was $546,300, but thereafter is limited to $200,000; the assessed value of real and personal property was $70,039,902. The votes for member of congress, in 1890, numbered 36,195. The penitentiary is at Bismarck. Other institutions are an asylum for the deaf and dumb at Devils Lake; a soldiers' home at Lisbon; a hospital for the insane and a home for feeble-minded persons, both at Jamestown. There are land offices at Fargo, Grand Forks, Devils Lake, and Bismarck. POPULATION.-In 1880 the territory of Dakota had 135,177 inhabitants, all but about 2,000 white; in 1890 the number was 182,719. Those of foreign birth are chiefly Norwegians, Swedes, Canadians, and Germans. There were, in 1890, 53 counties, but by abolition and consolidation these have been reduced to 39. The largest places, 1890, were Fargo, 5664; Grand Forks, 4979, Jamestown, 2,296, and Bismarck, 2,186. NORTH-EAST AND NORTH-WEST PASSAGES. The numerous and important discoveries made by the Portuguese and Spaniards in the southern latitudes of Asia, and the reports circulated of the fabulous wealth of those regions, prompted the other maritime nations of Europe to send expeditions to the East Indies, but Spain, monopolizing the lucrative traffic, summarily shut out her rivals from the Atlantic and Indian oceans. Determined not to abandon their designs, they resolved to reach India and Cathay (China) by some other route. Two plans appeared most feasible-the one to reach Eastern Asia by coasting along the north of Europe and Asia, the north-east passage; the other by sailing westward across the Atlantic. The latter was first attempted by John Cabot in 1497, but he found his progress barred by the American continent, or, at least, those parts of it known as Newfoundland and Labrador. Three years afterward Gaspard Cortereal and his brother made three several voyages in the same direction; and on reaching Newfoundland sailed northward, but were stopped on the coast of Labrador, in lat. 60° n. Both brothers afterward perished with their followers. Several futile voyages were soon after made to discover if a passage for ships existed to the n. of America (the north-west passage). North-East Passage.-The search for a north-east passage was now vigorously prosecuted, and England had the honor of sending out the first expedition for this purpose in 1553. It consisted of three ships, commanded by sir Hugh Willoughby, and was fitted out under the direction of the celebrated Sebastian Cabot; but on rounding the North cape, one of the ships was separated from the others during a violent storm, and subsequently entered the White sea, then unknown to western Europeans. The other two, under Willoughby, drifted hither and thither, in the vast waste of water surrounding the pole, till the navigators sighted Nova Zembla. Being unable to land, they sailed back along the north of Russia, and took up their winter quarters on the coast of Russian Lapland, where they were subsequently found frozen to death. Several other expeditions were, at different times, sent out by the English and Dutch, but none of them ever succeeded in penetrating further than the e. coast of Nova Zembla, though they rendered good service to geography by making accurate surveys of Northern Europe and the adjacent islands of Spitzbergen, Nova Zembla, Waygatz, etc. It was for a long time believed that the promontory which forms the eastern boundary of the gulf of Obi was the tabis of Pliny, and formed the n.e. corner of Asia; and this opinion, which received the assent of the celebrated Gerard Mercator, tended greatly to encourage renewed explorations, as, according to it, the eastern coast of Asia was not more than 400 m. from Nova Zembla. The chief expeditions for the discovery of the north-east passage were those of Willoughby and Chancelor, 1553, Burroughs, 1556, Pet and Jackman, 1580, all English; the 3 undertaken by the Dutchman, William Barentz, 1594-96; the English expedition under Henry Hudson, 1608; and the Dutch expeditions under Hudson, 1609, and Wood, 1676. In his third expedition, Barentz nearly reached Icy cape, about long. 100° c., but was imprisoned by the ice and died before the return of spring. The Russian government next took up the search, partly by overland expeditions and by vessels starting from points on the n. and e. coasts of Siberia; among the expeditions were those of Behring, 1741, which was stopped at the East cape; of Shalaroff, and of Billings. In 1875 and 1876 Nordenskiöld, the Swedish explorer, reached the eastern shores of the gulf of Obi; and starting again in July, 1878, rounded cape Chelyu-skin, from September to July following, was frozen in Behring's strait, and reached Yokohama, September 2. North-West Passage.