hardly 600 yds. from the Landing, but it was in a naturally strong position, and Beauregard suspended the attack at sunset. There was a last fruitless assault, delivered by some of the Confederate brigades on the right that had not received Beauregard’s order against Nelson’s intact troops, who were supported by the fire of the gunboats on the Tennessee. During the 'night Grant’s detached division (Lew Wallace’s) and Buell’s army came up, totalling 25,000 fresh troops, and at 5 a.m. on the 7th Grant took the offensive. Beauregard thereupon decided to extricate his sorely-tried troops from the misadventure, and retired fighting on Corinth. About Shiloh Church, a strong rearguard under Bragg repulsed the attacks of Grant and Buell for six hours before withdrawing, and all that Grant and Buell achieved was the reoccupation of the abandoned camps. It was a Confederate failure, but not a Union victory, and, each side being weakened by about 10,000 men, neither made any movements for the next three weeks.
SHILOH, a town of Ephraim, where the sanctuary of the ark
was, under the priesthood of the house of Eli. According to
1 Sam. iii. 3, 15, this sanctuary was not a tabernacle but a temple,
with doors. But the priestly narrator of Josh. xviii. 1 has it
that the tabernacle was set up there by Joshua after the conquest.
In Judges xxi. 19 seq. the yearly feast at Shiloh appears as of
merely local character. The sanctuary at Shiloh seems to have
been destroyed, probably by the Philistines after the battle of
Ebenezer; cf. Jeremiah vii. 12 seq. The position described in
Judges, loc. cit., gives certainty to the identification with the
modern Seilun lying some 2 m. E.S.E. of Khan Labban (Lebonah),
on the road from Bethel to Shechem. Here there is a ruined village,
on an elevation protected by lofty hills on three sides, and
open only towards the south, offering a strong position, which
suggests that the place was a stronghold as well as a sanctuary.
Fertile land surrounds the hill. The name Seilun corresponds to
Σιλοῦν in Josephus. LXX. has Σηλω, Σηλωμ. The forms
given in the Hebrew Bible (ש׳לז ,ש׳לה) have dropped the final
consonant, which reappears in the adjective ש׳לזנ׳.
SHIMOGA, or Sheemoga, a town and district in the state of
Mysore, southern India. The town is situated on the Tunga
river, and is the terminus of a branch railway. Pop. (1901)
6240. The area of the district is 4025 sq. m. Its river system
is twofold; in the east the Tunga, Bhadra and Varada unite to
form the Tungabhadra, which ultimately falls into the Kistna
and so into the Bay of Bengal, while in the west a few minor
streams flow to the Sharavati, which near the north-western
frontier bursts through the Western Ghats by the celebrated
Falls of Gersoppa (q.v.).
The western half of the district is mountainous and covered with magnificent forest, and is known as the Malnad or hill country, some of the peaks being 4000 ft. above sea-level. The general elevation of Shimoga is about 2000 ft.; and towards the east it opens out into the Maidan or plain country, which forms part of the general plateau of Mysore. The Malnad region is very picturesque, its scenery abounding with every charm of tropical forests and mountain wilds; on the other hand, the features of the Maidan country are for the most part comparatively tame. The mineral products of the district include iron-ore and laterite. The soil is loose and sandy in the valleys of the Malnad, and in the north-east the black cotton soil prevails. Bison are common in the taluk of Saugor, where also wild elephants are occasionally seen; while tigers, leopards, bears, wild hog, sambhar and chitál deer are numerous in the wooded tracts of the west. Shimoga presents much variety of climate. The south-west monsoon is felt in full force for about 25 m. from the Ghats, bringing an annual rainfall of more than 150 in., but the rainfall gradually diminishes to 31 in. at Shimoga station and to 25 in. or less at Chennagiri. The population in 1901 was 531,736. Rice is the staple crop; next in importance is sugar-cane; areca nuts are also extensively grown; and miscellaneous crops include vegetables, fruits and pepper. The chief manufactures are coarse cotton cloths, rough country blankets, iron implements, brass and copper wares, pottery and jaggery. The district is noted for its beautiful sandal-wood carving.
