returned to England in December 1909, and Lord Methuen was governor from that time until the 31st of May 1910. On that date the Union of South Africa was established, Natal becoming one of the original provinces of the Union.
Bibliography.—R. Russell, The Garden Colony. The Story of Natal and its Neighbours (London, 1910 ed.), a good general account; H. Brooks (edited by R. J. Mann), Natal, a History and Description of the Colony, &c. (London, 1876); J. F. Ingram, Natalia, a Condensed History of the Exploration and Colonization of Natal and Zululand (London, 1897); C. P. Lucas, Historical Geography of the British Colonies, vol. iv. “South and East Africa” (Oxford, 1897), also general surveys. Twentieth-Century Impressions of Natal (London, 1906) deals with the peoples, commerce, industries and resources of the colony; the Census of the Colony of Natal, April 1904 (Maritzburg, 1905) contains a large amount of authoritative information; The Natal Almanac is a directory and yearly register published at Maritzburg. See also the official Statistical Year Book. For the native inhabitants, besides the works quoted under Kaffirs, valuable information will be found in Native Customs, H.C. 292 (1881), the Report of the Native Affairs’ Commission, 1906–1907, Cd. 3889 (1908); the Report of the South African Native Affairs’ Commission, 1903–1905, Cd. 2399 (1905); and other parliamentary papers (consult The Colonial Office List, London, yearly).
For detailed historical study consult G. M. Theal, History of South Africa, 1834–1854 (London, 1893), with notes on early books on Natal. Among these the most valuable are: N. Isaacs, Travels and Adventures in Eastern Africa . . . with a Sketch of Natal (2 vols., London, 1836); H. Cloete, Emigration of the Dutch Farmers from the Cape and their Settlement in Natal . . . (Cape Town, 1856), reprinted as The History of the Great Boer Trek (London, 1899), an authoritative record; J. C. Chase, Natal, a Reprint of all Authentic Notices, &c. (Grahamstown, 1843); W. C. Holden, History of the Colony of Natal (London, 1855); J. Bird, The Annals of Natal, 1495 to 1845 (2 vols., Maritzburg, 1888), a work of permanent value, consisting of official records, &c.; Shepstone, Historic Sketch of Natal (1864). See also South Africa Handbooks, useful reprints from the paper South Africa (London, N.D. [1900 et seq.]); Martineau’s Life of Sir Bartle Frere, the Autobiography of Sir Harry Smith, and Sir J. Robinson’s A Lifetime in South Africa (London, 1901); George Linton, or the First Years of an English Colony (London, 1876). Bishop A. H. Baynes’s Handbooks of English Church Expansion. South Africa (London, N.D. [1908]) gives the story of the Colenso controversy and its results.
For further historical works and for information on flora, fauna, climate, law, church, &c. see the bibliography under South Africa. (See also Zululand: Bibliography.) (F. R. C.)
NATAL, a city and port of Brazil and capital of the state of
Rio Grande do Norte, on the right bank of the Rio Potengy,
or Rio Grande do Norte, about 2 m. above its mouth. Pop. of
the municipality (1890) 13,725. Natal is the starting-point of
the Natal and Nova Cruz railway, and is a port of call for coastwise
steamers, which usually anchor outside the bar. It is a
stagnant, poorly built town of one-storeyed houses and mud-walled
cabins, with few public edifices and business houses of
a better type. The only industry of note is the manufacture
of cotton. The exports are chiefly sugar and cotton. Natal was
founded in 1597 as a military post to check an illicit trade in
Brazil-wood. In 1633 it was occupied by the Dutch, who
remained until 1654. It became the capital of a province in
1820. In early works it is sometimes termed Cidade dos Reis
(City of the Kings).
NATANZ, a minor province of Persia, situated in the hilly district between Isfahan and Kashan, and held in fief by the family of the Hissam es Saltaneh (Sultan Murad Mirza, d. 1882). It contains eighty-two villages and hamlets, has a revenue of about £4000, and a population of about 23,000. It is divided into four districts: Barzrud, Natanzrud, Tarkrud and Badrud. Natanz pears are famous throughout the country. The western part of the province is traversed from north to south by the old high-road between Kashan and Isfahan, with the well-known stations of Kuhrud (7140 ft.) and So (7560 ft.). This road was practically abandoned when the Indian government telegraph line, which ran along it, was removed to a road farther east in 1906. The capital of the little province is Natanz, a large village with a population of about 3000, situated 69 m. north of Isfahan, at an elevation of 5670 ft. It has an old mosque, with a minaret 123 ft. in height, built in 1315.