-As was formerly mentioned, Sebastian Cabot and the brothers Cortereal were the first who attempted to double the n. coast of America; Cabot had reached as far n. as lat. 67° 30', in the strait between Greenland and America, but the courage of his crew failing, he was compelled to return. Notwithstanding his urgent representations, he was unable to prevail upon the English monarch to send out another expedition, and it was not till after several unsuccessful attempts had been made to discover a n.e. passage that investigations of the northern coast of America were resumed. In all, more than 200 voyages were made in search of a n.w. passage, so that only the most important of them can be even mentioned. The first expedition, after that of Cabot, was sent out in 1576, under Martin Frobisher, who made a second and third voyage in the two following years, but without any important discovery. In 1585-88 northern enterprise received an impetus from the successful expeditions of Capt. John Davis. This navigator sailed up the strait which bears his name, as far as lat. 72° n., and reported open sea still further n.; he then surveyed the e. and w. sides of the strait, but without further results. Henry Hudson (q.v.), who had previously attempted the n.e. passage, followed in 1610, and discovered the Hudson's strait and bay, believing the latter to be none other than an inlet of the Pacific ocean, an opinion which was proved erroneous by the investigations of Button in 1612; the latter, however, disseminated on his return the equally erroneous opinion that the bay was closed in on all sides, with the exception of the two eastern entrances. Button's account was not universally credited, and accordingly, in 1615, Capt. Bylot, who had been one of Hudson's company, was sent out, accompanied by Baffin, the most skillful navigator and scientific observer of the time; but their first expedition, which was to Hudson's bay, was devoid of results. In their next voyage (1616), they sailed up Davis's strait, reaching lat. 78° n., and satisfying themselves by a very superficial investigation that there was no northern outlet, the bay (as it was then believed to be) was named in honor of its explorer Baffin's bay. On their return southwards, they coasted along the w. side, and discovered an opening to the w. which they named Lancaster sound, but believing it to be only an inlet, did not explore further. On his return, Baffin gave it as his decided opinion that no outlet to the w. existed from Baffin's bay, and the attention of explorers was again directed to discover an outlet from Hudson's bay. In 1619 the solitary attempt by foreign powers to aid in the search was undertaken by Jens Munk, a Dane, but he made no discoveries, and the attempt was not renewed. The expedition of Fox and James, in 1631, led to the partial exploration of the channel since known as the Fox channel, which forms the northern outlet to Hudson's bay, and from this time the spirit of discovery slumbered till 1741. Between this date and 1746, several expeditions were sent out to discover an outlet from the n.w. corner of Hudson's bay, but their united researches satisfactorily proved that no such outlet existed. Owing to these disappointments, the search for a n. w. passage was discontinued for more than half a century, notwithstanding the fact of the British parliament having promised a reward of £20,000 to the fortunate discoverer. In 1818 the admiralty took up the search, and sent out Capt. John Ross and Lieut. Parry, who sailed up Davis's strait, and ascended Lancaster sound for 30 m.; here Capt. Ross gave up the search, considering it to be hopeless. But this opinion was by no means coincided in by Parry, who was accordingly sent out in the following year, and succeeded in far outstripping all his predecessors in the career of northern discovery. He entered Lancaster sound on July 30, and a few days afterward discovered a large inlet, 30 m. broad, which he named Prince Regent inlet. After exploring this inlet for some distance, he returned, and continued his course westward, as the ice allowed him, passing through a strait which he named after sir John Barrow, the promoter of the expedition. Continuing his westward course, he reached long. 110° w., in Melville sound, where he was stopped by the ice; and after wintering here, and giving names to the numerous islands, seas, and straits he had discovered, returned to Britain, with the glory of hav ing advanced 30° of longitude further w. than any previous explorer. On his arrival he was welcomed with the utmost enthusiasm, and his discoveries imparted