During the Mahommedan usurpation of Mysore from 1761 to 1799, unceasing warfare kept the whole country in constant turmoil. After the restoration of the Hindu dynasty Shimoga became the scene of disturbances caused by the mal-administration of the Deshast Brahmans, who had seized upon every office and made themselves obnoxious. These disturbances culminated in the insurrection of 1830, which led to the direct assumption of the administration by the British.
SHINGLE. (1) A Middle English corruption of schindle, from
Lat. scindula or scandula, a wooden tile, from scandere, to cut—a
kind of wooden tile, generally of oak, used in places where
timber is plentiful, for covering roofs, spires, &c. In England
they are generally plain, but on the continent of Europe the ends
are sometimes rounded, pointed or cut into ornamental form.
(2) Water-worn detritus, of larger and coarser form than gravel,
chiefly used of the pebbly detritus of a sea-beach. This word is
of Norwegian origin, from singl or singling, coarse gravel. It is
apparently derived from singla, to make a ringing sound, a form
of “to sing,” with allusion to the peculiar noise made when
walking over shingle. (3) The word “shingles,” the common
name of herpes zoster, a particular form of the inflammatory
eruption of the skin known as herpes (q.v.), is the plural of an
obsolete word for a girdle, sengle, taken through O. Fr. cengle
from Lat. cingulum, cingere, to gird.
SHINWARI, a Durani Afghan tribe occupying the northern
slopes of the Safed Kob below Jalalabad. One clan, the Ali Sher
Khel, fall within the British sphere in the North-West Frontier
Province of India. They live on the Loargai border of Peshawar
district, and number some 3000 FIghting men. The remaining
three clans are Afghan subjects.
SHIO-GHI, the Japanese game of chess. Like Go-bang, the
game of the middle classes, and Sugorochu (double-six), that of
the common people, it was introduced from China many centuries
ago and is still popular with the educated classes. It is played
on a board divided into 81 squares, nine on a side; with 20 pieces
on each side, arranged on the three outer rows. The pieces,
which are flat and punt-shaped with the smaller end towards the
front, represent, by means of different inscriptions, the O, or Sho,
King-General, with whose checkmate the game ends, his two
chief aids, the Kin and Ghin, Gold and Silver Generals (two of
each), Ka-Ma, horse or knight (two), Yari, spearman (two), one
Hisha, or flying chariot (rook), one Kaku (bishop), and nine Hio
or Fu, soldiers or pawns. All these pieces, like those in chess,
possess different functions. The chief difference between chess
and Shio-ghi is that in the Japanese game a piece does not cease
to be a factor in the game when it is captured by the opponent,
but may be returned by him to the board at any time as a
reserve; and, secondly, all pieces, except the King and Gold
General, are promoted to higher powers upon entering the last
three rows of the enemy’s territory. This possibility of utilizing
captured forces against their former masters and the altering
values of the different men render shio-ghi a very difficult and
complicated game.
See Games Ancient and Oriental, by E. Falkener (London, 1892); the Field (Sept. 1904).
SHIP, the generic name (O. Eng. scip, Ger. Schiff, Gr. σκάφος, from the root skap, cf. “scoop”) for the invention by which man has contrived to convey himself and his goods upon water. The derivation of the word points to the fundamental conception by which, when realized, a means of flotation was obtained superior to the raft, which we may consider the earliest and most elementary form of vessel. The trunk of a tree hollowed out, whether by fire, or by such primitive tools as are fashioned and used with singular patience and dexterity by savage races, represents the first effort to obtain flotation depending on something other than the mere buoyancy of the material. The poets, with characteristic insight, have fastened upon these points. Homer’s hero Ulysses is instructed to make a raft with a raised platform upon it, and selects trees “withered of old, exceeding dry, that might float lightly for him” (Od. v. 240). Virgil, glorifying the dawn and early progress of the arts, tells us, “Rivers then first the hollowed alders felt” (Georg. i. 136, ii. 451). Alder is a heavy wood and not fit for rafts. But to make for the first time a dug-out canoe of alder, and so to secure its flotation, would be a triumph of primitive art, and thus the, poet’s expression represents a great step in the history of the invention of the ship.
Primitive efforts in this direction may be classified in the
