Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/516

Rh 474 N I A N I B &quot;stood out like creatures of another world ... a people of a marked and most distinct nationality, and that in Africa and amongst Africans is saying much &quot; (i. p. 437). Their most salient characteristics appear to he great space be tween the orhits, giving them at once a peculiarly savage and frank expression ; very short nose, with correspondingly long upper lip ; woolly hair much longer than that of any other Negro people ; head of a pronounced brachycephalous type, agreeing in this respect with the Bongos of the White Nile, but differing from the great majority of the other African dark races, who are distinctly dolichocephalic ; features generally round, less prognathous, and altogether more regular than the typical Negro ; ruddy brown or chocolate colour, like that of a cigar, scarcely ever black, but occasionally bronze and even olive (Petheriek) ; symmetrical figmvs, about the middle size, robust and active. These points seem to indicate a large com mingling of Negro and foreign elements, but in -what proportion and from what source it would be unsafe to conjecture in the absence of trustworthy anthropometrical data. At present all that can be said with any certainty is that the A-Zandey are to be regarded as rather of mixed Negroid than of pure Negro stock. Their traditions, customs, political and religious institutions, and general culture seem to point at the same conclusion. The savagery of most tribes, their pronounced cannibalism, agricultural and hunting rather than pastoral habits, universal belief in sorcery and fetichism, may be credited to the Negro element, while to foreign influences may be attributed their great intelligence, shown especi ally in the skilful structure of their dwellings and in the remarkable taste and proficiency displayed in the native industries. Prominent among these are their earthenware vessels of faultless symmetry ; iron-smelting and metal works such as scimitars, knives, and spears ; wood carvings such as stools, benches, bowls, tobacco pipes of varied and intricate design, and often &quot;admirable works of art&quot; (Schweinfurth). It may also be stated that their reputation for extreme ferocity appears to have been greatly exaggerated by early report, although on the other hand the charge of cannibalism in its very worst forms has been fully confirmed by the latest European observers. Nevertheless the A-Zandey, who everywhere present those sharp contrasts of habits and temperament so characteristic of mixed races, are distinguished by some excellent qualities, such as frankness, courage, an instinctive love of art, and above all a genuine and lasting affection for their women, such as is betrayed by no other African race. &quot;A husband will spare no sacrifice to redeem an imprisoned wife; and the Nubians, being acquainted with this, turn it to profitable account in the ivory trade. They are quite aware that whoever possesses a female hostage can obtain almost any compensation from a Niam-niam&quot; (Schweinfurth, i. p. 472). Beyond a few meagre vocabularies no materials have yet been collected for the study of the Zandey language, which, except in the A-Madi country, appears to be everywhere spoken with con siderable uniformity in the eastern Niam-niam lands. Its phonetic system, such as initial mb and vowel auslaut, affiliates it, not to the Libyan, as has been asserted, but to the Negro linguistic type. &quot;Within this order of speech its pronominal prefix inflexion points to affinity rather with the southern Bantu than with the Soudan group of languages. Thus the personal plural a-, as in A-Zandey, A-Madi, A-Banga, &c., would appear to be identical in origin and meaning with the Bantu wa-, as in Wa-Ganda, Wa-Swaheli, &quot;VVa- Zambara, &c. There is also the same dearth of abstract terms, which renders the translation of Scripture into the Negro tongues such a hopeless task. Compare gumbah, an expression for the deity, really meaning &quot;lightning,&quot; with the Chinyanja chuuta = thunder = God(l) and the Zulu Unkulunkulu = great-grandfather, also adopted by the missionaries as the nearest equivalent for the deity in that language. Bibliography. John Petlicrick, Egypt, the Soudan, and Central Africa, 1861; Piaggia s &quot; Account of the Niam-Niam,&quot; communicated by the Marchese O. Antinori to the Bolletino of the Italian Geographical Society, 1868, pp. 91-168; Schweinfurth, Heart of Africa, English edition, 1873; G. Casati s &quot;Journey to the Niam-Xiam Country,&quot; in Esploratore for August 1S83 ; Dr W. Junker, &quot; Kundreise