variegated marls " and with a variety of Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous deposits. The Tertiary formation (Eocene) appears only at Novo-uzensk; the remainder of a vast sheet of this formation, which at one time covered all the region between the Volga and the Urals, was removed during the Glacial period. Post-Tertiary Caspian deposits penetrate far into the government along the main valleys, and a thick layer of loess occurs in the N. Selenites, rock-crystal and agates are found, as also copper orcs, rock-salt and sandstone extracted for building purposes. The soil is on the whole very fertile. All the N. of the government is covered with a thick sheet of black earth; this becomes thinner towards the S., clays-mostly fertile-cropping out from underneath it; salt clays appear in the S.E. Samara is inadequately drained, especially in the S. The Volga flows for 550 m. along its W. border. Its tributaries, the Great Cheremshan (220 m.), the Sok (195 m.), the Samara (340 m.), with its tributaries, are not navigable, partly on account of their shallowness and partly because of water-mills. When the water is high, boats can penetrate up some of them 15 to 30 m. The Great Irgiz alone, which has an exceedingly winding course of 335 m., is navigated to Kushum, and rafts are floated from Nikolayevsk. The banks of both Karamans are densely peopled. The Great and Little Uzeň drain S.E. Samara and lose themselves in the Kamysh sands before reaching the Caspian. Salt marshes occur in the S.E. The whole of the region is rapidly drying up. The forests, which are disappearing, are extensive only in the N. Altogether they cover 8% of the surface; prairie and grazing land occupies 32%, and 12% is uncultivable. The climate is one of extremes, especially in the steppes, where the depressing heat and drought of summer are followed in winter by severe frosts, often accompanied by snowstorms. The average temperature at Samara (53° 11′ N.) is only 39°2 (January, 9° 3; July, 70°-4). The population, which was 1,388,500 in 1853, numbered 2,763,478 in 1897, of whom 1,398,263 were women and 159.485 lived in towns. The estimated pop. in 1906 was 3,276,500. Great and Little Russians formed 69% of the inhabitants; Mordvinians 8.6%, Chuvashes and Votiaks 2.3%, Germans 8.1%, Tatars 3-6% and Bashkirs 2%. The Great Russians immigrated in compact masses. special feature of Samara is its German colonists, from Württemberg, Baden, Switzerland and partly also from Holland and the Palatinate, whose immigration dates from the time of Catherine II. in 1762. Favoured as they were by free and extensive grants of land, by exemption from military service and by self-government, they have developed into wealthy colonies of Roman Catholics, Protestants, Unitarians, Anabaptists, Moravians and Mennonites. As regards religion, the great bulk of the population are Orthodox Greeks; the Nonconformists, who are settled chiefly on both the rivers Uzeň, number officially 100,000, but their real numbers are higher; next come Mahommedans, 12%; various Protestant sects, 5%; Roman Catholics, about 2%; and some 4000 pagans. general impoverishment may be judged from the death-rate, 46 to 48 per thousand. Out of the total area, 4,143,800 acres belong to the crown, 7,979,000 to private persons and 22,486,700 acres to the peasants, who rent, morcover, about 6 million acres. Water melons and sunflowers are extensively cultivated, and gardening is widely engaged in; mustard and inferior qualities of tobacco are grown. Hemp-seed, linseed, and other oil-seeds and bran are exported, as well as cereals and flour. Livestock are extensively bred. Bee-keeping is another pursuit that is widely followed. The export of poultry, especially of geese, has increased greatly. The principal manufactures are flourmills, tanneries, distilleries, candle and tallow works, breweries and sugar refineries. Petty domestic industries, especially the weaving of woollen cloth, are carried on in the S. Both the external and the internal trade are very flourishing, nearly 250 fairs being held in the government every year; the chief are those at Novo-uzensk and Bugulma. Owing to the efforts of the local zemstvos there are more than the average number of primary schools, namely, one for every 1810 inhabitants. The government is divided into seven districts, the chief towns of which are Samara, Bugulma, Buguruslan, Buzuluk, Nikolayevsk, Novo-Uzen and Stavropol. The Sergiyevsk sulphurous mineral springs, 57 m. from Buguruslan, are visited by numbers of patients. The territory now occupied by Samara was until the 18th century the abode of nomads. The Bulgarians who occupied it until the 13th century were followed by Mongols of the Golden Horde. The Russians penetrated thus far in the 16th century, after the conquest of the principalities of Kazan and Astrakhan. To secure communication between these two cities, the fort of Samara was erected in 1586, as well as Saratov, Tsaritsyn and the first line of Russian forts, which extended from Byelyi-yar on the Volga to the neighbourhood of Menzelinsk near the Kama. In 1670 Samara was taken by the insurgent leader Stenka Razin. In 1732 the line of forts was removed a little farther E., and the Russian colonists advanced E. as the forts were pushed forwards. In 1762, on the invitation of Catherine II., emigrants from various parts of Germany settled in this region, as also did the Raskolniks, whose communities on the Irgiz became the centre of a formidable insurrection in 1775 under Pugachev. At the end of the 18th century Samara became an important centre for trade. In the first half of the 19th century the region was rapidly colonized by Great and Little Russians. In 1847-1850 the government introduced about 120 Polish families; in 