﻿mSCHNEI-NOVaOROO. 



KOCERA. 



aM 



dMtroyadbyadrMdAilflreao the 18th of Aagiutl816. The emperor 

 AksBoder trmiuferTBd the fair in the following jear to Niaohnei-MoT- 

 gorod, whioh is in the centre of that immenM lystam of inland 

 oarigation which oovers Rnaua aa if with a net, and afford* a oom- 

 monication from thia point with the two capitals, with the White Sra, 

 the Qulf of Finland, and the Caapian. A low flat peninsula, formed 

 by the left banks of the Oka and the Volga, and Lake Mestohenkoe, 

 which ha* a eommonication with the Volga a little farther to the 

 north, was ehoaen for the site of the new basaar. It was neoeasary 

 first of all to raise the ground, which waa inundated erery spring by 

 the Volga : to procure earth for this purpose, and likewise to facilitate 

 the moTement of the boata, a broad oanal, in the form of a horseshoe, 

 was dug, the two extremities of which join the Oka, while on the 

 other side it communicates by means of Lake Mestcherakoe with the 

 Volga. 



On the plateau inclosed by this canal there is now a whole town 

 of stone magazinrs, built in the form of a large oblong parallelogram, 

 surrounded with shops, before an edifice adorned with three rows of 

 columns, which is the hotel of the governor, in which the local 

 authorities reside daring the fair : a long wide bridge of boata acroes 

 tha Oka joins the busy place to the city. Forty.eight blocks of build- 

 ings, separated by streets which intersect each other at right angles, 

 •xtsnd behind this parallelogram. The number of the shops is about 

 S524, and over each there is a small apartment, in which the merchant 

 may raaide. All these buildings are roofed with iron, and ttie cover- 

 ings of the open galleries which run along all the fafades are likewise 

 of iron, and supported by 8000 elegant cast-iron pillars. A very broad 

 street, passing through Uie centre of this cominerciol town, terminates 

 in a church built in a rich and noble style. A little before the church, 

 in two transverse ranges on the right and left, are the Chinese shops, 

 the fantastic architecture of which, their tumed-up roofs, surmounted 

 with flsgs and long streamers whidi are moved by every breath of air, 

 give a variety to the appearance of these immense edifices. On the 

 same line, beyond the canal, there is on the west an Armenian church, 

 and on the east a mosque. The remainder of the peninsula beyond 

 the canal round the above.mentioned masque is occupied by a great 

 number of wooden booths, in whioh are deposited goods less liable 

 to spoil, such as iron, leather, cordage, &c. There too are the theatre 

 and the numerous tents of the Tartar restaurateurs. An island in the 

 Oka, between the town and the fair, is covered with similar booths. 

 On each side of the bridge of boats across the Oka, which is as wide 

 as the Thames at London, and along the Volga, at the mouth of the 

 former river, the waters are covered for above a mile with boats and 

 barges of all shapea and sizes used in conveying goods to the shops on 

 tba banks of the riven and canals. Above 40,000 persons of various 

 Ttoes and languages from the confines of Europe and Asia navigate 

 these T O Sis l s, and altogether above 260,000 persons, mostly of the male 

 •ez, are here congregated for business. 



All this vast, regular, and handsome town of warehouses, the 

 erection of which coat 11,000,000 rubles, presents for ten months in 

 the year the silaDoe of a desert ; but scarcely is the flsg announcing 

 the comoMlMMiiMnt of the fiiir hoisted on the 29th of June, when all 

 the street* and warehouses are filled with a countless multitude who 

 have flocked hither from the two Russian capitals, from the shores of 

 the Baltic and the Caspian, from Bokhara, Khiva, Kokaud and 

 Taosbkeud, from Asia Hmor, from the mountains of Turkistan and 

 the frontirrs of China, from wtstem Europe, and even from America 

 and Australia. All thsae msgailnea and booths are filled with the 

 produce of the most diverss oonntrics^ and thousands of boata are 

 •mployed in landing the gooda, or in taking them on board to convey 

 tbam to tha seas which wash the northern and southern shores of the 

 «mpir«b Other goods, such as wooden wares, are piled up even in the 

 opan country, and (isrther on are long lines of carts with their horses, 

 wUeh aerTc both as magacines, and lodgings for the oountry-people. 



