﻿es9 



NILGHERRY MOUNTAINS. 



nImes. 



S90 



in the country of the Taka, it receives on its eastern bank the Mareb, 

 a consideratile stream which comes from Tigre. The Tacazze then 

 passes Qous Railjib, and inclines again to the north-west, forming the 

 boundary of tbe so-called Island of Meroe and the Berber country ; 

 and after receiving the Mogren on its right bank, at last enters the 

 Nile at 17° ia N. lat., and about 34° 5' E. long. 



The Nile, from the confluence of the Tacazze down to its entrance 

 into the Mediterranean, a distance of 1200 geographical miles measured 

 along the course of the river, receives no permanent streams ; but in 

 the season of rains it receives wadys, or torrents, from the mountains 

 which lie between it and the Red Sea. After flowing through Berber 

 in a northnorth-westem direction, a populous and fertile district, and 

 full of villages, the Nile enters a barren and dreary country, where 

 the desert sands come close to the river's etige. Tbe rocks and stones 

 of the desert are generally of black granite. No verdure is to be 

 aeen, except on the margin of the river. On arriving at about 19° 

 N. lat. the Nile tarns nearly direct west, and forms the large island of 

 Mograt The Nile below Hbgrat turns abruptly to the south-west. 

 This is known as the great bend of the Nile. Arriving at tbe village 

 of Korti, 18° N. lat., 81° 50' E. long., the river tarns to the west; 

 and after a course of about 80 miles in that direction, it resumes a 

 northern course, flowing through the provinco of Dongola. The 

 breadth of the cultivable land on each bank through the Uongola 

 country, which is above 100 miles iu length, varies from one to three 

 miles, beyond which is the desert The left or western bank is the 

 more fertile, the eastern bank being in many places sandy and barren. 

 North of Argo, in 19° 40' N. lat, the Nile enters the province of Dar 

 Habaai, in Lower Nubia, where it forms a cataract, or rapid, com- 

 monly called the third cataract by those who ascend the river. After 

 aovend windings the river inclines to the north-east; and near 22° 

 N. lat forms the second cataract, called Wady Haifa, after which it 

 paaws tbe splendid temple of Abuaamboul, or Ipiambul. Continuiog 

 its north-east course, the Nile paasea by Derr, Dnndour, and Kalsbeheh ; 

 and at about 24° N. lat forms the last cataract between granite rocks 

 which erosa the river near Essouan, or Asaonau. Along this tract of 

 Lower Nubia the valley of the Nile is very narrow ; about KaUbaheh 

 it rises between 80 and 40 feet perpeiidivulnrly during the inundation ; 

 and after it has subsided, in Fetiruary, according to Sir J. Q. Wilkinson, 

 the stream mmi at a rate of two or three nautical miles an hour. 



After entering the boundaries of Egypt the Nile flows through the 

 whole length of that country, which it waters and fertilises. Egypt 

 owes to the Nile its very existence as a productive and babiuble 

 region, ami accordingly, in olden timoe, the people vonhipped the 

 beneficent river na thrir tutelary god. 



NILOHERRY MOUNTAINS, [Hihdubtaii.] 



NIHEOUEN. IGUBLDERLAND.] 



NIMES, or NISMES, capital of the French department of Gard, 

 ■tanda at a short distance from the rixht bank of tbe Card, in 

 48° 60' 86" N. lat, 4° 21' 8' E. long, 30 miles by railway N.E. from 

 Montpellier, and had 49,480 inhabitanta in the commune in liol. 

 Ntmes, the ancient AeeuMtnu, ia a town of great antiquity. Strabo 

 (p. 186, Casaub.) notices it as the capital of the Voloe Ariscomiscl 

 It submitted to Rome, B.O. 119, but retained iU own laws and enjoyed 

 tbe ' Jus Latii.' by virtue of which tboee elected to the odilesliip or 

 qnxtorsliip in Nemansus acquired the rights of Roman citizens. It 

 was fortified with walls anil gates by the emperor Augustux, about 

 14 yean t>efore the Christian era. On the downfall of the Roman 

 empire Nimes fell into the hands of the Visigoths ; it was taken in 

 the beginning of the 8th century by tbe Hoon, from whom it was 

 wrested by Charles Martel, at whose hands the town suffered much. 

 In the religious wars of the leth century it was one of the strong- 

 holds of the Calvinists : it submitted to Louis XIII., who dismantled 

 the fortifications. In the earlier periods of the French revolution 

 (1791) and on the second restoration of the Bourbons (1816) it waa 

 tbe reene of serious intestine troubles, political and religions. 



Of all the towns in France, Nlmes preserves the most striking 

 memorials of its ancient grandeur. The ancient temple, now called 

 Haisoo Carr^, whi jh is considered to be a master-piece of architecture, 

 ia the best preserved Roman moaument in tbe city. Its ground pUn 

 is a rectangle 84 feet long by 44 feet wida ; the interior length is 

 621 f*^ '• ^^^ breadth and height are 39} feet each. It ia surrounded 

 by 30fluted Corinthian columns, so arranged as to preseot 11 on each 

 side, 6in the front, and as many at the back. Tbe cornice and friese 

 which run all round the building, and the capitals of tlie columns, 

 are regarded as models of architectural beauty. The only entrance 

 to the building is by a door in the front under the portico, the ascent 

 to which is by 16 stone steps. As there were originally no windows, 

 it is conjectured that light was obtamed by openings in the roof. 

