Nipa

“ Nipa palms the charm diminishes, until at last all beauty is lost in satiety and the sight becomes infinitely tedious. It is, by the way, from these Nipa palms thus growing in brackish water that the natives obtain salt; the ashes of the stalks, leaves, and roots are soaked in water, which, when the water is evaporated, yields a very dirty looking salt, much preferred, however, by the natives to that which can be bought in the Bazaar. Where the Nipa palms end wild sugar-cane begins, and its gray-green, grassy stalks become quite as monotonous as the Nipa ”

“ Arrack made from the sap of a palm tree, a manufacture by no means confined to the Philippines. The Portuguese, appropriating the word Nipa to this spirit, called the tree itself nipeira.
a.—
1611.—"Other wine is of another kind of palm which is called Nipa (growing in watery places) , and this is also extracted by distillation. It is very mild and sweet, and clear as pure water; and they say it is very wholesome. It is made in great quantities, with which ships are laden in Pegu and Tanasarim, Malaca, and the Philippines or Manila ”

“ From the shifting shreds of sky the sun fell upon the sands in heavy gold spots. To the east, through the lithe, silver trunks, the vivid green of the rice fields flashed; to the west a tawny thread of beach banked up the rippling tide.
In the darkness of the recess a frail hut of nipa leaves and bamboo slowly shaped itself as I advanced, and suddenly a shrill voice, rasping as the violin note of the tyro, pierced the peace of the place. ”

“ Moro frankly said: “Yes, but as our house is so cheap, we can build a new one easily. However, in this warm climate we cook in a separate house, and we bathe out of doors. We do not smoke within our nipa houses; it is too dangerous.”
“Tell our friend from across the purple ocean how we use the bamboo and the nipa plants, for other purposes besides building,” remarked little Fil.
Moro continued: “From the sap of the nipa palm, we distill alcohol. From the hollow bamboo we make pipes for carrying water. We boil the tender new shoots of bamboo, and eat them like celery. ”

“ Over beyond the river was a flat all in a green tangle, with the thatched nipa houses on their stilts. For the palace stands outside the more thickly settled parts of the city, which in turn surround the walled town.
The Pasig River
Manila to-day is a curious mixture of native nipa shacks and old Spanish churches and forts with the up-to-date American buildings and [Pg 129] improvements. There are the different quarters, as in all cities of the Orient—Chinese, native and so on—and each has its own distinctive sights. The street smells, which are never lacking in a city, reminded us of India. ”

“ It produces fruit after seven years’ growth. The nipa palm is almost, though not quite as useful. These spontaneous bounties of nature may not be the allies or promoters of civilization, but they are the compensations which make savage life tolerable and, if not of high enjoyment, not far from happy. ”

“ Soon after the building of the church already mentioned in the village of Baybay, the religious thought they ought to go nearer the principal town of the Chinese, called the Parian, where there are ordinarily from eight to ten thousand Chinese, and [219] often more than fifteen thousand. Accordingly, half-way between this large town and the city of Manila they built a tiny hut of nipa, which here fills the place taken by straw in Castilla ”

“ The roof and sides of the house were of attap. This is made from the long, arrow-like leaves of the nipah palm. Unlike its brother palms—the cocoa, the sago, the gamooty, and the areca—the nipah is short, and more like a giant cactus in growth. Its leaves are stripped off by the natives, then bent over a bamboo rod and sewed together with fibres of the same palm. When dry they become glazed and waterproof. ”

“ In Lower California the Pericues were divided into two gentes, each of which worshipped a divinity which was hostile to the other. The tradition explains that there was a great lord in heaven, called Niparaya, who made earth and sea, and was almighty and invisible. His wife was Anayicoyondi, a goddess who, though possessing no body, bore him in a divinely mysterious manner three children, one of whom, Quaayayp, was a real man and born on earth, on the Acaragui {356} mountains. ”

