Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/544

530 NUBIA of the most important vegetable products of the country, forming as it does a source of food for the desert tribes of Arabs, who seek its fruit in the vicinity of the rivers during sea- sons of drought and scarcity. The grain most commonly cultivated in Nubia is durra (sor- ghum andropogori), of which there are many varieties. It is planted in July and harvested in February or March. The stalk attains a height of 7 and even 10 ft., and the kernels are about as large as hemp seed. The durra flour is made into unleavened bread. Barley, beans, lentils, melons, pumpkins, and tobacco are also grown. The soil in many districts is peculiarly adapted to the cultivation of cotton, but the prevalence of official extortion exerts a depressing effect upon the agricultural develop- ment of the country. The domestic animals of the Nubians are cattle, sheep, goats, dogs, and the common fowl. They possess a few camels, and in Dongola there is a fine breed of horses. Hippopotami and crocodiles frequent the rivers, in the neighborhood of which are also found hyaenas and herds of giraffes. Ga- zelles are met with in the desert and among the eastern mountains, and baboons descend from Abyssinia into Nubian territory. Fish and turtles are obtained from the Nile tribu- taries by the natives. The manufactures of Nubia are limited to the weaving of coarse cot- ton and woollen cloths, and the construction of various articles of household use from the 'leaves of the date tree. The exports comprise grain, honey, musk, ebony, leeches, and ivory. The inhabitants of Nubia are a handsome mulat- to race of dark brown complexion, bold, frank, cheerful, and morally much superior to the Egyptians. They live in low huts built of mud or loose stones, roofed with durra straw; in the larger towns and villages, however, many of the houses are better built. The largest Arab tribe of the country, the Bishareen Arabs, dwell in Lower Nubia, in the region of the Atbara. The extensive monumental ruins that stand along the banks of the Nile constitute one of the most remarkable fea- tures of Nubian scenery. (See NILE.) The name Nubia is supposed to have originated in Egypt, where the word nob or nub, sig- nifying gold, was applied to those countries whence the precious metal was brought. In the early Greek and Eoman writers there is occasional mention of Nubia, but no particular information concerning it. In the reign of Diocletian, however, a tribe known as the Nubse or Nubatae inhabited the region adjoin- ing Egypt on the south, and were granted a considerable area of territory near the first cataract of the Nile, upon their engagement to protect that country, then a Eoman province, from invasion by the Ethiopians. These people reappear in history under the name of Noo- bas, at the time of the Moslem invasion of Egypt in the 7th century, when they consti- tuted a powerful Christian nation whose capi- tal was at Dongola. They remained tributary NUCLEOBRANCHIATE8 to the Mohammedan conquerors of Egypt, though frequently revolting and as often sub- dued, until the 14th century, when the power of the king of Dongola, who with all his os- tensible allegiance to Egypt had been virtually independent, seems to have been overthrown. Christianity was extinguished by repeated Arab invasions, and the country became di- vided into a number of small Mohammedan states governed by independent chiefs. Among these were Dongola, Berber, and Shendy. In 1821 Mehemet Ali, the pasha of Egypt, sent an expedition against Nubia, overcame the prin- cipal states, and finally extended his conquests as far as the frontiers of Abyssinia. Ever since that period the country has remained in subjection to the Egyptian rulers. Sir Samuel Baker and the German traveller Schweinfurth represent the present conditions of Nubia as unfavorable to prosperity. Of late years tax- ation has increased while production has di- minished, and the consequent scarcity and dis- tress have led to the emigration of large num- bers of the inhabitants. NIBLE, an inland province of Chili, border- ing on the provinces of Maule and Concep- cion, and separated from the Argentine Repub- lic by the Andes; area, 3,700 sq. m.; pop. in 1872, 128,182. It occupies the central plain and the western slopes of the Cordillera, forest- clothed branches from which intersect the province, dividing it into pleasant and fertile valleys. It is watered by affluents of the river Itata, one of which is the Nuble, flowing near the capital. The products embrace all the cereals, and a great variety of fruits and vege- tables; cattle and horses are reared in large numbers; and several kinds of excellent wine are made. The province comprises the two de- partments of Chilian and San Carlos, which be- fore 1848 belonged respectively to the provinces of Concepcion and Maule. Capital, Chilian. NUCKOLLS, a S. county of Nebraska, border- ing on Kansas, and intersected by the Repub- lican and Little Blue rivers; area, 576 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 8. The surface consists mostly of undulating and fertile prairies. MJCLEOBRANOHIATES, an order of gasteropod mollusks, so named by De Blainville because the respiratory and digestive organs form a kind of nucleus on the posterior part of the Carinaria. p, proboscis; t, tentacles; 6, branchiae; , shell; /, foot; d, disk. back; they have been called by subsequent writers lieteropoda, the foot being divided into