﻿993 



NION. 



NISCHNEI-NOVGOROD. 



991 



i 



good anchorage and a fine spring of water issuing oat close to the shore. 

 On the eastern coast is another good harbour, called Manganuri. 



Nio was called los by the ancient Greeks, in consequence, it is said, 

 of having been colonised by the loniana, before which, according to 

 Pliny (It. 12) and Stephanus of Byzantium, it was called Phoinicia, 

 from the palm-trees which grew on the island, but which have long 

 since disappeared, in the same manner as at Delos and other places, 

 where the palm-tree was also found in ancient times. (Spon; 

 Tavemier.) 



Strabo, Pliny, and Pausaniaa speak of the tomb of Homer being at 

 los, which waa said to be the birthplace of his mother; and the author 

 of the ' Life of Homer ' (attributed to Herodotus) reports the epitaph 

 of the poet. los now belongs to the kingdom of Greece, and is 

 included in the nome of the Cyclades. 



NION, or NTON. [Vacd.] 



NIONS, or NYONS. [Drome.] 



NIORT, the capital of the French department of Deux-S^vres, 

 is situated on the S^vre-Niortaise, in 46° 19' 23" N. lat, 0° 27' 49" 

 W. long., at a distance of 225 miles S.W. from Paris, 96 feet above 

 the level of the sea, and had 17,562 inhabitants in the commune in 

 1851. The town is situated in a delightful and well cultivated district, 

 and is built on the slopes of two hills and on both sides of the river. 

 It was formerly one of the most wretched-looking towns of the depart- 

 ment, but it has been considerably improved of late years. The 

 town-hall is a very ancient building, once the palace of Eleanor of 

 Guienne, wife of Henry II. of England. There are two churches — 

 one of them, called Notre-Dame, is an ancient gothic building, with a 

 fine spire raised by the English, and 246 feet high ; cavalry barracks ; 

 and an ancient castle, which is now used as a prison. The town has 

 two good squares, and there is a pleasant promenade near the barracks. 

 The chief manufactures are chamois and other leather, gloves, shoes, 

 woollen- and cotton-yam, druggets and other woollens, uddles, braces, 

 horn combs, paper, saltpetre, and confection of angelica. Considerable 

 trade is carried on in wine, staves, timber, com, fiour, wool, and hair. 

 The navigation of the river Sivre commences at Niort. There are in 

 the town tribunals of first mstance and of commerce, a council of 

 pmd'hommes, a college, two hospitals, a theatre, a public library of 

 20,000 volumes, and a botanic garden. 



NIPON. [JiPAK.] 



NISCHNEI- or NIJNI-NOVOOROD, or NISCHEGOROD (Lower 

 Novgorod), a govemment of great Russia, is situated between 54° and 

 67° N. Ut, 41° 45' and 46° 15' E. long. It is bounded N. by Kostroma, 

 N.E. by Wiatka, E. by Casan, S.E. by Simbirsk, & by Perm, S.W. by 

 Tambov, and W. by Wladimir. The area is 18,557 square miles, and 

 the population in 1846 amounted to 1,178,200. 



The country is an undulating plain, diversified only by the high 

 lands along the batiks of the rivers and by small elevations. There is 

 a considerable extent of forest, but only few swamps. The soil con- 

 sists in a great measure of sand, with a mixture of good earth, and in 

 many places it is covered with a thick layer of black mould ; here 

 and there clay is found, with portions of iron or ochre. The hills, 

 none of which is more than from 400 to 500 feet above the level of 

 the sea, generally consist of clay, gypsum, and limestone, and occasion- 

 ally of sandstone : they are all covered with forests. The principal 

 river is the Volga, which enters the govemment from Kostroma, and 

 flows thence to Casan in a semicircular bend. This great river, in its 

 course through the govemment, receives the following rivers : — The 

 Oka, which, rising in Orel, flows through that government, and those 

 of Tula, Kaluga, Riasan, Moskwa, and Wladimir, and, after a course 

 of 340 miles through the most fertile parts of Russia, falls into the 

 Volga near the city of Nischnei-Novgorod ; and then the Kulma, the 

 Kirsenez, the Sura (a rapid river navigable only in the spring), the 

 Werluga, and the Alatyr. There are few lakes, and none of them are 

 large. The climate is milder than in Wladimir ; there is not so much 

 moisture, and spring and autumn are not so variable. The inhabitants 

 are very long lived, and the number of births is often nearly double 

 that of deaths. 



Nischnei-Novgorod is one of the most fertile and best cultivated 

 provinces of the empire. The inhabitants grow rye, buck-wheat, 

 millet, peas and beans, large quantities of flax, hemp, and hops ; and 

 abundance of common vegetables and fruits. The forests arc very 

 productive ; the banks of the streams and rivers are clothed with the 

 finest timber, especially oak- and lime-trees. The pine, the fir, the 

 beech, and the alder are found in all the forests. The oaks however 

 have been very much thinned; and the great extent of the forests has 

 led to the most extravagant waste. The undefined privileges of the 

 distilleries, the potash manufactures, and the glass- and iron-works, 

 are an obstacle to anything like system in the management of the 

 forests. The breeding of cattle, though subservient to agriculture, is 

 very carefully attended to. The best horses of the Russian breed are 

 found in this province, where the govemment and many private persons 

 have studs. The homed cattle are handsome and of a largo size. 

 Sheep and hogs are of the common breed. Some poultry, especially 

 gsese, abound ; beea also are common. The principal fish in the rivers 

 •re the bleak, the isinglass-fish, and the caviare-sturgeon, of which 

 ther* ia a sufficient supply for home consumption. 



