Page:EB1911 - Volume 24.djvu/831

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SHAMBLES—SHANGHAI
799

by the side of Anu, Bel and Ea. The three powers, Sin, Shamash and Ishtar (q.v.), symbolized the three great forces of nature, the sun, the moon and the life-giving force of the earth. At times, instead of Ishtar, we find Adad (q.v.), the storm-god, associated with Sin and Shamash, and it may be that these two sets of triads represent the doctrines of two different schools of theological thought in Babylonia which were subsequently harmonized by the recognition of a group consisting of all four deltles.

The consort of Shamash was known as A. She, however, is rarely mentioned in the inscriptions except in combination with Shamash.  (M. Ja.) 


SHAMBLES, a slaughter-house, a place where butchers kill animals for domestic food, an " abattoir." The word in the singular means properly a bench or stall on which butchers display their meat for sale in a market, and appears in O. Eng. fōt-scamel, foot-stool. It represents the La. scamellum, diminutive of scamnum, step, bench; the root is seen in Greek σκήπτρειν, to prop, cf. "sceptre." The distinct word "shamble," meaning to walk awkwardly, is to be traced to the O. Du. schampelen, to stumble, an adaptation of O. Fr. escamper, to decamp (Lat. ex, out of, and campus, field). The same French word has given the English " scamp," a worthless rascal, a rogue, vagabond.


SHAMMAI, a Jewish scribe of the time of King Herod, whom tradition almost invariably couples with Hillel (q.v.), with whom he stood in striking contrast, not merely in legal-religious decisions and discussions, but also in character and temperament. His motto (Aboth i. 15) reads: “ Make thy study of the Thora a firmly established duty; say little and do much; and receive every man with friendly countenance.” The last admonition is characteristic, as Shammai was choleric and brusque. The opposition between Shammai and Hillel was perpetuated by their respective schools, till, under Gamaliel II., the strife was decided at Jabneh in favour of the school of Hillel.  (W. Ba.) 


SHAMOKIN, a borough of Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., on Shamokin Creek, about 45 m. (73 m. by rail) N. by E. of Harrisburg. Pop. (1900) 18,202, of whom 2703 were foreign-born; (1910 U.S. census) 19,588. Shamokin is served by the Philadelphia & Reading, the Northern Central, and two interurban railways. There are two parks. The mining and shipping of anthracite coal and the manufacture of silk goods and of hosiery and knit goods are the borough's principal industries, but it has, also, foundries and machine shops, and manufactories of powder, powder-kegs, shirts, overalls, hooks and eyes, brick, flour and dressed lumber. The total value of its factory product in 1905 was $1,443,915. The borough was named from Shamokin Creek; the name is probably a mutilation of a Delaware Indian word meaning “ full of eels." The Indian village named Shamokin was on the site of the present Sunbury, Pa. Shamokin was formed in 1852 by the union of two villages, Groveville, and Mary Ann. It was incorporated as a borough in 1864.


SHAMPOO, a word now principally used as a hair-dresser's term for washing the head and hair with soap and water or some special preparation. It is properly the Hindustani word (champna, to thrust, press; imperative champo) for the kneading and rubbing of the body, &c., which is one of the principal features of the various forms of hot bath as practised in the East.


SHAMYL (c. 1797–1871), the leader of the tribes of the Caucasus in the war against Russia. He was born about 1797 and, educated by the Mullah Djemaleddin, soon took a leading part in preaching a holy war against the Russians. He was both the spiritual and military leader of the tribes, who maintained the struggle for twenty-five years (1834–1859). This perpetual guerrilla was a severe strain upon the resources of the great power, and Shamy1's romantic fight for independence, making him a sort of ally of England and France at the time of the Crimean War (1853–55), earned him a European reputation. But the capacity of the tribes for resistance was already failing, and when at the close of the Crimean War Russia was able to employ large forces on the Caucasus, the defenders were gradually subdued, Shamyl himself being captured in 1859. The rest of his life was spent in an easy captivity at Kaluga, St Petersburg and Kiev. He died at Mecca during a pilgrimage in 1871. One of his sons took service in the Russian, the other in the Turkish army.


