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NIAGARA FALLS 456 NICARAGUA and operated, brought the capacity of the station up to 20,000 electrical horse power; additional dynamos subsequently raised the capacity to 300,000 horse power. It is used in Syracuse, 165 miles from the source, and supplies power to the electric railways of Ontario, 240 miles away. NIAGARA FALLS', a city in Niagara CO., N. Y.; on the Niagara river, and on the Michigan Central, the Erie, the Lehigh Valley, the Grand Trunk, the New York Central and Hudson River and other railroads; 20 miles N. of Buffalo. Here are De Veaux Col- lege (P. E.), Niagara University (R. C), a business college, several hospitals, excellent schools, Carnegie library, elec- tric lights, electric street railroads, sev- eral National and State banks, and a number of daily and weekly newspapers. It contains flour and paper mills, a bi- cycle factory, planing mills, carbide and carborundum works, electrochemical and electrometallurgical works and several engineering plants operated by the pow- er of the falls for manufacturing. The city has in recent years increased greatly in industrial importance. The income of its trade is about $50,000,000 per year. The city has a continual flow of visitors who are attracted thither by the Niagara Falls, and Whirlpool Rapids, about two miles below the falls. Niagara Falls was chartered in 1892 from the former villages of Niagara Falls and Suspen- sion Bridge. Pop. (1910) 30,445; (1920) 50,760. NIAS, an island belonging to the Netherlands; about 65 miles W. of Su- matra; has an area of about 1,800 square miles. The surface is mountain- ous, the highest peak rising 1,970 feet. In 1857, when the Dutch took complete possession of the island, the population Was reckoned at 17,000. Recent es- timates place it at 200,000, They grow rice, cocoanuts, bananas, tobacco, sugar- cane, etc., and annually about 110,000 pounds of pepper. The Niassers are of the Malay race, but fairer than the type, NIBELUNGENLIED, a German epic, the name of which signifies "Song of the Nibelungs," composed by some anony- mous poet near the close of the 12th century. The Nibelungs, in German legend, were a race of N. dwarfs, so styled from their king, Nibelung. Later, the same was applied to the followers of Siegfried, the principal hero of the first part of the "Lied," who, with his followers, conquered from the Nibelungs in Norway a "hoard" or treasure col- lected by them. NIBLACK, ALBERT PARKER, an American naval officer; bom in Vin- cennes, Ind., July 25, 1859 ; was graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1880, He was naval attache at Ber- lin, Rome, Vienna, Buenos Aires; served in the Spanish-American War, Filipino Insurrection, Boxer Campaign, occupa- tion of Vera Cruz in 1914, and com- manded squadron 1, Atlantic Fleet, bat- tleship force, and later United States naval forces based on Gibraltar. Pro- moted Rear Admiral August, 1917. NICARAGUA, a republic of Central America; reaching from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific, between Costa Rica on the S. and Honduras on the N., the E. (Caribbean) coast measuring 290 miles and the W. coast 185 miles; area, 49,200 square miles; pop. about 420,000, including 40,000 uncivilized Indians. Topog7'uphy. — The Central American Cordilleras form the backbone of the country; they run N. W. and S. E. at a distance of 12 to 30 miles from the Pacific, and attain elevations of 4,000 and 5,000 feet above sea-level. On the W, the surface sinks rapidly to a longi- tudinal depression (110 feet), the S. two-thirds of which are filled by the large lakes of Nicaragua (115 miles long, 45 broad, and 140 feet deep in most parts) and Managua (35 miles long, 20 broad, 30 feet deep), the latter lying N. of the former and 25 feet higher. This depression is studded with a chain of volcanic cones, standing on islands in the lakes (Ometepec and Ma- dera, 4,190 feet), and clustering thickly between the N. end of Lake Managua and the Gulf of Fonseca at the N. W. extremity of the country, as Coseguina (3,835 feet, which was the scene of a tremendous outbreak, lasting over four days, in 1835), Viejo (6,267), Telica (4,200), Momotombo (6,890), Mombacho (4,600), and several others. Though most of these are quiescent, some of them burst forth in eruption from time to time; Ometepec poured out its lavas during seven days in 1883. Another low range separates this depression from the Pacific. The districts W. of the central backbone are the chief seats of the population. There stand the towns Managua (the capital), Leon, Granada, Chinandega, Rivas. On the W, coast there are three harbors — the Gulf of Fonseca in the N., Salinas Bay in the S,, and the port of Corinto toward the N, The only port on the E, side is Grey town, at the mouth of the San Juan river. E. of the Cordilleras the surface falls away gradually; the spurs that break off from the main ridge sink into the low alluvial plains that face