“ He appointed their feasts and fasts, and all the ceremonies of their religion, and enjoined upon them to obey his directions from generation to generation." [131:1]
Among the savage tribes the same notions prevailed. The Edues of the Californians taught that there was a supreme Creator, Niparaga, and that his son, Quaagagp, came down upon the earth and instructed the Indians in religion, &c. Finally, through hatred, the Indians killed him; but although dead, he is incorruptible and beautiful. To him they pay adoration, as the mediatory power between earth and the Supreme Niparaga. ”

“ The atmosphere of the Napo is like a steam bath, and keeps everything wet, and the Indians have a fondness for helping themselves when they have a chance. You can't get along without the Indians, as they are your only porters. From here to the foot of the mountains you can go on horseback, but the rest of the way to the Napo you must travel on foot, and the Indians carry your baggage. ”

“ Napata was also a place of much wealth. The kingdom, whereof it was the capital, reached southward as far as the modern Khartoum, and eastward stretched up to the Abyssinian highlands, including the valleys of the Atbara and its tributaries, together with most of the tract between the Atbara and the Blue Nile. This was a region of great natural wealth, containing many mines of gold, iron, copper, and salt, abundant woods of date-palm, almond-trees, and ilex, some excellent pasture-ground, and much rich meadow-land suitable for the growth of doora and other sorts of grain. ”

“ Napo is prettily situated on the left bank of the Rio Napo, a dense forest inclosing it on every side. The maximum number of inhabitants is eighty families; but many of these are in town only in festival seasons. It was well for us that we reached the Napo during the feasts; otherwise we might not have found men enough to man our canoes down the river. There are three or four blancos, petty merchants, who follow the old Spanish practice of compulsory sales, forcing the Indians to take lienzo, knives, beads, etc., at exorbitant prices, and making them pay in gold dust and pita. ”

“ The land known to Europeans under that word has for its natives several names—the most common Nipon, sometimes pronounced Nifon—the foundation of the Sun, from Ni, Fire (in a more sublime sense, the Sun,) and pon ground or foundation. Other names are (1) Tenka (Subcelestial Empire) , (2) Fi no Motto (Root of the Sun) , (3) Awadsissima (a terrestrial scum island (p. 59) to which term a fable is attached) , (4) Dsinkokf or Cami no Kuni (the country of the gods) , (5) Akitsima, (6) Tontsio (the true morning) , (7) Sio (all i. e. all the Japanese islands) , Jamotto and several others. ”

“ As Ninip or Nirig, the son of Enlil, who was made in the likeness of Anu, he waged war against the earth spirits, and was furiously hostile towards the deities of alien peoples, as befitted a god of battle. Even his father feared him, and when he was advancing towards Nippur, sent out Nusku, messenger of the gods, to soothe the raging deity with soft words. Ninip was symbolized as a wild bull, was connected with stone worship, like the Indian destroying god Shiva, and was similarly a deity of Fate. ”

“ Chapter 15 - Settlement at Ningpo The autumn of 1856 was well advanced before I reached Ningpo, one of the most ancient and influential cities on the coast of China. Opened to the residence of foreigners in 1842 by the treaty of Nanking, it had long been the scene of missionary labors. Within its thronging thoroughfares the busy tide of life runs high. Four hundred thousand human beings dwell within or around the five miles’ circuit of its ancient wall, every one a soul that Jesus loves, for whom He died. ”

“ There is a possibility that a written symbology does exist for Nipes. But it is used almost entirely for ritualistic purposes, it is pictographical in form, and is known only to a very few. For others to learn it would be taboo.
"Remember, I said that there is only one society, one culture [157] remaining on the Nipe planet. And remember that history is a very late development in our own culture, just as written language is. ”

“ One thing is certain for them, and they do not regard it as an article of faith, but as a fact patent and indisputable, and that is the extraordinary power of the nepu; he is the master of life and of death. Hence it is only natural that they should fear him and obey him in everything and give him all that he asks for. The nepu is not a chief, but he domineers over the chiefs, and we may say that the true authority, the only effective influence in New Guinea, is that of the nepu. ”