NATCHEZ, a city and the county-seat of Adams county, Mississippi, U.S.A., on the Mississippi river, about 100 m. S.W. of Jackson. Pop. (1890) 10,101, (1900) 12,210, of whom 7090 were negroes, (1910 census) 11,791. It is served by the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley, the St Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern, the New Orleans & North-Western and the Mississippi Central railways, and by steamboats on the Mississippi river. The city, which has an area of 2·19 sq. m., is mostly on a bluff that rises 200 ft. above the river, the wharfs and landings, and a few old buildings being the only reminders of what was before the Civil War the principal business section. Among the city’s institutions are the Fisk Public Library, a charity hospital, two sanatoriums, three orphan asylums, Stanton College for girls (non-sectarian; opened in 1894 and lodged in the old Fisk mansion); St Joseph’s College for girls, the Jefferson Military College (1802), 6 m. from the city, and Natchez College for negroes. The city has four public parks, three on the river front, and one, Memorial Park, in honour of Confederate dead, in the heart of the city. On a neighbouring bluff is a national cemetery. Just outside the city limits, at Gloster, the former estate of Winthrop Sargent, first governor of the Territory of Mississippi, are the graves of Sargent and S. S. Prentiss, who lived in Natchez for some years. In and near the city are many handsome old residences typical of ante-bellum Natchez, among them being: Monmouth, General Quitman’s estate; Somerset and Oakland, long in the Chotard family; and The Briars, the home during girlhood of Varina Howell, the wife of Jefferson Davis. A Roman Catholic cathedral (1841), Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church (1825) and a Presbyterian church (1829) are the principal church buildings. The Prentiss and the Elk are the leading clubs. Mardi Gras is annually celebrated. The leading industries are the shipment of cotton (70,000 to 90,000 bales are handled annually) and the manufacture of cottonseed oil and cake—the first cottonseed-oil mill in the country was built here in 1834—cotton goods, rope and yarns, lumber, brick, drugs and ice. Natchez was the first city in the state to own municipal water-works and sewage system.
The city was named from the Natchez Indians who lived on its site when the country was first settled. In 1716 on the bluff Le Moyne de Bienville built Fort Rosalie for the protection of some French warehouses, and later the French demanded a neighbouring hill for another settlement. This offended the Natchez, and on the 28th of November 1729 they massacred the French and destroyed the fort, which was immediately rebuilt, and in 1764 was handed over to the English in accordance with the treaty of Paris, and became Fort Panmure; in 1779 it was turned over to the Spanish, who held it until 1798, when they withdrew and United States troops occupied the place. Under Spanish rule Natchez was the seat of government of a large district, and from 1798 to 1802 and from 1817 to 1821 it was the capital of Mississippi. It was chartered as a city in 1803. On the 7th of May 1840 a large part of the city was destroyed by a tornado, but it was soon rebuilt, and at the outbreak of the Civil War was a place of considerable wealth and culture. For several years it was the home of General John Anthony Quitman (1799–1858). Natchez surrendered to Union forces during the Vicksburg campaigns, first on the 12th of May 1862, and again on the 13th of July 1863. On the 2nd of September 1862 the Union iron-clad “Essex,” commanded by William David Porter, bombarded the city and put an end to the commercial importance of the river front section.
NATHANAEL, a character in the New Testament, who appears in John i. 45 sqq; as one of the first disciples of Jesus. In John xxi. 2 he is described as belonging to Cana of Galilee. The account of his call reveals to us a man of a deeply spiritual and sincere nature. Otherwise we know nothing beyond the mention of his name as one of the seven to whom, after the Resurrection, Christ revealed himself at the sea of Tiberias (John xxi. 2). But the interest he has evoked is shown by the attempts to identify him with other New Testament characters. Of these the one which has found most favour sees in him the apostle Bartholomew (q.v.). The actual identification must however remain a matter of pure conjecture. Still less can be said for the attempts to find in Nathanael another name for the apostle Matthew, or for Matthias, or for Paul “the
