Page:EB1911 - Volume 19.djvu/660

 the share of the duke of Wellington in the trial and execution, and, rightly or wrongly, he has been blamed for allowing the Bourbons, when restored by the foreign bayonets that he controlled, to proscribe the soldiers who as soldiers had been included in the military capitulation to the Allies.

NEZ PERCÉS (in allusion to their custom of wearing nose-rings, &c.), a tribe of North American Indians of Sahaptian stock. They call themselves Shaptin (whence the stock name) but to other tribes were known as Chopunnish. Their former range was a large tract in eastern Washington and Oregon and central Idaho. Until 1877 they had been at peace with the whites. In 1875 a portion of their reservation having been taken from them, owing to the allegation that they had not carried out the treaty stipulations, difficulties arose which, two years later, caused the Nez Percés War. The disaffected portion of the tribe, numbering some 400 or 500, held out for several months against all the forces the government could bring up, but were finally captured on the Sweet Grass Hills, northern Montana. They were placed in Indian Territory, but in 1884 transferred, owing to their decrease through disease, to a healthier locality in northern Washington. The main tribe are on a reservation in northern Idaho.

NGAMI, the central point of an inland water system of South Africa, once forming a lake 20 m. long and 10 wide, but now little more than an expanse of reeds growing in a soft treacherous soil, below which brackish water is found. It is cut by 20° S. and 23° E. Ngami is the lowest point of a large depression in the plateau which comprises nine-tenths of Africa south of the Zambezi. The area which drains to it is bounded S. by the basin of the Orange, E. by the Matabele hills, N. by the western affluents of the Zambezi. The greater part of the Ngami water-system lies, however, N.W. of the lake (which for convenience it may still be called) in the tableland of Angola and German South West Africa. On the high plateau of Bihe, in the hinterland of Benguella, rise two large rivers, the Okavango and the Kwito, which uniting discharged their waters into Ngami. From the N.E. end of Ngami issued the Botletle or Zuga, a stream which runs S.E. and drains towards the Makarikari marsh, from which there is no outlet.

Although Ngami has dried up since 1890 the Okavango and its tributary the Kwito remain large rivers. The Okavango is known in its upper course as the Kubango. Its most remote source lies in about 12° S. and 16° E. and its length is over 900 m. It flows first S. then S.E. and E. In about 18° S. and 20° E. it is joined on the north bank by the Kwito, a large navigable stream rising almost as far north as the Okavango. Its general course is S.E., but between 15° and 17° S. it flows S. and even S.W. Below the Kwito confluence the Okavango, which is also joined by various streams from the S.W. (German territory), is a rapid stream with an average breadth of over 100 yds., and generally navigable as far as the Popa falls, in 21° 50′ E. In the dry season, the water-level is from 4 to 20 ft. below the banks, but these are overflowed during the rains. At this period, April–June, some of the surplus water finds its way (in about 19° S.) by the Magwekwana to the Kwando or Linyanti (Zambezi system), to which, it is conjectured, the whole body of water may have once flowed. Below the Magwekwana outlet the Okavango, now called the Taukhe or Tioghe, turns almost due S., enters a swampy reed-covered plain and is broken into several branches. In this region the effects of desiccation are marked. Through the swamps the river formerly entered Ngami.

The last 20 m. of the old channel are now dry and devoted to grain crops. Above this point the waters of the Okavango are diverted eastward through a channel called Tamalakane to the Botletle, the river which, as stated above, formerly flowed out of Ngami. The point of confluence is in about 20° S. 23° E., the Botletle above this point being merely a succession of pools. Below the junction the river bed is 150 to 200 yds. wide. The banks are 25 to 30 ft. high, and form steep white walls of sand compacted with lime, behind which the dark green forest rises. The stream is fringed with reeds harbouring countless waterfowl. The Botletle, whose bed is about 100 m. in length, loses itself in a system of salt-pans—round or oval basins of varying size sunk to a depth of 30 to 45 ft. in the sandstone, and often bounded by steep banks. The outer pans are dry for a large part of the year, the whole system being filled only at the height of the flood-season in August. The Botletle, which receives in addition the scanty waters of the northern Kalahari, at this season reaches the Makarikari marsh. This marsh, occupying the N.E. corner of Bechuanaland, has also feeders from the Matabele hills in the direction of Bulawayo. During the rains the marsh is converted into a large lake. Much of the water is lost by evaporation; much of it sinks into some subterranean reservoir.

NGAN-HUI ( or ), an eastern province of China, which, together with Kiang-su and Kiang-si, forms the vice-royalty of Kiang-nan. It is bounded N. by Ho-nan, E. by Kiang-su and Cheh-kiang, S. by Kiang-si and W. by Hu-peh and Ho-nan. It covers an area of 48,461 sq. m., and contains a population of 23,600,000 Its principal city is Ngan-kʽing on the Yangtsze Kiang, besides which it numbers seven prefectural cities. One district city, Ho-fei, is noted as having been the birthplace of Li Hungchang (1822–1901). The southern half of the province, that portion south of the Yangtsze Kiang, forms part of the Nan-shan, or hilly belt of the south-eastern provinces, and produces, besides cotton, coal and iron ore, large quantities of green tea. There are also considerable forest areas. Nganhui is one of the most productive provinces of China. Over the whole of its southern portion tea is largely grown, notably in the districts of Hui-chow Fu, Tung-liu, Ta-tung and. Wu-hu. The Yangtsze Kiang is the principal river of the province, and is of great importance for foreign commerce, supplying direct water communication between some of the principal tea-growing districts and the neighbourhood of Hang-chow. The only other river of importance is the Hwai-ho (see : The Country). Wu-hu on the Yangtsze Kiang is the only open port in this province. From this port a railway runs S.E. to Wen-chow—an open seaport in Cheh-kiang province.