82 NIG 
of fprinkling its feeds upon tlieir bread. In England it 
is feldom Cultivated but for curiofity, being lefs handfome 
than flome other kinds. It varies with double flowers.^ 
Mr. Miller has two other fpecies.—N. Cretica: riling 
with a branching ftalk a foot high, with fhorter and 
broader leaves. At the top of each branch is one flower, 
without any involucre.—N. latifolia rifes with a branching 
ftalk a foot high, with leaves like thofe of larkfpur. It 
has ten piftils ftiorter than the petals, and a great number 
of green ftamens with blue anthers. The feed-veftels are 
like thofe of the preceding. This having ten piftils may 
poffibly be a variety of N. Hifpanica. 
4. Nigella arvenfis, or field fennel-flower : piftils five, 
petals entire, capfules turbinate. This rifes with flender 
italics near a foot high, either Angle or branching out at 
the bottom, and having a few very-fine-cut leaves, fome- 
what like thofe of dill. Each branch is terminated by 
one liar-pointed flower, of a pale blue colour, without 
any leafy involucre. They are fucceeded by capfules, 
having five fliort horns, inclining different ways at the 
top, and are filled with rough black feeds. There is a 
variety with white flowers ; and another with double 
flow'ers. The feeds are fometimes ufed inftead of thofe of 
N. fativa; but they are not fo aromatic, nor have they the 
fame pleafant finell. Native of Germany, France, Italy, 
and Swiflerland. Cultivated here in 1713. It flowers 
from June to September. 
II. With ten ftyles. 
5. Nigella Hifpanica, or Spanilh fennel-flower: piftils 
ten, equalling the corolla. This rifes near a foot and a 
half high. The lower leaves are finely cut; but thofe on 
the ftalks are cut into broader fegments. The flowers are 
larger than thole of the other fpecies, and of a fine blue 
colour, with green veins at the back; neCtaries of a fea- 
green colour. The piftils are of equal length with the 
petals; they, with the ftamens, are of a deep purple or 
puce colour. It grows naturally in Spain and the South 
of France: and there is a variety of it with double flowers. 
It appears from Parkinfon, that it was cultivated here in 
1629. It flowers from June to September. 
6-. Nigella orientalis, or yellow fennel-flower : piftils 
ten, longer than the corolla. This rifes with a branching 
ftalk a foot arid a half high.; with pretty long leaves, 
finely divided. The flowers are produced at the end of 
the branches: the petals are yellowifh ; at the bafe of 
thefe are placed eight nectaries, between which arife a great 
number of ftamens, with an unequal number of germs, 
from five to eight or nine, oblong and compreffed. The 
capfules are joined togetheron their inner fide, terminate 
in horns, open longitudinally, and contain many thin 
comprefled feeds, having borders round them. Native of 
Syria, as in corn-fields about Aleppo. Cultivated in 1731, 
by Mr. Miller. It flowers from July to September. 
Pvopngativn and Culture. All rhefe plants may be pro¬ 
pagated by lowing their feeds upon a bed of light earth, 
where they are to remain, (for they feldom fucceed well 
if tranfplanted ;) therefore, in order to have them inter¬ 
mixed amongft other annual flowers in the borders of the 
flower-garden, the feeds ftiouid he Town in patch.es at 
proper diftances ; and, when the plants come up, pull up 
thoie which grow too dole, leaving but three or four of 
them in each patch, obferving alio to keep them clear 
from weeds, which is all the culture they require. In July 
they will produce their flowers, and their feeds will ripen 
in Auguft, when they ftiouid be gathered and dried ; then 
rub out each l’ort feparately, and preferve them in a dry 
place. The feafon for lowing thefe feeds is in March ; 
but, if you low fome of them in Auguft, foon after they 
ripe, upon a dry foil and in a warm fituation, they will 
abide through the. winter, and flower ftrong the liicceeding 
year; By fowing the feeds at different times, they may be 
continued in beauty mod part of the fumfn'er. They are 
allannunl plants', perilhing loon after they have perfe.Cfed 
their feeds ; which, if permitted to fcatter upon the bor- 
•ders, will come up without any farther care. The varie- 
N X G 
ties with double flowers are chiefly fown in flower-gardens?- 
thoie with Angle flowers are rarely admitted into any but 
botanic gardens. Thefirft and fourth are the moft com¬ 
monly cultivated with us. See Garidella. 
