Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 06.djvu/471

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NEAGH
399
NEBRASKA

and visited London and New York in 1905, playing in Russian in “The Chosen People.” In 1906 began to play in English in “Hedda Gabler,” “A Doll's House,” “War Brides,” and other plays. In recent years has been seen chiefly in moving pictures.

NEAGH (nā′äh), LOUGH, the largest lake of the British Islands, in the province of Ulster, Ireland, surrounded by the counties of Armagh, Tyrone, Londonderry, Antrim, and Down; length 16 miles; average breadth, 10 miles. It receives the waters of numerous streams, of which the principal are the Upper Bann, the Blackwater, and the Callan; and its surplus waters are carried off N. to the North Channel by the Lower Bann. Communication by means of canals subsists between the Lough and Belfast, Newry, and the Tyrone coalfield.

NEAL, JOHN, an American poet and author; born in Falmouth, Mass., now Portland, Me., Aug. 25, 1793. He was a member of the Society of Friends, but left it at 25. Later in life he figured as editor, lecturer, lawyer, poet, novelist, and teacher of gymnastics. Among his numerous works are: “Keep Cool” (1817), a novel; “The Battle of Niagara” (1818), a poem; “Brother Jonathan” (1825); “Rachel Dyer” (1828), a novel; “Downeasters” (1833), a novel; “Wandering Recollections of a Somewhat Busy Life” (1870). He died in Falmouth, Mass., June 21, 1876.

NEANDERTHAL (-täl), a wildly romantic valley between Düsseldorf and Elberfeld in Rhenish Prussia. In a limestone cave in this valley was found in 1857 the skeleton of a prehistoric man, and the peculiar formation of the skull induced anthropologists to regard it as typical of a separate race of ancient cave dwellers.

NEAP TIDES, those tides which happen in the middle of the second and fourth quarters of the moon, taking place about four or five days before the new and full moons. They occur when the attractions of the sun and moon act on the waters of the ocean at right angles to each other.

NEARCHUS, an officer of Alexander the Great; a native of Crete, who settled in Amphipolis during the reign of Philip, and became the companion and friend of the young Prince Alexander. In 330 he was governor of Lycia and other provinces in Asia Minor. In 329 B. C. he joined Alexander in Bactria with a body of Greek mercenaries, taking part in the Indian campaigns. Having built a fleet on the Hydaspes, Alexander gave Nearchus the command of it. He left the Indus toward the end of November, 325, and, skirting the coast all the way, arrived at Susa, in Persia, in February, 324. His own narrative of his voyage has been preserved in the “Indica” of Arrian.

NEATH, a parliamentary and municipal borough and river-port of Glamorgan, south Wales, on a navigable river of the same name, 8 miles E. N. E. of Swansea. It is believed to stand on the site of the Roman station Nidum; and near it are the remains of an ancient castle, burned in 1231, and ruins of Neath Abbey. There are at Neath, which is one of the Swansea boroughs, extensive copper and tin-plate works and iron foundries, and chemicals are manufactured. Pop. about 18,000.

NEBO, a mountain of Moab, whence Moses had a view of the Promised Land, and where he died. It is a summit of the range Abarium, “over against Jericho.” Seetzen, Burckhardt, etc., identify it with Mount Attarus, about 10 miles N. of the Arnon. Travelers do not observe any very prominent summit in the range immediately opposite Jericho; but it has not yet been fully explored. In Babylonian mythology, an idol which probably represented the planet Mercury. It was also worshipped by the ancient Arabians.

NEBRASKA, a State in the North Central Division of the North American Union; bounded by South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, and Wyoming; admitted to the Union, March 1, 1867; capital, Lincoln; number of counties, 93; area, 76,840 square miles; pop. (1890) 1,058,910; (1900) 1,068,539; (1910), 1,192,214; (1920) 1,296,372.

Topography.—The State is situated in the great central plain of North America, and has a flat or undulating surface, with a slight inclination S. E. On the N. W. is an extensive desolate tract of land known as the Mauvaises Terres or Bad Lands, rich in interesting fossil remains. Timber has been extensively planted here of late. The principal rivers are the Missouri, which forms the boundary on the E.; its great affluent, the Nebraska or Platte, which, formed by two main forks, from the Rocky Mountains, traverses the territory in an easterly direction; and the Republican Fork of Kansas river, traversing the southern part of the State.

Geology.—The greater part of the State is occupied by Miocene Tertiary formations. A small portion of the