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 434 NICODEMUS KICOLAITANS and well wooded. The soil is fertile, and capa- ble of producing nearly all the fruits and vege- tables of tropical regions. The cocoanut palm grows luxuriantly on the coral formations of the northern islands, and it is estimated that 5,000,000 cocoanuts are exported annually, three fifths of them from Car-Nicobar alone. Ambergris and edible birds' nests abound, and a limited trade is carried on in these articles by the Malays, Chinese, and English from the Straits Settlements. The inhabitants, who re- semble the Malays in their characteristics, dwell in conical huts raised above the ground and reached by means of ladders. They make few or no efforts to cultivate the soil, and in many of the islands their condition is very miserable and degraded. They have frequent- ly murdered the crews of ships which have touched on their coasts. The Danes made sev- eral attempts to colonize the Nicobars from 1754 to 1848, when they abandoned their claim to sovereignty. In 1869 the British East Indian government took possession of the islands and began a penal colony on Nancowry, where there is an excellent harbor, and regular steam communication is now kept up with the Straits Settlements. The colony is on the N. side of the harbor. NICODEMUS, a member of the sanhedrim, who came to Jesus by night, and held with him the discourse related in the third chapter of John. Subsequently he claimed for Jesus, at a meeting of the sanhedrim, the legal right to be heard before being judged (Deut. i. 16), and also assisted Joseph of Arimathaea in lay- ing out the dead body of Christ. According to tradition Nicodemus afterward became openly a Christian, was baptized by Peter, and in con- sequence was expelled from the sanhedrim and driven from Jerusalem. An apocryphal gospel is attributed tcr him. IN ICO L, Erskine, a British painter, born in Leith in July, 1825. He became an apprentice to a house painter in Edinburgh, and in his leisure hours studied at the trustees' academy. He was drawing master in the high scho.ol of Leith, and afterward practised his profes- sion in Dublin, where he acquired his familiar- ity with Irish characteristics. He removed to London in 1862, and became an associate of the royal academy in 1866. He began to ex- hibit his pictures at the academy in 1851. Among his works are: "Did it Pout with its Betsey?" (1857); "Renewal of the Lease refused " (1863) ; " Among the Old Masters " and " Waiting for the Train " (1864) ; and " A Deputation " (1865). NICOLAI, Christoph Friedrieh, a German author, born in Berlin, March 18, 1733, died Jan. 8, 1811. His father was a bookseller, and at the age of 16 he was sent to Frankfort-on-the-Oder to learn the same occupation. He returned to Berlin in 1752, and in 1755 published a volume of " Letters " which gained him the intimacy of Lessing and Moses Mendelssohn, with whom he commenced in 1757 the Bibliofhek der schonen Wissenschaften. In conjunction with Lessing he established in 1759 the Brief e, die neueste Literatur betreffend ; and in 1765 he projected the Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek, which he edited until it reached its 107th vol- ume. In the latter part of his life Nicolai, in consequence of illness and depression of spirits, was haunted by phantoms which, as he ima- gined, even spoke to him ; and when by the use of medicine these apparitions were dispelled, he reported to the philosophical society of Berlin a full account of the matter. His prin- cipal works are : Character is tische Anekdoten von Friedrieh II. (6 vols., Berlin, 1788-'92); Leben und Meinungen des Hagisters Sebal- dus Noihanker (4th ed., Berlin, 1799); and Beschreibung einer Reise durch Deutschland und die Schweiz (3d ed., 12 vols., Berlin, 1788- '96). NicolaVs Leben und sonderbare Mein- ungen^ by Fichte, was edited by A. "W. von Schlegel (Tubingen, 1801); and his biography and literary remains, by Gockingk, were pub- lished at Berlin in 1820. NICOLAI, Karl Otto Ehrenfrled, a German com- poser, born in Konigsberg, June 9, 1810, died in Berlin, May 10, 1849. During his childhood he learned to play the piano from his father, whose cruelty drove him from home at the age of 16. He went to Stargard in Pomerania, where he found a patron in Adler, who assisted him in his studies in literature as well as music. In 1830 he became a teacher of singing and playing in Berlin, and in 1834 organist at the ambassador's chapel in Rome. There he stud- ied ancient sacred music, and commenced a valuable collection of manuscripts, which at his death was purchased by the royal library of Berlin. In 1839 he became for a year di- rector of orchestra at the imperial opera of Vienna. He afterward wrote at Trieste his opera Enrico II., and in 1840 he produced at Turin ft templario, which was performed in most of the Italian theatres. In 1841 he pro- duced Odoardo e Gildippe and II proscritto. He returned to Vienna in 1842, and became first chapelmaster at the imperial opera. In 1848 he was made director of the orchestra oi the theatre in Berlin, and there wrote his mosl famous opera, Die lustigen Weiber von Wind- sor. For the commemoration of the 300th anniversary of the university of Konigsberg he wrote his well known " Festival Overture," the theme of which is Ein> feste Burg. He also wrote a symphony, many songs, and pianoforte compositions. The character of his music is me- lodious, but without great force or originality. NICOLAITANS, a heretical sect, alluded to in Rev. ii. 6, 15, and by some supposed to have received their name from Nicolas of Antioch, one of the seven deacons said to have fallen into practices opposed to the gospel and to the instructions of the apostles. According to Ire- nseus, who is the first Christian writer that mentions them, they held fornication and the eating of meats which had been offered to idols not to be sinful. St. Epiphanius relates