Of all the governments of Russia, Moscow and Wladimir not 

 excepted, Nisobnei-Novgorod is that in which the inhabitant* are the 



0X00. DIT. TOL, III, 



most generally engaged in manufactures of various kinds, though the 

 province has comparatively few manufactories on an extensive scale. 

 But most of the villages are full of artisans and littl.- manufacturers 

 of all descriptions, who, without belonging to a manufactory, yet make 

 a great abundance and variety of articles. There are also in the 

 country many who cirry on some business on a large scale, though it 

 is considered as only a secondary employment ; so that weaving mats, 

 making potashes, spinning yarn, weaving linen, and making earthen- 

 ware, are common all over the country. The few large establishments 

 manufacture woollen-cloth, leather of various kinds, linen, Russia-duck, 

 cordage, soap, candles, iron, steel, and glass wares. 



The exports of the province consist of com, flour, hemp, flax, yarn, 

 coarse linen, cordage, bass-mats, leather, carved and turned wooden 

 wares, oak-timber, potashes, cooper's work, iron-wire, hardware, glass, 

 cloth, horses, and some other trifling articles, which amply suffice to 

 counterbalance the imports, which are chiefly bar-iron, salt, brandy, 

 wine, colonial produce, and manufactvu-es. 



The population consists of Russians, the most numerous race; 

 Tschuvasches, Mordwins, Tscheremesses, and some Tarfcirs. The 

 Tschuvasches, Mordvrins, and Tscheromesses are of Finnish origin. 

 The Greek Church predominates, and is under the bishop of Nischnei- 

 Novgorod. The Mordwins and Tscheremesses are most of them 

 baptised, as well as many of the Tschuvasches, but a great portion of 

 the latter are still heathens. They do not worship their gods in 

 temples, but in consecrated places in the open air, which they call 

 Keremet, or Irsan, and which arc chiefly in groves and forests. They 

 have a supreme god, whom they call Thor, and whom, as well as the 

 inferior gods, they worship as an invisible being ; they offer sacrifices 

 to him, believe in a state of future rewards and punishments, and 

 have priests and conjurors, whom they call Juma and Jiirame. 



The capital of the govemment is also called Nischnei-Novgorod, 

 which forms the subject of the next article. Among the other towns 

 in this govemment are — Araamat, 8500 inhabitants, with manufactures 

 of silk, leather, silver, iron, and soap, and considerable trade in linen, 

 sail-cloth, and shoes ; Podtchintki, 6500 inhabitants, with an imperial 

 stud ; Paalmo-Selo, on the Oka, 6600 inhabitants ; Balachna, 4500 

 inhabitants ; Muroichkina, 7000 inhabitants ; and several other 

 thriving towns. 



NISCHNEI-NOVGOROD, the capital of the government of Nischnei- 

 Novgorod, is situated in 66° 19' 43" N. lat, 44° 0' 58" E. long., at the 

 confluence of the Oka and the Volga, and has ordinarily only about 

 20,000 inhabitants, but at the time of its great fair this number is 

 swelled to nearly 300,000. The city ia built in the fork between the 

 right banks of the Oka and the Volga, and consists of three parts : — 

 1. The fortified part of the city is built on a hill, better than a mile 

 in circumference, and surrounded with a wall which has five square 

 and two round towers and two gates. It is chiefly composed of three 

 handsome streets, which converge upon an open space in front of the 

 Kremlin, or fortress, that crowns the hill and overhangs the Volga. 

 In this fortress are the two cathedrals dedicated to St. Michael and 

 to the Transfiguration, the palaces of the governors, and some other 

 public buildings, and an obelisk of granite 46 feet high, in honour of 

 Minin and Pojarsky. A beautiful terrace on the side towards the 

 Volga affords a most extensive view of the noble rivers pursuing 

 their course through a vast plain of com and forest lands. 2. The 

 city itself is situated on the declivity of the hill above the Volga, which 

 is pretty well built in the Russian fashion : the streets indeed are 

 narrow, but there is a large open market-place and a fine quay. 3. A 

 large suburb is built along the face and at the foot of the high ground 

 on the right bank of the Oka. 



This city is the residence of the military governors of Perm and 

 Nischnei-Novgorod, of the civil governor of the latter, the see of a 

 bishop, and the seat of various public officea. The public buildings 

 and institutions are : — 42 churches, of which 30 are of stone, 3 con- 

 vents, a seminary for schoolmasters, a gymnasium, several schools, 

 and a very fine stone bazaar. Some of the churches are of great size 

 and beauty. The domes and steeples of the numerous churches give 

 it the appearance of a much more considerable town. The inhabit- 

 ants carry on various manufactures of cordage, leather, coarse lace, 

 cloth, copper and iron articles, soap, and candles, and there are many 

 malt-kilns, breweries, and tanneries. 



The great annual fair of this part of Russia was originally held in 

 Kazan, the Tartar capital; it was transferred in 1648 to Makarieff, 

 about 50 miles below Nijm', and its duration limited to fivi^ days. 

 New regulations were promulgated in 1679, 1680, 1681, and 1691, by 

 the last of which every facility was granted to foreigners. In 1760 

 the fair had become so considerable, that the government built a vast 

 bazaar of wood, containing 800 shops ; but the quantity of goods 

 brought from Europe and Asia increased every year in such a degree, 

 that the old bazaar could not contain half of them, and in 1809 the 

 emperor Alexander ordered a new building to bo erected, which 

 contained 1400 shops. But even this bazaar was soon insufficient, and 

 a great portion of the goods were placed under sheds, the number of 

 which it was necessary to increase every year, till they at length 

 amounted to 1800, the rent of which and that of the shops in the 

 bazaar produced annually 120,000 rubles. < -il 



The government had devoted a sum of 600,000 rubles to the erection 

 of this building, which was scarcely completed when it was totally 



3s 