18571859 Mennonites from Danzig founded settlements; and in 1859 a few Circassians were brought hither by government; while the influx of Great Russian peasants still goes on. (P. A. K.; J. T. BE.) SAMARA, a town of E. Russia, capital of the government of the same name, 305 m. by river S.S.E of Kazan and 261 m. by rail W.N.W of Orenburg. Its population, which was 63,479 in 1883, numbered 91,672 in 1897. Owing to its situation on the left bank of the Volga, at the convergence of the Siberian and Central Asian railways, it has great commercial importance, especially as a depôt for cereals and a centre for flour-milling. A considerable trade is also carried on in animal products, particularly hides. The other industries include iron-foundries, breweries and brick-works. The port is the best on the Volga. Three great fairs are held every year. The city, which gives title to a bishop of the Orthodox Greek Church, has three cathedrals, built in 1685, 1730-1735 and 1894 respectively, three public libraries, and a natural history and archaeological museum. It is famous for its kumis (mare's milk) cures. Its foundation took place in 1586-1591 for the purpose of protecting the Russian frontier against the Bashkirs, the Kalmucks and the Nogai Tatars. The chief occupation is agriculture-wheat, rye, oats, millet, oil-yielding plants, potatoes and tobacco being the principal crops. Owing to its great fertility, Samara usually has a surplus of grain for export, varying from 1 to 4 million quarters (ex-soap, candles, vehicles and glue factories, cooperages, tanneries, clusive of oats) annually. Notwithstanding this production, the government is periodically liable to famine to such an extent that men die by thousands of hunger-typhus, or are forced to go by thousands in search of employment on the Volga. The population have no store of corn, or reserve capital for years of scarcity, and some 210,000 males have each an average of only four acres of arable and pasture land. But even this soil, although all taxed as arable, is often of such quality that only 50% to 55% of it is under crops, while the peasants are compelled to rent from two to two and a half million acres for tillage from large proprietors. Over 8 million acres, or not far short of one-quarter of the total area of the government, purchased from the crown or from the Bashkirs-very often at a few pence per acre are in the hands of no more than 1704 persons. The SAMARIA, an ancient city of Palestine. The name Samaria is derived through the Gr. Zauapeta from the Hebrew, an outlook hill," or rather from the Aramaic form R whence also comes the Assyrian form Samirina. According to 1 Kings xvi. 24, Omri, king of Israel, bought Samaria from a certain Shemer (whose name is said to be the origin of that of the city), and transferred thither his capital from Tirzah. But the city, as a superficial inspection of the site shows, must have existed as a settlement long before Omri, as potsherds of earlier date lie scattered on the surface. The city was occupied by Ahab, who here built a temple to "Baal" (1 Kings xvi. 32) and a palace of ivory (1 Kings xxii. 39). It sustained frequent sieges during the troubled history of the Israelite kingdom. Ben-Hadad II. of Syria assaulted it in the reign of Ahab, but was repulsed and obliged to allow the Israelite traders to establish a quarter in Damascus, as his predecessor Ben-Hadad I. had done in Samaria (1 Kings xx. 34). Ben-Hadad II. in the time of Jehoahaz again besieged Samaria, and caused a famine in the city; but some panic led them to raise the siege (2 Kings vi., vii.). The history of the city for the following 120 years is that of Israel (see JEWS). In 727 died Tiglath-Pileser, to whom the small kingdoms of W. Asia had been in vassalage; in the case of Israel at least since Menahem (2 Kings xv. 19). He was succeeded by Shalmaneser IV., and the king of Israel, with the rest, attempted to revolt. Shalmaneser accordingly invaded Syria, and in 724 began a three-years' siege of Samaria (2 Kings xvii. 5). He died before it was completed, but it was finished by Sargon, who reduced the city, deported its inhabitants, and established within it a mixed multitude of settlers (who were the ancestors of the modern Samaritans). These people themselves seem to have joined a revolt against the Assyrians, which was soon quelled. The next event we hear of in the history of the city is its conquest by Alexander the Great (331 B.C.), and later by Ptolemy Lagi and Demetrius Poliorcetes. It quickly recovered from these injuries: when John Hyrcanus besieged it in 120 B.C. it was "a very strong city" which offered a vigorous resistance (Jos. Ant. xiii. x. 2). It was rebuilt by Pompey, and restored by Aulus Gabinius: but it was to Herod that it owed much of its later glory. He built a great temple, a hippodrome and a street of columns surrounding the city, the remains of which still arrest the attention. It was renamed by him Sebaste, in honour of Augustus: this name still survives in the modern name Sebusteh.' Philip here preached the gospel (Acts viii. 5). The rise of Neapolis (Shechem) in the neighbourhood caused the decay of Sebaste. It was quite small by the time of Eusebius. The crusaders did something to develop it by establishing a bishopric with a large church, which still exists (as a mosque); here were shown the tombs of Elisha, Obadiah and St John the Baptist. From this time onward the village dwindled to the poor dirty place it is to-day. The site of Samaria is an enormous mound of accumulation, one of the largest in Palestine. In some places it is estimated the débris is at least 40 ft. deep. The crusaders' church remains almost intact, and numerous fragments of carved stone are built into the village houses, beneath which