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Rh council has been further increased by two nominees not officers of the Government. The qualification for voters is the possession of freehold property worth £50, the occupation of property at an annual rental of £10, or an income of £96 per annum after three years colonial residence. All voters are legally eligible as members. Boroughs or towns having 1000 inhabitants or upwards can form themselves into corporations for the supervision of their own municipal affairs, and townships or villages under certain conditions can frame local bye-laws.

Law and Justice.—The Roman-Dutch law by special enactment prevails within the colony, in addition to which are a number of ordinances and laws enacted by the local legislature, mostly founded upon imperial statute law. The law of evidence is the same as that of the courts of England. It has not been thought practicable as yet to bring the native population under the same laws as govern the colonists of European descent; but in 1848 the natives had their own laws confirmed by letters patent, except so far as these might be repugnant to the general principles of humanity as recognized throughout the civilized world; and they were codified and reduced into writing in 1878. Crimes amongst natives, with some few exceptions, are, however, tried by the ordinary courts. Special laws also have been passed for the benefit of the coolie immigrants. The administration of justice is conducted by a supreme court, and by the courts of the resident magistrates. The three judges of the supreme court, one of whom is chief-justice, sit in Pietermaritzburg in banco every alternate month, and during the other months circuit courts are held at Durban and in other towns. There is a vice-admiralty court, of which the chief-justice of the supreme court is judge and commissary. In addition to these are courts for the adjudication of cases under native law with right of appeal to the native high court, which sits under its own special judge assisted by assessors if need be; and from this high court appeal can be had to a court of which the chief-justice of the colony, the secretary for native affairs, and the judge of the native high court are judges. An appeal lies from all inferior courts to the supreme court, and in suits where the subject-matter in dispute is of the value of £500 an appeal can be had from any final judgment of the supreme court to the privy council.

Education and Religion.—In 1861 there were two collegiate institutions endowed in Natal, the one for Pietermaritzburg and the other for Durban, but little more was done as regards education until the education laws came into force in 1878, when a council of education was created to administer funds voted by the legislative council for scholastic purposes and to control all matters connected with the establishment and working of the public schools of the colony. Most of the religious bodies have good schools in their several parishes or districts; and public libraries and other literary institutions are to be found not only in Pietermaritzburg and Durban but in the principal towns and villages. Natal was erected into a see in 1853, with its cathedral in Pietermaritzburg. Proceedings were taken against Bishop Colenso (who died June 20, 1883) on certain charges of heresy, and judgment given against him by the South-African bishops in 1863; and this led eventually to the formation of a separate see in the colony. On the 25th January 1869 the bishop of Maritzburg was consecrated at Cape Town; he is a suffragan of the bishop of Cape Town, and has his cathedral church also in Pietermaritzburg. The Wesleyan Church has a very strong staff of clergy and local preachers in the colony, whilst the Congregational Church, the Dutch Reformed Church, the Presbyterian Church, and the Roman Catholic Church are all represented. At the stations of the Berlin, Free Church of Scotland, American Zulu, Hanoverian, Norwegian, and Trappist missions, great efforts are made to evangelize and train the natives and coolies.

Population.—The total population is about 380,000, of whom about 30,000 are whites, 20,000 Indian coolies, and 330,000 natives, mostly descendants of early refugees from Zululand. Of the white population about one-fifth are of Dutch extraction, and are chiefly resident in the Umvoti, Weenen, Klip River, and Newcastle divisions. Most of the coolies are located on the coast lands amongst the planters, who without their assistance would find all field and manufacturing operations impossible, as the natives cannot be depended on for continuous or skilled work.

History.—The country was discovered by Vasco da Gama, who sighted the Bluff headland at the entrance to the bay forming the present port at Durban on Christmas Day in 1497, and so named the country Terra Natalis. From that date little is recorded until the survivors of the crew of the Dutch ship “Stavenisse,” wrecked on the coast in 1686, gave their report of the country and its inhabitants. In 1721 the Dutch formed a settlement, but it was soon abandoned. Subsequently, about 1810, it would seem that Chaka, chief of the Amazulu, swept with his warriors through the whole of Natal and the adjoining territories, destroying all males, and making booty of the cattle and women. One tribe, the Amatuli, however, after offering resistance to the invader, retreated into the dense bush near the Bluff and were amongst the few aborigines when the British took possession of the country. In 1824 Lieutenant Farewell and about twenty companions lauded in Natal

