of Bern, with a castle; situate on the lake of
Biel, 15 m. N. W. of Bern.

Nidda, a town of Germany, in Hesse Darm-
stadt, seated on a river of the same name, 20 m.
N. E. of Frankfort.

Niebla, a town of Spain, in Seville, near which
is a considerable copper mine; seated on the Tin-
to, II m. N. N. W. ofMoguer and 40 W. of Se-
ville.

Niemeck, a town of Brandenburg, on the river
Ada, 16 m. N. of Wnrtemberg.

Niemecz, a strong town of Moldavia, situate on
a mountain, on a river of the same name, 76 m.
W. S. W. of Jassay. Long. 26. 10. E.,lat. 46. 58.

Niemen, a river which rises in Lithuania, and
passes by Bielica and Grodno; it then runs
through part of Samogitia and E. Prussia, and en-
ters the Curisch Haff by several mouths, of which
the principal and most northern is called the Russ.

Nienburg, a strong town of Hanover, capital of
the county of Hoya, with a considerable trade in
corn and wool; seated on the Weser,37m. S. S.
E. of Bremen. Long. 9. 25. E., lat. 52. 39. N.

Nienburg, a town of Prussia, in the government
of Munster, seated on the Dinkel, 33 m. N. W. of
Munster.

Nienburg, a town of Germany, in the duchy of
Anhalt-Kothen, seated in the Saale, 8 m. N. W.
of Kothen.

Nienhaus, a town of Hanover, in the district of

Paderborn, with a castle, formerly the residence
of the prince: seated on the Lippe, 2 m. N. N.
E. of Paderborn.

Nieper. See Dnieper.

Niester. See Dniester.

Nieuport, a sea-port of the Netherlands, in W.
Flanders, at the mouth of the Yperlee. Here are
sluices, hy which the country can be laid under
water. The inhabitants principally subsist by the
herring fishery, and by making nets and ropes.

9. m. S. W. of Ostend. Long. 2. 45. E., lat. 51.
8. N.

Nieuport, a town of the Netherlands, in S. Hol-
land, seated on the river Lech, 15 m. E. of Rot-
terdam.

Nievre, a department of France, including the
greater part of the province of Nivernois. Its takes
its name from a small river, which rises near
Champlemy, and runs into the Loire, at Nevers,
the chief town of the department.

Niger, a celebrated river of Africa, rising near
Mount Lamba in the country of the Soulimas, on
the northern declivities of the Kong Mountains.
No geographical problem ever presented a more
fruitful subject for conjecture, doubt, hypothesis,
and research, both critical and experimental, than
the course and termination of this mysterious
river. Until the travels of Mungo Park in 1796
it was even disputed whether it flowed East or
West. This traveller although he established the
fact of its easterly direction, and proceeded some
distance along its banks, yet was unable to make
any further discovery respecting its termination.
Attempts made by other travellers were followed
by no better success, and Park in his second jour-
ney into the country lost his life. Many authors
were of opinion that the river flowed into a great
central lake, and had no communication with the
sea; others sought for arguments to show that its
waters were swallowed up by the sands of the de-
sert; at one time the belief was very prevalent
that it flowed a great distance south and ran into
the ocean by the river Zaire or Congo; the Brit-
ish government even despatched an expedition
under Captain Tuckey to proceed up the Congo
and make discoveries, but nothing satisfactory
was the result. The travels of Laing, Denham,
and Clapperton failed to settle the long disputed
point, and an impenetrable cloud of mystery con-
tinued to hang over the subject till 1830 when the

frand discovery was effected by Richard and
ohn Lander, the former of whom had been the
servant of Clapperton in his African travels, and
who attended him on the expedition in which he
lost his life

These travellers in March 1830 penetrated into
the country till they reached theNiger,and proceed-
ed down the stream till they arrived at the Bight
of Benin, a termination which had been fixed upon
many years before by a German theorist named
Reichard, although his reasoning was grounded
upon false data. The Niger, or Quorra, or Joliba,
for it is called by all these names, is thus ascer
tained to flow⁷ into the Atlantic ocean in about 5.
N. lat. It discharges its waters by several chan-
nels, forming a great delta like the Nile, Ganges
and Mississippi; the channel by which the Lan-
ders arrived at the ocean, has been hitherto knowin
as the river Nun, and the delta is 240 m. in ex-
tent along .the coast, from the river Benin to that
of Old Calabar ; the inland extent of the delta is
about the same, and the whole territory is inter-
sected by various arms of the river, such as are
called bayous on the lower course of the Missis-
sippi. The banks of these streams are generally
overflown, and the land is covered with mangrove
trees growing in the water; the whole surface is
low, flat and swampy.

For the first half of its course the Niger flows
in a N. E. course ; between 15. and 16. N. lat. it
turns to the E. and afterwards pursues a southerly
direction to the sea. It flows hy the cities of Sego,
Jenne, Tombuctoo, Boussa, Yaoori, Nyffe.Rabha,
Egga, and Kisnee, at which last place the delta
commences. It receives from the N E. a branch
called the Tshadda, which the Landers saw in a
state of inundation 2 or 3 miles in width. It is
now very evident that neither Herodotus, Pliny .or
Ptolemy ever had any knowledge of this river,
and that the name of Niger ought no longer to he
applied to it. Its most common name in Africa
is the Quorra.

Nigono, a town of Italy,in the duchy of Modena,
22 m. S. W. of Modena.

Nigritia. See Negroland.

Nile, a great river of Africa, which, according
to the most authentic accounts, rises in the
mountains of the Moon. It runs through the
lake Dembea, then makes a circuit towards its
source, which it leaves 25 m. to the E., and en-
ters into Nubia, through which country it takes
a circuitous course, and forms some considerable
cataracts. It then flow^rs almost directly S. through
Egypt, till it arrives at Cairo; and a little below
that city it divides into two great branches, which
with the Mediterranean Sea,forms the island called
Delta. The ancients reckoned eleven mouths of
the Nile, of which seven were considerable ; but
at present there are only two that are at all times
navigable, and those are at Rosetta and Damietta
The fertility of Egypt depends upon the over-
flowing of the Nile, which takes place regularly
every year, from the 15th of June to the 17th of
September, when it begins to decrease. It is caus
ed by the periodical rains that fall between the
tropics, and more particularly in Abyssinia, which
is full of high mountains. In Cairn there is a ea