Thomas Nast, 

 American carica- 

 turist 



NAST 



almost destroyed by the Spaniards 

 and French in 1703, but rebuilt in 

 1718, and fortified in 1740. In the 

 American Civil War it was the 

 headquarters of the blockade 

 runners. It is in regular steam 

 communication with New York. 

 A wireless telegraphy station has 

 been installed. Pop. 11,000. 



Nast, THOMAS (1840 - 1902). 

 American caricaturist. Born at 

 Landau, Bavaria, Sept. 27, 1840, 

 he was taken 

 in 1846 to 

 America, where 

 he received a 

 few m o n t h s' 

 txiition from 

 Theodor Kauf- 

 mann. After 

 drawing for 

 Harper's 

 Weekly and 

 other jour- 

 nals, he went 

 through the Garibaldi campaign in 

 Italy, 1860-62, and the American 

 Civil War. As a caricaturist, he 

 proved a subtle and dangerous 

 opponent of Tammany Hall. The 

 Fight at Dame Europa's School, 

 1871, and the New York edition of 

 Pickwick, 1873, were illustrated by 

 him. He became American consul 

 at Guayaquil in Ecuador, where he 

 died, Dec. 7, 1902. See Thomas 

 Nast : his Period and his Pictures, 

 A. B. Paine, 1904. 



Nasturtium. Genus of hardy 

 cruciferous plants. See Indian 

 Cress : Tropaeolum ; Watercress. 



Natal. British armoured cruiser. 

 She was destroyed by an internal 

 explosion in the Cromarty Firth, 

 Dec. 30, 1915. Originally planned 

 to be of the Duke of Edinburgh 

 (q.v.) class, she was altered during 

 construction, 1904-5, and was of 

 the same class as the Achilles, 

 Cochrane, and Warrior, displacing 

 13,550 tons, with 16,000 h.p., 

 giving a speed of 23 knots. She 

 carried six 9'2 and four 7'5 guns. 

 The Warrior was lost at Jutland. 



Natal. One of the four provinces 

 of the Union of South Africa. It 

 has an area of 35,291 sq. m., and a 

 population of 

 1,194,000, of 

 whom, according 

 to the census of 

 1921, 137,500 are 

 whites. The great 

 majority of the 

 whites are of Brit- 

 ish extraction, 

 but there are a 



Natal arms 



number of Dutch, and a colony of 

 German settlers. Of the various 

 denominations the Anglican Church 

 has the most adherents, but the 

 Dutch Reformed Church, Pres- 

 byterians, and Wesleyans are also 

 strong. There is a large colony of 



Nassau, New Providence. Courtyard of Government 

 buildings in the capital of the Bahama Islands 



Asiatics, chiefly Indian coolies, but 

 the bulk of the people are Kaffirs 

 and allied races. Natal consists of 

 Natal proper and Zululand. The 

 latter, which has an area of 10,424 

 sq. m., in its turn includes Tonga- 

 land ; also the districts of Vryheid, 

 Utrecht, and part of Wakkerstroom. 

 which are included in the so-called 

 northern districts, having been in 

 1903 transferred from the Trans- 

 vaal to Natal. Pietermaritzburg 

 is the capital, but Durban is the 

 largest town. Ladysmith comes 

 next in size. Other places are 

 Dundee, Newcastle, Vryheid, and 

 Greytown. 



Natal lies in the extreme S.E. of 

 Africa, and is bounded by the 

 Cape Province and Basutoland on 

 the S.W. and W. ; by the Trans- 

 vaal and Portuguese territory on 

 the N.E. and N. ; by the Orange 

 Free State on the N.W., and by 

 the Indian Ocean on the S.E. It 

 has a seaboard of about 375 m., 

 almost wholly without indentation. 

 Of this, 165 m. belongs to' Natal 

 proper, and the rest to Zululand. 

 Its greatest length is about 250 m., 

 and its greatest breadth about 200. 



The province generally is moun- 

 tainous, and near its border are 

 some of the highest peaks of the 

 Drakensberg range. The ground 

 rises rapidly from the coast in a 

 succession of hills and ridges, 

 between which are valleys in which 

 the climate is tropical. The tem- 

 peVature falls as the higher parts 

 of the country are reached, but 



H.M.S. Natal. British armoured cruiser, sunk by ex- 

 plosion in the Cromarty Firth, Dec. 30, 1915 



t'rikb, Southiea 



NATAL 



everywhere it is 

 warm. Malaria is 

 found on the 

 coast, but the 

 province is prac- 

 tically free from 

 consumption. 



The highest 

 mountains in 

 Natal are Mont 

 aux Sources 

 (11,000 ft.), and 

 other peaks of the 

 Drakensberg 

 range, many over 

 10,000 ft. high. The Biggarsberg 

 is a spur of the Drakensberg. The 

 chief river is the Tugela, which 

 flows across the province from its 

 source in the Drakensberg. Its 

 main tributary is the Buffalo, 

 which comes from another section 

 of the Drakensberg, others being 

 the Klip and the Mooi. Other 

 rivers are the Umkomanzi, or 

 gatherer of waters, a stream that, 

 owing to its winding course, is 

 200 m. long, Umzimkulu with its 

 tributary, the Ingangwana, and the 

 Umgeni with its wonderful falls. 

 The Pongola is a frontier river, 

 which divides Natal from the 

 Transvaal. 



Natal and the Union 

 Natal is governed, as far as its 

 internal affairs go, by a represen- 

 tative assembly and a small 

 ministry responsible to it, on the 

 accepted British model, except 

 that its head, the administrator, 

 is appointed by the Union Govern- 

 ment. This ministry looks after 

 education, hospitals, etc., but most 

 other matters are controlled by the 

 Union authorities. It has a revenue 

 from certain specified sources, and 

 subsidies granted by the Union 

 Parliament. The franchise is prac- 

 tically confined to whites. In the 

 House of Assembly of the Union 

 the province is represented by 17 

 members, while it sends eight to 

 the Senate. The law is adminis- 

 tered- by magistrates in local 

 courts and by judges on circuit. 

 The highest court of the province 

 sits at Pieter- 

 maritzburg, and 

 from it there is a 

 right of appeal to 

 the supreme court 

 of the Union at 

 Bloemfontein. 



The soil of the 

 province is not 

 very fertile and 

 only about 

 12,000,000 acres 

 are available for 

 agricultural pur- 

 poses. Coal is 

 the most impor- 

 tant mineral. 

 Iron exists 