SHANGALLA, or SHANKALLA, a name loosely applied by Abyssinians to the non-Arab and non-Abyssinian tribes living west of Gojam in the Abyssinian-Sudan frontier lands. The principal tribes included are the Legas, Bertat, Gumus, Kadalos and Sienetjo. In some tribes Galla blood appears to predominate; others are Negroids.


SHANGHAI, a city in the Chinese province of 'Kiang-su. The native city of Shanghai is situated in 31° 15' N., 121° 27' E. and stands on the left or W. bank of the Hwang-p'u river, about 12 m. from the point where that river empties itself into the estuary of the Yangtsze-kiang. The walls which surround it are about 3½ m. in circumference, and are pierced by seven gates. The streets and thoroughfares may be said to illustrate all the worse features of Chinese cities; while the want of any building of architectural or antiquarian interest robs the city of any redeeming traits. On the E. face of the city, between the walls and the river, stands the principal suburb, off which the native shipping lies anchored. Situated in the extreme E. portion of the province of Kiang-su, and possessing a good and commodious anchorage, as well as an easy access to the ocean, it forms the principal port of central China. From the W. wall of the city there stretches a rich alluvial plain extending over 45,000 sq. m., which is intersected by waterways and great chains of lakes and bears a population of 800 to the sq. m. The products of this fertile district, as well as the teas and silks of more distant regions, find their natural outlet at Shanghai. The looms of Suchow and the tea plantations of Ngan-hui, together with the rice of this “ garden of China,” for many years before treaty days, supplied the Shanghai junks with their richest freight. But though thus favourably situated as an emporium of trade, Shanghai did not attract, the attention of foreign diplomatists until the outbreak of the War of 1841, when the inhabitants purchased protection from the attacks of Admiral Parker by the payment of a ransom of £145,000. In the Nanking treaty, which was signed in the following year, Shanghai was included among the four new ports which were thrown open to trade. In 1843 Captain (afterwards Sir) George Balfour was appointed British consul, and it was on his motion that the site of the present English settlement, which is bounded on the N. by the Suchow creek, on the S. by the Yang-king canal, and on the E. by the river, was chosen. The site, thus defined on its three sides (on the W. no boundary was marked out), is three-fifths of a mile in length, and was separated from the native city by a narrow strip of land which was subsequently selected as the site of the French settlement. Later again the Americans established themselves on the other side of the Suchow creek, on a piece of land fronting on the river, which there makes a sharp turn in an easterly direction.

A handsome bund runs along the river frontage of the three foreign settlements, and the public buildings, especially in the British settlement, are large and fine. The cathedral, which is built in the Gothic style, is a notable example of Sir G. Gilbert Scott's skill, and the municipal offices, club-house and hospitals are all admirable in their way. The climate is somewhat trying. Shanghai lies low, and, though the early winter is enjoyable, snow and ice being occasionally seen, the summer months are excessively hot. Cholera occurs in the native city every summer, malarial fever exists and dysentery is apt to become chronic in spring and autumn on account of the sudden changes of temperature—a fall of 20° to 30° taking place in a few hours-and the moisture-laden atmosphere. Smallpox is endemic in the Chinese city during the autumn and winter, and enteric is common in the autumn. In the foreign settlements, owing to sanitary enactments, cholera is rare, and Europeans who adopt ordina precautions “ have nothing to fear from the climate of Shanghai " (China Sea Directory, vol. iii., ed. 1904).

At first merchants appeared disinclined to take advantage of the opportunities offered them at Shanghai. “ At the end of the first year of its history as an open port Shanghai could count only 23 foreign residents and families, 1 consular flag, 11 merchants' houses, and 2 Protestant missionaries. Only