old and the New World. Several kinds of Amblystoma are very common in the United States. The commoner forms are six to eight inches long. They have blunt noses, and are dark-colored with yellow spots and blotches. They lay their eggs in quiet waters, preferring small ponds in which the water is easily warmed. The eggs are hatched into tadpoles, with external gills. The tadpoles grow to a length of five or six inches before the gills are dropped and replaced entirety by lungs. The adults live on land, going into the water to lay eggs. Some salamanders, like the Mexican axolotl and the common mud-puppy (Necturus), live habitually in the water and retain their external, feather-like gills throughout life. The salamanders are divided into those which retain and those which lose their gills. Most salamanders lay eggs, but one form (Salamandra atra), living on the Alps, brings forth living young. Though regarded with fear by many people, salamanders are harmless.
COMMON MUD-PUPPY, WITH EXTERNAL GILLS
Salamis (săl′ȧ-mĭs), Battle of. This great naval battle was fought between the Greeks and the Persians in 480 B. C., a few days after the battle of Thermopylæ, in the narrow strait between the island of Salamis and the coast of Attica. The Greek fleet of 366 triremes was drawn up at the entrance of the bay forming the harbor of the town of New Salamis, the Athenians under Themistocles, the Corinthians under Adimantus, while the Spartan Eurybiades commanded the whole. Quarrels among the Greek leaders would probably have caused the fleet to break up, had not Themistocles by a stratagem got Xerxes, the Persian king, to bring up his fleet and give battle at once. Xerxes drew up his fleet, numbering 1,200 triremes and 3,000 smaller vessels, during the night before the battle, to block both entrances to the strait. Sure of victory, he took his seat on a throne on a lofty height on the Attic coast. Both Greeks and Persians fought with great bravery, but the latter were defeated, the Greeks being victorious in one of the most important sea-fights of history. It was one of the world's decisive battles.
Sa′lem, a city in the south of India, 120 miles southwest of Madras. It stands in a valley backed by hills. It has large cotton-mills and a good general trade. Population 70,621.
Salem, Mass., city, settled 1626, chief county-seat of Essex County, on the Boston and Maine Railroad, Eastern Division, 17 miles by rail northeast of Boston. Its harbor, an arm of Massachusetts Bay, is well-sheltered and commodious, but of insufficient depth for the largest vessels. The city is a popular resort for people interested in early American settlements, possessing many historic localities and buildings. Essex Institute contains a large collection of relics and portraits and a library of 82,850 volumes and 285,922 pamphlets and serials, many of which treat of historic subjects. East India Marine