NIGELN', a town of Pruflia, in the province of Sam- 
land on the Curifch Nerung : fifteen miles fouth of 
Memel. 
NIGEMO'W, a town of Poland, in Galicia; fourteen 
miles eaft-fouth-eaft of Halicz. 
NI'GER, [Lat. black.] A man’s name. 
NI'GER (C. Pefcennius Juitus), a celebrated governor 
in Syria, well known by his valour in the Roman armies 
while in a private Ration. At the death of Pertinax he 
was declared emperor of Rome, A.D. 195, He reigned 
about a year. See the article Rome. 
NI'GER, a river of Africa, defcribed by the Moors 
under the name of Neel Abeed , or the River of Slaves, 
and Neel Kibbeer, the Great River; and called by the 
Negroes Joliba, or the Great Waters; but known in the 
country by the name of Guru, or Jin. It takes its rife at 
a final! village denominated Sankari, in the high lands of 
Jullonkoodoo, about fix days’ journey fouth-weft from 
Bammakoo. From this moft elevated point in the weft- 
ern quarter of Africa, between the fifth and ninth degrees 
of weft longitude, the Niger and Gambia turn, in oppo- 
fite directions, to the eaft and weft. Few geographical 
fads have been more queftioned in modem times than 
the courle of the great inland river of Africa, generally 
underftood by the name of Niger. According to Hero¬ 
dotus, Pliny, Ptolemy, and many of the ancients, this 
river runs from weft to eaft, an opinion which was long 
forgotten, and in more modern times it was believed to 
flow from eaft to weft; but, from the recent difeoveries of 
the indefatigable Mr. Park, who liimfelf faiv this majeftic 
river, the opinion of the ancients is now fully eftablifhed, 
that its courfe is from iveji to eaft. See the article Africa, . 
vol. i. p. 186. 
Although Herodotus erroneoufly fuppofed this river to 
be the remote branch of the Egyptian Nile, and reaforis 
on this circumftance accordingly ; this argument ferves 
to exprefs, in a more forcible manner, the fuppofed di¬ 
rection of its courfe. Pliny alfo believed that the Nile 
came from the weft ; but he is far from identifying it with 
the Niger, which he deferibes as a diftinCt river, and he 
feenis to afford us a probable conclufion refpefting its 
courfe, for he fpeaks of the Bernbotus as running into 
the Weftern Ocean ; meaning to exprefs by it either the 
Gambia or Senegal rivers, and not the Niger. Ptolemy 
is politive in deferibing the Niger as a feparate ftream from 
the Senegal and Gambia; and his Niger is made to ex¬ 
tend from weft to eaft, over half the breadth of Africa, 
between the Atlantic Ocean and the courfe of the Nile. 
It is not certain who Ratted the oppolite opinion refpeCt- 
ing the courfe of this river. Edrifi, however, in the 
twelfth century, not only conducted the Nile of the Ne¬ 
groes, or Niger, weftward, and into the Atlantic, but alfo 
derived it from the Egyptian Nile, in direCt contradiction 
to the opinion of Herodotus. Abulfeda followed Edriii 
in the lame erroneous opinion refpeCting the Niger; 
which he calls a twin-river with that of Egypt, and alfo 
the Nile of Ghana. The fentinvents of the moderns feem 
to have been chiefly adopted in deference to the authority 
of Edriii. Accordingly, the early Portuguefe difeoverers 
adopted the fame idea; and, having deduced their know¬ 
ledge of the African geography from Arabian authors, 
afterwards let the faihion in' what related to this branch 
ol geography. So that, in defpite of Ptolemy, and of the 
ancients in general, the great inland river of Africa was 
defcribed to run to the weft, and to form the head of the 
Senegal-river ; nay more, it was at Idft fuppofed to be the 
parent itock of all the great wejiern rivers of Africa. 
The Niger, from the place of its firft rife, appears to run 
near 100 miles in a northerly courle, before it turns finally 
to the eaftward ; arid its courfe is fuch as to intercept all 
the ftreams that defeend from the Kong-moUntains on 
the 