renewed energy to the half-dormant maritime enterprise of the British. There was now no doubt in what direction the n. w. passage was to be sought, but Parry's second expedition (1821-23) was for the purpose of determining whether the Fox channel was connected with the Arctic sea of his previous voyage; it was, however, unsuccessful. A little before this time the coast-line of North America from Behring's strait to Point Turnagain, in long. 109° w., had been fully traced, so that it only remained to find some navigable passage from Regent inlet to this point, and the long-wished-for result would be attained. For this purpose Capt. John Ross was sent out with an expedition in 1829, and after a laborious and difficult voyage up Prince Regent Inlet, reached a point only 200 m. from point Turnagain. It was during this voyage that he discovered the magnetic pole. Dease and Simpson, in 1838, extended the survey of the American coast from point Turnagain to within 90 m. of the magnetic pole, but the hopes of a channel between these points were dashed by the discovery made by Dr. John Rae, in 1847, that Boothia (the land which bounds Regent Inlet on the w.) is a peninsula of the American continent. We now come to the unfortunate expedition of sir John Franklin, which, it was fondly hoped, would settle the question of a n. w. passage. It sailed from England, May 19. 1845, and was last seen in Baffin's bay. Franklin is believed to have sailed through Lancaster sound, and ascended Wellington channel to lat. 77° n., and thence returned southwards, crossing Barrow strait, and sailing down the channel (now called Franklin Channel) which separates North Somerset and Boothia Felix from Prince of Wales island to the w., where, in lat. 70° n., long 98° 30′ w,, his ships were beset with ice, Sept. 12, 1846, and Franklin died June 11, 1847. The survivors abandoned the vessels 20 m. s.w. of this point, and perished in the attempt to reach the American mainland. Many expeditions were sent out to search for the missing voyagers, and one of these expeditions, under Collinson and M'Clure, sailed from Plymouth, Jan. 20, 1850, and reached Behring's strait in August the same year. Sailing eastward the following spring, M'Clure's ship became fixed in the ice, about 60 m. w. of Barrow strait, and the crew were picked up by sir Edward Belcher, who had been sent out in April 1852 to their assistance. Belcher, who had reached Melville sound by the eastern passage through Lancaster sound and Barrow strait, returned the same way; and thus M'Clure and his company enjoyed the envied honor of being the only ship's crew who had ever penetrated from Behring's strait to Baffin's bay. To M'Clure, then, belongs the honor of having finally set at rest all doubts as to the existence of a n.w. passage. By the various English and American expeditions (1848-59) sent out to search for sir John Franklin, the whole region to the n. of the American mainland as far as lat. 77° n., and long. 106° w., has been thoroughly explored, and various channels of communication between Davis's and Behring's straits have been discovered, such as the route by Hudson's bay, Fox Channel, Fury and Hecla strait and Bellot strait, into Franklin Channel and thence by either the M'Clintock or the Victoria Channel, or the routes by Lancaster sound, and the M'Clintock Channel, Prince Regent Inlet, or Prince of Wales strait, to the open sea n. of Alaska; but all these routes are useless in a mercantile point of view. See POLAR EXPEDITIONS. NORTHERN LIGHTS. See AURORA BOREALIS. NORTH HOLLAND CANAL. Designed by Herr Blanken, and finished in 1825. It runs from Amsterdam to the Helder, 50 m., and has a water-level width of 1234 ft., with a depth of 18, and a bottom width of 31. NORTH HUNTINGDON, a tp. in Westmoreland co., Penn. Pop. '90, 7125. NORTH POLE, MAGNETIC, THE, is that point on the earth's surface at which the magnetic needle points vertical with its north end downward. The existence of a magnetic pole was first discovered by Robert Norman in 1576, and its actual location was first found by Captain Ross in April, 1831, to be in the northern part of the Dominion of Canada in lat. 70° 5' and long. 96° 46′ W. The south magnetic pole is in the Southern Ocean near lat. 73° and long. 150° E. NORTH RIVER, a magisterial dist., Augusta co., Va. Pop. '90, 4153. NORTH RIVER. See HUDSON RIVER. NORTHROP, CYRUS, b. in Ridgefield, Conn., Sept. 30, 1834. He graduated from Yale in 1857, and from the law school in 1859; and was clerk of the Conn. house of representatives and of the senate from 1861 to 1863; in 1863 he was made professor of rhetoric and English literature in Yale, and held this