SINCLAIR, name of a Scottish family of Norman origin whose founder obtained from David I. the grant of Roslin, near Edinburgh.

SINCLAIR, SIR JOHN, philanthropist and statistician, born at Thurso Castle, bred to the bar; succeeding to the family estate devoted himself to his duties as a landed proprietor; sat for different constituencies in Parliament; published in 1784 “History of the Revenue of the British Empire,” and in 1791-99, in 21 vols., “Statistical Account of Scotland” (1754-1835).

SIND, SINDH, or SCINDE (2,903), a province of North-West India, in the Presidency of Bombay; extends from Beluchistan and Punjab (N.) to the Indian Ocean and Runn of Cutch (S.); traversed by the Indus, whose delta it includes, and whose broad alluvial valley-tracts yield abundant crops of wheat, barley, hemp, rice, cotton, etc., which are exported, and give employment to the majority of the people; N. and E. are wide stretches of desert-land, and in the S. are the Hala Mountains; was annexed to the British possessions after the victories of Sir Charles Napier in 1843; chief city and port is Kurrachee.

SINDIA, the hereditary title of the Mahratta dynasty in Gwalior, Central India, founded in 1738 by Ranojee Sindia, who rose from being slipper-bearer to the position of hereditary prime minister of the Mahrattas; these princes, both singly and in combination with other Mahratta powers, offered determined resistance to the British, but in 1803 the confederated Mahratta power was broken by Sir Arthur Wellesley, and a large portion of their territory passed into British hands.  Gwalior having been restored (1805), and retaken in 1844, the Sindia dynasty was reinstated under a more stringent treaty, and Boji Rao Sindia proved faithful during the Mutiny, receiving various marks of good-will from the British; was succeeded by his adopted son, a child of six, in 1886.

SINGAPORE, 1, (185, chiefly Chinese), the most important of the BRITISH STRAITS SETTLEMENTS (q. v.); consists of the island of Singapore and upwards of 50 islets, off the southern extremity of the Malay Peninsula, from which it is separated by a narrow strait (2 to 1/2 m. broad); is hot, humid, and low-lying, yet healthy, and possessing a fertile soil which grows all kinds of spices, fruits, sugar-cane, coffee, etc.; purchased by the British in 1824. 2, Capital (160) and port, on the Strait of Singapore, close to the equator; the chief emporium of trade with the East Indies and South-Eastern Asia generally; is a picturesque and handsome town, strongly fortified, and an important naval coaling station and depot, with spacious harbour, docks, etc.

SINOLOGY, the science treating of the language, literature, laws, and history of the Chinese.

SINON, a wily Greek who beguiled the Trojans and persuaded them to admit the Wooden Horse into the city, to its ruin.