430 



NKt.KoKS 



N !; 1 1 1 : M i A H 



linn-.-. <ir in ninny other way*. In the West Indies 

 HII Olii iKittlc i often hidden in the house or goods 

 of an enemy. It is tilled with pin-., rag-. |-lililes, 

 small sticks, leaves of certain plain*. <Vc. The 

 n nil i* often successful ; for a negro who believes 

 liimx-li 'cunjer'd' will refuse food, and sink into 

 the profoundest dejection, resulting occasionally 

 in death. That a seqient or unake plays any pro- 

 minent part in these Obi rites, as has often IM-CII 

 stated, doe* not appear continued. Nor U it n pro- 

 minent figure in the stories and folk-titles of the 

 race in America. These Ik-litmus narratives are 

 very numerous, the negro being a tin-li--- talker 

 and raconteur. Many of them reveal a liifjh stage 

 of the art of story-telling, as the Georgia tales 

 collected by J. C. Harris and Colonel C. C. Jones, 

 and numerous others from the southern states by 

 various writers. Many of them belong to the 

 class of ' beast-fables,' similar to some which have 

 been collected among the American Indians and 

 the natives of the African continent, and such as 

 were favourite staples of amusement in Kuropc dur- 

 ing the middle ages. Une of the principal figures is 

 the rabbit ( the 'brer rabbit ' of the ' t' ncle Remus ' 

 tales). He figures conspicuously not only in the 

 southern I nit.-d States, but in the West Indies and 

 on the Amazon (Hartt), and as tio conejo ('uncle 

 rabbit') in the folklore of the Venezuelan negroes 

 ( Mr Krnst ). This nnini|>ortaiit animal also plays a 

 leading part in the mythology of various American- 

 Indian nations, as the Algomjuins and Mexicans 

 (Aztecs) ; and it api>ears not unlikely that its pro- 

 minence in negro-American folklore wax a loan from 

 this source. Along with story-telling, singing and 

 music are favourite diversions of the coloured 

 population. This tendency is a direct inheritance 

 from their African ancestry, as throughout that 

 continent the natives are passionately fond of these 

 diversions. In Central America the negroes still 

 employ the marimba, a native African instrument 

 with wooden keys placed over jars or gourds, the 

 keys being struck with a stick. In the United 

 States the violin, the life, and the guitar are used, 

 but the favourite U the 'banjo,' an instrument of 

 African derivation, modified from the gni\ars with 

 grass strings still in use on the Guinea coast. 

 \Viih these simple means they produce music of 

 pleasant though not artistic character. In in- 

 dividual instances (as Itlind Tom, born in Georgia in 

 1849) memlici- df tin- race have attained remark- 

 able skill on the piano and organ, rendering the 

 most difficult comjiositions with spirit. No negro 

 composer, however, has attained celebrity. Their 

 songs are numerous, many of them of a religious 

 character, others turning on the incidents of daily 

 life. They are generally defective in prosody and 

 without merit, lieing often little more than words 

 strung together to carry an air. 



The negro is ambitious for education, but un- 

 illing to make the necessary mental effort to 

 obtain it. In the I' nited States public schools 

 their progress is about equal to that of white chil- 

 dren, up to the important changes at the age of 

 puberty, when a visible ascendency of the appetites 

 and emotions over the intellect and an increasing 

 iiidis|M>silion to mental labour supervene. In the 

 higher studies they fall notably In-hind the whites ; 



nd n < <>f them undertakes the studies requisite 



for a jirofession, he is content with what is barely 

 sufficient for it remunerative practice. Notable 

 results are attending tin; education of the negro in 

 mechanical and agricultural pursuits, however, 

 in such institutions as those at Hampton. Virginia, 

 and T uskegee, Alabama. The social position of the 

 negroes in some parts of South America differs little 

 from i hat of the whites. Hut in the United States, 

 despite the theoretical equality, the natural sense 

 of inequality between the races is making itself felt, 



and they are probably now farther asunder in sym- 

 pathies 'than they were at the close of the war, in 

 both the northern and southern states. 



