172 



NEPENTHE NEPOMUK. 



on the south ; square miles, about 53,000 ; popula- 

 tion, 3,500,000. It first became well known by the 

 war between the British and the rajah in 1815. 

 General Ochterlony advanced with such rapidity, thai, 

 February 28, he appeared before Muckwampore, the 

 principal fortress of the Nepaulese. The rajah 

 attempted, on the 29th, to recover the heights,which 

 iiad been previously lost, but was driven back ; and 

 en the next day the British took fort Hurlapore, the 

 bulwark of Muckwampore, by storm. By this rapid 

 advance, general Ochterlony terminated the cam- 

 paign, the issue of which had appeared doubtful on 

 account of the sickness prevailing among the British 

 troops, and compelled the rajah, Mahara Sah Bicra 

 ma Sah, to accede (May 4, 1816) to the terms of 

 peace before assented to by his brother. By the 

 articles, the chain of forts on the southern frontier, 

 together with several districts, was ceded to the 

 East India company, and the passage through 

 Nepaul to China was declared free to the company. 

 The rajah also agreed not to receive any Europeans 

 or Americans into his service. The rajah of Nepaul 

 still possesses Goorca, the land of his ancestors, who 

 first acquired Nepaul in 1768. The country is from 

 3000 to 6000 feet above the sea, and lies between 

 two parallel ranges of mountains, one on the north, 

 the other on the south ; and it can be entered only 

 through mountain passes. Three or four days are 

 employed in ascending the range on the southern 

 frontier from Behar. On arriving. at the highest 

 pass, the valley of Nepaul is spread out before the 

 eye of the traveller. The soil is fruitful and well 

 watered, the air pure, the climate healthy, and in sum- 

 mer, when the sun is reflected from the high moun- 

 tains, very hot. In winter there is little ice ; the 

 north wind never blows in these valleys. The 

 seasons are the same as in Upper Hindostan, only 

 the rains set in earlier. The productions are honey, 

 rice, oil, cotton, ginger, iron, marble, &c. The 

 inhabitants are chiefly Hindoos and Newars. The 

 latter are probably of Mongolian and Chinese origin. 

 Besides these two nations, there are other little 

 known tribes. The inhabitants are distinguished 

 for the simplicity of their character and manners ; 

 the Newars are mostly artisans. The religion of the 

 Nepaulese differs little from that of the Hindoos in 

 Bengal. The custom for widows to burn themselves 

 on the. corpses of their husbands, prevails among 

 them. The Hindoo languages are the Nepaulese, 

 and the Nogari, which is said to be older than the 

 Sanscrit. Cotton manufactures, and the working of 

 iron and copper, are the principal employments. 

 The people make paper from the bark of trees and 

 plants, and distil brandy from rice and wine. The 

 government is despotic, but more moderate than in 

 other countries of Asia. The regular army consists 

 of about 12,000 men, part of whom are armed with 

 muskets. The capital is Catmandoo, with 20,000 

 inhabitants. See Hamilton's Account of the King- 

 dom of Nepaul (Edinburgh, 1819.) 



NEPENTHE; a drink which was fabled, by the 

 poets, to banish the remembrance of grief, and to 

 cheer the soul. The invention was attributed to the 

 Egyptians. According to Homer (Od. iv. 220), 

 Helen learned the art of preparing it from the queen 

 of Egypt. 



NEPENTHES, or PITCHER PLANT; a sin- 

 gular and celebrated genus of plants, containing 

 three known species, which inhabit Madagascar, the 

 East Indies, and the neighbouring parts of the con- 

 tinent of Asia. The flowers are dioecious ; the stem 

 is cylindrical and simple ; the leaves are alternate, 

 entire, and sheathing at base ; they are strongly 

 nerved, and the median nerve, which is larger than 

 the rest, is prolonged beyond the leaf in the manner 



of a tendril, and terminates in a cylindrical urn. 

