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538 NUNCIO NUREMBERG Mediterranean basins eastward to China, and is made up almost entirely of these thin disk- shaped fossils. The pyramids of Egypt are built Nummulites laevigatus. partly of this limestone, and the nummulites in them were noticed by Herodotus. These fossils are also abundant in the eocene of our southern states. (See FOKAMINIFEBA.) NUNCIO (Lat. nuntius, messenger), a prelate representing the Roman pontiff near a foreign government. Strictly speaking, he represents the pope only as temporal sovereign, but he is often commissioned to treat of spiritual af- fairs, and to report on the condition of churches and the character of church dignitaries, espe- cially of candidates for the mitre. A nuncio may be resident or extraordinary ; and if ap- pointed simply to fill a vacancy in a royal or imperial court, or if resident at a minor court, he is styled an internuncio. The nuncio in France is forbidden by law to exercise eccle- siastical jurisdiction, being recognized only as the papal ambassador. The only nuncio who has ever visited the United States was Arch- bishop (afterward Cardinal) Bedini, in 1853. (See LEGATE.) MiEZ, Alvar (CABEQA DE YAOA), a Spanish ex- plorer, born about 1490, died in Seville in 1564. He was chief officer under Narvaez in the ex- pedition to Florida in 1527-'8 (see NAEVAEZ, PAMFILO DE), and after the shipwreck and death of the latter escaped with a few follow- ers to the mainland somewhere W. of the mouth of the Mississippi. He travelled N. W. until he reached a mountainous country, believed to be New Mexico. Making friends of the In-, dians by prescribing for their ailments, he re- mained with them eight months. Pursuing his journey in a southwesterly direction, after incredible hardships he at length reached the Spanish settlements on the Pacific coast in 1536, with only three surviving companions, having been eight years in crossing the continent. Af- ter his return to Spain, Nunez was appointed administrator of La Plata, and sailed for that colony at the end of 1540 ; but he was obliged by shipwreck to go to Paraguay, which coun- try he first explored. Passing through the country of the Guaranis, and descending the Plata with their assistance, he reached Asun- cion, where he established his headquarters, March 15, 1542. An insurrection broke out the following year, after a conflagration, Nunez being accused of leniency toward the native incendiaries; but he arrested the ringleaders and sent them to Spain. He subjugated the Payagoaes, a tribe on the shores of a lake which he called Rio Negro, who had killed Juan de Ayolas and 80 of his men ; and exploring the river Iguayu, he reduced to subjection the Ya- guesses and Clanesses, and other tribes, taking possession of their territory in the name of Spain. He was repulsed however by the So- . corines and Agaces, who killed 63 of his men ; and falling sick, he was accused by his lieuten- ant Domingo de Irala and sent to Spain, where the council of the Indies condemned him to banishment to Africa. After eight years he was recalled by the king, who gave him a pen- sion and appointed him judge of the supreme court of Seville, where he resided till his death. The Naufragios de Alvar Nunez was published, together with his secretary Fernandez's Comen- tarios de Alvar Nunez, in Valladolid in 1544, and is included in Barclays Historiadores primi- tives de las Indias occidentals (Madrid, 1749). An abridgment of his narrative is contained in Hakluyt's " Voyages," and there is a French translation in the collection of voyages pub- lished in Paris by Ternaux-Compans, and an English translation with annotations by Buck- ingham Smith (Washington, 1851). NUfiJEZ, Fernan, a Spanish scholar, born in Valladolid about 1470, died in Salamanca in 1553. He was knight commander of the order of Santiago ; and being also a Greek scholar, he was called the " Greek commander." Car- dinal Ximenes appointed him one of the Cretan professors of Greek in the university of Al- cala, and also intrusted to him and to Lope de Astufiiga the Latin version of the Septuagint for the Complutensian polyglot. In 1521 he fought on the side of the commons in the " war of the comunidades." Being forced to leave Alcala, he went to Salamanca, and in the uni- versity there taught Latin, Greek, rhetoric, and the " Natural History " of Pliny, until his death. He restored the text of Seneca, and published a commentary upon his writings (Salamanca, 1543) ; also Observationes in Pomponium Me- lam, Observations in Historiam Naturalem G. Plinii (1544), and Glosa sobre las obras de Juan de Mena. At the end of his life he was en- gaged in making a collection of Spanish prov- erbs, which was completed and published after his death, with the title Refranes y proverbios glosados (4to, Madrid, 1555). MTHAR. See WATEE LILT. NUREDDIN. See NOTJREDDIST. NUREMBERG (Ger. Nurriberg), a city of Ba- varia, in the district of Middle Franconia, on the river Pegnitz and on the Ludwig's canal, 92 m. N. by W. of Munich, and 74 m. N. of Augs- burg; pop. in 1871, 82,929, chiefly Protestants. The Pegnitz forms three islands within the circuit of the former double wall, connected with each other and with the city by numerous" bridges. One of these bridges was the first suspension bridge, and the railway to the ad- joining town of Furth was the first operated with steam in Germany. The river divides the city into two irregular parts, the southern and