Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/670

Rh 612 N U G N U I than to either of the two others is determined partly by their physical appearance, which is still fundamentally of a Negro type, and partly by their language, which differs dialectically only from the Negro speech of the Kordofan Ntibas. This conclusion, based on physical and linguistic grounds, is fully confirmed by what is known of the earliest migrations and history of the Nilotic peoples. The first inhabitants of the region beyond Egypt appear to have been the Uaua, whose name occurs in an inscription on a tomb at Memphis of the Vlth Dynasty (about 2500 B.C.), and again constantly in subsequent inscriptions down to the time of the Ptolemies, as the leading Negro race to the south of Syene. It thus appears that throughout the historic period down to the arrival of the Romans the Nile above Egypt was occu pied by a Negro people. Egyptian monuments are found as far south as Mount Barkal (Xapata), but no Egyptian settlements beyond Syene. Hence these Uaua Negroes probably remained unaffected, or very slightly affected, by foreign elements until about the 3d century of our era, when their domain began to be encroached upon from the east by the Hamitic Blemmyes, who have been clearly identified with the present Beja or Bisharin of the Nubian desert. It was owing to the incessant raids of these troublesome marauders that Diocletian withdrew the Roman garrisons above the cataracts, and called in the warlike Nobatre to protect the Egyptian frontier from their attacks. These Negro Nobata-, originally from Kordofan, as is now evident, had advanced to the Great Oasis of Khargeh in Upper Egypt, whence they passed into the Nile valley between the cataracts. Here they absorbed the older Uaua of kindred stock, and ultimately came to terms with the Blemmyes. The two races even became intermingled, and, making common cause against the Romans, were defeated by Maximinus in 451 (Priscus). Thus were the Nilotic Nubas in the first instance affected by Hamitic elements. Then came the conversion (545) of this new Negroid race to Christianity, and the growth of the Nubian political power in the upper Nile basin. Silko, founder of the famous Christian kingdom of Dongola, so named from its capital, called himself king of the Nobads and of all Ethiopians, that is, of the Nilotic Nubas and Hamitic Blemmyes. But the latter remaining pagan were soon after driven from the Nile valley eastwards to the kindred Mega- bares, Memnons, and other Hamitic nomads, who, with the Troglo dytes, had from time immemorial held the whole steppe region between the Nile and the Red Sea from Axum to Egypt. Here their most collective name was Bugaitae (BovyafiTai), as appears from the Axumite inscription, whence the forms Buja, Beja, which occur in the oldest Ai ab records, and by which they are still known. Soon after overrunning Egypt (639) the Arabs themselves pene trated into Lower Nubia, where the two Jawabareh and Al- (Hiarbiya tribes became powerful, and amalgamated with the Nubas of that district. But their further progress was long arrested by the Dongolawi kings, who even reduced them for a .short time. At length, however, after flourishing for 700 years, this native Christian state was in the 14th century overthrown by the Arabs, aided by a detachment of Bosnians sent from Turkey by Sultan Selim (Burckhardt). These Bosnians (Kalaji, as they called themselves) also settled in the country and intermarried with the Arabs and Nubians, their descendants still holding sundry tracts between Assuan and Derr. Hence it is that the Nubians of this dis trict, fairest of all the race, still claim Arab and Osmanli (Bosnian) descent. And thus were the Nilotic Nubas affected in the second instance by Semitic and European elements. Nevertheless the type remains essentially Negro, being character ized by a very dark complexion, varying from a mahogany brown and deep bronze to an almost black shade, with tumid lips, large black animated eyes, dolichocephalous head (index Nos. 73, 72), hair often woolly or strongly frizzled, and scant beard worn under the chin like the figures of the fugitives (Uaua ?) in the battle- pieces sculptured on the walls of the Egyptian temples. At the same time, the nose is much larger and the zygomatic arches less prominent than in the full-blood Negro. The features are at times almost quite regular, with a decidedly Egyptian cast (Lepsius) ; and the Nilotic Nubians are on the whole a strong muscular people, essentially agricultural, more warlike and energetic than the Egyptians, whom they also greatly excel in moral qualities. Many find employment as artisans, small dealers, porters, and soldiers in Egypt, where they are usually noted for their honesty, and frank and cheerful temperament, Since the overthrow of the native Christian state all have become Mohammedans, but not of a fana tical type. Although a native of Dongola, the present (1884) Mahdi lias found his chief support, not amongst his countrymen, but amongst the more recently converted Kordofan Negroes and the nomad Arabs and Beja Nor do they appear at any time to have displayed a love of letters, and it remains uncertain whether to the Nubians or to their Hamitic neighbours are to be attributed the numerous still undeciphered rock