NIKOLAEV 



Nikolaev. ami c,, m 



! port i if .v 



\t., ami : \\'., of 



ii. it tin- junction of the 

 Infill ami I'.ic.'. mill mi tin- 

 Kliaiklio\ Nikolai v rly. It uas 

 tin- licadi|il.nt--i-. Of tb 

 fleet, anil lias numerous. Inpyards. 

 Pop. !i:t.ouo. 

 Nikolaevsk. Town of 



li i-i in tin- i-uvt.. ami 

 HM) in. S.W.. nf Samara, mi the 

 > A tnuli is il.nii- in 



ami cattle. I'.. p. i:i,(KX). 



Nikolaevsk ox AMI it. Town 

 if \-iatio Russia. Situated _'.'> m. 

 from the mouth of the Amur, tin- 

 port was founded in IS.MI. ami \\a-j 

 the Russian naval base on the 

 Pacitie. 1860-72. It is a centre f<>. 

 tin- saliiuni and sturgeon fishery on 

 the Amur, ami lias an annual fur 

 fair and some trade in timber. 

 !'<> p. li.OOO. 



Nikolaevskaya. Town of S.E. 

 Kus^ia. It is in the govt. of Astra- 

 khan, close to the lunik of the 

 VoL'a. opposite Kami>hin. It has 

 sprung up rapidlv, chii-lly owiui; 

 I., its salt \\nrks. "Pop. 18,000. 



Nikolaistad OR VASA. Seap>,rt 

 of Finland. A rly. terminus and 

 small port almost opposite the 

 island of Bjorkb in the Gulf of 

 Bothnia, it is the capital of the 

 dist. of Vasa. It has a nautical 

 school and shipbuilding yard, and 

 trades in timber products, oats, 

 butter, and fish. The original town 

 founded in 1606 was burned down 

 in 1 *.">2, and was rebuilt on its pre- 

 sent site, 3 m. away to the N.W., in 

 1862. From Nikolaistad in 1809 

 the Russians marched over the 

 frozen Baltic to Umea in Sweden. 

 IV p. '-'-'.OOO. 



Nikolsburg. Town of Moravia, 

 Czecho-Slovakia, now known as 

 Mikulov (q.v.). 



Nikopolis (Gr., city of victory). 

 Name of several ancient cities, of 

 which the most important wen- : 

 (1) In K pirns, situated on a strip 

 of land opposite Actium, in the 

 Ambracian gulf. It was founded by 

 Augustus to celebrate his victory 

 over Antony, Sept. 2, 31 B.C., which 

 made him the master of the Roman 

 world. Games were held here every 

 four years in honour of Apollo, to 

 whom a magnificent temple was 

 erected. (2) In Lower Egypt, on 

 the canal leading from Canopus to 

 Alexandria. Also founded by Au- 

 gustus, it commemorated the final 

 defeat of Antony and Cleopatra. 

 (3) In lesser Armenia, on the Lycus, 

 built by Poinpey in honour of his 

 victory over Slithradates, 65 B.C. 



Nikopolis OR NIKOPOIJ. 

 port of Bulgaria. It is situated on 

 the S. side of the Danube, about 

 25 m. N.E. of Plevna, with which 

 it is connected by rly., and in linked 



S74S 



with a rly. on the v - 



of tin- I IV IT \vlll Mltll 



the Rumanian rly. -\ i- m. In a 

 fi-rtih- conn' ' >i it* wine, 



Nikopol), in, ,i i-it.idi-l, an ancient 

 ' isllc, and a l'.\ /ant im- dmi'li. 



In- Turks d-fi-at<-l 

 ninnil of Hungary in l.'ilMi, ami the 

 Russians di-f.-.ii.-d th>- Turks in 

 Tin- town was damaged in 

 1K77 during the Kunso-Turkish 

 War. Pop. s,(HH. 



Nile. i:n>r of Africa. Vene- 

 rated )>y tin- K-jyptians aa the 

 cause of their prosperity, its 

 sources remained unknown until 

 tin- discoveries of Speke in 1858 

 ami Sir Samuel Baker in 1860 

 revealed its great reservoir- lakes 

 Victoria and Albert. The ancients 

 had little knowledge of the river 

 above Meroe('/.r.),and no knowledge 

 of the caast-.s of the annual inunda- 

 tions of the Lower Nile. Herodotus 

 and other writers discuss this pro- 

 blem, without arriving at its solu- 

 tion. At a later period Ptolemy 

 speaks of two streams issuing from 

 two lakes and afterwards uniting 

 into one river, which was joined by 

 the Astapus to form the main 

 course of the Nile. This conception 

 is illustrated in the maps of the 

 15th and 16th centuries, and until 

 James Bruce discovered the source 

 of the Blue Nile, in 1770, little more 

 than this was known of its course. 

