Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/318

Rh 306 N E A N E B After communicating with the king, Nearchus resumed his voyage along the northern coast of the Persian Gulf to the mouth of the Euphrates, and thence ascended the Pasitigris to Susa. To conduct a large fleet, consisting principally of war galleys, along so great an extent of an unknown coast was undoubtedly an exploit requiring great prudence and ability on the part of its commander ; but the voyage of Nearchus has acquired a much greater celebrity than it really deserves, both in ancient and modern times, from the circumstance that it stood entirely alone in antiquity, the similar expedition of Hanno along the west coast of Africa being almost unknown both to the Greeks and Romans, while in modern days it has attracted a greatly increased amount of attention from the accidental circum stance that a complete and trustworthy record of it has been preserved. Nearchus himself wrote a detailed narra tive of his expedition, of which a regular and full abstract was embodied by Arrian in his work on India, one of ihe most interesting geographical treatises that has been trans mitted to us from antiquity. The success with which Nearchus had accomplished this arduous enterprise led to his selection by Alexander for the more difficult task of circumnavigating the great peninsula of Arabia from the mouth of the Euphrates to the Isthmus of Suez. But this project was cut short by the illness and death of the king (323 B.C.). In the troubles that followed we hear little of Nearchus, who appears to have assumed no prominent position, but we learn that he attached himself to Antigonus, and probably therefore shared in the downfall of that monarch (301 B.C.). The narrative of his voyage, as transmitted to us by Arrian, is contained in the editions of that author s works by Raphelius, Schmieder, and Kriiger, as well as in the more recent edition by Dr C. Miiller (Paris, 1846), which forms part of Didot s Biblio- theca Grseca,. But by far the most valuable edition of the original text is that published by the same author, with copious geographical notes, in the first volume of his GeograpM Grseci Minor es (Didot, Paris, 1855). An English translation, with a very elaborate com mentary, was published by Dr Vincent in his Commerce and Naviga tion of the Ancients in the Indian Ocean (4to, London, 1807). But much of his geographical information is now obsolete. (E. H. B. ) NEATH, a municipal and parliamentary borough and market-town of Glamorganshire, South Wales, is prettily situated near the mouth of the Neath, and on two railway lines, 8 miles north-east of Swansea and 39 west- north west of Cardiff. The older streets are narrow and ill- paved; but there are several handsome villas on the slopes bordering the town. The principal buildings are the parish church of St Thomas, a large and plain structure with an ancient tower; the new church of St David s; the town- hall, with corn exchange in the basement story; and the new market-house. There are slight remains of the castle of Jestyn-ap-Gwrgan, situated about a mile from the town, and rebuilt in 1111 by Richard de Granville. Of the Cistercian abbey Abbaty-Glyn-Nedd which he also founded, and which was at one time the finest abbey in Wales, there still exist the external walls, with parts of the chapel, vaulted chapter-house, refectory, and abbot s house. The town is situated in the midst of an important . mineral district, and possesses very extensive tinplate works, as well as blast furnaces, iron foundries, steam- engine factories, copper-works, and chemical manufactures. In the neighbourhood there are large coal-mines. Vessels of 300 or 400 tons can reach the quays at high tide, and parliamentary powers have been secured to erect new docks. With Abernant and Swansea there is water com munication by means of canals. There is a large export trade in coal, copper, iron, and tin, the principal imports being timber and general merchandize. Neath is included in the Swansea parliamentary district of boroughs. The population of the municipal borough (1486 acres) in 1871 was 9319, and in 1881 it was 10,409. That of the par liamentary borough (1629 acres) in 1881 was 11,216. The town occupies the site of the ancient Nidus or Nidum of the Romans. It was given by Richard Fitz-Hamon to his brother Richard de Granville, the ancestor of the Granvilles, marquises of Bath. It is a borough by prescription, and received its first charter from Edward II. NEBRASKA, a central State of the American Union, Plate II. lies between 40 and 43 N. lat. ; the Missouri flows along its eastern side, the most easterly point being 95 25 W. long., and the boundary line separating it from Wyoming on the west is 104 W. long. It is bounded on the S. by Colorado and Kansas, on the E. by Missouri and Iowa, on the N. by Dakota, and on the W. by Wyoming and Colo rado. The width of the State from north to south is 208^- miles, the length from east to west 413 miles, and the area 76,647 square miles, or 49,054,080 acres. The greater part of Nebraska is a plateau. The lowest Surface, point is at the mouth of the Nemaha, in the south-eastern part of the State, where the elevation is 880 feet ; the highest spot is Scott s Bluffs, in the extreme western part of the State (6000 feet). The eastern half of the State has an average elevation of 1400 feet ; and the whole State averages 2312 feet above the sea. There are no mountains, but in the northern and western parts there are some ridges and a few lofty hills. Generally the slopes are gentle, but occasionally precipitous, and in rare cases there are canons with perpendicular sides. The lands of three-fourths of the State are gently rolling. The surface owes its present form mainly to erosion. Between all the forms of upland surface the transition is gradual. The bottom lands and valleys are the most con spicuous modifying features of the surface. They are huge shallow troughs, varying in breadth from a quarter of a mile on the smaller streams to 23 miles on the Platte and the Missouri. Their numerous terraces, like broad steps, gradually lead to the bordering uplands, which in turn are varied in height and form. Occasionally it is hard to determine where the bottom ends and the bordering bluffs begin, but generally both forms are clearly outlined. The innumerable tributaries that creep quietly into the main bottoms greatly complicate and beautify the forms of land scape. The number of these valleys is very great, the Republican alone having more than four hundred tribu taries. Not less than 25 per cent, of the entire surface of the State is composed of well-watered valleys. The few destitute of water are regaining the streamlets of former times through the climatic changes brought on by the settlement of the State. Most of these bottom lands, though composed of the richest vegetable mould and alluvium modified by loess materials, are perfectly dry, and rarely subject to overflow. A clear conception of the topography can only be obtained by crossing the State at right angles to the courses of the valleys. The rolling lands bordering the valleys gradually disappear as the divide is approached which separates one drainage system from the next. Here the land swells out into a gently undulating plain that varies in extent from 1 to 30 miles. Some of these higher uplands have a great number of shallow basin-like depressions where soil and grasses closely resemble those of the bottom lands. They are the sites of small lakes that recently existed here, and some of them still retain this character, being filled with fresh water from 1 to 15 feet in depth. South of the valley of the Niobrara, and commencing in 100 W. long., are the noted sand-hills. They vary in height from a few yards to several hundred feet. Almost every form of wind sculptur ing is found, but the conical predominates. Though formerly naked, these hills have recently become covered with grasses which are fixing the sands, and preserving