Tha total values of the merchandise exposed for sale at this Cair in 

 18S7 amounted to 6,512,808/. sterling; in 1840 to 7,48S,61»t. ; and in 

 1842 to 7,468,42W. The total value of the goods sold in 1840 was 

 fl,7M,807Il, including 4,243,646/. worth of Russian merchandise. In 

 1M2 goods wero sold for <(,0»7,37W., of which 4,460,871/. worth was 

 Xassian manufaotore and prodoca. The number of shops and maga- 

 aiDca lot in 1842 exceeded 480O. 



The variuiia products exposed for sale at the fair of Xischnei 

 eompris* outtun mauufactures, woollen cloths; hempen and flaxen 

 textures; silks ; furs ; leather and worked skins ; waahod rags ; produce 

 of Um oiioe* and fuuudnsa, iron, copper, and metal goods ; porcelain, 

 •arthaawars, mirrota, and glass; dried fish, caviare, train oil, and 

 ' as; oom sod flour; Hus'ian wines, bnmdy, mead, &&; refined 

 I from 8t. fetenburg and ArchangeL Miaodlaneotu goods — such 

 ■ahaa, soap, tobacco, paprr, feathera, hogs' bristles, horses' tails, 

 , sUdb, Umber, Ruaian and Tartar horses, Ac ; coffee, indigo, 

 ooofainaal, othar drugn and foreign wines. Of Asiatic produce Um 

 most important articlx is t<-a, imported from China by way of Kisushta, 

 of which 45,000 ehasts were imported in 1842; 6000 boxes of tea 

 p re s M i in cakes ; Chineae silks, cottons, colours, playthings ; Bokhara 

 cotton, raw, spun, and woven; shitwIpMoes, turquoises, furs, Ac; 

 Csahmere wool, Fenian earpats, nw silks, &«. Steamers ply on the 

 Volga up to Tver and down to the Caspian Sea, and also up the 

 Sana to tlM gofmaam/t of Perm, so that grsat faciUtiaa exist for 



oonveyance of goods to Nisdmei over and above the common river 

 and canal traffic in which it partidpates. Except during the times of 

 the fair Kischnei is a dull uninteresting place. 

 NISHAPOOR. [Pkrma.! 

 NISIBIN, or NI8IBI& [Hbsopotamia.] 



NISSA, or NISCH, a town in European Turkey, tha residence of a 

 pasha, is situated in a fine open plain on the Nissava, a feeder of the 

 Morava, near the frontinr of Servia, 60 miles S.SlW. from Widden, 

 and contains about 10,000 inhabitants (4000 Mohammedans and 6000 

 Christians). Niasa occupies the sits of NaSssos,the birthplace of Constan- 

 tine the Great ; but nothing remains of its ancient glory. The town is 

 modem, and by no means remarkable for its beauty ; the principal 

 building is the Konak, or palace of the pasha. The defensive works round 

 the Turkish quarter on the right bank of the river consist of well-built 

 ramparts of great extent, with wattled parapets and a dry ditch. The 

 bazaar on tbe left bank of the Nissava is surrounded by a trench and 

 palisadea The Christian quarter, which is the lai^geet part of the 

 town, lies beyond the bazaar, and is open to the plain. Ni«a is 

 now the chief town of the pashalio of Sophia ; it is called Nisch by tbe 

 Turks. It is the residence of a Qreek bishop, and has famous 

 thermal springs. As it is the key to militaiy communications 

 between Thrace, Bolgaris, and Servia, the fortifications of the town 

 are mounted with a considerable number of guns of large calibre, and 

 in good order. The plain of Nissa lying between wooded slopes of the 

 Tesovitch and the little ISalkan, two nmifioations of the Hemu.«, is 

 one of the most beautiful, fertile, and well-tilled districts in Bulgaria. 