Sec SLAVERY, UNITED STATES, BBAZIL, JAMAICA, Ac. ; 

 O. W. Williams, Hittory a) tht Negro Itatt in America 

 \ (2 voU. New York, 1882; Lond. 1883); Myden, Ckru- 

 tianH.it, ftlam, and the Ntgro Race (1887); H. J. Bell, 

 Witchcraft in the Wett Indie* (1890); W. L. Clowes, 

 Jllnrk A merira ( Tim ft letters ; Lond. 1891 ) ; and many 

 articles in the American Folk-lore Journal. 



Xetcroponte. See EUB<KA. 



Xejfros. an elongated island of the Philippines, 

 between Panay and Xebu. Area, about 3500 K<|. m. 

 It is volcanic, with an active crater, and is crossed 

 by densely-wooded mountains. It is fertile, yield- 

 ing tobacco, coffee, sugar-cane, and wheat, and pro- 

 duces fabrics of abaca and canonegro. Pop. 321, (77. 

 Bacolor, on the west coast, is the chief town. 



\ i mis. a compound of either ]>ort or sherry and 

 hot water sweetened with sugar and flavoured with 

 lemon peel and spices. It is a favourite beverage 

 in Kngland, and derives its name from a Colonel 

 Francis Negus ( (. George I. ). 



See ABYSSINIA. 



Xeheilliall. who, next to Ezra, among all the 

 men whose names have been handed down, had the 

 most important share in the making of |>ost-exilie 

 Judaism, comes before us principally in certain 

 fragments of autobiography imbedded in the can- 

 onical l>ook that now bears his name. From these 

 we leani that he was a Jew who had for some time 

 held the pout of cupbearer to Artaxerxes Longi- 

 maniis ('King of liahylon,' xiii. 6), when, at the 

 winter-palace of Shushan or Susa, towards the end 

 of the year 445, he was surprised and saddened 

 with unexpected tidings of the very unprosperous 

 state of Jerusalem. How or when the events now 

 for the first time reported to him had hap]>ened is 

 not related, but the result had been to leave the 

 city impoverished and defenceless. In the following 

 spring (444), having obtained leave of alisence 

 from court for a limited time, and full powers to 

 act as governor-extraordinary of Juda-a, he set out 

 without delay for the city of his fathers. The 

 first necessity was to have the walls rebuilt ; on his 

 arrival no time was lost in taking the necessary 

 steps, and the entire structure was completed, in 

 the face of much opposition, within fifty-two days 

 from its commencement (vi. 15). His next care 

 was to reinforce the population of the depleted 

 capital by drafts from tlie surrounding districts, 

 and in particular, it would seem, to bring bock to 

 town the Invites who, through non-payment of 

 dues, had lieen compelled to abandon service at the 

 temple and give themselves to field labour through- 

 out Jud;ea. Arrangements having lieen made for 

 the regular rapport of the sacred oflices. the feast 

 of the dedication of the walls was now gone almut 

 with great pomp and joy. It is to lie presui ..... 1 

 that Neliemiah returned soon afterwards to his 

 duties at the Persian court. We read ( xiii. ; cf. 

 v. 14) of a second visit of Neliemiah to Jerusalem, 

 t welve years afterwards, on which occasion he either 

 Initiated or renewed and completed certain reforms 

 which henceforth were among the most character- 

 istic features of jMist-exilic Judaism. One of the 

 mo-t marked of these was the cnisade against 

 mixed marriages and the separation of the .lews 

 of j.nre descent from the 'mixed multitude' 

 (xiii. 3). His cleansing of the temple, and expul- 

 sion of Tobiah from its precincts, ultimately led, it 

 would seem, to the formation of the Samaritan 

 community as a separate religious organisation. 

 Another of Nehemian's reforms was the stringent 

 enforcement of a strict law of Sabbath observance. 

 M hers are to lie found in the arrangements he 

 made for the permanent maintenance of the temple 



