NILSSON 



4238 



NIMBUS 



the last 1,600 miles it has no tributan 

 places the desert comes close to its banks, in 

 others there are high cliffs. At Cairo the delta 

 begins. 



The region benefited by the flood is below 

 Assuan, where the great dam has been built 

 (see ASSUAX, subhead The Dam). At Assuan 

 the water rises about twenty-six feet, at Cairo 

 about twenty-three feet. The men who lived 

 in the time of Herodotus were puzzled because 



ON THE NILE 

 Native boats and village of the present day. 



the flood began in June and reached its height 

 in late September, instead of coming in the 

 spring. The reason is that the flood waters 

 come from Abyssinia, where the heavy rains 

 occur in summer. 



Except for the six rapids called cataracts, 

 which are between Khartum and Assuan, the 

 Nile is navigable as far as Gondokoro in 

 Uganda. However, before the British accom- 

 plished the difficult task of removing the sudd, 

 the limit was near Fashoda, about half way be- 

 tween Gondokoro and Khartum. See colored 

 map, facing page 81. C.H.H. 



Consult Todd's Banks of the Nile; Dunning' s 

 T< >-,ldi/ <,n the Nile. 



NILSSON, nil' sun, CHRISTINE (1843- ), a 

 great fcinger of a past generation, who was born 

 at Wedersloff, near Wexio, Sweden. Her father 

 \\as a poor laborer and the first fourteen years 

 of her life were filled with hardship. But she 

 learned to play the violin and flute and sang so 

 beautifully that she occasionally earned a little 

 money by singing at fairs and other country 

 gatherings. In 1857 a wealthy Swede named 

 Tornerhjelm heard her at a fair and offered to 

 pay for her musical training at Stockholm. 

 The offer was accepted, and three years later 

 she began her stage career in that city. After 



further study in Paris she appeared in 1864 in 

 Paris as Violetta in Traviata, and won such 

 applause that she was immediately engaged 

 for th: 



In 1867 she won triumphs in London, and in 

 1868 in Paris sang the part of Ophelia in Am- 

 broise Thomas' Hamlet. This was considered 

 one of the greatest examples of operatic sing- 

 ing of the day, and a deluge of invitations to 

 appear in various countries came to the young 

 singer. She made a tour of the United States 

 in 1870 and one of Russia in 1872, but during 

 the latter year married a Paris merchant, Au- 

 guste Rouzaud, and practically retired from 

 the stage for some years. His death in 1882 

 determined her to reenter upon her career, but 

 five years later her marriage to Count de 

 Miranda again caused her to give up the stage. 

 Her voice was not powerful, but remarkably 

 true, and notable for its sweet and sympathetic 

 tone. 



NIM'BUS, or, in painting, a HALO, first used 

 in Christian art in the fifth century. About 

 the heads of very ancient statues representing 

 gods there were often circles of stars. The 

 Roman emperors sometimes wore such orna- 



THE NIMBUS 

 From early work of Raphael. 



ments, intended to indicate their equality with 

 the gods. Christians did not use halos in their 

 earliest art, because the old association was not 

 in keeping with their religion. Later, bands of 

 brass were put around the heads of statuary 

 placed out-of-doors, to prevent the wearing 

 effects of rain and snow. From this custom 

 came the use by artists of a circle of light 

 painted above the heads of sacred or divine 

 persons. It is not always circular in shape, for 

 in many representations of the Father it is 

 triangular, which suggests the Trinity; in rep- 

 resentations of Christ, a cross 'is sometimes 

 added to the circle; that of Mary is made of 

 stars, and that of angels and saints is made of 

 a circle of small rays. A square nimbus indi- 

 cates that the person was living at the time of 

 the completion of the painting. 



