Njembe, a female association among the natives of Southern Guinea, corresponding to Nd.T (q. v.) among the males. The proceedings of this institution are all secret. The women consider it an honor to belong to the order, and put themselves to great expense to be admitted. "During the process of initiation," as we learn from Mr. Wilson, "all the women belonging to the order paint their bodies in the most fantastic colors. The face, arms, breast, and legs are covered over with red and white spots, sometimes arranged in circles, and at other times in straight lines. They march in regu- lar file from the village to the woods, where all their ceremonies are performed, accompanied by music on a crescent-formed drum. The party spend whole nights in the woods, and sometimes exposed to the heaviest showers of rain. A sort of vestal-fire is used in cele- bration of these ceremonies, and it is never allowed to go out until they are all over." The Njembe, as a body, are really feared by the men. They pretend to detect thieves, to find out the secrets of tlieir enemies, and in various ways they are useful to the community in which they live, or are, at least, so regarded by the people. The object of the institution originally, no doubt, was to protect the females from harsh treatment on the part of their husbands; and as their performances are always veiled in myster\-, and they have acquired the reputation of performing wonders, the men are, no doubt, very mucli restrained by the fear and respect they have for them as a body.
Njord or Niord, an ancient Scandinavian divinity who reigned over the sea and winds. The Edda ex-
NKAZYA
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NOACHIAN PRECEPTS
horts men to worship him with great devotion. He was particularly invoked by seafaring men and fisher- men, and was therefore probably a personification of trade or commerce. He dwelt in the heavenly region called Noatun, and by his wife Skadi he became the fatlier of the god Frey and the goddess Freyja. He was accounted very rich, and able to dispense wealth in abundance to those who invoked him. See Thorpe, Northern Mythol. vol. i; Anderson, Norse 3Iythol. ch. vi, especially p. 341-3.
Nkazya, a small shrub, whose root is employed in Northern Guinea in the detection of witchcraft. Half a pint of the decoction of the root is the usual dose, and if it acts freely as a diuretic, the party is considered to be innocent; but if it acts as a narcotic, and produces vertigo or giddiness, it is a sure sign of guilt, " Small sticks," says Mr. Wilson, " are laid down at the distance of eighteen inches or two feet apart, and the suspected person, after he has swallowed the draught, is required to walk over them. If he has no vertigo he steps over them easily and naturally ; but, on the other hand, if his brain is affected, he imagines they rise up before him like great logs, and in his awkward effort to step over them is very apt to reel and fall to the ground. In some cases this draught is taken by proxy ; and if a man is found guilty, he is either put to death or heav- ily fined, and banished from the country." See Gard- ner, Diet. ofReliyions and Sects, ii, 583.
No (Heb. id. XD, doubtless an Egyptian word, and signifying [according to Jablonski, Opusc. i, 163] jior- tion or possession), a city of Egypt (called by the na- tives Top/i, according to Champollion, Gramm. Egypt. p. 130, 153), mentioned by this name alone twice by the prophets (Ezek. xxx, 14 sq. ; Jer. xlvi, 25), and gener- ally supposed to be the same elsewhere (Nah. iii, 8), called more fully No-Ajion (q. v.) (see Gesen. Thes. p. 834 sq. ; Young, Rudiments of an Egyptian Dictionary, p. 80 sq.), a famous city of Egypt, thickly peopled, and strongly situated, which at the time of Nahum (B.C. cir. 720) had recently been taken by a mighty conquer- or (Nah. iii, 8 sq.). The Sept. translate the name by Diospolis, which was the name of two cities in Egypt ; the one in Upper Egypt, better known as Thebes, famous in Homer's time (//. ix, 883), and often mentioned by Strabo (i, 9, 35 ; xvii, 805, 815) and Pliny (v,ll ; xxxvi, 12; xxxvii, 54), and for which a separate nome or dis- trict was named (Ptol. iv, 5, 73) ; the other in Lower Egypt, in the district of Mendes, mentioned by Strabo (xvii, 802) as being surrounded by lakes. Some refer the words of Nahum (I.e.) to the latter, Diospolis the lesser (so Kreenen, Nahumi Vatic, philol. et critic, expos. [Harder. 1808]; Champollion, VEgypte, ii, 131); but most interpreters, following the Egyptian signification of the name No, as given above, understand the prophet to mean Thebes. The latter opinion, supported by the seventy Alexandrian translators, seems to be certainly correct, as the prophet could not speak of any city less than Thebes as equal to Nineveh. The " waters round about her" (Nah. iii, 8) refer doubtless to the canals, with which Thebes, like so many other cities on the Nile, was surrounded for protection (comp. Zorn, Hist. et Antiqii. Urhis Thehar. [Sedin. 1727]; Opiisciila, ii, 322 sq. ; also in Ugolini, Thes. vii ; Rosenmliller, Schol. vii, iii, 299 sq.). This city was one of the oldest, prob- ably the oldest in all Egypt (Diod. Sic. i, 50; comp. xiv, 45), and in very early times was the residence of the kings of Upper Egypt during several dynasties. In the days of its grandeur it lay on both banks of the Nile (Strabo, xvii, 816), in a valley about ten geo- graphical miles in width, and contained within its vast circuit houses from four to six stories high, with many splendid and wealthy temples, the chief being that of Jupiter Ammon (Herod, i, 182; ii, 42), whose numerous priests were famous for their astronomical knowledge (Strabo, xvii, 816). The colossal statue of Memnon stood in the westem part of the city (Strabo, I. c; Pliny,