in some places are some interesting tombs. The hippodrome remains in the valley below, and the columns of the street of columns are in very good order. The walls can be traced almost all round the town: at the end of the mound opposite the modern village are the dilapidated ruins of a large gate. The site stands in the very centre of Palestine, and, built on a steep and almost isolated hill, with a long and spacious plateau for its summit, is naturally a position of much strength, commanding two of the most important roads-the great N. and S. road which passes immediately under the E. wall, and the road from Shechem to the maritime plain which runs a little to the W. of the city. The hill of Samaria is separated from the surrounding mountains (Amos iii. 9) by a rich and well-watered plain, from which it rises in successive terraces of fertile soil to a height of 400 or 500 ft. Only on the E. a narrow saddle, some 200 ft. beneath the plateau, runs across the plain towards the mountains; it is at this point that the traveller coming from Shechem now ascends the hill to the village of Scbusteh, which occupies only the extreme E. of a terrace beneath the hill-top, behind the crusaders' church, which is the first thing that attracts the eye as one approaches the town. The hill-top, the longer axis of which runs W. from the village, rises 1450 ft. above the sea, and commands a superb view towards the Mediterranean, the mountains of Shechem and Mount Hermon. Excavations under the auspices of Harvard University began here in 1908. (R. A. S. M.) 1 Accentuated on the second syllable. Guide- and travel-books generally spell the name Sebastiyeh, which is not a correct rendering of the local pronunciation. | SAMARITANS. This term, which primarily means "inhabitants of Samaritis, or the region of Samaria," is specially used, in the New Testament and by Josephus, as the name of a peculiar religious community which had its headquarters in the Samaritan country, and is still represented by a few families at Nablus, the ancient Shechem. By the Jews they are called Shomronim, a gentilic form from Shomron = Samaria; among themselves they sometimes use the name Shemêrem (= Heb. Shomerim) which is explained to mean Keepers," sc. of the Law, but they usually style themselves "Israel or "Children of Israel." They claim to be descendants of the ten tribes, and to possess the orthodox religion of Moses, accepting the Pentateuch and transmitting it in a Hebrew text which for the most part has only slight variations from that of the Jews. But they regard the Jewish temple and priesthood as schismatical, and declare that the true sanctuary chosen by God is not Zion but Mount Gerizim, over against Shechem (St John iv. 20). The sanctity of this site they prove from the Pentateuch, reading Gerizim for Ebal in Deut. xxvii. 4. With this change the chapter is interpreted as a command to select Gerizim as the legitimate sanctuary (cf. verse 7). Moreover, in Exod. xx. 17 and Deut. v. 21 a commandment (taken from Deut. xxvii.) is found in the Samaritan text, at the close of the decalogue, giving directions to build an altar and do sacrifice on Gerizim, from which of course it follows that not only the temple of Zion but the earlier shrine at Shiloh and the priesthood of Eli were schismatical. Such at least is the express statement of the later Samaritans: in earlier times, as they had no sacred books except the Pentateuch, they probably ignored the whole history between Joshua and the captivity, thus escaping many difficulties. According to modern views the books of Moses were not. reduced to their present form till after the exile, when their regulations were clearly intended to apply to the rebuilt temple of Zion. The Samaritans must in that case have derived their Pentateuch from the Jews after Ezra's reforms of 444 B.C. Before that time Samaritanism cannot have existed in the form in which we know it, but there must have been a community ready to accept the Pentateuch. The city of Samaria had been taken by Assyria (2 Kings xvii. 6 sqq. and xviii. 9-11) in 722 B.C., and the inhabitants deported, but in point of fact the district of Mount Ephraim was not entirely stripped of its old Hebrew population by this means. In the Annals of Sargon the number of the exiles is put at 27,290, representing no doubt the more prominent of the inhabitants, for this number cannot include the whole of N. Israel. The poorer sort must have remained on the land, and among them the worship of Jehovah went on as before at the old shrines of N. Israel, but probably corrupted by the religious rites of the new settlers. The account of the country given in 2 Kings xvii. 25 seq. dwells only on the partial adoption of Jehovah-worship by the foreigners settled in the land, and by no means implies that these constituted the whole population. Josiah extended his reforms to Bethel and other Samaritan cities (2 Kings xxiii. 