professorship until 1884 when he became president of the university of Minnesota. He was collector of the port of New Haven, Conn., from 1869 to 1881. NORTH SEA (Germanicum Mare; Ger. Nord See), that arm of the Atlantic ocean which separates the British islands on the w. from the continent on the east. It is 700 m. in extreme length (from n. to s.), about 400 m, in greatest breadth, and has an area of not less than 140,000 sq. miles The great commercial highways from the North sea to the Atlantic are by the Pentland firth and the strait of Dover; while on the e. it communicates with the Baltic by the Skagerrack, the Cattegat, Sound, and Great and Little Belts. Along its south-eastern and southern coasts the shores are low, and are skirted by sandbanks, formed by the sand deposits carried to the sea by the waters of the Elbe, Weser, Rhine and Scheldt, which are the principal rivers that flow into the sea from the east. The shores of England, especially in the s., are also low, and here sand has also accumulated, though not nearly to the same extent as on the continental coasts. The chief British rivers that fall into the North sea are the Thames, Ouse, Humber, Tyne, Tweed, Forth, and Tay. Besides the sand-banks on the coast already referred to, there are others extending to the middle of the sea-bed, and similar in their origin to those on the coasts, and occupying altogether about three-fourths of the entire area. Of these, the principal are the bank running n.e. from the mouth of the firth of Forth for 110 m.; the one extending n.w. from the mouth of the Elbe for about the same distance; the Doggerbank (q.v.), etc. These sand-banks, combined with the storms and fogs so common in the North sea, render its navigation unusually dangerous. Another peculiarity of the bed of this sea is, the number of extraordinary "holes" which have been found in it. Of these the most remarkable are the Little Silver Pitt off Holderness in Yorkshire, and the North-north-east Hole, 8 leagues further east. Little Silver Pitt is 25 m. in length, and from half a mile to 2 m. in width. At its edges there is a depth from 50 to 80 ft. of water, but the hole" has a depth of 330 feet. In the n., along the Norwegian coasts, the shores are steep and rocky, and there is a depth of about 190 fathoms. The depth (31 fathoms on an average) increases from s. to north. The currents of this ocean are extremely various, and demand the greatest caution on the part of the navigator. Owing to the prevalence of s.w. winds, the currents show a general tendency towards the north-east. On the south-western coast of Ireland, the great tidal wave of the Atlantic is broken into two portions, one of which, coursing up the channel, passes through the strait of Dover; while the other, sweeping n., passes round the n. of Scotland, and then southward along the e. coast of Britain, and meets the southern wave off the coast of Essex. The northern portion of the tidal wave spreads over the whole of the German ocean, and though on its entrance into the North sea it is only 12 ft. in height, it rises in its progress southward, as the sea becomes narrower, in the same way as the bore (q.v.) is formed in a contracting estuary. In the estuary of the Humber it rises to the height of 20 feet. This sea yields immense quantities of fish, the most important kinds being cod, hake, ling, turbot, sole, mackerel and herring, also lobsters. The fisheries employ many thousand people. On all available points of the coasts, light-houses have been erected, and there are numerous floating-light vessels moored to detached banks. The traffic on the North sea is enormous. It is surrounded by countries whose inhabitants Northwest. have from the earliest times been famous on the seas, and whose vast commercial enterprise is but another form of the early Scandinavian love for navigation and conquest. NORTHUMBERLAND, a co. in e. central Pennsylvania, bounded on the w. by the Susquehanna river and its w. branch; drained by them and the n. branch of the Susquehanna, and by Shamokin and Mahonoy creeks; on the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western, Northern Central, Philadelphia and Reading, and branches of the Pennsylvania railroads; 463 sq. m.; pop. '90, 74,698, chiefly of American birth. The surface is irregular and hilly, with fertile valleys between. The principal productions are Indian corn, oats, wheat, buckwheat, potatoes, and hay. There are many tanneries, curriers' shops, saw, flour, and planing mills, manufactories of machinery, metal wares, clothing, crages nd harness. Co. seat, Sunbury. NORTHUMBERLAND, a co. in e. Virginia, bounded on the e. by Chesapeake