Chapter V: Front Matter (5)

_Chief Towns._--The capital and seat of government, the city of Port
Louis, is on the north-western side of the island, in 20° 10´ S., 57°
30´ E. at the head of an excellent harbour, a deep inlet about a mile
long, available for ships of the deepest draught. This is protected by
Fort William and Fort George, as well as by the citadel (Fort
Adelaide), and it has three graving-docks connected with the inner
harbour, the depths alongside quays and berths being from 12 to 28 ft.
The trade of the island passes almost entirely through the port.
Government House is a three-storeyed structure with broad verandas,
of no particular style of architecture, while the Protestant cathedral
was formerly a powder magazine, to which a tower and spire have been
added. The Roman Catholic cathedral is more pretentious in style, but
is tawdry in its interior. There are, besides the town-hall, Royal
College, public offices and theatre, large barracks and military
stores. Port Louis, which is governed by an elective municipal
council, is surrounded by lofty hills and its unhealthy situation is
aggravated by the difficulty of effective drainage owing to the small
amount of tide in the harbour. Though much has been done to make the
town sanitary, including the provision of a good water-supply, the
death-rate is generally over 44 per 1000. Consequently all those who
can make their homes in the cooler uplands of the interior. As a
result the population of the city decreased from about 70,000 in 1891
to 53,000 in 1901. The favourite residential town is Curepipe, where
the climate resembles that of the south of France. It is built on the
central plateau about 20 m. distant from Port Louis by rail and 1800
ft. above the sea. Curepipe was incorporated in 1888 and had a
population (1901) of 13,000. On the railway between Port Louis and
Curepipe are other residential towns--Beau Bassin, Rose Hill and
Quatre Bornes. Mahébourg, pop. (1901), 4810, is a town on the shores
of Grand Port on the south-east side of the island, Souillac a small
town on the south coast.

_Industries.--The Sugar Plantations:_ The soil of the island is of
considerable fertility; it is a ferruginous red clay, but so largely
mingled with stones of all sizes that no plough can be used, and the
hoe has to be employed to prepare the ground for cultivation. The
greater portion of the plains is now a vast sugar plantation. The
bright green of the sugar fields is a striking feature in a view of
Mauritius from the sea, and gives a peculiar beauty and freshness to
the prospect. The soil is suitable for the cultivation of almost all
kinds of tropical produce, and it is to be regretted that the
prosperity of the colony depends almost entirely on one article of
production, for the consequences are serious when there is a failure,
more or less, of the sugar crop. Guano is extensively imported as a
manure, and by its use the natural fertility of the soil has been
increased to a wonderful extent. Since the beginning of the 20th
century some attention has been paid to the cultivation of tea and
cotton, with encouraging results. Of the exports, sugar amounts on an
average to about 95% of the total. The quantity of sugar exported rose
from 102,000 tons in 1854 to 189,164 tons in 1877. The competition of
beet-sugar and the effect of bounties granted by various countries
then began to tell on the production in Mauritius, the average crop
for the seven years ending 1900-1901 being only 150,449 tons. The
Brussels Sugar Convention of 1902 led to an increase in production,
the average annual weight of sugar exported for the three years
1904-1906 being 182,000 tons. The value of the crop was likewise
seriously affected by the causes mentioned, and by various diseases
which attacked the canes. Thus in 1878 the value of the sugar exported
was £3,408,000; in 1888 it had sunk to £1,911,000, and in 1898 to
£1,632,000. In 1900 the value was £1,922,000, and in 1905 it had risen
to £2,172,000. India and the South African colonies between them take
some two-thirds of the total produce. The remainder is taken chiefly
by Great Britain, Canada and Hong-Kong. Next to sugar, aloe-fibre is
the most important export, the average annual export for the five
years ending 1906 being 1840 tons. In addition, a considerable
quantity of molasses and smaller quantities of rum, vanilla and
coco-nut oil are exported. The imports are mainly rice, wheat, cotton
goods, wine, coal, hardware and haberdashery, and guano. The rice
comes principally from India and Madagascar; cattle are imported from
Madagascar, sheep from South Africa and Australia, and frozen meat
from Australia. The average annual value of the exports for the ten
years 1896-1905 was £2,153,159; the average annual value of the
imports for the same period £1,453,089. These figures when compared
with those in years before the beet and bounty-fed sugar had entered
into severe competition with cane sugar, show how greatly the island
had thereby suffered. In 1864 the exports were valued at £2,249,000;
in 1868 at £2,339,000; in 1877 at £4,201,000 and in 1880 at
£3,634,000. And in each of the years named the imports exceeded
£2,000,000 in value. Nearly all the aloe-fibre exported is taken by
Great Britain, and France, while the molasses goes to India. Among the
minor exports is that of _bambara_ or sea-slugs, which are sent to
Hong-Kong and Singapore. This industry is chiefly in Chinese hands.
The great majority of the imports are from Great Britain or British
possessions.

The currency of Mauritius is rupees and cents of a rupee, the Indian
rupee (= 16d.) being the standard unit. The metric system of weights
and measures has been in force since 1878.