19), and the narrative shows that at that date things were going on at the N. sanctuaries much as they had done in the time of Amos and Hosea. To a considerable extent his efforts to make Jerusalem the sanctuary of Samaria as well as of Judah must have been successful, for in Jer. xli. 5 we find fourscore men from Shechem, Shiloh and Samaria making a pilgrimage to "the house of Jehovah," after the catastrophe of Zedekiah. It is therefore not surprising that the people of this district came to Zerubbabel and Jeshua after the restoration, claiming to be of the same religion with the Jews and asking to be associated in the rebuilding of the Temple. They were rejected by the leaders of the new theocracy, who feared the result of admitting men of possibly mixed blood and of certainly questionable orthodoxy; and so the Jehovah-worshippers of Samaria were driven to the ranks of "the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin " (Ezra iv.). Nevertheless, down to the time of Nehemiah, the breach was not absolute; but the expulsion from Jerusalem in 432 B.C. of a man of high-priestly family (Neh. xiii. 28), who had married a daughter of Sanballat, made it so. It can hardly be doubted that this priest is the Manasseh of Josephus (Ant. xi. 8), who carried the Pentateuch to Shechem, and for whom the temple of Gerizim was perhaps built For, though the story in Josephus is put a century too late and is evidently based on a confusion, it agrees with Neh. xiii. in essentials too closely to be altogether rejected,' and supplies exactly what is wanted to explain the existence in Shechem of a community bitterly hostile to the Jews, yet constituted in obedience to Ezra's Pentateuch. It is remarkable that, having got the Pentateuch, they followed it with a fidelity as exact as that of the Jews, except in regard to the sanctuary on Mt Gerizim. The text of the sacred book was transmitted with as much conscientiousness as was observed by Jewish scribes; and even from the unwilling witness of the Jews we gather that they fulfilled all righteousness with scrupulous punctiliousness so far as the letter of the law was concerned. They did not however, receive the writings even of the prophets of N. Israel (all of which are preserved to us only by the Jews) nor the later oral law as developed by the Pharisees. But although these differences separated the two communities, their internal development and external history ran parallel courses till the Jewish state took a new departure under the Maccabees. The religious resemblance between the two bodies was increased by the institution of the synagogue, from which there grew up a Samaritan theology and an exegetical tradition. The latter is embodied in the Samaritan Targum, or Aramaic version of the Pentateuch, which in its present form is probably not much earlier than the 4th century A.D., but in general is said to agree with the readings of Origen's TÒ ZaμaрELTIKÓV. Whether the latter represents a complete translation of the Law into Greek may be doubted, but at any rate the Samaritans began already in the time of Alexander to be influenced by Hellenism. They as well as Jews were carried to Egypt by Ptolemy Lagi, and the rivalry of the two parties was continued in Alexandria (Jos. Ant. xii. 1.1), where such a translation may have been produced. Of the Samaritan contributions to Hellenistic literature some fragments have been preserved in the remains of Alexander Polyhistor." There are, however, many difficulties in the story, which is not rendered clearer by references to Sanballat in the documents from Elephantine (dated in 408/407 B. C.) published by Sachau in the Abhandlungen d. Kgl. preuss. Akad. d. Wiss. for 1907. This appears by the frequent agreement of the Samaritan Pentateuch with the Septuagint. The Samaritan character is an independent development of the old Hebrew writing, as it was about the time when they first got the Pentateuch, and this in itself is an indication that from the first their text ran a separate course. Differences between MSS. existed down to the time of the Massoretes (see art. HEBREW), and it was from one of these divergent texts that the Samaritan was derived, the Septuagint from another. But while the Jews constantly revised their text with skill and success, the rigid conservatism of the Samaritans prevented any changes except the corruptions naturally due to human infirmity. The story that they possess a copy of the Law written by Abisha, the great-grandson of Aaron, seems to have aroused a strangely widespread interest, so that tourists invariably ask to see it and usually claim to have succeeded in doing so. Considering the extreme reverence with which it is regarded, it may safely be said that this manuscript is never shown to them. The origin of the legend is no doubt due to a pious fraud. It is first mentioned by Abu'l-fath in 1355, from which year its "invention" dates. Obviously an old copy would be chosen for the purpose of such a discovery, but it is unlikely to be earlier than the 10th or 11th century A.D. Not, indeed, without exceptions, nor at all periods, but such is the general intention of the Massekheth Kuthim; see Montgomery, Samaritans, cap. x. For details see Nutt, Fragments, p. 37, and more fully, Montgomery, .c. No doubt, in addition to the legal ordinances, the Samaritans retained some ancient traditional practices (cf. Gaster in Transactions of the 3rd Internat. Congr. for the History of Religions, i. p. 299, Oxford, 1908), or introduced some new observances. Their Passover, for instance, has some peculiar features, one of which, the application of the sacrificial blood to the faces of the children, has a parallel in the old Arabic aqiqah. See the account of an eyewitness (Professor Socin) in Baedeker's Palestine; Mills, Three Months' Residence at Nablus (London, 1864), p. 248; Stanley, The Jewish Church i. app. iii. Chiefly in quotations by Eusebius (Praep. Ev., ed. Gifford, Oxon., 1903, bk. ix. 17). See Freudenthal, Hellenistische Studien, i., ii. (Breslau, 1875): Schürer, History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ (Eng. ed., 1891), ii. 3. p. 197. The troubles that fell upon the Jews under Antiochus Epiphanes were not escaped by the Samaritans (2 Macc. v. 23, vi 2), for the account in Josephus (Ant. xii. 5. 