or Soury, as it is sometimes called, is one of the Nicobar islands, and situated nearly in the centre of the cluster (See NICOBAR, Encycl.). Its length may be about eight miles, and its breadth nearly equal. The island of Comerty, which is near it, is more extensive, but does not perhaps contain more solid land, being excavated by a very large bay from the sea. The space between these two islands forms a capacious and excellent harbour, the eastern entrance of which is sheltered by another island, called Trikut, lying at the distance of about a league. The inlet from the west is narrow, but sufficiently deep to admit the largest ships when the wind is fair.
The Danes have long maintained a small settlement at this place, which stands on the northernmost point of Nancowry, within the harbour. A sergeant and three or four soldiers, a few black slaves, and two rusty old pieces of ordnance, compose the whole of their establishment. They have here two houses; one of which, built entirely of wood, is their habitation; the other, formerly inhabited by their missionaries, serves now for a storehouse.
These islands are in general woody, but contain likewise some portions of clear land. From the summits of their hills the prospects are often beautiful and romantic. The soil is rich, and probably capable of producing all the various fruits and vegetables common to hot climates. The natural productions of this kind, which mostly abound, are cocoa nuts, papayas, plantains, limes, tamarinds, beetle nuts, and the melasti, a species of breadfruit; yams, and other roots are cultivated and thrive; but rice is here unknown. The mangosteen tree, whose fruit is so justly extolled, grows wild; and pineapples of a delicious flavour are found in the woods.
Of all the Nicobar islands Nancowry and Comerty are said to be the best peopled; the population of both being supposed to amount to eight hundred. The natives of Nancowry and of the Nicobar islands in general, live in villages on the seashore, and never erect their habitations inland (a). Their houses are of a circular form, and are covered with elliptical domes, thatched with grass and the leaves of cocoa nut. They are raised up on piles to the height of six or eight feet above the Nancowry ground; the floor and sides are laid with planks, and the ascent is by a ladder. In those bays or inlets which are sheltered from the surf, they erect them sometimes so near the margin of the water as to admit the tide to flow under, and wash away the ordure from below.
In front of their villages, and a little advanced in the water, they plant beacons of a great height, which they adorn with tufts made of grass, or the bark of some tree. These objects are discernible at a great distance, and are intended probably for landmarks; their houses, which are overshadowed by thick groves of cocoa-nut trees, seldom being visible from afar.
The Nicobareans, though indolent, are in general robust and well-limbed. Their features are somewhat like the Malays, and their colour is nearly similar. The women are much inferior in stature to the men, but more active in all domestic affairs. Contrary to the custom of other nations, the women shave the hair of their heads, or keep it close cropped, which gives them an uncomely appearance, in the eyes of strangers at least.
The inhabitants of Nancowry perform, every year, a very extraordinary ceremony in honour of the dead. It is thus described by Lieutenant Colebrooke:
"On the anniversary of this festival, if it can be so called, their houses are decorated with garlands of flowers, fruits, and branches of trees. The people of each village assemble, dress in their best attire, at the principal house, in the place, where they spend the day in a convivial manner; the men, sitting apart from the women, smoke tobacco, and intoxicate themselves; while the latter are nursing their children, and employed in preparations for the mournful business of the night. At a certain hour of the afternoon, announced by striking the Gong, the women set up the most dismal howls and lamentations, which they continue without intermission till about sun-set; when the whole party get up, and walk in procession to the burying-ground. Arrived at the place, they form a circle around one of the graves, when a stake, planted exactly over the head of the corpse, is pulled up. The woman who is nearest of kin to the deceased, steps out from the crowd, digs up the skull, and draws it up with her hands. At sight of the bones, her strength seems to fail her; the shrieks, the sobs, and tears of anguish abundantly fall on the mouldering object of her pious care. She clears it from the earth, scrapes off the festering flesh, and laves it plentifully with the milk of fresh cocoa-nuts, supplied by the bystanders; after which she rubs it over with an infusion of saffron, and wraps it carefully in a piece of new cloth. It is then deposited again in the earth, and covered up; the stake is replanted, and hung with the various trappings and
(a) The great Nicobar island is perhaps an exception, where, it is said, a race of men exists, who are totally different in their colour and manners. They are considered as the Aborigines of the country. They live in the interior parts among the mountains, and commit frequent depredations on the peaceable inhabitants of the coasts. Nankeen implements belonging to the deceased. They proceed then to the other graves; and the whole night is spent in repetitions of these dismal and disquieting rites.