bay, and on the n.e. by the mouth of the Potomac river; 180 sq.m.; pop. 90, 7885, chiefly of American birth, inclu. colored. The surface is undulating and heavily wooded in parts, and much of the soil fertile. The principal productions are Indian corn, wheat, oats, potatoes, and sweet potatoes, wool, and sorghum molasses. Co. seat, Heathsville. NORTHUMBERLAND, the most northern co. of England, is bounded on the e. by the North sea, and on the n.w. by the Scottish counties of Roxburgh and Berwick. Area, 1,289,756 statute acres; pop. '91, 506.030. The surface of the county has a rugged, and especially in the w. and s. w. a naked and barren aspect. The Cheviots run along the western border of the county, and send out spurs toward the e., which, gradually declining, are separated by fertile valleys, that widen as they approach the coast. About onethird of the area of the county is occupied by moorland, and along the Cumberland border the broken and bleak-looking hills are valuable for their lead mines. Allenheads, the center of the lead mining district, is the highest inhabited spot in England, being 1400 ft. above sea-level. The inclination of the surface toward the e. is indicated by the direction of the rivers Alne, Coquet, and north Tyne, which with the Tyne and Till are the principal rivers of the county. The Tweed forms the boundary of the county on the n. for about 5 miles, and the s. boundary is formed in part by the Derwent and Tyne. The climate is cold, but is milder on the coast than amid the hills, which, however, produce sufficient herbage for the maintenance of large flocks of " 'Cheviot sheep. The principal agricultural tracts occur along the coast, and inland along the river valleys for several miles. In these districts, the soil, for the most part, is a strong fertile clayey loam, productive in wheat, barley, beans, and clover. Agriculture is pursued on the most improved methods, and cattle, chiefly short-horned, are extensively reared. The s.e. portion of the county forms a part of the great Northumberland and Durham coal-fields. NORTHUMBERLAND, a co. in n.e. New Brunswick, on the gulf of St. Lawrence, drained by the Miramichi river and its branches; 4760 sq. m.; pop. '91, 25,713. Co. seat, Newcastle. NORTHUMBERLAND, a co. in Ontario, Can., bounded on the s. by lake Ontario, intersected by the Grand Trunk, and Cobourg, Peterboro, and Marmora railroads; 745 sq.m.; pop. '91, 36,492. Co. seat, Cobourg. NORTHUMBERLAND, DUKES OF. See PERCY. NORTHUMBRIA, a kingdom in the Saxon heptarchy, made a separate kingdom by Ida in 547, who united the two kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira. It stretched to the firth of Forth, and comprised the territory n. of the Humber. Again divided upon Ida's death, it was once more organized into one kingdom by Ethelfrith in 593. Under Oswald, in the middle of the 7th c., it was the strongest kingdom in the heptarchy. Its separate existence was brought to an end by Egbert in 827. The name survives in the modern county of Northumberland. NORTH-WEST PROVINCES, a great political division of British India (see INDIA), between Nepaul and Oude on the n.e., and Rajpootana and the Indore agency on the s. w., consisting of seven subordinate divisions-Meerut, Kumaon, Rohilcund, Agra, Jhansi, Allahabad, and Benares. Each of these divisions comprises from three to six districts. They are treated under separate articles. NORTHWEST TERRITORIES, formerly the designation of all that portion of British North America under the dominion of Canada, except the provinces of Manitoba and British Columbia, lying w. and n. of the provinces of Quebec and Ontario. Up to 1870 the whole region, including Manitoba, was known as the Hudsons Bay territory and was governed by the Hudsons Bay company, by whom it was divided into four large departments or regions, which were subdivided into 33 districts, including 155 trading posts. The government was administered by a chief governor and council, and the various departments by chief factors and traders. But in 1869 the company relinquished governmental functions, and during the following year the Northwest Territories came Into the possession of Canada and were made a province. In 1876 the district of Keewatin (q.v.) was detached, and in 1881 the area of the territories was again slightly reduced by the enlargement of Manitoba. In 1882 the districts of Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Athabasca were formed, and now constitute the Northwest Territories, although properly the vast and unorganized region to the n. is included in that title. These districts are under the authority of a lieut.-gov, and a council partly |