5), which makes them voluntarily exchange their religion for the worship of the Grecian Zeus, is evidently coloured to suit the author's hostility. Under the Maccabees their relations with Judaea became very bitter. They suffered severely at the hands of Hyrcanus, and the temple on Mt Gerizim was destroyed. Although this treatment established an unalterable enmity to the Jews, as we see in the New Testament, in Josephus and in Jewish tradition, the two sects had too much in common not to unite occasionally against a common enemy, and in the struggles of the Jews with Vespasian the Samaritans took part against the Romans. They were not, however, consistent, for under Hadrian they helped the Romans against the Jews and were allowed to rebuild their temple on Mt Gerizim. They seem to have shared in the Jewish dispersion, since in later times we hear of Samaritans and their synagogues in Egypt, in Rome and in other parts of the empire. In the 4th century they enjoyed a certain degree of prosperity, according to their own chronicles, under Baba the Great, who (re-) established their religious and social organization. In 484, in consequence of attacks on the Christians, the Gerizim temple was finally destroyed by the Romans, and an insurrection in 529 was suppressed by Justinian so effectively that, while retaining their distinctive religion, they became henceforth politically merged in the surrounding population, with a merely domestic history. They are mentioned in later times by the Jewish travellers Benjamin of Tudela (1173) and Obadiah Bertinoro (1488 in Egypt), by Sir John Maundeville and others, but little was known of them in Europe till Scaliger opened communications with them in 1583. In consequence of the interest thus arcused, the traveller Pietro della Valle visited them in 1616 and succeeded in obtaining a copy of their Pentateuch and of their Targum. Towards the end of the same century Robert Hurtington (afterwards bishop of Raphoe), who was chaplain to the Turkey merchants at Aleppo, interested himself in them and acquired some interesting manuscripts now in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. Since his time there has been intermittently a good deal of correspondence with them, and in recent years owing to the increased facilities for travelling they have been much visited by tourists, not altogether for their good, as well as by scholars. At the present day they live only at Nablus (Shechem), about 150 in number, the congregations formerly existing in Gaza, Cairo, Damascus and elsewhere having long since died out. Politically they are under the Turkish governor of Nablus; their ecclesiastical head is the "Priest-levite " (in 1909 Jacob b. Aaron), who claims descent from Uzziel the younger son of Kohath (Exod. vi. 18). The line of the high-priests, so called as being descended from Aaron, became extinct in 1623. they agree with the Jews in such doctrines and observances only as In religion, since they recognize no sacred book but the Pentateuch, are enjoined in the law of Moses. They do not therefore observe the feast of Purim, nor the fast of the 9th of Ab, nor any of the later rabbinical extensions or modifications of the law. It is this conservatism which has caused them to be confused with the Sadducces, who likewise rejected the later traditional teaching; but it is not correct to say that they deny the resurrection (as Epiphanius, Sectis, ii. 8), or that they are entirely free from later religious deHacres. ix., and others) and the existence of angels (Leontius, de velopments. Briefly summarized, their creed is as follows: (a) God is one, and in speaking of Him all anthropomorphic expressions are to be avoided: creation was effected by his word: divine appearances in the Pentateuch are to be explained as vicarious, by means of angels (so as early as the 4th century A.D.); (b) Moses is (c) the Law, which was created with the world, is the only divine the only prophet: all who have since claimed to be so are deceivers; revelation; (d) Mt Gerizim is the house of God, the only centre of worship; (e) there will be a day of judgment. Closely connected with this are the doctrines (also found in the 4th century) of a future life and of a messiah (Ta'eb), who shall end the period of God's displeasure (Fanuta) under which his people have suffered since the schism of Eli and the disappearance of the Ark, and shall restore Israel to favour (Re'uta, Ridwân). See Eichhorn's Repertorium, xiii. p. 257. See his letters ed. by T. Smith (London, 1704). Sce especially de Sacy in Notices et extraits, xii. The later letters are of less interest. The Samaritan language properly so called is a dialect of Palestinian Aramaic, of which the best examples are found in the literature of the 4th century A.D. An archaic alphabet, derived from the old Hebrew, was retained, and is still used by them for writing Aramaic, Hebrew and sometimes even Arabic. After the Moslem conquest of Syria in 632 the native dialect of Aramaic gradually died out, and by the 11th century Arabic had become the literary as well as the popular language In the Liturgy Hebrew was no doubt used from the earliest times side by side with Aramaic, and after the 11th century it became, in a debased form, the only language for new liturgical compositions. 