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Rh court house. In the suburbs there were formerly numerous residences of wealthy planters, expensively furnished, and surrounded with beautiful lawns and gardens; but many of these were destroyed in the civil war. On the bluff, adjoining the city, there is a national cemetery, handsomely laid out and decorated. The climate of Natchez is pleasant and very salubrious. The winters are temperate, though variable, and the summers are long and equable; the thermometer seldom rises above 90. The business is mainly in cotton, which is brought to this market from the adjoining counties, and in the supply of provisions and implements for the neighboring plantations. From 13,000 to 20,000 bales of cotton are annually shipped to New Orleans. Regular lines of steamers connect with New Orleans, Vicksburg, and Memphis, and a stage line runs to Brookhaven on the New Orleans, Jackson, and Great Northern railroad, 60 m. E. There are a Protestant and two Roman Catholic orphan asylums, and a city hospital. The United States marine hospital is situated between the city and the national cemetery. There are several Roman Catholic schools, and good public schools, attended by about 1,000 pupils. Of the two school buildings, one is a handsome structure recently erected for colored children, while the “Natchez institute” for whites was used as a free school before the civil war. A daily and two weekly newspapers are published. The city contains eight churches, viz.: Baptist (2), Episcopal, Jewish, Methodist (2), Presbyterian, and Roman Catholic, besides several for colored people.—The site of Natchez was selected by a party sent by Le Moyne d'Iberville in 1700 as the chief place of a number of proposed settlements in the lower Mississippi territory, and the name of Rosalie was given to it in honor of the countess of Pontchartrain, whose husband had been one of Iberville's patrons. No settlement was made however until 1716, when Bienville, Iberville's brother, built Fort Rosalie on Natchez bluff. In November, 1729, the fort and adjacent settlements were destroyed by the Natchez Indians and the inhabitants massacred; but a few months later a force of French and Indian allies drove out the Natchez and rebuilt the fort, which continued to be a French military and trading post until it passed into the hands of Great Britain by the treaty of 1763. It was now called Fort Panmure. In 1779 it was occupied by the Spaniards, who kept possession of it until March, 1798, although by the treaty of 1783 it was rightfully included in the territory of the United States. In April, 1798, the territory of Mississippi was created by act of congress, and Natchez became its capital. It was incorporated as a city in 1803. In 1820 the seat of government was removed to Jackson. In 1840 a large part of the city was laid in ruins by a tornado. During the civil war Natchez was captured, May 12, 1862, by a portion of Farragut's fleet. It had never been

occupied by any considerable force of the confederates, and being of little military importance was soon abandoned by the Unionists.  NATCHITOCHES, a tribe of American Indians, allied to the Caddoes, and formerly residing on Red river, Louisiana, with a fortified town on an island. The Washitas and Capichis were united with them. They worshipped the sun, had a temple with perpetual fire, and made salt at a neighboring lake, which they traded to other tribes for grain and skins. They were always friendly to the French, who planted a fort near them. This led to an attack on them by the fugitive Natchez in 1731. They gradually united with the Caddoes, forming a band of that tribe.  NATCHITOCHES, a N. W. parish of Louisiana, intersected by Red river and bounded E. by a branch, Saline bayou; area, 2,260 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 18,265, of whom 10,929 were colored. It has a level surface and fertile soil, especially near the rivers. The chief productions in 1870 were 231,746 bushels of Indian corn, 12,356 of sweet potatoes, 15,671 bales of cotton, and 3,189 lbs. of wool. There were 2,949 horses, 1,845 mules and asses, 3,527 milch cows, 1,644 working oxen, 8,952 other cattle, 5,442 sheep, and 10,244 swine. Capital, Natchitoches (pop. in 1870, 1,401), a shipping point on Red river, about 500 m. by water N. W. of New Orleans.  NATICK, a town of Middlesex co., Massachusetts, on the Boston and Albany railroad, at the junction of the Saxonville branch, 17 m. W. by S. of Boston; pop. in 1870, 6,404. Charles river flows through the S. E. portion, and Cochituate lake, which supplies Boston with water, is partly within the town. Farming is carried on to some extent, but the principal business is the manufacture of boots and shoes, for which there are 15 or 20 establishments. There are also a hat factory and a base-ball manufactory. The town has a national bank, a savings bank, water and gas works, a fine public library and library building, a high school, a weekly newspaper, and eight churches. Natick was incorporated in 1781. The first Indian church in New England was erected here in 1660, on the site now occupied by the Unitarian church. John Eliot preached here, and in the cemetery is a monument to his memory.  NATIONS, Law of. See.  NATRON. See.  NATURAL BRIDGE. See.  NATURAL HISTORY, strictly speaking, the history of universal nature or of all natural objects, their qualities and forces, their laws of existence, their origin (as far as possible), and their mutual relations to each other and to man. The study of the physical forces of nature, however, has been separated into distinct branches of science, under the names of natural philosophy, chemistry, astronomy, &c.; leaving for natural history proper the investigation of the structure, properties, and uses of the inanimate bodies called minerals, and of<section end="Natural History" />