﻿1C65 



NOVOQOKOD. 



NUBIA, 



1066 



NOVOGOROD, one of the eight governments of Great Russia, 

 extends from 57° 18' to 61° 8' N. lat., 30° 10' to 39° 40' E. long. It 

 is bounded N. by the government of Olonetz, E. by Wolo^da and 

 Jaroslaw, S. by 'Twer, and W. by Pskow and St. Petersburg. The 

 area including the surface of the large lakes of Ilmen, Bjelo-Osero, 

 and Woschd, is 46,833 square miles. It is divided into tea circles, and 

 the population in 1846 was 907,900. 



The face of the country is diversified with hills, rivers, high banks, 

 plains, valleys, marshes, and lakes. The northern part is low and 

 swampy, and for the most part covered only with peat. In the south- 

 em part the soil is clayey or sandy. There are fine pastures, and the 

 agricultural produce amply repays the labour of the husbandman. 

 The AValdai Hills, so called from the town of Waldai, traverse the 

 south part of the government to the frontier of Twer, forming a line 

 of detached hills about 100 miles long and not more than 300 feet 

 high, which are close to each other, and almost all of them cultivated. 

 In the narrow intervening valleys there is a pleasing mixture of wood 

 and water scenery. The principal rivers are the Msta, which comes 

 from Twer, and the Wolchow. The Msta has some falls at Boro- 

 vitscbi, but is navigable below them, and runs into Lake Ilmen. The 

 Wolchow, which issues from Lake Ilmen, and Bows into the Ladoga 

 Canal, is from 600 to 1 200 feet in width, and has suflicient depth of 

 water for barks during the whole summer. These two rivers, which 

 are connected by Lake Ilmen, complete the great water-communica- 

 tion between the Volga and the Neva. The other chief rivers are, 

 the Lovat, the Pola, and the Schelen, all of which fall into the Ilmen ; 

 the Schekona and the Wologa, which join the Volga ; and the Sias 

 and the Buscha, which run into Lake Ladoga. The government con- 

 tains 42 rivers, and 3 large and 55 smaller lakes. The Bjelo Osero, or 

 White Lake, in the north-east of the government, is the largest of 

 the lakes ; it is above 26 miles in length and as many in breadth, and 

 is connected by the Schekona with the Volga. It covers an area of 

 432 square miles. Lake Ilmen, which is in the west of the govern- 

 ment, is 26 miles long and 16 miles wide, receives many large and 

 small rivers, and is connected by the Wolchow with the Ladoga Canal ; 

 its area is 346 square miles. Lake Woschd is about 14 miles long, 

 and has an area of 177 square miles. The Novogorod Canal, 5 miles 

 long, connects the Msta directly with the Wolchow, so as to avoid 

 Lake Ilmen, the navigation of which is often dangerous on account of 

 the frequent storms. 



The climate is cold ; winter begins a fortnight sooner and lasts a 

 fortnight longer in the northern than in the southern circles. All the 

 rivers and lake* are frozen during the winter, which lasts from Novem- 

 ber to Hay, Agriculture is the chief occupation of the inhabitants. 

 The chief products are rye, barley, oats, some buckwheat, and great 

 quantities of peas. Flax and hemp are cultivated for home consump- 

 tion and for exportation. A variety of common pot-herbs, potatoes, 

 and other vegetables, with some apples, and cherries are grown. A 

 great part of the country is covered with forests ; the most common 

 tress are pine, fir, birch, alder, and elm ; there is much tmderwood. 

 Timber is a staple article of the government, but many of the forests 

 are inaccessible in summer on account of the swamps. The crown 

 forests alone cover a fifth part of the whole surface. All the forests 

 abound in berries of various kinds ; they likewise contain deer, elks, 

 bears, wolves, lynxes, badgers, martens, hares, and squirrels. Owing 

 to the length of the winter, the breeding of cattle is limited to what 

 is necessary for the purposes of agriculture. The horses, oxen, and 

 sheep are of the common Russian breeds ; few swine and goats are 

 kept. The fisheries on the lakes and rivers are extremely productive ; 

 in some of the rivers pearls are found. The mineral products are 

 iron, freestone, coal, slate, salt, clay, lime, and marl. The principal 

 salt-springs are at Staraja-Russa, where salt is made for the supply of 

 the province* of Novogorod and Twer. 



