[Sunda Islands], a name sometimes applied to the long chain of islands stretching SE. from the Malay Peninsula to North Australia, including Sumatra, Timor, &c., but more correctly designates the islands Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores, Sandalwood Island, &c., which lie between Java and Timor, are under Dutch suzerainty, and produce the usual East Indian products. See various islands named.
[Sunderbunds] or Sundarbans, a great tract of jungle, swamp, and alluvial plain, forming the lower portion of the Ganges delta; extends from the Hooghly on the W. to the Meghna on the E., a distance of 165 m.; rice is cultivated on the upper part by a sparse population; the lower part forms a dense belt of wild jungle reaching to the sea, and is infested by numerous tigers, leopards, rhinoceroses, pythons, cobras, &c.
[Sunderland] (142), a flourishing seaport of Durham, situated at the mouth of the Wear, 12 m. SE. of Newcastle-upon-Tyne; embraces some very old parishes, but as a commercial town has entirely developed within the present century, and is of quite modern appearance, with the usual public buildings; owes its prosperity mainly to neighbouring coal-fields, the product of which it exports in great quantities; has four large docks covering 50 acres; also famous iron shipbuilding yards, large iron-works, glass and bottle works, roperies, &c.
[Sunderland, Charles Spencer, third Earl], son of succeeding, and son in law of the Duke of Marlborough; was a Secretary of State in Queen Anne's reign during 1706-1710, and in the following reign, as leader of the Whigs, exercised unbounded influence over George I.; narrowly escaped, chiefly through Walpole's help, being found guilty of accepting heavy bribes from the South Sea Company; lost office, and was displaying his father's propensity to underhand scheming by intriguing with the Tories and the Pretender's party when death cut short his career (1675-1722).
[Sunderland, Robert Spencer, second Earl of], an English statesman prominent in the reign of Charles II., James II., and William III.; was for some years engaged in embassies abroad before being appointed Secretary of State in 1679; adroit and insinuating, and with great capacity for business, he soon became a leading minister; attached himself to the Duchess of Portsmouth, and in the corrupt politics of the two Stuart kings played his own hand with consummate if unscrupulous skill, standing high in King James's favour as Prime Minister, although he had formerly intrigued in favour of Monmouth; supported the Exclusion Bill, and even then was in secret communication with the Prince of Orange; after the Revolution rose to high office under William; was instrumental in bringing the Whigs into power, and during 1695-1697 was acknowledged head of his Government (1640-1702).
[Sunnites], the orthodox Mohammedans, a name given to them because they accept the Sunna, i. e. traditional teaching of the Prophet, as of the same authority as the Korân, in the matter of both faith and morals, agreeably to a fundamental article of Mohammedanism, that not only the rule of life, but the interpretation of it, is of divine dictation.
[Sun-Worship], the worship of the sun is conceived of as an impersonation of the deity, that originated among races so far advanced in civilisation as to recognise what they owed to its benignant influence, in particular as tillers of the soil, and, is associated with advance as the worship of Bacchus was, which could not originate prior to cultivation of the vine.
[Suonada], the Inland Sea of Japan, separating Kyushu and Shikoku from the Main Island, Honshiu, a fine sheet of water (250 m. by 50), picturesquely studded with islands which, however, render navigation difficult.
[Supererogation, Works of], name given in the Roman Catholic theology to works or good deeds performed by saints over and above what is required for their own salvation, and the merit of which is held to be transferable to others in need of indulgence.
[Super-Grammaticam] (above grammar), name given to Sigismund, emperor of Germany, from his rejoinder to a cardinal who one day on a high occasion mildly corrected a grammatical mistake he had made in a grand oration, "I am King of the Romans, and above grammar."