3 The literature of the Samaritans is, like that of the Jews, almost entirely of a religious character Reference has been made above to Samaritan Hellenistic works which have perished except for a few fragments. According to Samaritan tradition, their books were destroyed under Hadrian and Commodus, but of the language and contents of them nothing is recorded There can be no doubt that some, perhaps much, of the literature has been lost, for nothing is extant which can be dated before the 4th century A.D The Targum, or Samaritan-Aramaic version of the Pentateuch was most probably written down about that time, though it was clearly based on a much older tradition and must have undergone various recensions. To the same period belong the liturgical compositions of Amram Darah and Margah, and the latter's midrashic commentary (called the "Book of Wonders ") on parts of the Pentateuch, all in Aramaic. With the possible exception of one or two hymns there is nothing further till the 11th century when there appears the Arabic version of the Pentateuch, usually ascribed to Abu Sa'id, but perhaps really by Abu'l-hasan of Tyre, who also wrote three Arabic treatises, still extant, on theological subjects, besides some hymns. Of the same date (1053) is an anonymous commentary on Genesis, preserved in the Bodleian Library at Oxford (MS. Opp. add. 4°, 99), interesting because it quotes from books of the Bible other than the Pentateuch. In the 12th century, Munajja and his son Şadaqah wrote on theology; the earlier part of the chronicle called al-Taulidah was compiled, in Hebrew (1149); and about the same time treatises on Grammar by Abu Sa'id and Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Faraj. The next 100 years were rather barren. Ghazal ibn-al-Duwaik, who wrote on the story of Balak and on the restoration of the kingdom to Israel, is said to have lived in the 13th century, and another chronicle (in Arabic), called the Book of Joshua, is dated about the same time by T. W. J. Juynboll. In the second half of the 14th century lived three important liturgical writers, Abisha b. Phinchas (ob. 1376), Abdallah b. Solomon and Sa'd-allah (or Sa'd-ed-din) b. Sadaqah: Abu'l-fath, who composed his chronicle in 1355: a high priest Phinehas, author of a lexicon: and the anonymous writer of the commentary on the Kitab al-asațir, a work, ascribed to Moses, containing legends of the Patriarchs. Another famous liturgist Abraham Qabazi lived in the early part of the 16th century, and his pupil Ismail Rumaihi in 1537 wrote a work on the praise of Moses. Probably about the same time, or a little later, is another anonymous commentary on Genesis in the Huntington Collection in the Bodleian Library (MS. Hunt. 301). Several members of the Danfi family were prominent in the 18th century as liturgists, among them Abraham b. Jacob, who also wrote a commentary 10 on Gen.-Num., and of the levitical family Ghazal ibn Abi Sarur, who commented on Gen.-Exod. Another Ghazal (=Tabiah n. Isaac), priest-levite, who died in 1786, was a considerable writer of liturgy. Subsequent authors are few and of little interest. Mention need only be made of the chronicle " written (ie, compiled) in Hebrew by Ab Sakhwah (= Murjan 2) b. As'ad, of the Danfi family, in 1900, chiefly on the basis of al-Taulidah and Abu'l-fath; an Arabic chronicle " by Phinchas b. Isaac (ob. 1 Except, of course, the Pentateuch itself (see BIBLE) which cannot be properly regarded as a Samaritan work. So Kahle, see the bibliography. See Neubauer in Journ. asiat. (1873), p. 341. *See Wreschner, Samaritanische Traditionen (Berlin, 1888). Ed. by Neubauer in Journ, asiat. (1869). The chronicle was continued in 1346, and was subsequently brought down to 18561857 by the present priest. See Noldeke, Goli. Gel. Nachr. (1862), Nos. 17, 20. 1 Chronicon Sam.... Liber Josuae (Lugd. Bat., 1848). It narrates the history from the death of Moses to the 4th century A.D. and is derived from sources of various dates. A Hebrew book of Joshua announced by Gaster in The Times of June 9, 1908, and published in ZDMG, vol. 62 (1908) pt. ii., is a modern compilation; see Yahuda in Sitzgsber. d. Kgl. Preuss. Akad. (1908), p. 887, and Gaster's reply in ZDMG, 62, pt. iii. Ed. by Vilmar (Gotha, 1865). Partly translated by Payne Smith in Heidenheim's Vierteljahrsschrift, vol. ii. Translated by Leitner in Heid. Viert. iv. 184, &c. An account of the work (of which the only MS. is in Berlin) was given by Geiger in ZDMG, xx. p. 143 and later. Parts of it were published as dissertations by Klumel in 1902 and Hanover 1904. "Ed. by E. N. Adler and M. Seligsohn in the Revue des études juives, vols. 44-46. MS. | 1898) of the levitical family; and a theological work," also in Arabic, by the present priest-levite, Jacob b. Aaron. BIBLIOGRAPHY.-General: Nutt, Fragments of a Samaritan Targum. .with... a Sketch of Sam. History, &c. (London, 1874); Montgomery, The Samaritans (Philadelphia, 1907), an excellent account with full bibliography; Petermann, Brevis ling. sam. grammatica (Porta Lingg. Orient.), Leipzig, 1873: Steinschneider, Die arabische Literatur d. Juden, p. 319 sqq. (Frankfurt, 1902). Texts: the Pentateuch in the Paris and London Polyglotts; separately by Blayney (Oxford, 1790). A critical edition is in preparation by the Freiherr von Gall. Targum in the Polyglotts; reprinted in square character by Brüll (Frankfurt, 1874-1879); with critical apparatus by Petermann and Vollers (Beroliní, 1872-1891); cf. also Nutt, op. cit.; Kohn, "Zur Sprache. ... der Samaritaner," pt. ii. (Leipzig, 1876) (in Abhandlungen f. d. Kunde d. Morgenlandes, v. 4); Kahle, Textkritische . . . Bemerkungen. (Leipzig, 1898) and Zeitsch. f. Assyr. xvi., xvii. Arabic version, ed. by Kuenen (Gen.Lev.), Lugd. Bat. (1851); cf. Bloch, Die Sam.-arab. Pent.-überset zung, Deut. i.-xi. (Berlin, 1901); Kahle, Die arab. Bibelübersetzungen (Leipzig, 1904); Heidenheim, Der Commentar Marqahs (Weimar, 1896). Parts also in dissertations by Baneth (1888), Munk (1890), Emmerich (1897), Hildesheimer (1898). Various texts and translations, mostly liturgical, in Heidenheim's Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift (Gotha, 1864-1865, Zurich 1867?) often incorrect, cf. Geiger in ZDMG, xvi.