a department of France, and, as its name denotes, the most northern of the kingdom. It has been formed out of French Flanders, French Hennegau, and the Cambresis, extending in north latitude from 49. 58. to 51. 5., and in east longitude from 2. 1. to 3. 9. Its surface is 2406 square miles, or 581,500 hectares, in extent. It is a level plain, with few elevations; and only one of them, the hill on which Cassel stands, attains the height of 400 feet above the level of the sea. The soil is generally moist and heavy, but, owing to good cultivation, is highly fertile, except on some sandy moors on the sea-shore near Dunkirk. According to the Description Topographique et Statistique, the land under the plough amounts to 306,480 hectares, the meadows to 138,428, the woodland to 62,129, the morass and other uncultivated fields to 15,000; and the remainder is occupied by rivers, roads, gardens, and the sites of cities, towns, and villages. In no other part of France is agriculture practised with so much skill and assiduity as in this department. The fields, by good ploughing and abundance of manure, yield crops constantly without fallowing; and corn is almost generally followed by green crops, which, especially the clover, is only to be matched in the province of Flanders, in the Netherlands. Abundance of wheat, winter and summer barley, oats, and the several kinds of pulse, are produced; and although the land is not quite two English acres to each individual of the population, the produce is more than sufficient for their consumption, and much of it is exported.

The department is watered by numerous streams, the greater part of which are emptied into the Scheldt, which enters from the department of the Aisne, and, after a course of about forty-five miles, passes through the Netherlands to the sea. Some few of the rivers fall directly into the sea, and others reach it by the Sambre and the Meuse. There are several canals, used either for navigation or for the purpose of irrigation. The inhabitants of the department amount to about 900,000, who, besides the employment connected with agriculture, are occupied in the fisheries, and in manufactures. The sea-fishing consists in the taking of herrings, cod, turbot, and others, and is extended also to the Greenland whale-fishery; whilst that on the rivers and canals furnishes a large portion of food. The chief manufacture is that of linen, including cambrics, damask table-linen, lawns, and thread-lace. This is said to employ 40,000 looms, and to furnish occupation for more than 160,000 persons in spinning. Some woollen and cotton goods are also made, as well as hats, hosiery, and leather. There are likewise many oil-mills, breweries, and distilleries of corn-spirits. The chief trade is carried on at Lush, but there are also extensive works at Douay, Cambrai, Dunkirk, and Valenciennes. This department belongs ecclesiastically to the bishopric of Cambrai. The chief court of law is held at Douay; and the department elects eight deputies to the legislative body. The religion is that of the Roman Catholic church, though there are a few Protestants, who support three chapels or churches for their worship.

Nord, Côtes du, a department of France, formed out of a part of the ancient province of Bretagne, and extending in north latitude from 48.16. to 48.56. and in west longitude from 2.12. to 3.49. It is bounded on the north by the sea, on the east by the department of Ille Vilaine, on the south by that of Morbihan, and on the west by Finisterre. It is 3022 square miles, or 736,720 hectares, in extent, and contains five arrondissements, forty-seven cantons, and 376 communes, with a population of 540,000 persons. It is a level plain, interspersed with a few gentle elevations. The shore is covered with rocks and small islands, and encircled by a belt of sandy soil, but intermixed with a few rich meadows near the rivers. The streams are all of but short course, and only navigable at the time of high tides. The climate is temperate, but moist and changeable. Agriculture is in a backward state, as is the civilization of the inhabitants, who speak for the most part a kind of Welsh, and live mostly in small villages or little farms; but, by subsisting chiefly on bread made of oats or buck-wheat, they furnish grain sufficient for their own consumption, and produce, besides, hemp and flax, which are converted into wearing apparel in their own houses, or made into sail-cloth and other articles. The fisheries give employment to some of the inhabitants; and iron mines, of which there are a few, furnish occupation to others. Much honey and bees' wax is obtained from the department. It sends four deputies to the legislative chamber.

Nordbottens and Västerbottens, two provinces of the most northern part of Sweden, now formed into one, extending in north latitude from 63.28. to 69.20., and in east longitude from 15.1. to 24.2., and having an extent of 66,396 square miles. It is a mountainous country, interspersed with lakes. The winter lasts nine months, during which the surface is covered with snow; but in a few sheltered spots a little rye and barley, and some flax and hemp, may be cultivated. In the most northern part few trees grow, but in the south there are some birches and firs. The cows yield some butter; but the chief animals are the rein-deer, which form a great article of food. The whole population is estimated at 75,000. There are no places in the province that can be considered as towns, though Tornoea and Pithea are called so.

Norden, Frederic Louis, an ingenious traveller and naval officer in the Danish service, was born at Glückstadt, in Holstein, in the year 1708. He was well skilled in the mathematics, ship-building, and especially in architecture; and in 1732 he obtained a pension to enable him to travel for the purpose of studying the construction of ships, particularly that of the galleys and other rowing vessels used in the Mediterranean. He spent nearly three years in Italy; but Christian VI. being desirous of obtaining a circumstantial account of Egypt, Mr Norden, whilst at Florence, received an order to extend his travels to that country. How he acquitted himself of this commission appears from his Travels into Egypt and Nubia, printed at Copenhagen in 1756, and which were soon afterwards translated into English by Dr Peter Templeman. In the war between England and Spain, Mr Norden, then a captain in the Danish navy, attended Count Ulric Adolphus to England, whence they went out as volunteers under Sir John Norris, and afterwards under Sir Chaloner Ogle. During his stay in London, Mr Norden was made a fellow of the Royal Society, and gave the public drawings of some ruins and colossal statues at Thebes, in Egypt, with an account of the same in a letter to the Royal Society, 1741. His health was at this time declining, and having repaired to France, he died at Paris in 1742.