a small maritime county of Scotland, on the Moray Firth, which bounds it on the N., while on the other sides it has the counties of Inverness and Moray. It is 18 miles in length by 10 miles in breadth, and contains an area of 137,500 acres. The coast, which is about 9 miles in length, is low, bare, and sandy, and is rendered dangerous in its approaches by the numerous sand-banks. Sand-hills occupy the greater part of the coast district, and extend into Morayshire. A short distance from the shore, however, a bluff terrace-bank rises to the height of 90 feet, from which the country stretches in an undulating plain to a chain of hills from 4 to 5 miles inward. This level district consists of a great deposit of sand and gravel, rendering the soil light and porous. The hills in the interior, which attain a height of 1500 feet at the frontiers of Inverness-shire, are skirted where they border this plain by a strip of Devonian associated with a coarse conglomerate formation. The mountains themselves, however, are composed of granite and gray gneiss, with occasional beds of bluish granular limestone. The only important rivers in the county are the Nairn and Findhorn, neither of which are navigable. Rising from the Strathnairn Hills in Inverness-shire, the former enters the county at Clava, and discharges itself into the Firth at Nairn, after a course of about 30 miles. The Findhorn traverses the southern part of the county, and enters Morayshire at Dunduff. Agriculture was formerly in a very backward state here, but for the last ten years it has been making good progress. Like the neighbouring county of Morayshire, its arable land is restricted to the level country near the sea-shore; while the highlands of the interior are devoted to pasturage. The breeds of cattle and sheep, and the modes of tillage here adopted, are much the same as those of the adjacent county. Arable farms average 70 acres in extent; and the number of occupants of such were 426 in 1857. In the same year there were 30,311 acres under tillage in Nairnshire, of which 7346 acres were under oats, 4678 turnips, 3182 barley, 2062 wheat, 1407 potatoes, and 10,810 acres of grass and hay under rotation. The number of live stock in the same year were,—sheep, 35,985; cattle, 8965; horses, 1932; and swine, 1420. The old valued rent of the county was L1,263, while that of 1856 was L23,960. Nairnshire having no good harbours, has not the same advantages of communication by sea as the neighbouring counties. The Great North of Scotland Railway, however, traverses the northern portion of the county, and connects it with Inverness on the one hand, and Aberdeen and the south on the other. The county unites with Morayshire in returning a member to Parliament. It belongs to the northern circuit, and the assizes are held in Aberdeen; while, ecclesiastically, the county pertains to the synod of Nairn. In 1851 there were 10 places of worship in Nairnshire, 3 of which belonged to the Established, 4 to the Free, 2 to the United Presbyterian, and 1 to the Independent denominations. Education in the same year was communicated in 21 schools, 7 of which were private seminaries. The number of poor who received relief in the year ending 14th May 1856 amounted to 315, and the sum collected for this purpose was L1,710, against L1,801 expended. The population of Nairnshire was, in 1831, 9354; in 1841, 9217; and in 1851, 9956; of which last 4695 were males, and 5261 females. It contained only one town, Nairn, the capital, with more than 2000 inhabitants. This county, which anciently belonged to the province of Moray, contains a few remains of antiquity. Among these are Finlay and Rait castles, in the parish of Nairn; and the celebrated Cawdor Castle which is still entire, and is one of the seats of the Earl of that name.

NAMAQUA LAND forms the western portion of the Namau country of the Hottentots in South Africa, and is divided into Great and Little Namaqua Land; the former lying to the N., the latter to the S. of Orange River.