On the morning following, the ceremony is concluded by an offering of many fat swine; when the sacrifice made to the dead affords an ample feast to the living: they befriend themselves with the blood of the slaughtered hogs, and some, more voracious than others, eat the flesh raw. They have various ways, however, of dressing their meat, but always eat it without salt. A kind of paste made of the melons, serves them for bread; and they finish their repast with copious potations of tauri, an intoxicating liquor.
The Nicobareans are hospitable and honest, and are remarkable for a strict observance of truth, and for punctuality in adhering to their engagements. Such crimes as theft, robbery, and murder, are unknown in these islands; but they do not want spirit to revenge their injuries, and will fight resolutely, and slay their enemies, if attacked or unjustly dealt with. Their only vice, if this failing can be so called, is intemperance; but in their cups they are generally jovial and good-humoured. It sometimes, however, happens at their feasts, that the men of different villages fall out; and the quarrel immediately becomes general. In these cases they terminate their differences in a pitched battle; where the only weapons used are long sticks, of a hard and knotty wood. With these they drive one another most heartily, till no longer able to endure the conflict, they mutually put a stop to the combat, and all get drunk again.
Nankar, ancient allowance to zemindars in land or money.
Nankeen, or Nan-king, is a well-known cotton stuff, which derives its name from the ancient capital of China (See Nan-king, Encycl.). It is, however, according to Van Braam, manufactured at a great distance from that city, in the district of Fong-kiang-fou, situated in the south-east of the province of Kiang-nan upon the sea-shore. The colour of nankeen is natural, the down of which it is made being of the same yellow tinge with the cloth. The colour, as well as superior quality of this cotton, seems to be derived from the soil; for it is said that the seeds of the nankeen cotton degenerate in both particulars when transplanted to another province, however little different in its climate. The common opinion, that the colour of the stuff is given by a dye, occasioned an order from Europe, some years ago, to dye the pieces of nankeen of a deeper colour than they had at that period, and the reason of their being then paler than formerly is as follows:
Shortly after the Americans began to trade with China, the demand increased to nearly double the quantity it was possible to furnish. To supply this deficiency, the manufacturers mixed common white cotton with the brown; this gave it a pale cast, which was immediately remarked; and for this lighter kind no purchaser could be found, till the other was exhausted. As the consumption is grown less during the last three years, the mixture of cotton is no longer necessary, and nankeen is become what it was before. By keeping them two or three years, it even appears that they have the property of growing darker. This kind of stuff must be acknowledged to be the strongest yet known. Many persons have found that clothes made of it will last three or four years, although for ever in the wash. This it is that makes them the favourite wear for breeches and waistcoats both in Europe and America. The white nankeen is of the same quality, and is made of white cotton as good as the brown, and which also grows in Kiang-nan.
Naples-yellow, called also Neapolitan earth, in Italian Gialloline, and in French Jaune de Naples, is a beautiful pigment, concerning which we have much information from the indefatigable Beckmann. "It has (says he) the appearance of an earth, is of a pale orange-yellow colour, ponderous, granulated, exceedingly friable, does not effloresce, nor become moist when exposed to the air, but when applied to the tongue seems to adhere to it. When reduced to a fine powder, it remains for some time suspended in water, but soon deposits itself at the bottom in the form of a lime. When boiled with water, the water, at least sometimes, is observed to have a somewhat saline taste. It does not effervescence with acids, but is in part dissolved by aqua regia (nitro-muriatic acid). In the fire it emits no sulphureous vapour, is difficult to be fused, and by that operation undergoes no material change, only that its colour becomes somewhat redder. When fused with colourless glass, it gives it a milk-white colour, a sure proof that it contains no iron; and, with inflammable substances, there is obtained from it a regulus which has the appearance of a mixture of lead and antimony.
