(1907) 4737, including 350 Europeans and 1752 Indians. Nairobi is built on the Athi plains, at the foot of the Kikuyu hills and 5450 ft. above the sea; it commands magnificent views of Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya. It is the headquarters of the Uganda railway, of the military forces in the protectorate, and of the Colonists’ Association. It is divided into European, Indian and native quarters. Midway between the European and Indian quarters stands the town hall. The other public buildings include railway works, places of worship (Protestant, Roman Catholic, Mahommedan and Hindu) and schools, an Indian bazaar, a general hospital and waterworks—the water being obtained from springs 13 m. distant.
The site of Nairobi was selected as the headquarters of the Uganda railway, and the first buildings were erected in 1899. For some time nearly all its inhabitants were railway officials and Indian coolies engaged in the construction of the line. In 1902 the surrounding highlands were found to be suitable for European settlement, and Nairobi speedily grew in importance; in 1907 the headquarters of the administration were transferred to it from Mombasa. The town is provided with clubs, cricket and athletic grounds and a racecourse.
NAIVASHA, the name of a lake, town and province, in British
East Africa. The lake, which is roughly circular with a diameter
of some 13 m., lies at an altitude of 6135 ft. on the crest of the
highest ridge in the eastern rift-valley between the Kikuyu
escarpment on the east and the Mau escarpment on the west.
It is fed from the north by the rivers Gilgal and Morendat, but
has no known outlet. The rivers, which have a minimum discharge
of 100 cub. ft. per second, run in deep gullies. The water
of the lake is fresh; the shore in many places is lined with
papyrus. North and north-west the lake is closed in by the
volcanic Buru hills; to the south towers the extinct volcano of
Longonot. Hippopotami and otters frequent the lake, and on an
island about 1 m. from the shore are large numbers of antelopes
and other game. Naivasha was discovered in 1883 by Gustav
Adolf Fischer (1848–1886), one of the early explorers of the Tana
and Masai regions, and the first to demonstrate the continuance
of the rift-valley through equatorial Africa. Fischer was
followed later in the same year by Joseph Thomson, the Scottish
explorer. The railway from Mombasa to Victoria Nyanza
skirts the eastern side of the lake, and on the railway close to
the lake is built the town of Naivasha, 6230 ft. above the sea,
391 m. N.W. by rail of Mombasa and 193 m. S.E. by rail of Port
Florence on Victoria Nyanza. Naivasha province contains
much land suitable for colonization by white men, and large areas
were leased to Europeans by the British authorities in 1903 and
subsequent years. The East Africa Syndicate acquired a lease
of 500 sq. m. in the valley, of the Gilgal and surrounding country
north of Lake Naivasha. North-west of the lake and along the
Molo river the 3rd Lord Delamere obtained a grant of 155
sq. m.
NAJARA, ISRAEL BEN MOSES, Hebrew poet, was born in
Damascus and wrote in the latter part of the 16th century (1587–1599).
He was inspired by the mystical school, and his poems
are marked by their bold, sensuous images, as well as by a depth
of feeling unequalled among the Jewish writers of his age.
He often adapted his verses to Arabic and Turkish melodies.
To tunes which had been associated with light and even ribald
themes, Najara wedded words which reveal an intensity of
religious emotion which often takes a form indistinguishable
from love poetry. Some pietist contemporaries condemned his
work for this reason; but this did not prevent many of his
poems from attaining wide popularity and from winning their
way into the prayer-book. In fact, Najara could claim the
authority of the Biblical “Song of Songs” (mystically interpreted)
for his combination of the language of human love with
the expression of the relationship between God and humanity.
He published during his lifetime a collection of his poems, Songs of Israel (Zemiroth Israel), in Safed in 1587; an enlarged edition appeared in Venice (1599–1600). Others of his poems were published at various times, and W. Bacher has described some previously unknown poems of Najara (Revue des études juives, Nos. 116 seq.).