 Victoria or Somerset Nile 



The Nile leaves the Victoria 

 Nyanza at its N. end, and pouring 

 over the Ripon Falls proceeds 

 through Lake Kioga (Chioga), and 

 thence generally N.W. until it 

 reaches the N. extremity of the 

 Albert Nyanza. This section of the 

 river is known as the Victoria or 

 Somerset Nile, and below Foweira 

 is impeded by a series of rapids cul- 

 minating in the Murchison Falls, 

 where the river drops 401 ft. in 

 three cascades to the level of the 

 Albert Nyanza. That lake is fed l>y 

 the river Semliki, which drains the 

 Edward Nyanza and forms, with 

 the Kagera and other rivers flow- 

 ing into the Victoria Nyanza from 

 the S., the extreme head-waters of 

 the Nile. From the N. extremity of 

 the Albert Nyanza the river, here 

 the Bahr-el-Jebel and later the 

 White Nile, flows generally N. to 

 the Mediterranean. At Rejaf, 15 m. 

 S. of Gondokoro, it enters the region 

 of the plains and continues thence 

 to Khartum, some 1,096 in. to the X. 

 r.etucen these two points the Nile 

 is navigable. 



About 480 m. N. of Rejaf the 

 Balir el-Ghazal enters the Nile 

 from the W., and 50 m. farther is 

 the junction with the Hahr-cl- 

 Zeraf. Some 530 in. S. of Khartum 

 and 31 m. from the Bahr-el-Zeraf 

 the Nile is joined by the So bat, 



NILE 



M the highlands of 

 Ahyimiiii'-i. and at Khartum the 

 water* of tin- Mine Nile mingle with 

 the main river. From tht 

 them are no considerable tribu- 

 taries with the exception nf the 

 Atbara, win the main 



li\.| _'l m S of Berlin. In it* 



!n- u.-li tli<- Nubian Desert 

 the Nile makes two great bend*. 

 .in-l from Khartum an far as Assuan 

 it is dangerous for navi 

 Between these two points occur 

 six cataracts. At Amman is the 

 groat Nile Barrage. 



The Annual Flood 



The importance of the Nile to 

 and tli<- Sudan cannot be 

 overestimated. Without the an- 

 nual inundations which fertilise 

 the soil am! provide the needful 

 water for irrigation the whole 

 country would be a desert. Recent 

 progress, then-fore, has been in the 

 direction of conserving and making 

 the fullest use of the waters of the 

 Nile by improving upon and extend- 

 ing the irrigation methods of the 

 ancient Ki_ f vptians and tin- Romans. 

 In the Nile estuary irrigation is 

 largely regulated by the great 

 barrages at Damietta and Rosetta, 

 and by means of an extensive 

 system of canals. 



The Nile flood is an annual 

 phenomenon comparable in regu- 

 larity with the monsoon. The 

 head-waters of the river receive 

 water from the constant rains of 

 the equatorial areas round the 

 great takes ; this supply passes 

 N. and is subject to great evapora- 

 tion, and, being regulated by 

 seepage, or percolation, into the 

 swamps near Lake No, arrives in 

 practically a constant volume by 

 the White Nile at Khartum. The 

 Blue Nile flood, enforced by that 

 of the Atbara, is dammed by the 

 Assuan barrage and held back for 

 irrigation. 



In Jan., 1920, the Nile projects 

 commission was appointed by tin- 

 Egyptian government to give its 

 opinion on the proposals for the 

 further regulation of Nile water 

 supply. These include a barrage 

 on the White Nile, a few miles S. 

 of Khartum, which is to form a 

 reservoir several times more capa- 

 cious than that at Assuan, and a 

 weir at Sennar, controlling the 

 irregular torrents of the Blue Nile, 

 and rendering them available for 

 irrigation of nearly half a million 

 acres in the Sudan. The most 

 ambitious scheme is the formation 

 of a barrage at the N. end of Lake 

 Albert. 



The most important places on 

 the river are Damietta and Man- 

 sura, on the Damietta branch, 

 Cairo, Beni-Suwcif. Manfalut, As- 

 siut, Girga, Kena, Assuan, Koresko, 



La 7 