This article is brought from Naples for the most part in the form of an earthy crust about three or four lines in thickness, and it sometimes retains the form of the vessel in which it has hardened. It can be procured also as a fine powder, as the colourmen keep it sometimes ready pounded for use."
About the nature of the substance called Naples yellow there has been much diversity of opinion. Most of those who have written about it, consider it as originating from fire, and as a volcanic production of Mount Vesuvius or Mount Etna; others have pronounced it to be a natural ochre. Guettard thought it rather a kind of bole; but Pott approached nearest the truth, by asserting it to be an artificial preparation*. Fon-Libergeronix is entitled to the merit of having proved this, and of having thrown the possibility of preparing it. According to his experiments, Naples yellow will be obtained, if you boil for seven or eight hours, first over a slow and then over a strong fire, a mixture finely pulverized of twelve parts of pure white lead, one part of alum, one part of sal ammoniac, and three parts of diaphoretic antimony† (white oxyd of antimony by nitre). But before Fougeroux, who may have obtained an account of the process during his travels through Italy, a more certain process was published in the year 1758, by Giambattista Pafferi, in his interesting work on the painting of earthen-ware‡. The articles to be employed, according to this author, are, "one pound of antimony, a pound and a half of lead, one ounce of alum di feccia, and the same quantity of common saltpetre." I am inclined (says M. Beckmann) to think that this receipt was not unknown to Fougeroux, and that he considered alum di feccia to be alum. Professor Leonhardi, a man of very sound learning, has translated this expression by the word alum. I will, however, freely confess, that I consider alum di feccia not to mean alum, but salt of tartar, or potash. Pafferi seri says, that the proportions may be varied different ways; and he gives six other receipts, in which he does not mention alume di fecia, but only fecia; and this word certainly means weinbeeren or wineflone (tartar). Professor Leonardi himself seems to confirm this opinion, by saying, that Vairo, professor of chemistry at Naples, has translated "the ashes of wine lees" (cinerei infectiorii) by the words alume di fecia.
After Fougeroux's paper was printed, De la Lande published a receipt which he had received from the well-known prince San Severo, and in which lead and antimony are employed; but no mention is made either of alum, tartar, or any other salt. This receipt is as follows:
Take lead well calcined and sifted, with a third part of its weight of antimony pounded and sifted also. Mix these substances well together, and sift them again through a piece of silk. Then take large flat earthen dishes, not varnished, cover them with white paper, and spread out the powder upon them to the depth of about two inches. Place these dishes in a potter's furnace, but only at the top, that they may not be exposed to too violent a heat. The reverberation of the flame will be sufficient. The dishes may be taken out at the same time as the earthen-ware, and the substance will then be found hard, and of a yellow colour. It is then pounded on a piece of marble with water, and afterwards dried for use.
The enamel-painters in Germany prepare a yellow glazing, not very different from the real Naples yellow, by a prescription, according to which, "one pound of antimony, five ounces of red lead, and two ounces of white lead, are to be fused together. The produce, which appears quite black, is to be pounded, and then fused again; and this process is to be repeated till the whole mass becomes thoroughly yellow. Half a pound of this mass is to be mixed with two ounces of red lead, and afterwards fused; and by this tedious process an orange-yellow pigment will be obtained."
All artists who speak of the use of Naples yellow, give cautions against applying iron to it, as the colour by these means becomes greenish, or at least dirty. For this reason, it must be pounded on a stone, and scraped together with an ivory spatula. It is employed chiefly in oil painting, because the colour is softer, brighter, and richer than that of ochre, yellow lead, or oenpiment, and because it far exceeds these pigments in durability. It is employed in particular when the yellow ought to have the appearance of gold, and in this respect it may be prepared with gum water, and used as a water colour. A still greater advantage of it is, that it is proper for enamel painting, and on that account may be employed on porcelain or earthen ware (a). Professor Beckmann, however, recommends to artists to examine whether the oxide prepared from wolfram, by boiling in the muriatic acid, which has a beautiful yellow colour, might not be used in the same manner as Naples yellow.