Manufactvrei and Trade. — The manufactures comprise coarse linen, 

 soap, tallow candle*, and great quantities of potash. The bog-iron 

 found in the government is smelted and manufactured into small 

 articles of iron-ware. Thera are some distilleries. Bells are made at 

 Valdai. The export trade of the province is confined to its own pro- 

 ductions, com, hemp, flax, salt, some iron, a great quantity of timber, 

 som^ furs, hides, leather, and forage, most of which goes to St. Peters- 

 burg. The principal place of trade is Novogorod, the capital. The 

 exports are conveyed to the commercial towns in caravans of 60 to 

 100 carts, or in sledges drawn by one horse. Great numbers of geese 

 ■re sant from this government to St. Petersburg. 



Tmnu. — Novogorod, Novgorod, or Novgorod Welikc, thot is, the Great 

 New City, is the capital of the government. It is situated in 

 fi8' 32' N. lat., 31° 20' E. long., 120 miles S.S.E. from St. Petersburg, 

 in a fine country on the banks of the Wolchow, where it flows out of 

 Lake Ilmen, and on the Novogorod Canal The city consists of three 

 parts : the Kremlin, or fertreaa, standing on a steep hill on the north 

 side of the river, surrounded with thick walls and towers ; and on 

 the sooth of the river the commercial town and the Sophienstadt, 

 which are connected with the fortress by a handsome stone bridge. 

 This city is one of the most ancient in the Russian empire, having been 

 founded in the 5th century. In the 9th century it had its own princp, 

 and Ruric made it the seat of a government, but the court was soon 

 afterwards removed to Kiew. Jaroslaw, his successor, gave the city 

 considerable immunities in 1036. The governors however made them- 



selves independent of the Russian grand-dukes. The citizens, having 

 gradually acquired more extensive privileges, established a republic 

 in the 12th century, under a chief magistrate, whose office was here- 

 ditary, but whose power was limited. In the 13th century the 

 Hanseatic League established a factory here, which continued 200 years. 

 The town it is sai* had in the 15th century 400,000 inhabitants, 

 which gave rise to the saying, " Who can resist God aud the Great 

 Novogorod ? " Jealous of its prosperity, Ivan Wassiliewitsch I. com- 

 pletely reduced it under his power in 1477, and it soon after began to 

 decline. The final blow was given to its prosperity by the founda- 

 tion of St. Petersburg, which diverted the commerce of the Baltic 

 into a now channel. Novogorod is now reduced to comparative insig- 

 nificance. It consists principally of scattered groups of mean houses, 

 separated by ruins or by fields formerly built upon, and its population 

 does not exceed 7000. Yet, when viewed from a distance, it has a 

 very striking appearance, owing to its fine situation and the gilded 

 domes of its 63 churches, which remain as monuments of its ancient 

 splendour. The principal church is the cathedral, dedicated to St. 

 Sophia, which stands in the Kremlin, and contains the coffin of 

 St. Ivan of Novogorod, and celebrated bronze doors, 11. J feet high 

 and 3 feet wide, adorned with numerous figures and inscriptions. The 

 other buildings are, three monasteries, of which that of St. Sergius is 

 the principal, a fine bazaar, a new palace, a poor-house, and an orphan 

 school. The city contains a considerable sail-cloth factory, tanneries 

 and soap and candle manufactories. 



