Chapter IX: Part 9

The works of Maimonides fall into three periods: (a) To the Spanish
period belong his commentary on the whole Talmud (not fully carried
out), a treatise on the calendar (_Maamar ha-ibbur_), a treatise on
logic (_Milloth Higgayon_), and his commentary on the _Mishnah_ (this
was called _Siraj_ or _Maor_, i.e. "Light": begun 1158, completed
1168 in Egypt). (b) While he was in Fez, he wrote an essay on the
Sanctification of the Name of God (_Maamar Kiddush Hashem_, _Iggereth
Hashemad_). (c) The works written in Egypt were: Letter to the
Yemenites (_Iggereth Teman_ or _Pethah Tiqvah_); _Responsa_ on
questions of law; Biblical and Rabbinical Code (_Misnheh Torah_ or
_Yad Hahazaka_, completed 1180); _Sepher hamitzvoth_, an abbreviated
handbook of the preceding; and his great philosophical work _Moreh
Nebuhim_ or "the guide of the perplexed" (1190). To these must be
added certain portions of the _Mishnah_ commentary, such as the "Eight
Chapters," the discussion on reward and punishment and immortality,
the Jewish Creed, which have acquired fame as independent works.

The influence of Moses ben Maimon is incalculable. "From Moses unto Moses there arose not one like Moses," is the verdict of posterity. Maimonides was the great exponent of reason in faith and toleration in theology. One of the main services to European thought of the "Guide" was its independent criticism of some of Aristotle's principles. His codification of the Talmud was equally appreciated in the study of the scholar and in practical life. Christian Europe owed much to Maimonides. Not only did his "Guide" influence scholasticism in general, but it was from his Code that the Church derived its medieval knowledge of the Synagogue.

A complete bibliography will be found in _Maimonides_, by David Yellin
and Israel Abrahams (London, 1903); the final chapter of that work
gives a summary of the influence of Maimonides on Christian
philosophers such as Aquinas, and Jewish such as Spinoza. The "Guide"
has been translated into English by M. Friedlander (1881-1885; new
ed., 1905). See also _Jewish Encyclopedia_, articles _s.v._, and the
volumes edited by Guttmann, _Moses ben Maimon_ (Leipzig, 1908, &c.).
(H. Le.)

MAIN (Lat. _Moenus_), a river of Germany, and the most important right-bank tributary of the Rhine. It has two sources, the Weisse Main (White Main), which rises in the Fichtelgebirge on the east side of the Ochsenkopf, and the Rote Main (Red Main), which, rising on the eastern slope of the Frankish Jura, flows past Bayreuth. They unite 3 m. below Kulmbach, 920 ft. above the sea. Hence the river, already of considerable size, pursues a north-westerly direction, skirting the spurs of the Frankish Jura in a pleasant valley. At Lichtenfels the river takes a south-westerly course, which it retains until entering the fertile basin of Bamberg. Here it receives from the south-east the waters of its chief tributary, the Regnitz, and enters upon its middle course. Its direction is now again north-west, and meandering through pleasant vales and pastures it passes Hassfurt and reaches Schweinfurt. Its course is now almost due south to Ochsenfurt, when it again proceeds north-west. Continuing in this direction amid vine-clad hills, it washes the walls of the university city of Würzburg, and thence, dividing the forest-clad ranges of the Spessart and the Odenwald, reaches Gemünden. Here it is joined from the right by the Frankish Saale and, turning abruptly south, receives at Wertheim the beautiful Tauber. Feudal castles and medieval towns now crown its banks, notably, Freudenberg and Miltenberg. From the latter it proceeds due north to Aschaffenburg, whence passing Frankfort it pours its yellow waters into the green waters of the Rhine just above Mainz. The Main has a total length of 310 m. and drains a basin of approximately 11,000 sq. m. It is navigable from the confluence of the Regnitz, 240 m. from its mouth, for barges and other small craft, and through the Ludwig Canal is connected with the Danube.

See Ulrici, _Das Maingebiet in seiner natürlichen Beschaffenheit_
(Kassel, 1885); E. Faber, _Zur Hydrographie des Maingebiets_ (Munich,
1895), and Lill, _Mainthal, Main und Mainschiffahrt_ (Berlin, 1904).

MAIN (from the Aryan root which appears in "may" and "might," and Lat. _magnus_, great), a word meaning properly power or strength, especially physical. This use chiefly survives in the expression "with might and main." The word is more common as a substantival elliptical use of the adjective, which usually has the sense of principal or chief in size, strength, importance, &c. Thus "the main," the high open sea, is for "main sea," cf. "mainland," the principal part of a territory excluding islands and sometimes far-projecting peninsulas. The expression "the Spanish main" properly meant that part of the main land of the N.E. coast of South America stretching from the Orinoco to the Isthmus of Panama, and the former Spanish possessions in Central America bordering on the Caribbean Sea, but it is often loosely used, especially in connexion with the buccaneers, of the Caribbean Sea itself. The term "main" is also thus used of a principal pipe or cable for conducting gas, water, electricity, &c. The elliptical use does not appear, however, in such expressions as main road, line, stream. Another use of the word "main" has a somewhat obscure history. It appears as a term in the game of hazard, and also in cock-fighting. In the last it is used for a match, and for the cocks engaged in a match. In hazard it is the number called by the "caster" before the dice are thrown; this may be any number from five to nine inclusive. The usual derivation is from the French _main_, a hand, but according to the _New English Dictionary_ there is no evidence for this, and the more probable explanation is that it is an adaptation of "main" meaning principal or chief. From this use of the word in hazard the expression "main chance" is derived. "Main," a shortened form of domain or demesne, only now survives in Scotland, usually in the plural "mains" for a home farm.