 The town waa taken by the Turks imdor the Sultan Amuratb I. in 

 1889 on the march to the battle of Kossova. A couple of miles above 

 Nissa on the rood to Sophia, the site of an action between the Tiurks 

 and Serbs in tbe same year is marked by a tower of skulU, which is 

 more terrible in name than in reality. It was constructed of stone 

 and lime, but externally heads were imbedded in the mortar. Very 

 few skulls now remain, the Christians having in the course of time 

 removed almost all of them for the purpose of interment, but their 

 places are marked by rows of round holes. The tower is 10 feet square, 

 15 feet high, covered with a red-tiled roof, and has neither door nor 

 window in it. The interior is said to be a favourite retreat of snakes 

 and lizards. The Austrians took Nissa in 1737. 

 NITH, NITHSDALK. [Dlmfbiesshire.] 

 NIVKLLE. [Bbabant, South.] 



NIVERNAIS, one of the provinces into vhitii France was divided 

 before the first revolution. It was bounded N. by OrManois and 

 the district of Auxerrois in Bourgogne ; £. by Bourgogne ; S. by Bour- 

 bonnois ; and W. by Berri. 



It is almost entirely comprehended in the modem department of 

 NiivRE. In feudal times it constituted the county of Nevers. 

 NIZZA. [Ao<jui; NiCB.] 

 NOACOTE. [NEPAnL.] 

 NOBBER. [Meath.) 



NOCE'KA DEI PAOA'NI, a town on the south-eastern border of 

 Campania, in the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, now belonging to the 

 province of Principato Citra, is situated in a valley near tha Samo, at 

 tbe foot of the Monte San Aiigelo ridge, which travenes the peninsula 

 of Sorrento, and on the high road from Naples to Salemo. It is an 

 open straggling town, with about 6000 inhabitants. It is a bishop's 

 see, has several churches and convents, a clerical seminary, and fine 

 barracks for cavalry. Tbe walls and castle of the old town, which 

 was deserted on account of the earthquakes, are on the hill above. 

 About a mile from Nocera, on the road to La Cava, is a circular 

 church, which has been mistaken by some for an ancient temple, but 

 it evidently dates from the earlier ages of Christianity. A double row 

 of marble columns, disposed in a circular range, support the roof 

 upon archea. Nocera is joined to Naples by railway. 



Nocera was destroyed by Hannibal (Livy, xxiii. 19), after whose 

 departure for Lucania the dispersed inhabitants were settled by tha 

 Romans in Atella, the inhabitants of the latter town having been 

 transferred to Colatin (xxviii. 3). The town of Nocera was however 

 rebuilt and became a Roman colony. After several vicisaitudes it was 

 partly destroyed by earthquakea in the time of the early Norman 

 kings, in the 1 1th century, when the inhabitants resorted to the pre- 

 sent site. The adjunct ' Dei Pagaui' which it bean has been variously 

 accotmted for : some derive it from the Saracens, called Pagans in the 

 middle ages, who occupied the town for a conaiderable time in the 

 10th century ; others from a powerful baronial family, Pagani by name, 

 000 of whom, Hugh de Payen, wan Orand Master of the Templnrs in 

 the time of the emperor Frederick I. (Lunadoro, ' Lettera intorao 

 all' Urigine di Nooera.') 



NOCK'RA, NUCERIA, a town of ancient Umbria, now belonging 

 to that province of the Papal States called ' I)el^;ar.ioue di Perugia.' 

 It is built on a steep hill on the western side of the central ridge of 

 tha Apennines, near the source of the river Topino, which is an aflluent 

 of the Tiber. Nooera lice on the high road fixim Rome to Pesaro ami 

 Rimini. Nuceria was a city of the Umbri, and is mentioned by Livy 

 <ix. 88) as having surrendered to the Romans, with other towns of 

 Umbria, in 807 Rc. In the fall of the Western Empire, Nuceria was 

 repeatedly devastated by the Vidgoths ond otiier northern tribes. 

 Under the Longobards it formed part of the duchy of Spoleto. In 

 the ytue 1198 Innocent lit. annexed it to the Pnwl territories. It 



