Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/335

Rh N E L N E L 321 anicut across the Pennair. Nellore is, however, very sub ject both to droughts and to floods. Copper was discovered in the western hills in 1801, but several attempts by European capitalists to work the ore proved unremunera- tive, and the enterprise has been abandoned since 1840. Iron ore is smelted by natives in many places. Nellore, with the other districts of the Carnatic, passed under direct British administration in 1801. The population of Nellore in 1881 was 1,220,236, including 1,138,031 Hindus and 61,344 Mohammedans. Four Christian missions are established in the district, Roman Catholic, Baptist, Presbyterian, and Lutheran. Among the aboriginal tribes, the Yanadis are the most numerous. On the island of Sriharikota, from which Madras derives its firewood, they still live in the jungle, and refuse to cultivate the soil or rear cattle. They have adopted some form of Hinduism, but still worship their own demons and bury their dead. Five towns had in 1881 a popula tion of over 5000 Nellore (27,505), Ongole (9200), Venkatagiri (7989), Kandukur (6601), and Addanki (6481). The climate is dry, tlie monthly temperature varying from about 74 F. in December to 90 in May; and the average annual rainfall is 36 53 inches. In former days Nellore was celebrated for its textile fabrics, but the export has now ceased, though spinning and weaving for local consumption is carried on in many villages. Prior to the opening of the Madras Railway, Nellore formed the high road between the 1 interior and the coast. The two principal ports are Kottapatam and Ittamukula, both in the north of the district. Indigo is exported by land to Madras at the rate of about 800,000 maunds a year. The chief means of communication is the Great Northern Trunk Road, which runs along the coast to the Bengal frontier. Water communication with Madras city is also afforded by the East Coast or Buckingham Canal. NELSON, a seaport of New Zealand, capital of a pro vincial district of the same name, prettily situated in 41 18 S. lat. and 173 19 E. long., on the shores of a small harbour at the bottom of Blind Bay on the northern coast of the South Island. It is a diocesan city, and contains several churches and a college. The climate is healthy, and the surrounding scenery very picturesque. The woods and fields in the neigbourhood abound with English song-birds, and the streams are stocked with trout ; while the orchards in the town and suburbs are famous for English kinds of fruit, and hops are extensively cultivated. The industries include brewing, the manufacture of cloth (chiefly a superior kind of tweed), tanning, soap-boiling, candle-making, and the preparation of paint produced from hematite. A railway 23 miles long connects Nelson with Bellgrove, and is in course of extension towards Ixoundell up the Wai-iti valley. The borough returns one member to the house of representatives, and its local affairs are administered by a mayor and council elected by the ratepayers. The entrance to Nelson harbour is 10 miles south-west of Pepin Island. Six miles from the entrance commences the long and remarkable Boulder Bank, whose southern portion forms the natural breakwater to that anchorage. The population of Nelson in 1881 was 6764 (3261 males and 3503 females). NELSON, HORATIO NELSON, VISCOUNT (1758-1805), vas a younger son of the Rev. Edmund Nelson, and was born at Barnham, Thorpe, Norfolk, September 29, 1758. A love of adventure and a daring spirit, which developed itself from his earliest years, inclined the future admiral to the life of the sea, and, through the interest of a maternal uncle, the lad entered the navy in 1770. It is unnecessary to dwell on the career of Nelson as he passed through the first grades of his calling ; as a midshipman or a lieutenant he saw service in almost every division of the globe, and on several occasions he gave signal proof of extraordinary energy and fertility of resource, and, above all, of a courage in danger which, if somewhat rash, was truly heroic. Already, too, he had shown an expert- ness in seamanship and in the art of the pilot often noticed by his superior officers, and he had displayed a singular aptitude for command in a variety of enterprises entrusted to him. He was made a post-captain at the age of twenty- one, a promotion due to merit alone, and remarkable in that aristocratic age ; and during the next few years he was actively engaged in the vicissitudes of the American War. It was a period of chequered fortunes as regards the English navy ; its supremacy on the ocean was not yet assured ; and, though Rodney s great victory in 1782 attest ed the excellence of British seamen, the flag of France was for a time dominant in the West Indies and Indian seas ; the fleets of the French and Spanish monarchies insulted the English coasts for several weeks, and assailed Gibraltar in formidable strength ; and the armed neutrality of the Northern powers threatened England with no ordinary peril. Nelson, however, though his correspondence proves that he followed them with the eye of genius, took no part in these great operations; he was in command only of small vessels, and was chiefly employed in protecting convoys and in chasing cruisers of the same class as his own ; and his most notable exploit was a bold descent on the shores of the South American isthmus, in which he gave fresh proofs of his habitual bravery. Yet his reputation as a promising officer was steadily growing during these years; he attracted the attention of every admiral on the different stations on which he served ; and King William IV., at this time a midshipman, probably only echoed a general opinion in describing Nelson as a &quot; boy captain with an enthusiasm that showed he was no common being.&quot; After the peace of Versailles in 1783, Nelson was in the West Indies for several years ; and he gained credit for almost Quixotic zeal, and drew down on himself no little odium, by the efforts he made to prevent smuggling between the new United States and British colonies, and to expose the frauds of the greedy contractors who, especially on the Jamaica station, had been long permitted to plunder the navy. The time was now at hand when the commanding powers of this great seaman were to become manifest. War between England and revolutionary France was declared in the first months of 1793 ; and Nelson, on the recommendation of Lord Hood a veteran who held him in high esteem was made captain of the &quot;Agamemnon,&quot; the first ship of the line commanded by him. He was despatched under Hood to the Mediterranean ; and, though his vessel was one of the worst in the fleet, he performed feats of daring and perfect seamanship which at once marked him out for applause and distinction. With a detachment of sailors who, when led by him, &quot; minded shot,&quot; he declared, &quot; as little as peas,&quot; he took a prominent part in the siege of Bastia ; and the capitulation of the place was due, for the most part, to their determined valour. At the siege of Cadiz also, where he lost an eye, he contributed largely to the result, his &quot;seamen,&quot; as he reported, having &quot;fought the guns &quot; with the assistance only of &quot;a single artillery man.&quot; Nelson, however, was greatest on his own element ; and soon after this he for the first time displayed conspicuously, and in a decisive manner, the transcendent gifts which made him pre-eminent. In March 1795 the British fleet, under Admiral Hotham Lord Hood had by this time been replaced was partially engaged off the coasts of Italy with a French fleet of superior force; and a French eighty-four, having been dismasted, sheered off, towed by a powerful frigate, and supported by two large ships of the line. The &quot; Agamemnon,&quot; though only a sixty- four, stood out boldly after the retiring enemy; and Nelson s manoeuvres were so skilful that he all but destroyed the crippled Frenchman, and kept the whole hostile squadron at bay, without incurring any serious loss. The injured ship, with one of her consorts, was easily captured a few hours afterwards; and, had the admiral followed Nelson s advice, the whole French fleet would have been brought to action, and have probably met a complete defeat. XVII. 41