the members of the legislative council. The capital is Pietermaritzburg, situated inland about 50 miles northwest of Durban, the chief and almost only seaport. The colony (including Zululand) has an area of 35,371 square miles, with a seaboard of about 400 miles. In 1911 its population was 1,191,958, of whom 1,000,000 were Kafirs, the remainder being Europeans and Indians. The population of the capital is about 33,000 and of Durban about 75,000. Natal's products include sugar, maize, wheat, oats and other cereals and green crops — the chief exports being wool, hides, skins, coal, gold bark, unrefined sugar and Angora hair. The principal imports are fabrics, wearing-apparel, grain, ironware and railway material. There are railways of about 1,000 miles to Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria. The coal-fields are known to be extensive, and are in direct communication with the seaport. Portuguese East Africa and Transvaal (separated by the Drakensberg Mountains) border Natal on the north, Orange River Colony and Basutoland on the west and Cape Colony on the southwest. The colony in the main is fertile, and is possessed of a salubrious climate. Winter in South Africa begins in April and ends in September.
As the result of the war between Britain and Transvaal and the Orange Free State, Natal in October, 1899, became at once the theater of strife. See Boer War. Since the war Natal includes the Vryheid and Utrecht districts, formerly a part of Transvaal, with 6,970 square miles.
The railways are operated and all but 50 miles constructed by government, the total outlay being £10,572,962. Work on the new connection with Cape Colony is in progress, with many branch lines. There are 1,811 miles of telegraph and 134 of telephone governmentally owned and operated. Durban owns its telephone system, with 1,000 connections. There, are 361 postoffices and postal agencies, serving 3,892 miles of postal routes. Much remains to be done in the way of educating the natives, missionary rather than governmental effort giving them the few privileges they now enjoy.
Natch′ez, Miss., an old-settled city, capital of Adams County, on the Mississippi, in the rich cotton-belt, 90 miles southwest of Jackson and 280 northwest of New Orleans. It is served by the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley and New Orleans and Northeastern railroads, and is an important steamboat point. The lower city lies on the banks of the river, but the more important part, including the public buildings, is situated on a bluff above. It is an important cotton market, has cotton mills, factories, machine-shops and other industries. Fort Rosalie was built by Bienville in 1716 within the present limits of Natchez. Although two hundred or more feet above the river the French garrison was surprised and massacred by Natchez Indians in 1729. Population 11,791.
Natick (nā′tĭk), Mass., a town in Middlesex County, on Charles River, 17 miles from Boston. Its most important manufactures are boots, shoes, men's clothing, shirts, boxes, edged tools, baseballs and supplies for athletic games. Its noteworthy institutions are Bacon Public Library, Morse Institute and Walnut Hill High School for young women. The place was founded by John Eliot as a home for converted Indians, and from 1651 until the founder's death was used as such. It was incorporated as a town in 1781. Natick has a monument to John Eliot and a soldiers' monument, with the service of the Boston and Albany Railroad. Population 9,633.
National Banks. See Banks.
National Debt is the debt of a nation or government contracted by their legislative representatives. In early times these were comparatively small, because the government, as well as the individual, had to give security for the indebtedness; but since the commencement of the present system of banking and the ability of governments to issue interest-bearing evidences of indebtedness in the shape of bonds, the national debts have in many cases, as that of France, become quite enormous. Regarding the origin of these vast obligations, the most prolific cause is the wars in which the different nations have from time to time engaged. Thus the Civil War added about $2,500,000,000 to the national debt of the United States. Of late, however, the governments have borrowed money for different public purposes, as building railroads and telegraph lines and equipping armies and navies. The present system of securing the national debt is by the issue of bonds, bearing a stated rate of interest, payable quarterly, and maturing or becoming due at a certain date. The debt of the United States is in part secured in this way and in part by the issue by the government of greenbacks or paper currency, actually nothing more or less than promissory notes, due upon demand, at presentation at the United States treasury. The method adopted in the United States for the payment of the debt is by the taxation of spirits, whiskey, tobacco and butterine, by charging certain amounts for the traffic in these articles and by the levy of a tax or tariff on articles imported into the country. The greatest amount ever owed by this government was $2,773,236,173 in 1866, directly after the Civil War, but this was reduced to $798,137,603 28 in 1892. The total debt on July 1, 1910, was $2,652,665,838. Deducting $1,725,683,064, the cash in the treasury on the same date, the net debt was $926,982,733. The indebtedness of the chief nations