-xxii. Cowley, The Samaritan Liturgy (Oxford, 1909), text and introduction. For editions of other works see the foregoing footnotes. (A. CY.) SAMARIUM [symbol Sm, atomic weight 150.4 (O=16)], a rare earth metal (see RARE EARTHS). The separation has been worked at by A. v. Welsbach, L. de Boisbaudran, Urbain and Lacombe (Comptes rendus, 1903, 137, pp. 568, 792); Demarçay (ibid. 1000, 130, p. 1019); Benedicks; Feit and Przibylla (Zeit. anorg. Chem., 1905, 43, p. 200) and others. The metal may be obtained by reduction of its oxide with magnesium. It combines with hydrogen to form a hydride. The salts are mostly of a yellowish colour. The chloride, SmCl. 6H2O, is a deliquescent solid which when heated in hydrochloric acid gas to 180° C. yields the anhydrous chloride. This anhydrous chloride is reduced to a lower chloride, of composition SmCl2, when heated to a high temperature in a current of hydrogen or ammonia (Matignon and Cazes, Comptes rendus, 1906, 142, p. 183). The chloride, SmCl2, is a brown crystalline powder which is decomposed by water with liberation of hydrogen and the formation of the oxide, Sm2O3, and an oxychloride, SmOCI. The fluoride, SmF3.H2O, was prepared by H. Moissan by acting with fluorine on the carbide. The sulphate, Sm 2 (SO4)3. 8H2O, is obtained by the action of sulphuric acid on the nitrate. It forms double salts with the alkaline sulphates. The carbide, SmC2, is formed when the oxide is heated with carbon in the electric furnace. SAMARKAND, a province of Russian Turkestan, formerly Zarafshan or Zerafshan. It is the ancient Sogdiana and was known as Sughd to the Moslems of the middle ages. It has on the N. and N.E. the province of Syr-darya, on the E. Ferghana, on the W. Bokhara and on the S. the khanates of Hissar, Karateghin and Darvaz. Its area is 26,627 sq. m. It is very hilly in the S., where it is intersected by ranges belonging to the Alai system. The Hissar range is the water-parting between the Zarafshan and the upper tributaries of the Amu-darya; another high range, the Zarafshan, runs between the two parallel rivers, the Zarafshan and its tributary, the Yagnob; while a third range, often called the Turkestan chain, stretches W. to E. parallel to the Zarafshan, on its N. bank. It is very probable that the three ranges referred to really possess a much more complicated character than is supposed. All three ranges are snow-clad, and their highest peaks reach altitudes of 18,500 ft. in the W. and 22,000 ft. in the E., while the passes over them, which are difficult as a rule, lie at altitudes of 12,000 ft. Several Alpine lakes, such as Iskander-kul, 7000 ft. high, have been found under the precipitous peaks. The Alpine zone extends as far N. as the 40th parallel, beyond which the province is steppe-land, broken by only one range of mountains, the Nuratyn-tau, also known as Sanzar and Malguzar in the S.E. and as Kara-tau in the NW This treeless range stretches 160 m. N.W., has a width of about 35 m. and reaches The same who compiled Gaster's book of Joshua. altitudes of 7000 ft. It is pierced, in the Sanzar gorge, or TamerMentioned by Yahuda, op. cit. p. 895, as existing in a Berlin lane's Gate, by the railway leading from Samarkand to Tashkent. 14 Translated in Bibliotheca sacra (1906), p. 385, &c. The other mountains in the province are well wooded, and it is estimated that nearly 4,500,000 acres are under forests. The N.W. portion is occupied by the Famine Steppe-which probably might be irrigated-and by the desert of Kyzyl-kum. The Famine or Hungry Steppe (not to be confounded with another desert of the same name, the Bek-pak-dala, to the W. of Lake Balkash) occupies nearly 5,000,000 acres, covered with loess-like clay. In the spring the steppe offers good pasture-grounds for the Kirghiz, but the grass withers as summer advances. Nearly 1,500,000 acres might, however, be irrigated and rendered available for the cultivation of cotton; indeed a beginning har been made in that direction. The Kyzyl-kum Steppe, 88,000 sq. m., is crossed by rocky hills, reaching an altitude of 3500 ft., and consists in part of saline clays, patches of prairie land and sand. The sand is especially prevalent on the margin, where the moving barkhans (crescent-shaped sandhills) invade the Kara-kul oasis of Bokhara. The vegetation is very poor, as a rule; grass and flowers (tulips, Rheum, various Umbelliferae) only appear for a short time in the spring. The barkhans produce nothing except Haloxylon ammodendron, Poligonum, Halimodendron, Atraphaxis and other steppe bushes; occasionally Stipa grass is seen on the slopes of the sandhills, while Artemisia and Tamarix bushes grow on the more compact sands. Water can only be obtained from wells, sometimes 140 ft. deep. A few Kirghiz are the sole inhabitants, and they are only found in the more hilly parts. The chief river is the Zarafshan, which, under the name of Mach, rises in the Zarav glacier in the Kok-su mountain group. Navigation is only possible by rafts, from Penjikent downwards. The river is heavily drawn upon for irrigation; and to this it probably owes its name ("gold-spreading ") rather than to the gold which is found in small quantities in its sands. Over 8o main canals (ariks) water 1200 sq. m. in Samarkand, while 1640 sq. m. are watered in Bokhara by means of over 40 main canals. Beyond Lake Kara-kul it is lost in the sands, before reaching the Amu-darya to which it was formerly tributary. The N.E. of the province is watered by the Syr-darya. One of the lakes, the Tuz-kanch (40 m. from Jizakh) yields about 1300 tons of salt annually. The average temperature for the year is 55.4° F. at Samarkand, and 58° at Khojent and Jizakh; but the average temperature for the winter is only 34°, and frosts of 4° and 11° have been experienced at Samarkand and Khojent respectively; on the other hand, the average temperature for July is 79° at Samarkand and 85° at Khojent and Jizakh. The total precipitation (including snow in winter) is only 6-4 in. at Khojent,12 in. at Samarkand and 24 in. at Jizakh. The hilly tracts have a healthy climate, but malaria and mosquitoes prevail in the