MAINA (or MANI) and MAINOTES, a district and people of the Peloponnesus, the modern Morea. Maina is the country occupied by the mountain range of Taygetus from Sparta to Cape Matapan, the ancient Taenarum. It is now divided between the modern districts Oetylos and Gythion. Before the organization of the present kingdom of Greece, Maina was subdivided into [Greek: Exô Manê], Outer Maina, from the frontier of Kalamata, on the Gulf of Messenia, to Vitylo (Oetylos) and inland to the summit of Taygetus; [Greek: Katô Manê], Lower Maina, from Vitylo to Cape Matapan; and [Greek: Mesa Manê], or Inner Maina, on the east, and on the Gulf of Laconia as far as the plain of Elos. It contained over a hundred villages. The country is mountainous and inaccessible, a formation to which it owes its historical importance. The Mainotes claim to descend from the Spartans, and probably represent the Eleuthero, or free, Laconians who were delivered by Rome from the power of Sparta, as is suggested by the traces of ancient Greek in their dialect and by their physical type. Their country being a natural fortress, they were able to defend themselves against the Byzantine emperors, the barbarians who broke into the empire, the Latin princes of Achaea of the house of Villehardouin, and the Turks. As their country is also poor and maritime, they were early tempted to take to piratical adventure. Gibbon says that "in the time of Constantine Porphyrogenitus they had acquired the name of Mainotes, under which they dishonour the claim of liberty by the inhuman pillage of all that is shipwrecked on their rocky shore." Their neighbours gave their country the name of "Kakaboulia"--the land of wicked counsels. The passes of their mountains were elaborately fortified and their villages were full of fortified towers (_pyrgoi_) from which they formed their own favourite epithet, Maina Polypyrgos--many-towered Maina. On the western side it also contains the remains of feudal keeps, erected by William II. de Villehardouin (1245-1278) and other Latin princes of Achaea. The Mainotes did not become Christians till the 9th century. From the 15th till the 17th century they recognized a family which claimed to belong to the Comneni of Trebizond as head chiefs. But the real power was in the hands of the chiefs of the different families and villages, who formed a turbulent and martial aristocracy. Enduring and ferocious feuds were common among them. In the course of the 18th century the family of Mavromicheli (Black Michael), which belonged to lower Maina, established a general headship over the Mainotes after much strife and many murders. When Russia endeavoured to promote a rising against the Turks in the Morea in 1770 the Mainotes acted with her, and the strength of their country enabled them to escape the vengeance of the Turks when the Christians were cynically deserted by the Russians. In 1777 their practical independence was recognized by the sultan's officers. During the Greek war of independence the Mainotes were chiefly led by Petros (Petro Bey) Mavromicheli, known to his countrymen as the king of Maina, who undoubtedly cherished the hope of establishing a principality for himself. The freedom of Greece, for which he had fought in his own way, proved the ruin of his ambition. He found the new order less compatible with his schemes than the Turkish dominion. Petro Bey was imprisoned by the Greek president Capodistrias (see CAPO D'ISTRIA, COUNT.), who was in revenge murdered by the Mavromichelis. The family were finally content to become courtiers and officials in the reign of King Otto I. In the 19th century Maina was but little affected by civilization, except in so far as the efficiency of modern navies debarred the Mainotes from their old resource of piracy.

See W. Martin Leake, _Travels in the Morea_ (1830); M. E. Yemeniz, "La
Maina," in _Revue des deux mondes_ (March 1, 1865); and Philipson,
"Zur Ethnographie des Peloponnes," in _Petermanns Mittheilungen_, vol.
36 (Gotha).

MAINE, ANNE LOUISE BÉNÉDICTE DE BOURBON, DUCHESSE DU (1676-1753), daughter of Henri Jules de Bourbon, prince de Condé and Anne of Bavaria, was born on the 8th of November 1676. On the 19th of March 1692 she married Louis Auguste de Bourbon, duc du Maine, son of Louis XIV. and Mme de Montespan. The duchesse du Maine held a little court at Sceaux, where she gave brilliant entertainments and immersed herself in political intrigues. Displeased with the action of the regent Orleans in degrading the illegitimate children of Louis XIV. from their precedence above the peers of France, she induced her husband to join in the Cellamare conspiracy for the transference of the regency to the king of Spain. The plot, however, was discovered, and she was imprisoned in 1719. The following year she returned to Sceaux, where she resumed her salon and gathered round her a brilliant company of wits and poets. She died in Paris on the 23rd of January 1753.

See Général de Piépape, _La Duchesse du Maine_ (1910).

