﻿NEBAC. 



NETHERLANDS. 



the sea, and two others to 25,000 and 23,000 feet respectively. The 

 Lama Dangra Mountains have a general elevation of 6000 or 7000 

 feet above the sea. The valley of Nepaul itself is 3000 or 4000 feet 

 high. The surface is very uneven and broken, and the general width 

 of the cultivated part is not more than 30 or 40 miles. It includes at 

 the east end a portion of the plain of the Ganges, which is a part 

 of the Tarai, or swamp, but ia of a much better kind than that 

 which is south of Bootan, and belongs to Bengal : the products are 

 timber, of which a great quantity is sent to Calcutt.T, and elephants. 

 The principal object of cultivation in Nepaul is rice, but maize, 

 wheat, barley, sugar-cane, cotton, madder, and legumes, are also 

 grown. .... 



The strenms in Nepaul are very numerous. The principal nvers 

 are— the Coosy in the east, which reaches the Qanges about 20 miles 

 below Boglipoor; the Ounduck in the centre, which falls into the 

 Ganges nearly opposite to Patna, and the upper course of the Gogra 

 in the west. The tributaries of the Coosy and Gunduck are numerous, 

 and some of them large. , , 



Nepaul contains several considerable towns, which owe their origin or 

 prosperity to the country being the thoroughfare between the table-land 

 of Tibet and the plains of the Ganges. Other towns owe their prosperity 

 to the fertility of the district in which they are situated. This ia parti- 

 cularly the case with the capital, Khatmandu, wiiich stands in a plain 

 about 20 miles long by 16 miles wide, environed by mountains which 

 rise from 3000 to 4000 feet above it. The town is surrounded by a 

 wall. The streets are long, narrow, well drained, and tolerably 

 clean. The same plain contains two other large towns, LaUta 

 Patan and Bhatgong, which are Newar towns, and are falling into 

 decay. Khatmandu has a population of about 50,000, and contains 

 many temples. Noacole, another large town, about 20 miles N.W. 

 from Khatmandu, stands on a hi^h hill, on one of the most frequented 

 of the roads into Tibet, along the course of an affluent of the Trisul 

 Ganga, and over the pass of Kberu. 



The population of Nepaul consists of several tribes, some of whom 

 are Buddhists, and appear to be of Mongol origin ; others seem to be 

 of Hindoo origin, and adhere to Brahmanism. The ruling tribe are 

 Ghorkas, and belong to the latter class ; the next most important are 

 Newars, who, until 1716, supplied the sovereigns of the state until 

 subdaed by the Ghorkas. The Newar tribe now presents the best 

 artisans and cultivators, while the Ghorkas form the soldiery. In 1814 

 the Nepaulese commsnced a war with the English, which was termi- 

 nated in 1816, when all the countries between the Sullej and Kali 

 rivers were ceded by them to the British, and the territories of the 

 raja of Sikim, which they had occupied, were evacuated. In 1850 

 the raja of NepaiU sent his prime-minister as ambassador extraor- 

 dinary to the government of Ortat Britain ; he landed at Southampton 

 May 25, and left London on bis return August 20. In 1864 another 

 expedition was preparing againat Tibet. 



Nepaul is not under British protection, but the raja is united by 

 treaty to the British government, whose decisions he is bound to follow 

 in certain cases. 

 N£RAC. [Lot-bt-Qaborxb.] 

 NERBUDUA. [Hisdustan.] 

 NEKESHEIM. [Jaxt.] 

 NERIS-LES-BAXNS. lAlubb.] 

 NERTSCHXN8K. [Sibbbia.] 

 NERVL [Gbsoa.] 

 NE8HIN. [CrEiisiooF. | 

 NE8S, LOCH. [l5TEB:(as«ajBE.] 

 NESTON, GREAT. [Cubsuibe.] 

 NETHERBURY. [Doiiset»U[be.J 



NETHERLANDS, a kingdom in the north-west of the continent 

 of Europe, consists of the territory of the republic of the Seven 

 United Provinces, the duchy of Limburg, and the grand-duchy of 

 Luxemburg, which the king of the Netherlands possesses, with the 

 title of grand-duke, as a part of the German Confederation. It ia 

 situated between 50° 44' and 53° 34' N. lat, 3" 30' and 7° 10' K long., 

 and is bounde<l E. by Germany, N. and W. by the North Sea, and S. 

 by Belgium. The area of the kingdom is 12,507 square miles. The 

 populatiou, on the 1st of January 1839 wus 2,533,271 ; on the 31st of 

 December 1853 it amounted to 8,203,232. The area and population 

 an distributed over 11 provinoas as foUowi : — 



Frovinces. 



Area In Square Miles. 



Fopnlatioo. 



Mortli BrabMit 



OnslderUnd . . 



North Holland 



Boutta Holland . . . 



Zealand .... 



Utrecht . . . . 



FrlesUnd 



OTerjraael . . . . 



OrBning«i 



Drentho . . . 



Llmbnrff 



'le78'2 

 1962-0 



S55'0 

 11898 



6-0-4 



5342 

 1260-9 

 1280-8 



S82-S 

 1027-0 



848-5 



405,515 

 887,428 

 814,755 

 5«l,4«l 

 165,075 

 155,324 

 250,508 

 227,683 

 197,101 

 87,044 

 211,401 



TutKl ... 1 ll,5S;'l 



t,208,iS2 



If to these numbers be added respectively 986 square miles and 

 191,619 inhabitants, for the grand-duchy of Luxemburg, the total 

 extent of the European territory subject to the kiu;j of the Nether- 

 lands is 13,553 square miles, and the total populatiou 3,397,851. Of 

 the number about 60,000 are Jews ; about 50 Greeks and Arme- 

 nians ; and the rest Protestants and Catholics, in the ratio of 11 

 to 7. 



