before. Its fortress, built on the right bank of the river, and known as Ivangorod, has lost its importance, and was abandoned in 1864. The cathedral and the town hall (1683) contain interesting antiquities. There are here an arsenal, a small museum and a school of navigation. Several manufactories utilize the waterfalls of the Narova, e.g. cotton-mills, woollen cloth mills, flax and jute mills, saw-mills and steam flour mills. The total trade falls short of half a million sterling annually. A watering-place has grown up at Ust-Narova, or Hungerburg, at the mouth of the Narova.
NARVACAN, a town of the province of Ilocos Sur, Luzon, Philippine Islands, near the coast and on the main road 13 m.
S.S.E. of Vigan, the capital. Pop. (1903) 19,575. It lies in a
level valley surrounded by mountains, and has a cool and healthy
climate. The soil, both in the valley and on the neighbouring
mountain-sides, is very fertile, and produces rice, vegetables,
Indian corn, indigo, cotton, tobacco, maguey and sugar-cane.
Cotton fabrics are woven by the women and sold to the mountain
tribes. The language of the town is Ilocano.
NARVAEZ, PANFILO DE (c. 1480–1528), Spanish adventurer, was an hidalgo of Castile, born at Valladolid about 1480. He
was one of the subordinates of Velazquez in the reduction of
Cuba, and, after having held various posts under his governorship,
was put at the head of the force sent to the Aztec coast to
compel Cortes to renounce his command; he was surprised and
defeated, however, by his abler and more active compatriot at
Cempoalla, and made prisoner with the loss of an eye (1520).
After his return to Spain he obtained from Charles V. a grant of
Florida as far as the River of Palms; sailing in 1527 with five
ships and a force of about 600 men, he landed, probably near
Pensacola Bay, in April 1528, and, striking inland with some 300
of his followers, reached “Apalache” on June 25. The prospects
of fabulous wealth which had sustained them in their difficult
and perilous journey having proved illusory a return to the
coast was determined, and the Bahia de los Caballos, at or near
St Mark’s, was reached in the following month. Having built
rude boats, the much-reduced company sailed hence for Mexico
on September 22, but the vessel which carried Narvaez was
driven to sea in a storm and perished. His lieutenant, Cabeza
de Vaca, with three others who ultimately reached land, made his
way across Texas to the Gulf of California. (See Florida.)
See Prescott, Conquest of Mexico; H. H. Bancroft, Mexico (1882–1890); and the Naufragio of Alvaro Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca in the Biblioteca of Rivadeneyra, xxii.
NARVAEZ, RAMON MARIA (1800–1868), Spanish soldier and statesman, was born at Loja, Granada, on the 4th of August 1800,
entered the army at an early age, and saw active service under
Mina in Catalonia in 1822. He was in his sympathies a Conservative,
and could not go all lengths with the Radical opposition
to Ferdinand VII., whom he served after his restoration.
When the king died, Narvaez became one of the Conservative
supporters of Isabel II. He achieved great popularity by his
victory over Gomez, the Carlist general, near Arcos, in November
1836, and after clearing La Mancha of brigands by a vigorous
policy of suppression in 1838 he was appointed captain-general
of Old Castile, and commander-in-chief of the army of reserve.
In 1840, for the part he had taken at Seville in the insurrection
against Espartero and the Progresista party, he was compelled
to take refuge in France, where, in conjunction with Maria
Cristina, he planned the expedition of 1843 which led to the
overthrow of his adversary. In 1844 he became prime minister,
and was created field-marshal and duke of Valencia, but his
policy was too reactionary to be tolerated long, and he was
compelled to quit office in February 1846. He now held the post
of ambassador at Paris, until again called to preside over the
council of ministers in 1847; but misunderstandings with
Maria Cristina led to his resignation in the following year.
His ministry succeeded that of O’Donnell for a short time in
1856–1857, and he again returned to power for a few months
in 1864–1865. He once more replaced O’Donnell in July 1866,
and was still in office when he died at Madrid on the 23rd of
April 1868.
