﻿M 



MICOSU. 



NlftVBE. 



capital of a pasbalic, is situated on the ri^ht bank of the Danube, 

 80 miles S.W. from Bulthareat, 280 miles KW. from Constantinople, 

 and hits about 10,000 inhabitants. The Osma on the Bulgarian side, 

 and the Aluta on the Wallachian, join the D.mube just above the 

 town. The city, which occupies one of the finest sites in the world, 

 consists of two parts. The fortress and Mussulman town, crowned by 

 many shining mimirets, stand on the summit of a lofty limestone cliff 

 above the Danube, several hundred feet high, and surrounded by a 

 ravine. It is a place however of little real importance as a fortress, 

 for it is commanded by heights around it. On the opposite or 

 eastern slope the houses of Bulgarians, Wallachs, and Jews rise in 

 white clusters one above another like an amphitheatre. The Turkish 

 town is dffended on every side by batteries and by a stou^ parapetted 

 rampart, for the protection of infantry ; it ia further defended by a 

 castle or citadel. There are some large well-built houses, several 

 mosques, and baths, but in general the town is ill built. The neigh- 

 bourhood of Nicopoli, especially on the eastern side, towards Sistovs, 

 is very beautiful ; much of the ground about the towu is laid out in 

 gardens. Nicopoli gives title to a Qreek archbishop and a Catholic 

 bishop. Its situation on the Danube makes it a place of some trade. 



Nicopoli was founded by Trajan ; several patches of the ancient 

 walls still remain. The sultan, Bajiizet I., at the head of the Janis- 

 saries, defeated the Hun^nriaus, commanded by their king, Sigtsmund, 

 and aided by the choicest troops in Europe, under the walla of Nicopoli, 

 Sept. 2S, 13y6. Sigismund had besieged the town for six days before the 

 arrival of the Turks. The town has ofun suffered from the Kussians. 



NICOSIA. [Catasia; Ctpbus.] 



NICOTKRA. [Calabria.] 



"NIK'MEX is the Polish name of a river, which by the Qermans is 

 called iftmel, and by the Lithuanians Xiimma. It rises in the swampy 

 region which, between SI" and 56° N. lat., forms the watershed between 

 the rivers that run mto the Baltic and Black seas. It originates 

 between 53° and 54° N. lat, and near 27° E. long., and runs in its 

 upper coarse about 180 miles westward. At the town of Orodno it 

 suddenly turns to the north, and continues in that direction about 

 100 miles. It then turns again to the west, and soon afterwards ia 

 joined, at Kowno, by the Wilia, the largest of its affluents, which flows 

 about 180 miles in a western direction. The remainder of its course 

 is to the west. From Orodno to its eutrauce into Prussia it forms the 

 bonndary-line between Rua-iia and Poland. Its course through Pnissia 

 amounts to about 6fty mile?. About eight miles below Tilsit the 

 river divides into two arms, which branch off respectively to the 

 north-west and south-west. The northern arm, called Russ, divides 

 again, about two miles from its mo\ith, into two arms, the Atmat and 

 Skirwieck. The southern arm is called the Qhilgbe. Both arms 

 empty themselves into the Curisches Haff. The delta included 

 between the Russ and Ohilghe, called the island of Kaukehnen, is 

 alluvial and of great fertility, but it is swampy towards the lake. 

 Though impeded by shoals at several places, the river is of great 

 importance for the exportation of the produce of the ailjuceut 

 countries. Largo thongh clumsily-made river-barges, called ' wittinnes,' 

 bring the produce of Lithuania (governments of Wilna and Orodno) 

 and of a portion of Poland to Konigsberg and Memel. These barges 

 go up the Niemen to Oroduo, aud up the Willa to Wilna. They 

 bring down all kinds of com, hemp, flax, hides, bacon, and some minor 

 articles. All the timber exported from Memel is floated down from 

 the interior of Rusua. As the wittinnes were formerly often lost 

 owing to the westerly and north-westerly gales, which prevail on the 

 Curisches Haff, two canals have been ma<le along the shores of that 

 lake, by which the Ohilghe is united to the Drime, and thas to the 

 Pregel river, on which the commercial town of Konigsberg is built. 

 The J^;insky Canal, cut in the middle of the 18th century, establishes 

 a watercommunication between the Niemen and the Duieper, which 

 runs into the Black Sea. This canal, 34 miles in length, unites the 

 Siczjira, a tributary of the Upper Niemen, aud the Yaaioldu, an affluent 

 of the Prypecz, a feeder of the Dnieper. 



There is perbape no river in Europe whose floods rise to such a 

 height and whose inundations are so destructive as the Niemen. Snow 

 to the depth of from four to six feet falls every winter on the country 

 which is drained by it ; and as the course of the river in general lies 

 from^aat to west, this immense quantity of snow, being dissolved in 

 ■o short a time as ten or fourteen days, causes the river to rise twenty 

 or thirty feet above its general level ; and as the fall of the river is in 

 •11 its extent very inconsiderable, and its current alow, the water can 

 only be carried off in a much longer time, and h^nce it accumulates 

 ia its bed and inundates the adjacent lands to a distance of several 

 milen in many places, and causes great damage. 



NIEUBKKO. rHAKovjB.] 



NlBUl'OUr. [Flandebs, West.] 



NIEVRE, a department in the centre of France, lies between 

 <8° 40' and 47° 35' N. lat, 2° 50' and 4° 10' E. long., and is bounded 

 N. by the department of Yonoo, E. by Cdte-d'Or and da6ne-et-Loire, 

 B. by Iha department of Allier, and W. by those of Cher and Loiret. 

 The greatest length of the department, from uortb-we^t to southeast, 

 Il_79 miles: the greatest breadth, at right angles to the length, is 65 

 miles. The area is 2632 square miles. The popniatiun in 1841 was 

 305,316; in 1851 it was 327,161, giving 124 '3 iuhabiUuto to a square 

 aula, or (0 28 below the average per square mile fur the whole ot 



France. The department is formed from the old district of Nivemai^ 

 and is named from one of its rivers, the Niftvre. 



