SHIBBOLETH, a word by which the Gileadites distinguished an Ephraimite from his inability to sound the sh in the word, and so discovered whether he was friend or foe; hence it has come to denote a party cry or watchword.

SHIELDS, NORTH, a flourishing seaport of Northumberland, on the Tyne, near the mouth, 8 m.  NE. of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and lying within the municipal borough of Tynemouth (47); is of quite modern growth, and of a plain, uninteresting appearance; has a theatre, free library, Mariners’ Home, fine park, &c.; the docks cover 79 acres, and a large export trade in coal is carried on.

SHIELDS, SOUTH (78), a busy seaport and popular watering-place in Durham, with a frontage of 2 m. on the south bank of the Tyne, 9 m.  NE. of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, a place of residence from ancient times, with Roman remains, &c.; has a theatre, public library, marine school, two fine parks with central parade, 50 acres of docks, &c.; exports immense quantities of coal and coke.

SHIITES, a sect of the Mohammedans, who reject the “SUNNA” (q. v.) and championed the claims of Ali Mahommed’s cousin and son-in-law to succeed to the Caliphate, and maintain the divine right of his descendants to represent the prophet in the Mohammedan Church.  The Persians belong to this sect.

SHIKARPUR (42), capital of a district (853) in N. Sind, India, situated on rich alluvial ground, 18 m.  W. of the Indus, and 330 m.  N. of Karachi; since the opening of the Indus Valley Railway it has lost much of its importance as a commercial entrepot between India and Khorassan; vicinity produces excellent grain crops, and carpets, cottons, &c., are manufactured in the town.

SHILOH, a village 20 m.  N. of Jerusalem, sacred as the site of the resting-place of the Tabernacle on the settlement of the Jews in the land of promise.  Is a name also of the Messiah.

SHINAR, the vast alluvial plain extending along the Tagus and Euphrates, forming the country of Chaldea and Babylonia.

SHINTOISM, the native religion of Japan; a system of ancestor worship chiefly, combined with which is a religious homage paid to the Mikado.

SHIP-MONEY, a tax levied by Charles I. at the suggestion of Noy, the Attorney-General, who based its imposition on an old war-tax leviable on port-towns to furnish a navy in times of danger, and which Charles imposed in a time of peace without consent of Parliament, and upon inland as well as port-towns, provoking thereby wide-spread dissatisfaction, and Hampden’s refusal to pay, which with the trial and decision in favour of Charles contributed to bring about the Civil War, which cost Charles his life; was declared illegal by the Long Parliament in 1640.

SHIPTON, MOTHER, a prophetess of English legend, whose preternatural knowledge revealed in her prophecies, published after her death, was ascribed to an alliance with the devil, by whom it was said she became the mother of an ugly impish child.