 This urn is three or four inches in length by nearly 

 one in diameter, and its orifice is covered with an 

 orbicular lid, which opens and closes at certain 

 periods. It is usually filled with sweet and limpid 

 water, at which time the lid is closed. In the course 

 of the day, the lid opens, when more than half the 

 water is evaporated; but this loss is made up during 

 the night, and in the morning it is again found full, 

 with the lid closed. The culture of these plants in 

 green-houses is very difficult. 



NEPHELE. See Athamas. 



NEPHRITE, or JADE, a mineral never observed 

 except in the massive state, and possessed of an im- 

 palpable composition, or compact texture. Its frac- 

 ture is coarse, splintery, and, in some varieties, slaty ; 

 colour green, particularly leek-green, passing into 

 gray and white, rarely with a tinge of blue or red ; 

 translucent ; hardness approaching that of quartz ; 

 specific gravity, 2 - 932 ; fracture effected with great 

 difficulty ; alone before the blow-pipe, infusible, but 

 becomes white. It consists, according to Kastner, 

 of silex, 50'50, magnesia, 31, alumina, 10, oxide of 

 iron, 5'50, oxide of chrome, 005,and water, 2-75. 

 Other varieties of the jade are softer, and differ con- 

 siderably in their chemical composition. The apple- 

 green variety, tinged with blue, from Smithfield, 

 Rhode Island, consists, according to Bowen, of silex, 

 44-68, magnesia, 34'631, water, 13 41, lime, 4-25, 

 and oxide of iron, 1-747. Jade has been brought 

 from China and Egypt. In America, it has been 

 found on the banks of the Amazon. In New Zea- 

 land and other islands of the Pacific, it is often made 

 into hatchets, and has hence been called axe-stone. 

 In Rhode Island, it occurs imbedded in white lime- 

 stone, in irregular veins and nodular masses. The 

 pieces from this place, when polished, have consider- 

 able beauty. 



NEPHTHYS ; an Egyptian deity, sister of Osiris 

 and Isis, wife of Typhon, and mother of Anubis by 

 Osiris. According to Diodorus, she was the daughler 

 of Zsv; (Jupiter) and 'Hgy (Juno). She was also 

 called by the Greek writers Tt>.it/T (End), Atf>e*>$irti 

 and N/XJJ (Victory.) Some consider her as the 

 symbol of the Egyptian coast on the Mediterranean ; 

 others as the personification of the five intercalary 

 days of the Egyptian year, in which point of view 

 they are called her children by Mercury, the Sun, 

 and Saturn. Plutarch names them Osiris, Arueris, 

 Typhon, Isis, Nephthys; Diodorus calls them Osiris, 

 Isis, Typhon, Apollo, and Aphrodite (Venus). See 

 Egyptian Mythology, and of article Hieroglyphics. 



NEPISSING ; a lake in Upper Canada, about 

 thirty-five miles long and twenty broad. It is twenty- 

 five miles north-east of lake Huron; lat. 46 12' N. 



NEPOMUK, JOHN OF (Johannes Nepomucenus}; 

 the patron saint of Bohemia. His true name was 

 John Welflin, and he was born in 1320, at Pomuk, a 

 small town in Bohemia. He studied in Prague, and 

 became a preacher there. From humility he refused 

 a bishopric. At a later period, he was made con- 

 fessor of the queen, and when some courtiers made 

 the king Wenceslaus suspicious of the fidelity of his 

 wife, he refused to disclose the secrets of her confes- 

 sion, for which the king had him drowned, May Hi, 

 1 383 (according to others, March 21), in the Moldaii. 

 His day was at first May 6, because his body was 

 then found ; at present, it is May 10. He is much 

 revered in Bohemia as a martyr, and his protection 

 is invoked against slander, c. Pope Innocent XIII. 

 recognized him as a saint in 1721, and Benedict 

 XIII. canonized him in 1729. The Jesuit Balbin 

 has given his biography in his Miscell. Hist. Boh. 

 It has been asserted of late that no such person as 

 Nepomuk ever lived, but that there was a John of 