MAINE, SIR HENRY JAMES SUMNER (1822-1888), English comparative jurist and historian, son of Dr James Maine, of Kelso, Roxburghshire, was born on the 15th of August 1822. He was at school at Christ's Hospital, and thence went up to Pembroke College, Cambridge, in 1840. At Cambridge he was one of the most brilliant classical scholars of his time. He won a Craven scholarship and graduated as senior classic in 1844, being also senior chancellor's medallist in classics. Shortly afterwards he accepted a tutorship at Trinity Hall. In 1847 he was appointed regius professor of civil law, and he was called to the bar three years later; he held this chair till 1854. Even the rudiments of Roman law were not then included in the ordinary training of English lawyers; it was assumed at the universities that any good Latin scholar could qualify himself at short notice for keeping up such tradition of civilian studies as survived. Maine cannot have known much Roman law in 1847, but in 1856 he contributed to the _Cambridge Essays_ the essay on Roman law and legal education, republished in the later editions of _Village Communities_, which was the first characteristic evidence of his genius. Meanwhile he had become one of the readers appointed by the Inns of Court, in the first of their many half-hearted attempts at legal education, in 1852. Lectures delivered by Maine in this capacity were the groundwork of _Ancient Law_ (1861), the book by which his reputation was made at one stroke. Its object, as modestly stated in the preface, was "to indicate some of the earliest ideas of mankind, as they are reflected in ancient law, and to point out the relation of those ideas to modern thought." Within a year of its publication the post of legal member of council in India was offered to Maine, then a junior member of the bar with little practice, few advantages of connexion, and no political or official claims. He declined once, on grounds of health; the very next year the office was again vacant. This time Maine was persuaded to accept, not that his health had improved, but that he thought India might not make it much worse. It turned out that India suited him much better than Cambridge or London. His work, like most of the work done by Englishmen in India in time of peace, was not of a showy kind--its value is shown by the fact that he was asked to prolong his services beyond the regular term of five years, and returned to England only in 1869. The subjects on which it was his duty to advise the government of India were as much political as legal. They ranged from such problems as the land settlement of the Punjab, or the introduction of civil marriage to provide for the needs of unorthodox Hindus, to the question how far the study of Persian should be required or encouraged among European civil servants. On the civil marriage question in particular, and some years earlier on the still more troublesome one of allowing the remarriage of native converts to Christianity, his guidance, being not only learned but statesmanlike, was of the greatest value. Plans of codification, moreover, were prepared, and largely shaped, under Maine's direction, which were carried into effect by his successors, Sir J. Fitzjames Stephen and Dr Whitley Stokes. The results are open to criticism in details, but form on the whole a remarkable achievement in the conversion of unwritten and highly technical law into a body of written law sufficiently clear to be administered by officers to many of whom its ideas and language are foreign. All this was in addition to the routine of legislative and consulting work and the establishment of the legislative department of the government of India on substantially its present footing.

Maine's power of swiftly assimilating new ideas and appreciating modes of thought and conduct remote from modern Western life came into contact with the facts of Indian society at exactly the right time, and his colleagues and other competent observers expressed the highest opinion of his work. In return Maine brought back from his Indian office a store of knowledge which enriched all his later writings, though he took India by name for his theme only once. This essay on India was his contribution to the composite work entitled _The Reign of Queen Victoria_ (ed. T. H. Ward, 1887). Not having been separately published, it is perhaps the least known of Maine's writings; but its combination of just perception and large grasp with command of detail is not easily matched outside W. Stubbs's prefaces to some of the chronicles in the Rolls series, and (more lately) F. W. Maitland's monographs. As vice-chancellor of the university of Calcutta, Maine commented, with his usual pregnant ingenuity, on the results produced by the contact of Eastern and Western thought. Three of these addresses were published, wholly or in part, in the later editions of _Village Communities_; the substance of others is understood to be embodied in the Cambridge Rede lecture of 1875, which is to be found in the same volume. The practical side of Maine's experience was not long lost to India; he became a member of the secretary of state's council in 1871, and remained so for the rest of his life. In the same year he was gazetted a K.C.S.I. In 1869 Maine was appointed to the chair of historical and comparative jurisprudence newly founded in the university of Oxford by Corpus Christi College. Residence at Oxford was not required, and the election amounted to an invitation to the new professor to resume and continue in his own way the work he had begun in _Ancient Law_. During the succeeding years he published the principal matters of his lectures in a carefully revised literary form: _Village Communities in the East and the West_ (1871); _Early History of Institutions_ (1875); _Early Law and Custom_ (1883). In all these works the phenomena of societies in an archaic stage, whether still capable of observation or surviving in a fragmentary manner among more modern surroundings or preserved in contemporary records, are brought into line, often with singular felicity, to establish and illustrate the normal process of development in legal and political ideas.

In 1877 the mastership of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where Maine had formerly been tutor, became vacant. There were two strong candidates whose claims were so nearly equal that it was difficult to elect either; the difficulty was solved by a unanimous invitation to Maine to accept the post. His acceptance entailed the resignation of the Oxford chair, though not continuous residence at Cambridge. Ten years later considerations of a somewhat similar kind led to his election to succeed Sir William Harcourt as Whewell professor of international law at Cambridge. His all too short performance in this office is represented by a posthumous volume which had not received his own final revision, _International Law_ (1888).

Meanwhile Maine had published in 1885 his one work of speculative politics, a volume of essays on _Popular Government_, designed to show that democracy is not in itself more stable than any other form of government, and that there is no necessary connexion between democracy and progress. The book was deliberately unpopular in tone; it excited much controversial comment and some serious and useful discussion.

In 1886 there appeared in the _Quarterly Review_ (clxii. 181) an article on the posthumous work of J. F. M'Lennan, edited and completed by his brother, entitled "The Patriarchal Theory." The article, though necessarily unsigned (in accordance with the rule of the _Quarterly_ as it then stood), was Maine's reply to the M'Lennan brothers' attack on the historical reconstruction of the Indo-European family system put forward in _Ancient Law_ and supplemented in _Early Law and Custom_. Maine was generally averse from controversy, but showed on this occasion that it was not for want of controversial power. He carried the war back into the invader's country, and charged J. F. M'Lennan's theory of primitive society with owing its plausible appearance of universal validity to general neglect of the Indo-European evidence and misapprehension of such portions of it as M'Lennan did attempt to handle.

Maine's health, which had never been strong, gave way towards the end of 1887. He went to the Riviera under medical advice, and died at Cannes on the 3rd of February 1888. He left a wife and two sons, of whom the elder died soon afterwards.