with the view of colonizing it, and for that purpose entered into a treaty with Chaka. Some four years after their arrival, however, Chaka was murdered by his brother Dingaan, and the settlement was broken up. In 1835 another British officer, Captain Allen Gardner, got permission from Dingaan to introduce missionaries into the country, and at once formed the township of Durban, at the port where there were still a few English settlers. In 1837 several Dutch farmers made an exodus from the Cape Colony, and one of their leaders, Pieter Retief, with the assistance of the Rev. Mr Owen, who had been for some time a resident missionary at Dingaan's own head kraal, obtained from Dingaan a cession of the whole territory of Natal. Immediately after the conclusion of the treaty Retief and his followers were treacherously murdered, and the attempt was made to extirpate the Boers throughout the length and breadth of the land. The latter with their firearms eventually proved more than a match for their numerous assailants, and joining Mpanda, who had rebelled against his brother Dingaan, utterly routed Dingaan's army on the banks of the White Umvolozi in 1840, and drove him to the Amaswazi country, where he was shortly after assassinated. Natal became a British colony on 8th August 1843, and, owing no doubt to the fame of the security and protection to be found under the British flag, large accessions were at once made to the native population by refugees from the several surrounding tribes. Since 1843 the colony has made rapid progress; the native tribes as a rule have been loyal, and, although occasional reports from Zululand have alarmed the colonists, it has very seldom been found necessary to send out the volunteer forces on commando. Any tendency to insubordination on the part of the resident natives has always been quickly suppressed, and a spirit of disaffection has never become general. In 1879 the colony became the base of operations against the Zulu king Cetywayo, and in 1881 it was for a short time invaded by the Transvaal Boers in connexion with the fighting which arose out of the annexation of the Transvaal in 1877.

Authorities.—Holden, History of Natal; Reports of Grout and Fynn to Native Commission, 1853; Cloete, Lectures, 1856; Shepstone, Historic Sketch of Natal, 1864; Brook, History of Natal, edited by Mann; Johnston, Health and Disease, Natal, 1860; Harvey and Sender, Flora Capensis; Layard, Birds of South Africa; Smith, Zoology of South Africa; Drummond, Large Game of South Africa; African Pilot for South and East Coasts of Africa; Cadiz, Laws of Natal; Colenso, The Zulu War; Statham, Boers, Blacks, and British; Bird, Form of Government (Natal), 1869; Carter, Narrative of the Boer War. (J. W. T.)

 NATAL, a city of Brazil, the capital of the province of Rio Grande do Norte, is situated on the eastern bank of the river of that name, 2 miles above the mouth, with its fort in 5° 45′ S. lat. and 35° 13′ 12″ W. long. Though the water on the bar is only 14 feet at low tide, Natal is the first port of any note to the south of Cape Roque, and trades in cotton, sugar, dye-wood, and other local produce. It was founded in 1597. The population is about 11,000.  NATCHEZ, a city and port of entry of the United States, capital of Adams county, Mississippi, lies on the east bank of the Mississippi, 272 miles above New Orleans. Natchez-under-the-Hill, lying on a low alluvial bank, contains the steamboat landing and a few business houses. The main city, Natchez-on-the-Hill, occupies the summit of a bluff which rises nearly 200 feet above the river, and affords a wide view over the cotton plantations of Louisiana. Among the more conspicuous buildings are the city-hall, the court-house, the market-house, the Roman Catholic cathedral, the Jewish synagogue, and a number of handsome churches. There are two large cotton factories and other manufacturing establishments. Cotton dealing is the staple trade. The inhabitants numbered 4454 in 1850, 6612 in 1860, 9057 in 1870, and 7058 in 1880,—the city being in population the second in the State.

Fort Rosalie, erected on Natchez Bluff in 1716 by Bienville, and rebuilt in 1729 after its destruction by the Natchez Indians, continued to be a French trading and military post till 1763, when it passed into British hands and received the name of Fort Panmure. Occupied by the Spaniards from 1779 till 1798, Natchez became at the latter date the capital of the new Territory of Mississippi, retaining that rank till 1820. Its city charter dates from 1803.  NATHANAEL (, “he whom God gave,” equivalent to Nethaniah or the Greek Theodore), a common name in later Old Testament times. It appears in the Gospel of John (i. 45 sq., xxi. 2) as the name of a man of Cana of Galilee, one of the first disciples of Jesus. He is not named in the synoptical Gospels, and the fathers (Chrysostom, Augustine, &c.) do not number him among the apostles;