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ligent publication by Colonel Jones oftiie Royal Engineers.

SIENS, Fr. the plural of sien, his,her's , or one's own. This word is usedamong the French , to signify the sameas gens, men, people, soldiers; viz. cegeneralfut abandonne par les siens, Fr.that general was abandoned by his ownsoldiers.

SIERRA, a word used for hill in dif-ferent parts of the world, particularly*on the West coast of Africa , on theNorth coast of South America , and onthe coasts of Chili and Peru ; also inSpain , as the Sierra Morena .

SIERRILLO, the term for a littlehill, being the diminutive of Siet'ra ; inwhich sense it is used on the south-westcoast of South America ;

SIEVE, an instrument which bymeans of hair, Jawn, or wire, is capableof separating the fine from the coarseparts of any powder.—See Gunpow-der, Laboratory, &c.

SIES or SHI AS, Ind. a tribe of peo-ple in the N. West of India .

SIFFLEMENT , Fr. literally meansthe noise of a whistle. It is used toexpress the sound which a ball or bul-let makes when it cuts the air; as sifflc-ment des armes d j'eu , the whistling, orwhizzing noise of fire-arms.

SIFFLET, Fr. a whistle. TheFrench make use of the whistle on boardtheir ships in the same manner thatwe do. It answers the same purposesat sea, that the drum and trumpet doon shore. The boatswain's whistlepipes all hands up, as occasion requiresin a ship : and the drum and trumpetcollect troops together in camp, garri-son, or elsewhere.

SIG, an old Saxon word, importingvictory.

SIGHT, (la mire , Fr.) a small pieceof brass or iron which *is fixed near tothe muzzle of a musket or pistol, toserve as a point of direction, and to as-sist the eye in levelling, and by whichthe bayonet is fixed on the barrel.

Folding notch Sight. According tothe author of Scloppetaria, page 131, ofall sights in use, none seem preferableto the common folding notch sight; itlies close on the barrel, and is thus lessexposed to injury than such as are con-stantly fixed upright; and from the sim-plicity of the construction, it is seldomout of order, and is easily replaced iflost or worn out. The chief requisitein the construction of these sights, is

23 ) SIG

due attention to the hinges; for if theyonce begin to shift or shake to the rightor left, the visual ray will no longer beparallel to the axis of the bore of thebarrel, but diagonal, and consequentlythe shots cannot he depended on.Military first Sight. SeeCoup d’CEil.

Second Sight, the power of seeingtldngs future, or things distant: sup-posed inherent in some of the Scottishislanders ; and often erroneously actedupon bv ministers of state.

SIGLES, cyphers; initial letters putfor the word; as O. H, M. S. i. e. onhis Majesty’s service.

SIGN, a sensible mark or character,denoting something absent or invisible.As the trace of a loot, the hand-writingor mark of a man; also the subscriptionof one’s name.

Sign, ( signe, Fr.) in algebra, thatwhich distinguishes positive from nega-tive quantities. Such are the signs +(plus) — (minus) — (equal).

Sign -manual. The king’s signature isso called. All commissions in the re-gular army of Great Britain , army war-rants, &c. bear the sign manual. Theappointments of officers in the volun-teers were so distinguished during thelate war. Adjutants only, in the mi-litia, have their commissions signed bythe King; those of the field officers,captains, and subalterns, &c. are signedby the lords lieutenants of counties, orby their deputies for the time being,sanctioned by a previous intimation fromthe secretary of state, that the King doesnot disapprove of the names which havebeen laid before him.

SIGNAL, (signal, Fr.) any sign madeby sea or land, for sailing, marching,fighting, &c. Signals are likewise givenby the short and long rolls of the drum,during the exercise of the battalion.

Signal, in the art of war, a certainsign agreed upon for the conveying in-telligence, where the voice cannot reach.Signals are frequently given for the be-ginning of a battle, or an attack, usuallywith drums and trumpets, and sometimeswith sky-rockets, &c.

Signal of attack or assault, (signal(Tune attaque, ou d’un assaut, Fr.)—Thissignal may be given in various ways.By the discharge of a lighted shell, bysky-rockets, by colours displayed from aconspicuous spot, &c.—In 1747, Mar-shal Lowendhal made useof lighted shellsor bombs, when he laid siege to the townof Bergen-op-zoom.—During the con-