An excellent summary of Maine's principal writings may be seen in Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff's memoir. The prompt and full recognition of Maine's genius by continental publicists must not pass unmentioned even in the briefest notice. France, Germany, Italy, Russia have all contributed to do him honour; this is the more remarkable as one or two English publicists of an older school signally failed to appreciate him. Maine warned his countrymen against the insularity which results from ignorance of all law and institutions save one's own; his example has shown the benefit of the contrary habit. His prominent use of Roman law and the wide range of his observation have made his works as intelligible abroad as at home, and thereby much valuable information--for example, concerning the nature of British supremacy in India, and the position of native institutions there--has been made the property of the world of letters instead of the peculiar and obscure possession of a limited class of British public servants. Foreign readers of Maine have perhaps understood even better than English ones that he is not the propounder of a system but the pioneer of a method, and that detailed criticism, profitable as it may be and necessary as in time it must be, will not leave the method itself less valid or diminish the worth of the master's lessons in its use. The rather small bulk of Maine's published and avowed work may be explained partly by a fine literary sense which would let nothing go out under his name unfinished, partly by the drawbacks incident to precarious health. Maine's temperament was averse from the labour of minute criticism, and his avoidance of it was no less a matter of prudence. But it has to be remembered that Maine also wrote much which was never publicly acknowledged. Before he went to India he was one of the original contributors to the _Saturday Review_, founded in 1855, and the inventor of its name. Like his intimate friend Fitzjames Stephen, he was an accomplished journalist, enjoyed occasional article-writing as a diversion from official duties, and never quite abandoned it. The practice of such writing probably counted for something in the freedom and clearness of Maine's style and the effectiveness of his dialectic. His books are a model of scientific exposition which never ceases to be literature.

See Sir A. Lyall and others, in _Law Quart. Rev._ iv. 129 seq. (1888);
Sir F. Pollock, "Sir Henry Maine and his Work," in _Oxford Lectures,
&c._ (1890); "Sir H. Maine as a Jurist," _Edin. Rev._ (July 1893);
Introduction and Notes to new ed. of _Ancient Law_ (1906); Sir M. E.
Grant Duff, _Sir Henry Maine: a brief Memoir of his Life, &c._ (1892);
_Notes from a Diary_, _passim_; L. Stephen, "Maine" in _Dict. Nat.
Biog._ (1893); Paul Vinogradoff, _The Teaching of Sir Henry Maine_
(1904). (F. Po.)

MAINE, an old French province, bounded N. by Normandy, E. by Orléanais, S. by Touraine and Anjou, and W. by Brittany. Before the Roman Conquest the region occupied by this province was inhabited by the Aulerci Cenomanni and the Aulerci Diablintes; under the Roman empire it consisted of two _civitates_ comprised in the Provincia Lugdunensis Tertia--the Civitas Cenomannorum and the Civitas Diablintum, whose chief towns were Le Mans and Jublains. These two _civitates_ were united during the barbarian period and formed a single bishopric, that of Le Mans, suffragan to the metropolitan see of Tours. Under the Merovingians and Carolingians the diocese of Le Mans corresponded to the Pagus Cenomanensis, and in the feudal period to the county of Maine. In the 16th century the county of Maine, with the addition of Perche, formed a military government--the province of Maine. Since 1790 this province has been represented approximately by the departments of Sarthe and Mayenne, the respective capitals of which are Le Mans and Laval. In 1855 the bishopric of Laval was separated from that of Le Mans. Maine was evangelized in the 3rd century by St Julian. After forming part of the kingdom of Syagrius, it was conquered by Clovis at the end of the 5th century. Owing to the scarcity of documents the history of Maine until the end of the 9th century is merged in the history of the bishops of Le Mans, which has come down to us in the _Actus pontificum Cenomannis in urbe degentium_ (ed. Busson-Ledru, Le Mans, 1901), composed under the direction of Bishop Aldric (832-857). Roger (_c._ 892-_c._ 898) was perhaps the first hereditary count of Maine; the counts whose existence is certain are Hugh I. (_c._ 939-before 992), Hugh II. (before 992-1015), Herbert I. (1015-1032 to 1036), Hugh III. (1032 to 1036-1051), Herbert II. (1051-1062), William the Bastard (1063-1087), Robert Curthose (1087-1091), Hugh IV. (1091-1092) and Helias (1092-1110). Maine, which was in the vassalage of Anjou as early as the 9th century, was united to Anjou in 1110 by the marriage of Count Helias's daughter to Fulk V., count of Anjou, and passed to the English crown in 1154, when Henry Plantagenet (who was born at Le Mans) became king of England. In 1204, after the confiscation of the estates of John of England, Maine was united to France; in 1246 it was separated from France by Louis IX., who handed it over to his brother Charles, count of Provence. Again united to France in 1328, it was given in 1356 as an apanage to Louis, second son of King John II., and did not definitely return to the French crown until 1481, after the death of Charles II., count of Maine. During the Hundred Years' War Maine was taken in 1425 by the English, who lost it in 1448.

See _Histoire de l'église du Mans_, by Dom Piolin (Paris, 1851-1858),
which is useful but out of date; _Revue historique et archéologique du
Maine_ (1876); _La Province du Maine_ (1893); B. Hauréau, _Histoire
littéraire du Maine_ (1870-1877).

MAINE, a North Atlantic state of the United States of America, the most north-easterly state in the Union, and the largest of the New England group. It lies between 43° 4´ and 47° 27´ 33´´ N., and between 66° 56´ 48´´ and 71° 6´ 41´´ W. It is bounded N.W. by the Canadian province of Quebec; N. and E. by the Canadian province of New Brunswick, from which it is separated in part by the natural barriers of the Saint John River, the Grand (or Schoodic) Lakes, the Saint Croix River, and Passamaquoddy Bay; S.S.E. by the Atlantic Ocean; and W. by New Hampshire, the Piscataqua and Salmon Falls rivers being the natural boundary lines at the S.W. The area of the state is 33,040 sq. m., 3145 sq. m. being water surface.