Some very curious notices of Narvaez may be found in the letters of Prosper Merimée to Panizzi (1881). For his general political career see Hermann Baumgarten, Geschichte Spaniens v. Ausbruch d. französ. Revol. bis auf unsere Tage (1865–1871); and the Historia Contemporanea of Antonio Pirala (1871–1879).
NARVIK or Victoriahavn, a seaport on the Ofoten Fjord of
the north-West coast of Norway, in Nordland amt (county),
68° 30′ N. It is wholly modern, developed by the construction
and completion (1903) of the Ofoten railway, the most northerly
in the world. There are extensive quays, from which is shipped
the iron ore from the rich districts traversed by the line. Narvik
is 167 m. N.W. of Gellivara, and 982 N. by W. of Stockholm by
the railway. In summer express trains cover the whole distance
in two days. Narvik is a convenient point from which to visit
the beautiful Lofoten Islands.
NARWHAL, the Scandinavian name of a cetacean (Monodon monoceros), characterized by the presence in the male of a long
horn-like tusk. In the adult of both sexes there are only two
teeth, both in the upper jaw, which lie horizontally side by side,
and in the female remain throughout life concealed in cavities
of the bone. In the male the right tooth usually remains similarly
concealed, but the left is immensely developed, attaining a length
equal to more than half that of the entire animal. In a narwhal
12 ft. long, from snout to end of tail, the exserted portion of the
tusk may measure 6 or 7 and occasionally 8 ft. in length. It
projects horizontally forwards from the head in the form of a
cylindrical or slightly tapering, pointed tusk, composed of ivory,
with a central cavity reaching almost to the apex, without
enamel, and with the surface marked by spiral grooves and
ridges, running in a sinistral direction. Occasionally both left
and right tusks are developed, in which case the direction of the
grooves is the same in both. No instance has ever been met
with of the complete development of the right tusk associated
with a rudimentary condition of the left. In young animals
several small additional teeth are present, but these usually
disappear soon after birth.
The head is rather short and rounded; the fore limbs or paddles are small and broad compared with those of most dolphins; and (as in the beluga) a dorsal fin, found in nearly all other members of the group, is wanting. The general colour of the surface is dark grey above and White below, marbled and spotted with shades of grey.
The narwhal is an Arctic whale, frequenting the icy circumpolar seas, and rarely seen south of 65° N. lat. Four instances have, however, been recorded of its occurrence on the British coasts, one on the coast of Norfolk in 1588, one in the Firth of Forth in 1648, one near Boston in Lincolnshire in 1800, while a fourth entangled itself among rocks in the Sound of Weesdale, Shetland, in September 1808. Like most cetaceans it is gregarious and usually met with in “schools” or herds of fifteen or twenty individuals. Its food appears to be cuttlefishes, small fishes and crustaceans. The purpose served by the tusk—or “horn”—is not known; and little is known of the habits of narwhals. Scoresby describes them as “extremely playful, frequently elevating their horns and crossing them with each other as in fencing.” They have never been known to charge and pierce the bottom of ships with their weapons, as the swordfish does. The name “sea-unicorn” is sometimes applied to the narwhal. The ivory of which the tusk is composed is of very good quality, but owing to the central cavity, only fitted for the manufacture of objects of small size. The entire tusks are sometimes used for decorative purposes, and are of considerable, though fluctuating, value. (See Cetacea.) (W. H. F.)
NASCIMENTO, FRANCISCO MANUEL DE (1734–1819),
Portuguese poet, better known by the literary name of Filinto Elysio, bestowed on him by the Marqueza de Alorna, was the reputed son of a Lisbon boat-owner. In his early years he acquired a love of national customs and traditions which his humanist education never obliterated, while, in addition, he learnt to know the whole range of popular literature (litteratura de cordel)—songs, comedies, knightly stories and fairy tales, which were then printed in loose sheets (folhas volantes) and sold by the blind in the streets of the capital. These circumstances variously
