he was crowned by the archbishop as king of Sweden, and swore to govern the Swedes with equity and mildness. Soon after this, the Danish king having formed a scheme for extirpating the Swedish nobility, he insiduously invited the senators and nobles to a sumptuous entertainment that lasted for three days. On the last day of the feast, the hall was filled with armed men, who secured the guests; and a scaffold was erected before the palace gate, on which ninety-nine distinguished persons were publicly executed for defending the liberties of their country. In the mean time the rage of the soldiers was let loose against the citizens, who were butchered without mercy. Gustavus Vasa, a noble young Swede, who was at that time a prisoner in Denmark, made his escape from prison; and having lived a while in disguise, sometimes among peasants and shepherds, and sometimes working for bread under ground among miners, he, at length, at an annual festival, made himself known, and quickly liberated his countrymen, and avenged their wrongs. Gustavus Vasa was chosen king of Sweden, and his posterity to the present time have succeeded to the Swedish throne.... Russell. In the general overthrow of the governments of Europe, the dynasty of Gustavus was abolished; and Bernadotte, a general of the armies of France, succeeded to the throne.

SWIMMING, a necessary and life-saving art, which is commonly learned far more perfectly by savages than by civilized people. Some savage islanders are so accustomed to swimming from their very infancy, that the water seems as natural to them as to fishes. In Cooke's Voyages, it is related that a canoe, belonging to the Sandwich islanders, in which was a woman with her children, happening to overset, one of the children, of about four years old, appeared to be highly delighted with the incident; swimming about at its ease, and playing a number of tricks, till the canoe was brought to its former position. As the human body is specifically lighter than water, its sinking in that element seems to be commonly owing to a wrong position or wrong management. We have lately seen published, the following directions to prevent sinking in the water. "If a per

370

SWISSERLAND.

son fall into deep water, he will rise to the surface by flotage, and continue there, if he do not elevate his hands; keeping them down being essential to his safety. If he move his hands under the water, any way he pleases, his head will rise so high as to allow him free liberty to breathe; and if, in addition, he move his legs exactly as in the action of walking up stairs, his shoulders will rise above the water, so that he may use the less exertion with his hands, or apply them to other purposes.' In some desperate cases it is necessary for persons to plunge into the surf or swell of the sea on the coasts: here skill is to be used. This surf is composed of a number of waves, driving towards the shore; of which every third wave is observed to be considerably larger than the rest, and to flow higher up on the land: while the others break in the intermediate spaces. Accordingly, expert swimmers, aiming at the shore in a high surf, make it their first object to place themselves on the top of the largest surge, which drives them along with astonishing rapidity.

SWISSERLAND, a country in Europe; extending one hundred and eighty miles in length, and one hundred and forty in breadth; bounded by the Tyrolese and Austrian Swabia, by Savoy and Italy, and by France. It is the highest land in Europe; and some of the principal rivers of that continent have their sources here. It abounds with lofty mountains and frightful precipices, composed of rocks piled on rocks, some of them to the height of more than ten thousand feet. The Swiss fortified by their natural situation, amidst stupendous mountains and torrents, had been free from time immemorial; and when any of their nobility attempted to tyranize, they were either altogether expelled, or reduced within bounds by the people. But although they were extremely jealous of their liberties, they had always been submissive to the German empire, whose emperors had treated them with paternal indulgence, acknowledging and defending their rights. It was about the beginning of the fourteenth century, when Albert, emperor of Germany, attempted to govern the Swiss as an absolute sovereign. He sent governors to tyranize over them; one of these governors, named Geisler, or

SWORD-FISH....SYMPATHETIC INK. 371

dered his hat to be fixed on a pole in the market-place; and every passenger was commanded, on pain of death, to pay obeisance to it. William Tell, a noble minded Swiss, refused to pay this absurd homage, and the governor ordered him to be hanged; but remitted the punishment on condition that he should strike an apple from the head of his son, with an arrow. Tell struck off the apple without hurting his son. Geisler then perceiving another arrow under this marksman's coat, enquired for what purpose that was intended. "It was designed for thee (replied the Swiss) if I had had the misfortune to have killed my son. A general revolt immediately ensued ; and the Swiss established their freedom; which they purchased by above sixty battles against the Austrians. In the year 1797, these people, for so many centuries safe and independent, were conquered by the French republicans; who, according to Mallet du Pan, destroyed in Swisserland one hundred and thirty-three villages, and seventeen towns.