Maine attracts more summer visitors than any other state in the Union. This is due to the cool and refreshing summer climate; the picturesque coast and its many islands, which are favourite grounds for camps and summer cottages; the mountains, and the beautiful lakes and rivers, many of which afford opportunities for good fishing and canoeing. Among the more widely known resorts are Mount Desert Island, on which is Bar Harbor, a fashionable summer place of great beauty; Long Island, Orr's and other islands in Casco Bay; Old Orchard, with a gently sloping white sand sea-beach 9 m. long, Rangeley and Moosehead Lakes, favourite resorts of fishermen and hunters; Mt Katahdin, in the heart of the moose country; and Poland Springs (38 m. by rail from Portland) in Androscoggin county, near lake Anasigunticook. About 1870, camps, summer cottages, summer hotels and boarding houses began to multiply throughout the state. The needs of this summer population gave a new impulse and a new turn to agriculture; and the demand for souvenirs revived among the Indians basket-weaving, moccasin-making, and such crafts.

_Physical Features._--The surface is a gently rolling upland, forming
a part of the "New England uplands," above which rise isolated
mountain peaks and clusters of peaks, and below which are cut numerous
river valleys.[1] The highest peak is Mt Katahdin (5200 ft.), a little
N.E. of the centre of the state in Piscataquis county, which rises
from a comparatively level upland. South-west of Katahdin, in Franklin
county, are most of the other high peaks of the state: Saddleback
Mountain (4000 ft.), Mt Abraham (3388 ft.), Mt Bigelow (3600 ft.), and
Mt Blue (3200 ft.). A little N. of this line of mountain peaks is the
water-parting which divides the state into a north slope and a south
slope. The north slope descends gently both to the N. and to the E.;
although quite hilly in the middle and western portions it is so
poorly drained that swamps abound in all sections. The south slope
which contains nearly all the mountains and is generally more hilly,
has a mean descent toward the sea of about 7 ft. to the mile, the fall
being greater in the W., where the mountains are high at the N. and
the shore low at the S., and less to the E., where the water-parting
is lower and the shore high and rocky.

After the uplift which caused the rivers to cut below the general
"uplands," and develop well marked valleys for themselves, came the
period of the great continental glaciation. The glacier or ice sheet
overran all Maine, irregularly scouring out the bed rock to produce
rock basins, damming up many river valleys with glacial deposits and
completely disarranging the drainage lines. When the ice melted, the
rock basins and the dammed-up valleys filled with water to produce
lakes. This is the origin of the numerous lakes of Maine, which give
it some of its most beautiful scenery, and help to make it a holiday
resort in summer. These lakes are about 1600 in number, are scattered
in all parts of the state, are especially numerous at high elevations,
and have an aggregate area of more than 2000 sq. m. Few other regions
have so many large lakes so variously situated, and with such beauty
of aspect and surroundings. They contribute largely to a constant
supply of water power for which the course of the rivers of S.W. Maine
are exceptionally well adapted, many of them abound in trout, salmon,
togue, black bass and pickerel; and near them there is still much
game. Moosehead Lake (about 120 sq. m.; 35 m. long and from 2 m. to 10
m. wide), on the boundary between Piscataquis and Somerset counties,
is the largest in Maine and the largest inland body of water wholly in
New England; the Kennebec River is its principal outlet and Mt Kineo
rises abruptly to about 1760 ft. above the sea (about 700 ft. above
the lake) on its eastern shore. Other lakes, such as the Rangeley
Lakes,[2] Chesuncook and Twin Lakes on the Penobscot, and the Grand or
Schoodic Lakes, in the western boundary at the head waters of the
Saint Croix River, equal or surpass Moosehead in picturesqueness. The
glacier or ice sheet, above referred to, deposited till or boulder
clay, which was compacted under the enormous pressure of the ice sheet
to form the "hard-pan" referred to later. The glaciation is also
responsible for the poor soil of most of the state, for, although the
rocks are the same crystallines which give good soils further south in
unglaciated regions, all the decayed portions of the Maine rocks have
been removed by glacial erosion, revealing fresh, barren rock over
great areas, or depositing the rather sterile hard-pan as a thin
coating in other places.

After the uplift came a period of subsidence, during which this region
sank one or more thousand feet, allowing the sea to encroach on the
land and run far inland into the previously made river valleys. This
depression probably occurred during the glacial period, perhaps toward
its close, and is responsible for the second most important feature of
Maine physiography, the embayed coast. To this subsidence are due the
picturesque coastal scenery, the numerous islands and bays, the good
harbours and the peculiar coast-line.

The shortest distance between the N.E. and the S.W. extremities of the
coast is only 225 m.; but, on account of projections and indentations,
the coast-line measures not less than 2500 m. The headlands, the deep
indentations and the numerous islands in the bays and beyond produce a
beautiful mingling of land and sea and give to the whole ocean front
the appearance of a fringed and tasselled border; west of the mouth of
the Kennebec River are a marshy shore and many low grassy islands; but
east of this river the shore becomes more and more bold, rising in the
precipitous cliffs and rounded summits of Mt Desert and Quoddy Head,
1527 and 1000 ft. high respectively. All along the coast-line there
are capacious and well-protected harbours, Casco, Penobscot,
Frenchman's, Machias and Passamaquoddy bays being especially
noteworthy.

After the subsidence came another period of uplift, possibly still in
progress. This uplift has brought up submarine deposits of sand, &c.,
to form little coastal plains at some points along the coast,
providing good land for settlement and clay for brick and pottery.
Further evidence of this uplift is found in old beach lines now well
above sea-level.

The principal river systems of Maine are the Saint John on the north
slope, and the Penobscot, the Kennebec, the Androscoggin, and the Saco
on the south slope. The mean height of the basin of the St John is
exceeded only by that of the Androscoggin, but the fall of the St John
River through the greater part of its course in Maine is only
sufficient to give a sluggish or a gentle current. The Penobscot,
Kennebec, Androscoggin and Saco have numerous falls and rapids.