inscriptions occurring along the Nile valley from Philre to Khartum. On the other hand, the colossal ruins reaching as far south as Meroe date almost exclu sively from the Egyptian period. The Nuba language itself does not appear to have ever been cul tivated, or even committed to writing until recently, although Eutychius of Alexandria (930) includes the &quot;Nubi&quot; among the six kinds of writing which he mentions in a somewhat doubtful passage as current amongst the Hamitic peoples. There is no pre sent native literature, and most of the men speak Arabic as well as their mother tongue, which is very sonorous and expressive. Its distinctly Negro character is betrayed in the complete absence of grammatical gender, in its primitive vowel -system and highly- developed process of consonantal assimilation, softening all harsh combinations, lastly, in the peculiar infix j inserted between the verbal root and the plural pronominal object, as in ai tokki-j-ir = I shake them. As in Bantu, the verb presents a multiplicity of forms, including one present, three past and future tenses, with personal endings complete, passive, interrogative, conditional, elective, nega tive, and other forms, each with its proper participial inflexions. In Lepsius s grammar the verbal paradigm fills altogether 110 pages. Of the Nilotic as distinguished from the Kordofan branch of the Nuba language there are three distinct dialects current from Assuan along the Nile southwards to Meroe, as under : I. NORTHERN : Dialect of Bani Kenz or Alattokki, from the first cataract to Sebii and Wady al- Arab, probably dating from the Diocletian period. II. CENTRAL : The Mahai or Marisi, from Korosko to Wady Haifa (second cataract). Here the natives are called Saidokki, in contradistinction to the northern Mattokki. III. SOUTHERN : Dongolawi, throughout the province of Dongola from the second cataract to J. Deja near Meroe, on the northern frontier of the Arab district of Dar-Shaikiya (Sheghya). By the Mahasi people it is called Biderin Bannid, &quot;language of the poor,&quot; or, collectively with the Kenz, Oshkirin Bannid, &quot;language of slaves. &quot; The northern and southern varieties are closely related to each other, differing considerably from the central, which shows more marked affinities with the Kordofau Nuba, possibly because the Saidokki people are later arrivals from Kordofan. llil liography. C. R. Lepsius, Nnbische Grammatik, Berlin, 1880, and Briefe cms Aegypten, Aetliiopien, &c., Berlin, 1852 ; Vivien de Saint Martin, IA Nord lie I Afrique dans I antiqiiite, Paris, 1863 ; Linant de Bellefonds, l. Ktbuyc, iKtys habitepar les Arabes Bicharuh, Paris, 1868 ; J. Petherick, Egypt, the Soudan, and Central Africa, London, 1861 ; E. Riippell, Reisen in Nubien, Kordofan, c., Frankfort a. M., 1829 ; Caillaud, Voyage a Meroe, Paris, 1826 ; Reinisch, Die Nuba-Sprache, Vienna, 1879 ; Memoirs of the Societe Khediviale de Geographic, Cairo, 1880-83 ; J. L. Burckhardt, Travels in Nubia, &c., London, 1819 ; G. Wart- dington and B. Hanbury, Journtd of a visit to some parts of Ethiopia, London, 1822 ; E. F. Gau, Nubische Denkmdler, Stuttgart, 1821 ; F. Werne, Feldzug von Senaar iind Taka, &c., Stuttgart, 1851 ; G. Melly, Khartoum and the Niles London, 1851. (A. H. K.) NUGEENAH. See NAGINA. NUGENT, ROBERT (d. 1788), who ultimately became Earl Nugent, was a native of Westmeath in Ireland, and a Roman Catholic, tersely described by Richard Glover as &quot;a jovial and voluptuous Irishman who had left Popery for the Protestant religion, money, and widows.&quot; His change of religion took place at a very early period in life ; the widow whom he married in 1736 was a daughter of Craggs, the postmaster-general, and a lady who had already been twice given in marriage. Her property comprised the borough of St Mawes in Cornwall, and Nugent naturally sat for that constituency from 1741 to 1754, after which date he represented Bristol until 1774, when he returned to his old love. At first he was numbered among the ad herents of the little court of &quot; only Fred,&quot; but with his usual skill he made his peace with the ministry of George II. at the right moment. A speaker of great liveliness joined to good sense Horace Walpole said that he seemed now and then on the precipice of absurdity, but that he kept clear of it his support of the ministry was so useful that he became in 1767 Viscount Clare, and in 1776 Earl Nugent, both Irish peerages. He died 13th October 1788. Lord Nugent was the author of some poetical productions, several of which are preserved in the second volume of Dodsley s Collections. One of these pieces, an ode to William Pulteney, in which he com bined a description of his own change of religion with compliments on Pulteney s attempts &quot;to prop a nation s frame,&quot; was much ad mired at the time, and fragments of it are still quoted. A haunch of venison which Lord Clare sent to his fellow-countryman and fellow-poet Goldsmith gave rise to one of the most spirited poetic epistles in the language. NUISANCE, in English law, is either public or private. A public or common nuisance is defined by Mr Justice Stephen as &quot;an act not warranted by law, or an omission to discharge a legal duty, which act or omission obstructs or causes inconvenience or damage to the public in the