 There is reaion to believe that this structure was only the sanctuary 

 of a vast temple, the walls of which have been lately traced. The 

 age of its erection is unknown, hut from some traces of an inscription 

 it is supposed to hava been dedicated to Marcus Aurvlius and Lucius 

 Venis. In the middle ages it served as a town-hall : in the time of 

 Louis XIV. the canons of St. Austin fitted it up as a church : it is 

 now completely restored, and used as a museum of antiquities and a 

 painting gallery. 



The amphitheatre, which is near the Maison Carr^, is in form an 

 ellipse, tbe major axis of which, extending from east to west, ia 



4314 f«e' i° length and the minor axis 3374 feet, inoluding the thick 

 ness of the walls. Tbe inclosing structure consists of a lower and an 

 upper story, each pierc-d by 60 arcades ; the whole ia surmouutad by 

 an attic, the summit of which is 70^ feet high. Tbi; lower or ground 

 story is adorned with pilasters, and the upper with Tuscan coltiuins. 

 The attic shows the holes destined to receive the posts on which was 

 stretched the awuing that covered the amphitheatre. The rows of 

 seats were 24 in number. There were four principal entrances, one 

 facing each cardmal point The amphitheatre waa capable of holding 

 24,000 spectators. It was built with great solidity without cement 

 Tbe stones were quarried in tbe neighbourhood, and some of them 

 are of immense size. The building stands isolated in the midst of a 

 wide open space, and with the exception of the seats may be said to 

 bs in almost a perfect state. The areua is no w used for bull-coursing 

 and for wreatliug matches. 



The editice called Temple de Diane, but which was in reality a 

 hydraulic edifice connected with the adjacent baths, is a mere ruin. 

 The interior still exhibits some remains of a fine vaulted roof and of 

 the niches and columns which once adorned it Th5 baths imd the 

 fountain which supplied them have disappeared, but their pbm has 

 been trxced; a fountain erected under Louis XIV. disfigures the site. 

 The waters of this fountain are conveyed by a canal round one of the 

 public gardens of the town, and tbe place of the baths is occupied 

 by statues and groups in marble, of modem date and inferior 

 execution. A beautiful fountain was erected in June, 1851. In 

 the Centre of an octagomU basin on an 8-sided pedestal stands the 

 personification of the city crowned with a temple, which seems to be 

 a model of tbe Maison Carrde ; on the four contreforts of tbe pedestal 

 are four figures of river-gods. The sculptures are of t'arrara marble ; 

 the basins and body of the fountain of stone. The basins are 8 feet 

 high, and the diameter of tbe basin in which the whole stands ia 

 38 feet 



The Tonr-magne, supposed to be a GriBco-Celtio mausoleum and the 

 oldest monument of antiquity in Nlmes, is a tower which originally 

 couaistetl of several stones diminishing in circumference and difl'ering 

 in form as thay rose from the lowest Tbe ruin now presents a lower 

 story of heptagonal form, 821 feet in circumference, and an upper 

 story, which is octagonal. The original height of the structure wiu 

 124 feet, but what now remains of it ia only 784 feet high. It stands 

 on an elevation, and is joined to the ancient wails of the town. 



There are two Roman gates. One of them, called Porte d'Auguale, 

 waa discovered in 171)1, on pulling down some ramparts ereced in 

 tbe 12tb century. This gate is built of large blocks of freestone, and 

 has two large arches in the middle, and two smaller arches, one on 

 each aide. It bears an inscription, showing that the gates and walls 

 were the gift of Augiutus Caisar to the colony of Neiuausus, 



Besides these remains Nlmes has a vast number of inscriptions, 

 monumental and other, and one or two fine mosaic pavements. In 

 the neighbourhood there is a Roman bridge. 



Nlmes is situated in a delightful plain at the foot of hills covered 

 with vineyards and olivegardena. The city, properly so called, has 

 narrow, crooked, and ill-built streets ; it is surroAided by boulevards, 

 which occupy the site of tbe ancient ramparts, and Keparate it from 

 its BuburuB, which at lea^t equal it in extent, and have straight, wide 

 streets, but the houses are ill built Of the public edifices tbe most 

 remarkable are tbe ooart-hou>e, the former citadel which is now used 

 as a central prison, tbe hospital, the theatre, tbe cathedral, and the 

 college church. The cathedral contains some iutereating monuments, 

 among others the tomb of Fldcbier ; its pavement is 169 feet above tbe 

 level of the i 



Bronse Coin of Nlmes, from the Musenm of Avignon. 



Ibis coin is tbe celebrated ' Pied de BIcbe,' which Is very rare. There is a 

 ftiiiiflur coin which is vo common that it is often round current with the coppiT 

 money of I'mncc. 'I'he two heads are aaid to i»e thone of Agiii'pu and the 

 emperor Au^oatus ; thiit on the right hand is Anguatun, and that on tlic left in 

 Agrippa. The inscription i> read, " Jmpcrator Divi Filiim Pater I'atriie." Tlio 

 croco<iile chained to a palm-tree, aurmounted by a streamer, ia aaid to com- 

 memorate the victory of Actlum and the subaequent reduction of Egypt, of » Iticll 

 the crocodile ia the aymbol. The words ' Col. Nem." (Coionia Nemnuaua) refer 

 to the foundiog of the colony by Augnatus. (Raache, • Lexicon Bel Numaria.') 