_Fauna._--The animal life of Maine shows a mixture of northern and
southern forms, and very little that is peculiar as compared with
surrounding regions. The state has moose, caribou and deer, especially
in the northern part. The black bear, wolf, catamount, wolverine, wild
cat, fox, beaver, racoon, marten, sable, woodchuck, skunk, otter,
mink, rabbit and squirrel are also found. Geese, ducks and other water
fowl frequent the lakes and bays in the migratory season, and eagles,
gulls, hawks, kingfishers, owls, plover, woodcock, "partridge" (ruffed
grouse), robins, orioles, bobolinks, blue birds, swallows, sparrows,
and many other insectivorous birds are common. In the inland waters
salmon, trout, togue (_Salvelinus namaycush_), pickerel and bass
abound; along the shore there are lobsters, clams and scallops
(_Pecten irradians_); and off the shore are herring, alewives,
mackerel, cod, halibut, haddock, smelts, hake, menhaden, porgies and
porpoises. The game in the North Woods attracts large numbers of
sportsmen during the autumn season.

_Flora._--Maine was formerly covered with forests, principally of
white pine and spruce, but mixed with these were some hemlock,
tamarack, cedar, and, on the south slope, birch, poplar, oak, maple
and beech. Chestnut and walnut are rare and are found only near the
south-west border. In 1900 about 21% of the state's area was cleared,
and much besides had once been cleared, but not being suited to
agriculture had become reforested. Of fruit trees the chief is the
apple. The plum, cherry and pear also thrive. The peach grows well
only in the south-west near the border. Species of grape, gooseberry
and currant are native, and others are cultivated with advantage. The
blackberry, raspberry, blueberry and strawberry grow wild in profusion
throughout the state.

_Climate._--The climate of the state is moist and, for its latitude,
cold. Extremes of temperature are not so great as farther inland in
the same latitude; for the summer heats are tempered by the sea and
the cool north winds, and the winter cold is so constant as to be less
severely felt than the changing temperature of more southern
districts. The summers are short, there being only about 4½ months
between frosts even in the southern sections, and the mean summer
temperature is about 62° F. The mean winter temperature is
approximately 20° F., and the mean annual temperature for the entire
state is 42° F., that for the north slope being about 5° F. less than
that for the south slope. Although the temperature remains pretty
steadily below the freezing point for at least three months of the
year, many of the harbours remain unobstructed; for the tides and the
prevailing off-shore winds break up and drive off the ice. The
precipitation is about 42 in. annually, and is distributed very evenly
throughout the year, 10-11 in. of rain or its equivalent in snow
falling each season. During 4½ months about 44% of the precipitation
is in the form of snow; but the snow-fall varies from about 60 in. on
the coast to more than 100 in. on the north slope. The winds are
variable; at no season of the year is it usual for them to blow from
the same direction for many days in succession. But, with the
exception of those from the west, they are maritime and consequently
moisture-bearing. In summer, especially in the latter part of it, the
cool and moist N. or N.E. winds often cause a considerable part of the
state to be enveloped in fog for several days in succession.

_Agriculture._--The soil is for the most part glacial drift,
containing a large mixture of clay with sand or gravel, and the
subsoil is mostly "hard-pan," i.e. mingled clay and boulders which
have been so much compressed by glacial action as to make the mixture
hard and ledge-like. Except in the valley of the Aroostook and along
the Kennebec, the Penobscot, and some other rivers, the soil is
generally unfit for cultivation, there being too little alluvium mixed
with it to make it fertile. In the Aroostook valley, however, is the
largest undivided area of good arable land in all New England, the
soil being a deep, porous, yellow loam well adapted to the growth of
cereals and to market gardening. The most sterile regions are on the
mountains and along the coast. Because of the cold climate, the large
areas in which there is little or no good arable land, the growing
demand for timber land, and the large and constant supply of
water-power afforded by the principal rivers, agriculture in Maine, as
in all the other New England states except Vermont, is a smaller
industry than manufacturing; in 1900 there were 87,932 people engaged
in manufacturing and only 76,932 engaged in agriculture. Only 32.9% of
the state's land area was in that year included in farms, only 37.9%
of this farm land was improved, and only 16.3% of the improved land
was in crops other than hay and forage. Nevertheless, as indicated by
the unusually large proportion of farmers who either own their farms
or pay cash rent for them, farming usually is profitable. The number
of farms in 1900 was 59,299; of these 18,644 contained between 50 and
100 acres and 17,191 contained between 100 and 175 acres, the average
size being 106.2 acres; 54,263 (or 91.5%) were operated by their
owners, 775 were operated by part owners, 2030 by cash tenants, and
only 745 by share tenants. Beginning with the middle of the 19th
century, the increasing competition of the more productive soils of
the West, the growth of urban population in the state, and the number
of summer visitors effected the reforesting of much poor land and the
more intensive cultivation of the better arable land. The cultivation
of cereals, for example, has given way to a marked extent in nearly
all the farming districts except in Aroostook county to market
gardening, dairying, and egg and poultry production. The number of
dairy cows increased from 157,240 in 1890 to 183,000 in 1908, and the
annual production of milk increased from 57,969,791 gallons in 1890 to
99,586,188 gallons in 1900. The number of other neat cattle (180,878
in 1900; 151,000 in 1908) decreased during every decade from 1860 to
1900; the number of sheep in 1900 was 427,209 (31.9% less than in
1890), and in 1908 it was 267,000; but the number of horses in 1890
and 1900 was about the same (140,310 in 1960, but only 116,000 in
1908). Hay is still by far the largest crop, the acreage of it and of
forage in 1899 being 1,270,254 acres, or 76.5% of that of all crops,
and the yield was 1,133,932 tons; in 1907 the acreage was 1,400,000
acres, and the crop was 2,100,000 tons. The acreage of cereals
decreased from 187,013 in 1880, when agriculture in Aroostook county
was little developed, to 166,896 in 1899, when the cereal acreage in
Aroostook county alone was 82,069. Maine potatoes are of a superior
quality, and the acreage of this crop increased from 49,617 in 1889 to
118,000 in 1907. Sweet Indian corn, cabbages, turnips, cucumbers and
tomatoes are grown in large quantities. The fruit crop consists very
largely of apples and strawberries (1,421,773 bushels of apples and
1,066,860 quarts of strawberries in 1899). The output of eggs
increased from 9,369,534 dozen in 1889 to 13,304,150 dozen in 1899.
The most productive dairy section of the state is a belt extending
from the south-west corner N.E. entirely across the state and
embracing the whole or parts of the counties of York, Oxford,
Cumberland, Androscoggin, Kennebec, Penobscot and Aroostook.