NAJIBABAD, a town of British India, in the Bijnor district
of the United Provinces, 31 m. S.E. of Hardwar. Pop. (1901)
19,568. It was founded in the middle of the 18th century by a
Rohilla chief, and still contains several architectural monuments
of Rohilla magnificence. It has a station on the Oudh & Rohilkhand
railway, with a junction for the branch to Kotdwara.
There is considerable trade in timber, sugar and grain, and
manufactures of metal-ware, shoes, blankets and cotton cloth.
NAKHICHEVAN, or Nakhjevan, a city of Russian Armenia,
in the government of Erivan, 85 m. S.E. of the town of Erivan.
It occupies the brow of a spur of the Kara-bagh mountains,
2940 ft. above the sea, and looks out over the valley of the Aras.
Pop. (1863) 6251, (1897) 8845. Built and rebuilt again and
again, Nakhichevan is full of half-obliterated evidences of former
prosperity. The present houses have for the most part been
quarried from ancient ruins; of the palace of the princes of
Azerbaijan there remains a gateway with a Persian inscription,
flanked by two brick towers; and at a little distance stands the
so-called Tower of the Khans, a richly decorated twelve-sided
structure, 102 ft. in circumference and 75 ft. in height, dating,
to judge by the inscription which runs around the cornice,
from the 12th century. There are also ruins of a large mosque.
Situated on the highroad to Tabriz and Teheran, Nakhichevan
has a large transit trade. In the Persian period the city is said
to have had 40,000 inhabitants; the population now consists
chiefly of Tatars and Armenians, who carry on gardening, make
wine and produce silk, salt and millstones.
Armenian tradition claims Noah as the founder of Nakhichevan (the Naxuana of Ptolemy), and a mound of earth in the city is still visited by many pilgrims as his grave. Laid waste by the Persians in the 4th century, Nakhichevan sank into comparative insignificance, but by the 10th century had recovered its prosperity. In 1064 it was taken by Alp Arslan, sultan of the Seljuk Turks, and in the 13th century it fell a prey to the Mongols of Jenghiz Khan. It afterwards suffered frequently during the wars between the Persians, Armenians and Turks, and it finally passed into Russian possession by the peace of Turkman-chai in 1828.
NAKHICHEVAN-ON-THE-DON, a town of southern Russia,
in the Don Cossacks territory, 6 m. by rail N.E. of the town of
Rostov and on the right bank of the Don. Pop. (1900) 30,883.
It was founded in 1780 by Armenian immigrants. It soon
became a wealthy place, and still is the administrative centre of
the “Armenian district,” a narrow strip along the banks of the
Don, with a population of 27,250. The town has tobacco and
wadding factories, tallow-melting works, soap-works, brickworks
and tanneries. There is a large trade in cereals and timber.
NAKHON SRI TAMMARAT (also known as Lakhon and
formerly as Ligore), a town of southern Siam, in the division
of the same name, about 380 m. S. of Bangkok, on the east
coast of the Malay Peninsula. It is one of the most ancient cities
of Siam, and contains many buildings and ruins of antiquarian
interest. The trade consists chiefly of the export of rice. In the
bay, a short distance off, ships can lie safely at all seasons.
The population (7000) is chiefly Siamese, but there is an admixture
of Burmese, the descendants of prisoners of war and of
refugees from Tenasserim. The town is the headquarters of a
governor under the high commissioner at Singora. It has for
long been a centre of the American Presbyterian Mission to Siam.
It was once the capital of a feudatory state, the chief of which
ruled the greater part of the Malay Peninsula in the name of the
kings of Siam and bore the' brunt of all the wars with Malacca
and other Malay states. It lies, however, north of the limit of
Malay expansion, and has never at any time come under Malay
rule. With the fall of the Siamese capital of Ayuthia in 1767
it became independent, but returned to its allegiance on the
founding of Bangkok. In the 17th century British, Portuguese
and Dutch merchants had factories here and carried on an
extensive trade.
NAKSKOV, a seaport of Denmark, in the amt (county) of Maribo, on a wide bay of the Laalands belt at the West end of the island of Laaland, 31 m. by rail W. of Nykjöbing. Pop. (1901) 8310. The church dates from the beginning of the 15th century. There is a large sugar factory. A great dike,