Other towns are — Staraja-Riis$a, on the Polista, south of Lake 

 Ilmen, with 5600 inhabitants, and considerable salt-works ; Waldai, 

 on the west shore of the Waldai Lake on the eastern declivity of the 

 Waldai Hills, with 3200 inhabitants ; Tikhwin, on the Tikhwiua, in 

 the north of the government, population 4100 ; Kirilow, in the cast 

 of the government, with 2500 inh.ibitants, remarkable for the now 

 canal opened in 1827, which joins the Schefcsna with theSuchona; 

 Bjdo-Oiersk on the south shore of the Bjelo-Osero, population 3000 ; 

 Sorovittchi at the head of the navigation of the Msta, population 3000 ; 

 and Uttjathna, or SchtlesopoUkajo, with 3000 inhabitants, who have 

 considerable trade in iron and timber. 



NOWANUGGUR. [Hindustan.] 



NOYERS. [AI.PKS, BASSE.S.] 



NOYON. [OisE.] 



NOZAY. [LOIKE-IXFERIEDRE.] 



NU GAREEP. [NoBTHEUN Sovereignty.] 



NUBIA, a general and rather vague denomination which is often 

 used to designate a vast extent of territory stretching along the banks 

 of the Nile from the southern borders of Egypt to the frontiere of 

 Abyssinia and Sennaar. The natives however apply the name of 

 Nouba, or Wady-el-Xouba, to a comparatively small tract lying 

 between Derr and the borders of Doogola. The extent of iuformation 

 possessed by the ancients concerning those regions, and especially 

 concerning the kingdom of Meroe, is stated under ExiiioriA. 



The Nubao, or Nubata;, are mentioned as a nation bordering on 

 Egypt in the time of Diocletian, who gave up to them a strip of land 

 seven days' march in length, above the first cataract, on condition of 

 their preventing the Ethiopians and Blemmyes from attacking Egypt. 

 In subsequent centuries however a kingdom of the Noubas was 

 formed, which is mentioned by the Arabian geographers as a powerful 

 Christian country at the time of the invasion of Egypt by the Mos- 

 lems. Dongola was the residence of the king of the Noubas. The 

 country appears to have continued to profess Christianity, and to have 

 retained its independence till the 13th century of our era. Makrizi, 

 an Arabian writer, says Nubia was inhabited by two different races— 

 the Noubas and the Mokras — both of which came originally from 

 Yemen ; and Burckhardt remarks that at the present time two diSer- 

 ent languages are spoken, both differing from the Arabic, namely, the 

 Nouba and the Kenous. Both races are black or nearly so, but have 

 not the negro features nor woolly hair. Many of them have the pecu- 

 liar style of countenance which is often seen in sculptures of the 

 Egyptian temples. 



Soon after the invai3ion of Egypt by the generals of the kalif 

 Omar, a Saracen army advanced to Dongola, and obliged Koleydozo, 

 the king of the Noubas, to agree to pay an annual bakt, or tribute, of 

 360 head of slaves. This agreement was maintained with little inter- 

 ruption for more than five centuries, when, the Noubaa having attacked 

 and destroyed Assouan, Salah-ed-Deen, the famous sultan of Egypt, 

 sent an army against them and defeated them. In the following cen- 

 tury Dhaher Baybar, the Mameluke sultan of Egypt, sent an army 

 into the Nouba country, which took Dongola, ruined most of the 

 churches, taking away the golden crosses and silver vessels, and carried 

 away a vast number of captives. For many years these contests 

 between the kings of Nouba and the sultans of Egypt were renewed ; 

 the Egyptians being uniformly successful in their iuroads, but unable 

 apparently to retain possession of the country. In one instance it is 

 related by Makrizi (' History of the Sultans of Egypt,' written in the 

 Hth century), that in the expedition ag.'uust Samamoun, king of 

 Nouba, Dongola was taken, priests and nobles abandoned the king, 

 a banquet was held iu the temple of Yaous (.Jesus), and a new king 

 appointed, who agreed to pay tribute. No sooner had the nrmy left 

 Nouba, than Samamoun returned iu disguise to Dongola, aud knocked 

 at the door of all his officers, who, when they came out and saw him, 