The heights which separate the Ijasin of the Loire from that of the 

 Seine traverse the department from north-west to southeast ; in the 

 south-east part they are called the mountains of Morvan, being included 

 in the district of that name, which comprehends the eastern side of 

 the department. [Mobvan.] The east of the department ia the more 

 rugged portion, and consists chiefly or wholly of primitive rooks, 

 granitic or schistose; the western part is covered by beds of the 

 secondary strata, which intervene between the red marl and the chalk; 

 the valleys of the Allier and the Loire, in the southern extremity of 

 the department, and the valley of the Loire, in the north-western 

 extremity, are occupied by the supracretaceous formations. The por- 

 tion of the department that belongs to the basin Of the Seine consists 

 of hills separated by deep valleys ; it is drained by the Yokne and its 

 feeders, and has a general inclination towards the north. The larger 

 division of the department lies on the south side of the watershed, 

 and consists of extensive and sandy but tolerably fertile plains, sloping 

 down to the the Loire, which ciosses the south-western angle of the 

 department, receiving the Aron and the NiJvre, a small stream that 

 gives name to the department, on the right bank, and the Allier on 

 the left. The western boundary of the department is formed by the 

 Allier and the Loire. The Allier, the Loire, and the Yonne are navi- 

 gable ; the two last are joined by the Canal-du-Nivernais, which leaves 

 the Loire at Decize, runs up the valley of the Aron, and, crossing the 

 watershed between the Loire and the Seine, enters the Yonne 3 miles 

 8. from Corbigny. There are about 400 ponds in the department, 

 most of which iiecome dry in summer. The department is traversed 

 by 9 state and 12 departmental roads. The continuation of the 

 Urldans-Bourges railway runs for a short distance along the left bank 

 of the Allier, in the south-west of this department ; a short branch 

 connects the town of Nevers with this line. 



Thongh the soil of the department is in general poor, yet com more 

 than enough for the home consumption is raised by careful husbandry. 

 The mountains supply abundaut pasture, aud a large number of cattle 

 is reared. In the arrondissemeiit of Chateau Chinon, in the east of 

 the department, where the soil is decidedly bad, the ouly produca ia 

 rye, oats, or buckwheat. In the srrondissement of Clamecy, and in 

 the districts that belong to the basin of the Loire, the produce includes 

 wheat, wine, fruits, hemp, leguminous plants, &c. The arrondissement 

 of Nevers,' which occupies the south-west of the department, produces 

 com, wine, and pasture. The north-western districts, forming the 

 arrondissemeut of Cosne, are fertile in corn and wine. The hilly 

 country is in many parts covered with extensive forests of oak, maple, 

 and beech trees. Timber forms one of the principal sources of wealth 

 to the inhabitants, aud is C'inveyed by water to Paris and other large 

 towna The quantity of wine produced in average years is about six 

 millions of gallons, about oue-thinl of which is exported, chiefly from 

 Pouillysur-Loire. The climate is temperate and healthy, but rather 

 damp. Several iron-uiines are worked, and the ore is smeltfd and 

 converted into malleable iron in a great number of iron-works, the 

 most important of which are those of Pout-St.-Ours, Imphy, and 

 Fourchambault Coal-mines are worked near Decize. The iro;i, coal, 

 and timber trades are important, and are continually improving in 

 consequence of the great facilities for transit afforded by river and 

 canal navigation and railways. The manufactures are — woollen-cloth, 

 linen, hardware, infrior cutlery, fiddle strings, porcelain and pottery, 

 paper, aud glass. The chief articles of the commerce of the depart- 

 m"nt are its agricultural and industrial products, hides, steel, copper, 

 sheet-iron, tin-ware, oak-staves, wood charcoal, mill-atones, vine-poles, 

 cattle, fire-wood, to. About 370 fairs and markets are held in the 

 year. 



The department is divided into four arrondissements, which, with 

 their subdivisions and population, are as follows : — 



Anondissements. 



Cantons. 



Commonea. 



Papulation in 18J1. 



1. Nevers. . 



3. Chlteau-Chlnon . . 

 8. Clamecy . 



4. Coane , . . 



8 

 9 

 6 



a 



108 

 55 

 97 

 68 



105,484 

 69,083 

 77,638 

 74,996 



1 Total 



ss 



326 



l>7,161 



1. Of the first arrondissemeut, and of the whole department, the 

 capital is Netebs. Decize, a town of 3358 inhabitants, is built on a 

 rocky island in the Loire at the junction of the Aron with that river, 

 and at the head of the Nivernais Canal The only remarkable build- 

 ing ia the old castle of the dukes of Kevers, which stands on the 

 highest part of the island. The town communicates with both banks 

 of the Loire by a good stone bridge and by a suspension-bridge. Iron 

 is manufactured, and aUo tin ; fuel wood, charcoal, coal, oak-staves, 

 vine-pules, hoops, &o., are the chief articles of trade. St.-PierreU- 

 Moutier, a towu of 2319 inhabitants, which ow.s its name and its 

 origin to a suppre-aed Cluniac incmaatery, stin Is near a small lake 

 15 miles S. from Nevers. A kind of sand in request for the manu- 

 facture of porcelain is found at this place, and ex|)orted to Paris and 

 Roaeu, Pouguet, fomoua for its mineral spring, is a small Tillage of 