“ When all was ready, the Inca, accompanied by all his principal relations and courtiers, went to the House of the Sun, where they brought out Tupac Inca with great solemnity and pomp. For they carried with him all the idols of the Sun, Vircocha, the other huacas, moro-urco. All being placed in order with such pomp as had never been seen before, they all went to the great square of the city, in the centre of which a bonfire was made. All relations and friends then killed many animals, offering them as sacrifices by throwing them into the flames. ”

“ What is alleged of a custom the Nicobarians have of filing down their teeth and rubbing them with some corrosive substance, rests exclusively upon conjecture, and is confirmed neither by personal observation nor by the account given by the natives themselves, nor by the Malay traders who frequent Great Nicobar and Nangkauri.
In social as well as in religious matters, we must consider the inhabitants of this Archipelago as among the child-races of the world. They consider it a duty to marry very young and take but one wife, but they age with uncommon rapidity. ”

“ There are withal Nagas in the sea who control winds and tides, and one of the Naga kings is Sagara, who is a Neptune in [70] Japan. The Nagas are also “Lords of the Earth”, and send drought and disease when offended or neglected. Ea, the sea-god of the early Babylonians, was known also as Enki, “The Lord of the Earth”.
In Buddhist art the Naga is shown in three forms: (1) as a human being with a snake on or poised over the head, reminding one of the Egyptian kings or queens who wear the uræus symbol on their foreheads; (2) as half human and half snake (the “mermaid form”) ”

“ I saw an instance in Nauta, where a man withstood Arebalo to his face, but yielded without a struggle, though growlingly, to the mandate of the padre. In fact, Father Valdivia, though half Indian, and exceedingly simple-minded, is a very resolute and energetic person. On one occasion the governor of Pebas succeeded in carrying off the Indians of that village to the Napo to gather sarza, against the wish of the padre, who wanted them to clear the forest and build the new town. When the governor returned, the priest told him that they two could not live together ”

“ It is precisely that which led me to formulate my theory in the first place. How else to explain the fact that the Nipe, for all his technical knowledge, is still in the ancient ritual-taboo stage of development?"
"A savage?"
Yoritomo smiled. "As to his savagery, I think no one on Earth would disagree. But they are not the same thing. What I do mean is that the Nipe is undoubtedly the most superstitious and bigoted being on the face of this planet." ”

“ My men were natives of various tribes scattered over an immense extent of Central Africa. Each had a certain love of the country from which he had been originally stolen by the slave-traders when a boy, before he found his way into government service. I always endeavoured to keep up this feeling, and to create emulation among the men of different tribes; thus, a native of Pongo would assume a superiority over a Dinka, although the Dinka considered himself of a higher class than a Pongo. A Noba regarded himself as superior to all others. ”

“ To explain the relation of these three classes of the nobility I would say that by “niau-pio” was understood the very highest cast, not only by descent but also by power, such as the sovereigns of the islands, the moi, their children—if the mothers were of sufficient rank—and the aimoku, or district chiefs. By pio was understood the children of a brother and sister or half-brother and half-sister, whose parents were both niau-pio. By naha was understood the children of a father with his daughter, or an uncle with his niece, both the parents being niau-pio. ”

“ And Ninip sped then to his throne.
When Queen Ar-u-ru hears her lord
From Erech's city far has gone,
She bows her head upon the sward,
With pleading hands in woe doth moan.
And to Heabani she gave birth,
The warrior, great Ninip's son,
Whose fame is spread through all the earth.
The queen with her own maids alone
Retired within her palace walls
For purity in Erech's halls.
Like the corn-god his face concealed,
Of men and countries he possessed,
Great wisdom by the gods revealed:
As Ner [3] the god, his limbs were dressed. ”

“ Nipon, a beautiful woman, dressed in green leaves, lived near the sun, and her grandmother, the Rain, who dwelt far away, but sometimes came to visit her, warned her against Pûn, the winter. She must never go into the Northland or she would die. ”