in dem siidlichen Xiamniam-Lande,&quot; in J etermanris Mittheilungen for May 1883. ( A . H . K.) NIAS ISLAND. See SUMATRA. NIBELUNGENLIED, or NIBELUNGE N6T, a great epic poem written in a Middle High German dialect. The story told in this poem belonged in its primitive form to the whole Teutonic race, and was composed originally of purely mythological elements. It is touched upon in Beowulf, and forms the most important subject of the old Norse poems, in which it is presented in fragments, the poets having apparently assumed that the tale as a whole was known to every one, and that their hearers would be able to put each incident in its proper place. It is also set forth in the prose Edda and in the Thidrekssaya, which belongs to the 13th century. The substance of the story in its Norse form is as follows. Beside a waterfall the three Anses Odin, Loki, and Honir see an otter devour ing a salmon. They kill it, and taking its skin with them seek shelter for the night in the house of Rodmar. He recognizes the skin as that of his son Otter, and demands that as much gold as is necessary to cover it shall be de livered to him as &quot; wergild.&quot; In a net Loki catches the dwarf Andwari in the shape of a pike, and compels him to pay for his ransom a great treasure, which covers the whole of the skin except one hair. In order to cover this hair Loki takes from the dwarf a magic ring which breeds gold, and Andwari, enraged, curses the hoard. His curse attends it to the last, and begins to operate immediately, for Rodmar, who claims for himself the whole of the &quot;weregild,&quot; is slain by his sons, Fafnirand Begin. Fafnir takes possession of the hoard, and in the form of a snake guards it on Glistenheath. Regin, indignant at being deprived of his share, calls to his aid Sigurd, a young hero for whom he makes the sharp sword Gram ; and, armed with Gram, Sigurd goes to Glistenheath and kills Fafnir. While Sigurd is roasting Fafnir s heart, which Regin has cut out, the fat dropping into the fire burns his finger, and putting the hurt part into his mouth, he finds that he has suddenly obtained the power of understanding the language of birds. He thus learns that Regin intends to act treacherously towards him. Sigurd therefore slays Regin, and rides away with the hoard in two bundles on his horse Grani. In a house on a hill he finds the Walkyrie Brunhild in an enchanted sleep, from which she awakes, and plights her troth to Sigurd, who loves her ardently. Coming to the court of Giuki, a king of the Rhineland, Sigurd forms a friendship with Giuki s sons, Gunnar, Hogni, and Guthorm. Gudrun, Giuki s daughter, being fascinated by the stranger, gives him an enchanted drink which causes him to forget Brunhild, and then he and Gudrun are married. Gunnar wishes to make Brunhild his wife, and asks Sigurd to go with him in quest of her. Flames encompass her tower ; and she will accept as her husband only the hero who shall succeed in riding through them. Gunnar makes the attempt in vain ; but Sigurd, mounted on Grani, has no difficulty in passing to Brun hild, with whom he exchanges rings, giving her the ring of the dwarf Andwari. Sigurd, however, has assumed the form of Gunnar, and Brunhild supposes that it is by Gunnar she has been won. All of them return to Giuki s court, Sigurd having taken his own form again, and Brunhild having become Gunnar s wife. Here a quarrel breaks out between Brunhild and Gudrun, the former contending that Sigurd s position is inferior to that of her husband, while Gudrun retorts by telling her rival that it was Sigurd who rode through the flames. Brunhild, maddened by jealousy, in cites Guthorm, Gunnar s brother, to murder Sigurd ; and twice Guthorm glides into Sigurd s chamber to accomplish her will, but departs when he finds Sigurd awake and gazing at him with flashing eyes. The third time Sigurd is asleep, and Guthorm stabs him. Sigurd, before dying, has just strength enough to throw his sword after the murderer, whom it cuts in two. Brunhild laughs at the desolation she has wrought, but all the time she has loved Sigurd, and she kills herself with the sword that has slain him, and is burned with him on his pyre. By and by Gudrun takes as her second husband Atli, Brunhild s brother, king of the Huns. Atli asks her brothers, Gunnar and Hogni, to visit him ; and, notwithstanding her warnings, they accept his invitation. He demands of them Sigurd s hoard, which he claims as Gudrun s pro perty; but before leaving home they have buried it beneath the Rhine, and they refuse to say where it is con cealed. After a fierce contest in which all the followers of