_Lumber Industry._--Except in the remote parts, the valuable white
pine, for which Maine was long noted, has been cut; but the woodland
of the state was estimated in 1900 at 23,700 sq. m. or 79% of its
area. The tendency is for this area to increase, for the establishment
between 1890 and 1900 of large paper and pulp mills on some of the
principal rivers of the south slope greatly increased the value of
forests, especially those of spruce and poplar. The state makes large
appropriations for preventing and extinguishing forest fires, and in
1903 established a department of forestry in the university of Maine.
Good spruce, which is by far the most valuable timber in the state and
is used most largely for the manufacture of paper and pulp, stands in
large quantities in the St John, Penobscot, Androscoggin and Kennebec
basins. Poplar, also used for the manufacture of paper, abounds in
several sections of the south slope, but is most abundant in the basin
of the Kennebec. White birch, used largely for the manufacture of
spools, is found throughout a wide belt extending across the middle of
the state. There is much cedar on the north slope. Oak, maple and
beech are rather scarce. A new growth of white pine and other timber
is gradually becoming valuable. The value of the timber product
increased from $11,849,654 in 1890 to $13,489,401 in 1900, and to
$17,937,683 in 1905.

_Fisheries._--Fishing has always been an important industry in Maine.
From 1901 to 1904 inclusive, the average annual catch amounted to
195,335,646 lb., and its average value was $5,557,083. In 1908,
according to state reports, the catch was 185,476,343 lb., valued at
$3,849,900. Herrings are caught in largest quantities (in 1908,
according to state reports, 68,210,800 lb., valued at $450,665), and
Maine is noted for the canning of the smaller herrings under the name
of "sardines." In 1908, according to state reports, the take of
lobsters was 17,635,980 lb. valued at $1,558,252. Maine markets more
clams than any other state in the Union, and the catches of cod, hake,
haddock, smelt, mackerel, swordfish, shad, pollock, cusk, salmon,
alewives, eels and halibut are of importance. The scallop fishery is
becoming more and more valuable. For the protection and promotion of
the lobster fishery the United States government has established a
lobster hatchery at Boothbay Harbor; and the state legislature enacted
a law in 1895 prohibiting the taking of lobsters less than 10-1/2 in.
in length (one effect of this law being to drive the lobster-canning
industry from the state) and another law in 1903 for the protection of
lobsters with eggs attached. This latter law directs the state fish
commissioner to purchase such lobsters whenever caught and either to
liberate them or to sell them to the United States for keeping in a
fish hatchery.

_Minerals._--The principal mineral products are granite, limestone,
slate, clay products and mineral waters. In 1905 Maine held first rank
among the states of the Union as a producer of granite, the value of
the output being $2,713,795. In 1907 Maine's granite was valued at
$2,146,420, that of Massachusetts at $2,328,777, and that of Vermont
at $2,693,889. The stone is of superior quality, and the largest part
of it is used for building purposes; much of it is used as paving
blocks and some for monuments. It abounds all along the coast east of
the Kennebec and on the adjacent islands, and is found farther inland,
especially about the Rangeley lakes in Franklin and Oxford counties,
and, near Mt Katahdin, in Penobscot and Piscataquis counties. The
principal quarries, however, are situated in positions most convenient
for shipment by water, in the vicinity of Penobscot bay and in
Kennebec county, and these have supplied the bulk of the material used
in the construction of many prominent buildings and monuments in the
United States. The Fox Island granite comes from the quarries on
Vinalhaven Island and the surrounding islands, and on Vinalhaven were
quarried monolithic columns 51.5 to 54 ft. long and 6 ft. in diameter
for the Cathedral of St John the Divine in New York City. Black
granite was quarried in 1907 at 12 quarries, in York, Lincoln, Waldo,
Penobscot and Washington counties. Limestone abounds, especially in
the south-east part of the state, but it is quarried chiefly in Knox
county. As its colour--blue and blue-black streaked with
white--renders it undesirable for building purposes, nearly all of it
is burned into lime, which has become a very important article of
manufacture in the city of Rockland; the industry dates back to 1733
in Knox county. In 1907 the quantity of lime burned in Maine was
159,494 tons and its value was $747,947. Slate is quarried chiefly in
Piscataquis county, most of it being used for roofing, but some for
blackboards; in 1907 the amount quarried in Maine was valued at
$236,106. About 1896 some remarkably white and pure feldspar began to
be quarried in Androscoggin, Oxford and Sagadahoc counties, but
afterwards the spar mined in Maine was of less excellent quality; in
1907 the production in Maine was valued at $157,334, the total for the
entire country being $499,069. Clay is obtained in various places, and
in 1905 the total value of the clay products was $619,294. In Oxford
county tourmaline, spodumene (or kunzite) and beryl occur, the
tourmaline crystals being notably large and beautiful. Mineral water
occurs in many localities, particularly in Androscoggin, York,
Cumberland and Oxford counties; the most famous springs are the Poland
Springs in Androscoggin county. Most of the mineral waters bottled in
the state are chalybeate and slightly alkaline--saline; their average
temperature is about 43°. In 1908 27 springs were reported, their
aggregate sales amounting to 1,182,322 gallons. Copper, gold alloyed
with platinum, iron ore, barytes, graphite and lead occur in small
quantities in the state. In 1908 the total mineral product of the
state was valued at $7,044,678.