Face of the Country; SoU ; Climate. — The Netherlands are part of 

 the great plain of Northern Europe, and are not separated from 

 Germany on the north-east by any natural bouu<larie8. "The provinces 

 about tht! mouths of the Schelde and the Rhine, and the country to 

 the north of them, Zealand, North and South Holland, Friusland, 

 Groningen, Drenthe, and Overyssel, are indeed uioat appropriately 

 called the Netherlands, that is, the Lowlands. They form one unbroken 

 flat without a hill or rock, without forests or running waters, they 

 lie in part even below the level of the sen, against the inroads of which 

 they are protected partly by immense dykes, .ind partly by sandhills, 

 or ' dunes,' from 80 to 180 feet high, which have been cast up by the 

 ocean, and, running parallel with the coast, protect it agaiuat the 

 element to which they owe their origin. Nothing can be more dreary 

 than this ocean of sand ; it is a perfect image of aridity and liarren- 

 ness ; some broom scarcely green, some stunted shrubs growing at 

 intervals in the hollows, where they arj prot -cted from the wind, alone 

 interrupt this dreary solitude. From the HeMer to the mouth of the 

 Mans, a distance of 75 miles, these gloomy though protecting deserts 

 everywhere extend between the cultivated country and the aea. The 

 land thus rescued from the sea, consisting of moor and mud, ia 

 traversed by numberless canals, which are absolutely necessary to drain 

 it and render it fit for cultivation. The labour is amply rewarded, 

 for the land is extremely fertile and covered with the richest piistures. 

 The lowest parts are called poldera. When a marsh is to be drained, 

 it is first inclosed with a rampart, or dyke, to prevent any water from 

 flowing into it. Windmills are then erected on the edge of the dyke, 

 each of which works a pump. As the mills raise the water it is dis- 

 charged into a canal, which conveys it to the sea or to same inland 

 piece of water. But in general the operation cannot be performed at 

 once ; where the marshes are too deep l^low the surrounding country, 

 two or three dikes and as many canals are made at di&'ereut levels, 

 rising by degrees to the upper canal, in which the whole terminates. 

 All the polders have an extremely rich slimy soil, which is gene- 

 rally used for pasturage, but in some places produces rich crops 

 of com. The eastern provinces nearest to Germany contain many 

 meres and marshes, and especially the great series of turf moors 

 which extend from the mouth of the Scholdo eastward to the Maas, 

 and there join the great morass called the Peel, on the east frontier 

 of North Brabant, which ia 10 leagues long and from 1 to 3 leagues 

 broad. 



This marshy country, which is so wholly artificial that it has justly 

 been said ' the Dutch built Holland,' is one of the best cultivated, the 

 most wealthy, and the most populous in Europe ; and it would be 

 difficult to find elsewhere, in so small a compass, such a number of 

 large and well-built villages, towns, and cities. The atmosphere in 

 these low tracts is for the most part damp, thick, and heavy ; fogs 

 and storms are very frequent ; but both the heat and the cold are 

 more moderate than in Northern Germany. The climate is unhealthy, 

 especially for foreigners. The want uf good spring water is very 

 sensibly felt. The climate is more healthy in the eastern provinces, 

 which are rather more elevated, and contain some small hills, which 

 the inhabitants ilignify with the name of mountains. 



Maya, Rivert, Canals, and Laket. — The whole coast, which is much 

 broken and indented with considerable bays, large inlets of the sea, 

 and the mouths of great rivers, would measure near 500 miles. The 

 North Sea, which borders Belgium and the Netherlands from the 

 frontier of France to the mouth of the Ems, has produced in the 

 lapse of ages gt«at physical revolutions in the maritime provinces. 

 The most remarkable of Uiese revolutions have been the retreat and 

 encroachment of the sea, and the changes in the course of the Rhiue. 

 The whole country probably once belonged to the ocean, but the 

 oldest accounts that we possess represent the land an more extensive 

 than at present. The Yssel, it appears, ran into an inland lake called 

 Flevo, from which a river pursued its course for 50 miles to the sea. 

 That lake, with the adjacent continent, has been covered for many 

 centuries by the Zuyder-Zee, the only remains of the continent being 

 the islands of Texel, Vlieland, Schelhog, and Ameland, which lie iu a 

 curved line, convex towards the ocean, in front of and protecting the 

 entrance of the Zuyder-Zee. This inland sea, which is inclosed by 

 the islands and the provinces of Holland, ITtreclit, Gueldcrland, Over- 

 yssel, and Friesland, resembles a great lake ; it is 80 miles lon;j from 

 north to south, and its breadth varies from 20 to 30 and 4U miles. 

 On account of its great extent, the navigation ia dangerous in stormy 

 weather for small vessels, which however cross it from South Holland 

 to Friesland rather than go all round the coast. The entrances 

 between the islands being much obstructed by sand-banks, the trade 

 of Amsterdam derives infinite benefits from that noble work the 

 Helder, or North Holland Canal The LauwerZee, between Friesland 

 and Groningen, an<l the DoUart, between Groningen and the German 

 province of East Friesland, were formed by aliiiilni- irruptions of the 

 sea in the 13th centui-y; and so late as the 15th century a great salt- 