lower regions. SAMARKAND, a city of Russian Central Asia, anciently Maracanda, the capital of Sogdiana, then the residence of the Moslem Sāmānid dynasty, and subsequently the capital of the Mongol prince Tamerlane, is now chief town of the province of the same name. It lies 220 m. by rail S.W. of Tashkent, and 156 m. E. of Bokhara, in 39° 39′ N. and 66° 45′ E., 2260 ft. above the sea, in the fertile valley of the Zarafshan, at the point where it issues from the W. spurs of the Tian-shan before entering the steppes of Bokhara. The Zarafshan now flows 5 m. N. of the city. In 1897 the population numbered 40,000 in the native city, and 15,000 in the new Russian town, inclusive of the military (80% Russians). The total population was 58,194 in 1900, and of these only 23,194 were women. Maracanda, a great city, was destroyed by Alexander the Great in 329 B.C. It reappears as Samarkand at the time of the conquest by the Arabs, when it was finally reduced by Kotaiba ibn Moslim in A.D. 711-712. Under the Samanids it became a brilliant seat of Arabic civilization, and was so populous that, when besieged by Jenghiz Khan in 1221, it is reported to have been defended by 110,000 men. Destroyed and pillaged by that chieftain, its population was reduced to one-quarter of what it had been. When Timur made it his residence (in 1369) the inhabitants numbered 150,000. The magnificent buildings of the successors of Timur, which still remain, testify to its former wealth. But at the beginning of the 18th century it is reported to have been almost without inhabitants. It fell under Chinese dominion, and subsequently under that of the amir of Bokhara. But no follower of Islam enters it without feeling that he is on holy ground; although the venerated mosques and beautiful colleges are falling into ruins, its influence as a seat of learning has vanished, and its very soil is profaned by infidels. It was not without a desperate struggle that the Mahommedans permitted the Russians to take their holy city. The present city is quadrangular and is enclosed by a low wall 9 m. long. The citadel is in the W., and to the W. of this the Russians have laid out since 1871 a new town, with broad streets and boulevards radiating from the citadel. The central part of Samarkand is the Righistan-a square fenced in by the three madrasahs (colleges) of Ulug-beg, Shir-dar and Tilla-kari; in its architectural symmetry and beauty this is rivalled only by some of the squares of certain Italian cities. An immense doorway decorates the front of each of these large quadrilateral buildings. A high and deep-pointed porch, reaching almost to the top of the lofty façade, is flanked on each side by a broad quadrilateral pillar of the same height. Two fine columns, profusely decorated, in turn flank these broad pillars. On each side of the high doorway are two lower archways connecting it with two elegant towers, narrowing towards the top and slightly inclined. The whole of the façade and also the interior courts The estimated population in 1906 was 1,090,400. The Uxbegs form two-thirds of the population, and after them the Kirghizare profusely decorated with enamelled tiles, whose coloursand Tajiks (27%) are the most numerous; Jews, Tatars, Afghans and Hindus are also met with. In 1898 nearly 1,000,000 acres were irrigated, and about 800,000 acres partly irrigated. The chief crops are wheat, rice and barley. Sorghum, millet, Indian corn, peas, lentils, haricots, flax, hemp, poppy, lucerne, madder, tobacco, melons and mushrooms are also grown. Two crops are often taken from the same piece of land in one season. Cotton is extensively grown, and 21,000 acres are under vineyards. Sericulture prospers, especially in the Khojent district. Live-stock breeding is the chief occupation of the Kirghiz. Weaving, saddlery, bootmaking, tanneries, oil works and metal works exist in many villages and towns, while the nomad Kirghiz excel in making felt goods and carpets. There are glass works, cotton-cleaning works, steam flour mills and distilleries. Some coal, sulphur, ammonia and gypsum are obtained. Trade is considerable, the chief exports being rice, raw cotton, raisins, dried fruit, nuts, wine and silk. The Central Asian railway crosses the province from Bokhara to Samarkand and Tashkent. The province is divided into four districts, the chief towns of which, with their populations in 1897, are: Samarkand (9.7), Jizakh (16,041), Kati-kurgan (10,083) and Khojent (30,076). blue, green, pink and golden, but chiefly turquoise-blue-are wrought into the most fascinating designs, in striking harmony with the whole and with each part of the building. Over the interior are bulbed or melon-like domes, perhaps too heavy for the façade. The most renowned of these three madrasahs is that of Ulug-beg, built in 1434 by a grandson of Timur. It is smaller than the others, but it was to its school of mathematics and astronomy that Samarkand owed its renown in the 15th century. A winding street, running N.E. from the Righistan, leads to a much larger square in which are the college of Bibikhanum on the W., the graves of Timur's wives on the S. and a bazaar on the E. The college was erected in 1388 by a Chinese wife of Timur. To the N., outside the walls of Samarkand, but close at hand, is the Hazret Shah-Zindeh, the summer-palace of Timur, and near this is the grave of Shah-Zindch, or, more precisely, Kasim ibn Abbas, a companion of Timur. This was a famous shrine in the 14th century (Ibn Batuta's Travels, iii. 52); it is believed that the saint will one day rise for the defence of his religion. The Hazret Shah-Zindeh stands on a terrace reached by forty marble steps. The decoration of the interior halls is marvellous. Another street running S.W. from the Righistan leads to the |