SWORD-FISH, an animal of the deep, that has a beak, sharp, and pointed like a sword: it is the whale's most terrible enemy. At the sight of this little animal the whale seems agitated, in a most extraordinary manner leaping from the water as if in affright: whenever it appears the whale perceives it at a distance, and flies from it in the opposite direction. The whale has no instrument of defence except the tail; with that it endeavors to strike the enemy; and a single effectual blow would destroy it. But the sword-fish is as active as the other is strong, and easily avoids the stroke; then bounding into the air, it falls upon its great subjacent enemy and endeavors not to pierce with its pointed beak, but to cut with its toothed edges. The sea all about is seen dyed with blood, proceeding from the wounds of the whale.....Anderson.

SYMPATHETIC INK, a kind of ink or paint which has this singular property, that it will appear when brought near the fire, and disappear when withdrawn from it. To make this ink, take Zaffre, or Regulus of Cobalt, as sold by the druggists, and digest it in aqua regia; which solution must be diluted by a little com

mon water, to prevent it from making too strong an impression on the paper; the colour, when the paper is heated, becomes a fine green-blue. If Zaffre, or Regulus of Cobalt, be dissolved in the same manner in spirit of nitre, or aqua-fortis, a reddish colour is produced on exposing the paper to heat: these colours vanish on their being withdrawn from the fire, unless the heat has been too great. Fire-screens have been thus painted, which, in the cold, have shewn only the trunk and branches of a dead tree, together with a sandy hill; but on approaching the fire, the dead tree puts forth green leaves and red flowers, and the sandy hill appears covered with verdant grass.. Sympathetic ink has been used in secret correspondence; and is said to have been used by General Washington, during the American War.

SYRIA, a country of Turkey, in Asia, bordering on Palestine or the Holy Land. Syria has suffered a succession of most terrible revolutions, occasioned by the invasions and ravages of foreign nations. The Assyrians of Nineveh obtained the possession of almost the whole of this country, about seven hundred and fifty years before the Christian era. Next the Chaldeans, or Babylonians, having broken the power of the Assyrian empire, completed the conquest of Syria, except only the isle of Tyre. The Chaldeans were followed by the Persians, under Cyrus; and the Persians by the Macedonians, under Alexander. The Macedonian power being at length broken, Syria yielded to the arms of Pompey, and became a province of the Roman empire. Five centuries after, it was annexed to the empire of Constantinople; and such continued its situation, till in the year 622 the Arabians seized it, and laid it waste. Since that period, after having been torn to pieces by civil wars, invaded by the European crusaders, and ravaged by the Tartars, under Tamerlane, it at length fell into the hands of the Turks, who have been its masters for almost three hundred years. Even now the insecurity of the Syrians discourages them from sowing and cultivating their fields ; as bands of Arabian robbers often rush in and bear off their harvests.... Volney.

TALIPOT....TALLOW TREE....TAPIER. 373

TALIPO

T.

ALIPOT, a remarkable tree that grows in the greatest luxuriance in the island of Ceylon. Robert Knox, who is said to have given the best account extant of Ceylon, tells us, that one of the leaves of the talipot is capable of covering ten persons. When it is dry, continues he, it is at once strong and pliant, so that you may fold and unfold it at pleasure, being naturally plaited like a fan. In this state it is not bigger than a man's arm, and extremely light. The natives cut it into triangles, though it is naturally round, and each of them carries one of those sections over his head, holding the angular part before, in his hand, to open for himself a passage through the bushes. The soldiers use this leaf as a covering to their tents. They consider it, and with good reason, as one of the greatest blessings of Providence, in a country burnt up by the sun, and inundated by the rains, for six months of the year....St. Pierre.

TALLOW TREE, an extraordinary tree that grows in China. It is of the size of a cherry tree; its branches are crooked; its leaves are shaped like a heart, and of a bright red colour; it has a smooth bark, a short trunk, and a round bushy top. The fruit is contained in a husk when it is ripe, and discovers three white grains, of the size of a small walnut. In each of these is a stone, and the pulp with which these stones are covered, has all the properties of tallow, and its colour, smell, and consistence, are exactly the same. The Chinese make candles of it, mixing it only with a little linseed-oil, to render it softer and sweeter.... Winterbotham.

TAPIER, an animal that inhabits the woods and rivers on the eastern side of South America, from the Isthmus of Darien to the river of the Amazons. It is a solitary animal, sleeps during the day, and goes out in the night in search of food: it lives on grass, sugarcane, and fruits. If disturbed it takes to the water, swims with great ease, or plunges to the bottom, and, like the hippopotamus, or river horse, walks there as on dry ground. It is about the size of a small cow; its nose is long and slender, and extends far beyond the Hh