NIBELUNGENLIED 



4226 



NICARAGUA 



value has been recognized by the governments 

 of New York state and the Dominion. In 1885 

 New York took over control of the land ad- 

 joining the Falls on the American side and 

 blished Niagara Falls Park a reservation 

 containing 107 acres. The following year the 

 Canadian government set aside 154 acres on the 

 Canadian shore, which is known as the Queen 

 Victoria Niagara Falls Park. An electric rail- 

 way follows the brink of the gorge on the 

 Canadian shoiv. giving an excellent view of 

 Horseshoe Falls. It connects by the Queenston 

 Bridge with an electric line skirting the river 

 within the gorge on the American side, so that 

 the tourist may see the gorge both from the 

 heights and from the level of the river. There 

 is a third line which skirts the bluff on the 

 American side. The cantilever bridge which 

 spans the gorge above the Whirlpool is worth 

 noting. It was the first bridge of the kind to 

 be built in America, and has a length of 910 

 feet. 



Water Power. The first plant erected to 

 utilize the enormous water power of Niagara 

 Falls was built in 1853; since then huge power 

 houses have been erected on both sides. The 

 industrial development threatened for a time to 

 ruin the Falls as a spectacle, by diverting so 

 much water as to diminish the flow, but an 

 agreement was entered into between Canada 

 and the United States in 1910 providing for the 

 restriction of the amount of water which might 

 thenceforth be diverted for industrial purposes. 

 The maximum amount which may be used 

 for such purposes on the American side is 20,000 

 cubic feet per second, and on the Canadian 

 side, 36,000 cubic feet. 



Much of the water is converted into electrical 

 energy by means of turbine wheels. Power is 

 conveyed as far as Buffalo, where the street 

 railways are run by the power created by the 

 waters at the Falls. Since the turbines were 

 installed, the Falls region has become the cen- 

 ter of rapid industrial expansion. The power 

 generated amounts now to about 300,000 horse 

 power, and there are projects for considerably 

 increasing this amount. The Falls furnish the 

 power for their own illumination at night, a 

 system of electric lighting having been in- 

 stalled in 1916. G.B.D. 



Consult Dow's State Reservation at Niagara; 

 Hulbert's The Niagara River. 



NIBELUNGENLIED, ne ' beh loong en leet, a 

 German epic, dating probably from the twelfth 

 or thirteenth century, and ranked as one of 

 the great poems of the world. The name of 



the author is not known, nor whether the ac- 

 tion is founded on historical happenings. The 

 story is as follows: Siegfried, king of the Ni- 

 belungs, and possessor of the wonderful Nibe- 

 lung treasure, marries Kriemhild, sister of 

 King Gunther of Burgundy. Gunther wishes to 

 wed Brunhilde of Iceland, who is to be won 

 only by the man who can overcome her in 

 combat, and Siegfried, donning a magic cloak, 

 wins her for Gunther. Years later, when a dis- 

 pute as to the relative dignity of the two kings 

 arises, Kriemhild taunts Brunhilde with having 

 been won by Siegfried instead of by Gunther, 

 and the Icelandic princess induces Hagen, one 

 of Gunther's vassals, to put Siegfried to death. 

 Kriemhild later ' marries Etzel, king of the 

 Huns, but she never forgets Siegfried or gives 

 up her thoughts of vengeance, and in pursuance 

 of her plan invites Gunther with his wife and 

 followers to visit her at her husband's court. 

 The Huns fall upon the visiting Burgundians 

 and put them to death, Kriemhild slaying Gun- 

 ther and Hagen with her own hand. The treas- 

 ure of the Nibelungs is supposed to lie at the 

 bottom of the Rhine, having been sunk by 

 Hagen before he set out on what he felt would 

 be an ill-fated visit. 



For centuries after it was written the Ni- 

 belungenlied attracted little attention, but from 

 the beginning of the nineteenth century it has 

 been the object of much interest and study. 

 As a picture of life in the Middle Ages it is of 

 immense value. Wagner based on the story his 

 Ring of the Nibelungs. 



Consult Aldrich's Guide to the Ring of the Nibe- 

 lung, the Trilogy of Wagner. 



NICARAGUA, nikarah'gwa, next to Guate- 

 mala, is the largest republic of Central America. 

 It is a land of 

 rich, undeveloped 

 resources and fa- 

 vorable climate, 

 awaiting capital, 

 energy and new 

 impetus. It lies 

 between the Pa- 

 cific Ocean on the 

 west the Carib- 

 bean Sea on the 

 east, Honduras on 

 the north and 

 Costa Rica on the 

 south. Covering 

 an area of 49,200 

 square miles, it is only ninety square miles 

 smaller than Guatemala and four square miles 



LOCATION MAP 

 Showing the place of Nica- 

 ragua among the Central 

 American republics. 