_Manufactures._--Although Maine has no coal and only a very small
amount of iron ore within her borders for the encouragement of
manufacturing, yet the abundance of fine timber and the numerous
coves, bays and navigable streams along or near the coast promoted
ship-building from the first, and this was the leading industry of the
state until about the middle of the 19th century, when wooden ships
began to be supplanted by those of iron and steel. Until about the
same time, when the Maine liquor law was passed, the manufacture of
rum from molasses, received in exchange for lumber and fish in the
West Indies, was also an important industry. It was not until early in
the 19th century that the large and constant supply of water power
afforded by the rivers began to be used to any considerable extent.
The first cotton mill was built at Brunswick on the Androscoggin about
1809, and from 1830 the development of cotton manufacturing was rapid;
woollen mills followed, and late in the 19th century were erected some
of the largest paper and pulp mills in the country, which are run by
water power from the rivers, and use the spruce and poplar timber in
the river basins. The total value of the manufactures of the state
increased from $95,689,500 in 1890 to $127,361,485 in 1900; and in
1905 the value of factory-made products alone was $144,020,197, or
27.5% greater than their value in 1900.[3] Measured by the value of
the output, paper and wood pulp rose from fifth among the state's
manufactures in 1890 to third in 1900 and to first in 1905; from
$3,281,051 in 1890 to $13,223,275 in 1900, an increase of 303% within
the decade, and to $22,951,124 in 1905, a further increase of 73.6% in
this period. Lumber and timber products ranked second
(1905)--$11,849,654 in 1890, $13,489,401 in 1900, and $17,937,683 in
1905. Cotton goods ranked third (1905) in value--$15,316,909 in 1890,
$14,631,086 in 1900, and $15,404,823 in 1905. Woollen goods ranked
fourth (1905)--$8,737,653 in 1890, $13,744,126 in 1900, an increase of
57.3% within the decade; and the value of the factory-made product
alone in 1905 was $13,969,600, or 20.1% greater than in 1900. Boots
and shoes ranked fifth (1905)--$12,295,847 in 1900, and $12,351,293 in
1905. Fish, canned and preserved, followed next, $1,660,881 in 1890
and $4,779,773 in 1900, an increase within the decade of 187.8%, most
of which was in one branch--the canning of small herring under the
name "sardines"; from 1900 to 1905 the increase was slight, only
$275,358, or 5.8%. In the value of its manufactures as compared with
those of the other states of the Union, in wooden ships and boats,
Maine in 1900 and in 1905 was outranked by New York only; in canned
and preserved fish by Washington only (the value of fish canned and
preserved in Maine in 1900 was 21.7% of the total for the United
States, and in 1905 19.2%); in the output of woollen mills by
Massachusetts and Pennsylvania only; in the output of paper mills by
New York and Massachusetts only. It ranked ninth in 1900 and tenth in
1905 in the value of its cotton goods. Portland, Lewiston, Biddeford,
and Auburn are the leading manufacturing cities, and in 1905 the total
value of their manufactures was 21.5% of those of the entire state.
But from 1900 to 1905 the value of manufactures grew most rapidly in
Rockland (especially noted for lime), the increase being from
$1,243,881 to $1,822,591 (46.5%), and in Waterville, where the
increase was from $2,283,536 to $3,069,309 (34.4%). Among the largest
paper mills are those at Millinocket, in Penobscot county, at Madison
on the Kennebec river, and at Rumford Falls on the Androscoggin river.
Lewiston leads in the manufacture of cotton goods; Auburn, Bangor and
Augusta, in the manufacture of boots and shoes; Bath, in ship and boat
building; Eastport and Lubec, in canning "sardines."

_Transportation and Commerce._--The south-western part of the state,
including the manufacturing, the quarrying, and much of the older
agricultural district, early had fairly satisfactory means of
transportation either by water or by rail; for the coast has many
excellent harbours, the Kennebec river is navigable for coast vessels
to Augusta, the Penobscot to Bangor, and railway service was soon
supplied for the villages of the south-west, but it was not until the
last decade of the 19th century that the forests, the farming lands,
and the summer resorts of Aroostook county were reached by a railway,
the Bangor & Aroostook. The first railway in the state, from Bangor to
Old Town, was completed in 1836, and the state's railway mileage
increased from 12 m. in that year to 245 m. in 1850, to 1377.47 m. in
1890, and to 2210.79 in January 1909. The principal railway systems
are the Maine Central, which enters every county but one, the Boston &
Maine, the Bangor & Aroostook, the Grand Trunk and the Canadian
Pacific. Lines of steamboats ply regularly between the largest cities
of the state and Boston, between Portland and New York, and between
Portland and several Canadian ports.

The foreign trade, especially that with the West Indies and with Great
Britain, decreased after 1875, and yet much trade from the West that
goes to Montreal during the warmer months passes through Portland
during the winter season. The chief exports to foreign countries are
textile fabrics, Indian corn, meat, dairy products, apples, paraffin,
boards and shooks; the chief imports from foreign countries are sugar,
molasses and wool. Fish, canned goods, potatoes, granite, lime, paper,
and boots and shoes are also exported to foreign countries to some
extent, but they are shipped in larger quantities to other states of
the Union, from which Maine receives in return cotton, coal, iron,
oil, &c. The ports of entry in Maine are Bangor, Bath, Belfast,
Castine, Eastport, Ellsworth, Houlton, Kennebunk, Machias, Portland,
Wiscasset and York.