_Communications._--There is a regular fortnightly steamship service
between Marseilles and Port Louis by the Messageries Maritimes, a
four-weekly service with Southampton via Cape Town by the Union
Castle, and a four-weekly service with Colombo direct by the British
India Co.'s boats. There is also frequent communication with
Madagascar, Réunion and Natal. The average annual tonnage of ships
entering Port Louis is about 750,000 of which five-sevenths is
British. Cable communication with Europe, via the Seychelles, Zanzibar
and Aden, was established in 1893, and the Mauritius section of the
Cape-Australian cable, via Rodriguez, was completed in 1902.

Railways connect all the principal places and sugar estates on the
island, that known as the Midland line, 36 miles long, beginning at
Port Louis crosses the island to Mahébourg, passing through Curepipe,
where it is 1822 ft. above the sea. There are in all over 120 miles of
railway, all owned and worked by the government. The first railway was
opened in 1864. The roads are well kept and there is an extensive
system of tramways for bringing produce from the sugar estates to the
railway lines. Traction engines are also largely used. There is a
complete telegraphic and telephonic service.

_Government and Revenue._--Mauritius is a crown colony. The governor is assisted by an executive council of five official and two elected members, and a legislative council of 27 members, 8 sitting _ex officio_, 9 being nominated by the governor and 10 elected on a moderate franchise. Two of the elected members represent St Louis, the 8 rural districts into which the island is divided electing each one member. At least one-third of the nominated members must be persons not holding any public office. The number of registered electors in 1908 was 6186. The legislative session usually lasts from April to December. Members may speak either in French or English. The average annual revenue of the colony for the ten years 1896-1905, was £608,245, the average annual expenditure during the same period £663,606. Up to 1854 there was a surplus in hand, but since that time expenditure has on many occasions exceeded income, and the public debt in 1908 was £1,305,000, mainly incurred however on reproductive works.

The island has largely retained the old French laws, the _codes civil_, _de procédure_, _du commerce_, and _d'instruction criminelle_ being still in force, except so far as altered by colonial ordinances. A supreme court of civil and criminal justice was established in 1831 under a chief judge and three puisne judges.

_Religion and Education._--The majority of the European inhabitants
belong to the Roman Catholic faith. They numbered at the 1901 census
117,102, and the Protestants 6644. Anglicans, Roman Catholics and the
Church of Scotland are helped by state grants. At the head of the
Anglican community is the bishop of Mauritius; the chief Romanist
dignitary is styled bishop of Port Louis. The Mahommedans number over
30,000, but the majority of the Indian coolies are Hindus.

The educational system, as brought into force in 1900, is under a
director of public instruction assisted by an advisory committee, and
consists of two branches (1) superior or secondary instruction, (2)
primary instruction. For primary instruction there are government
schools and schools maintained by the Roman Catholics, Protestants and
other faiths, to which the government gives grants in aid. In 1908
there were 67 government schools with 8400 scholars and 90 grant
schools with 10,200 scholars, besides Hindu schools receiving no
grant. The Roman Catholic scholars number 67.72%; the Protestants
3.80%; Mahommedans 8.37%; and Hindus and others 20.11%. Secondary and
higher education is given in the Royal College and associated schools
at Port Louis and Curepipe.

_Defence._--Mauritius occupies an important strategic position on the
route between South Africa and India and in relation to Madagascar and
East Africa, while in Port Louis it possesses one of the finest
harbours in the Indian Ocean. A permanent garrison of some 3000 men is
maintained in the island at a cost of about £180,000 per annum. To the
cost of the troops Mauritius contributes 5½% of its annual
revenue--about £30,000.

_History._--Mauritius appears to have been unknown to European nations, if not to all other peoples, until the year 1505, when it was discovered by Mascarenhas, a Portuguese navigator. It had then no inhabitants, and there seem to be no traces of a previous occupation by any people. The island was retained for most of the 16th century by its discoverers, but they made no settlements in it. In 1598 the Dutch took possession, and named the island "Mauritius," in honour of their stadtholder, Count Maurice of Nassau. It had been previously called by the Portuguese "Ilha do Cerné," from the belief that it was the island so named by Pliny. But though the Dutch built a fort at Grand Port and introduced a number of slaves and convicts, they made no permanent settlement in Mauritius, finally abandoning the island in 1710. From 1715 to 1767 (when the French government assumed direct control) the island was held by agents of the French East India Company, by whom its name was again changed to "Île de France." The Company was fortunate in having several able men as governors of its colony, especially the celebrated Mahé de Labourdonnais (q.v.), who made sugar planting the main industry of the inhabitants.[3] Under his direction roads were made, forts built, and considerable portions of the forest were cleared, and the present capital, Port Louis, was founded. Labourdonnais also promoted the planting of cotton and indigo, and is remembered as the most enlightened and best of all the French governors. He also put down the maroons or runaway slaves who had long been the pest of the island. The colony continued to rise in value during the time it was held by the French crown, and to one of the intendants,[4] Pierre Poivre, was due the introduction of the clove, nutmeg and other spices. Another governor was D'Entrecasteaux, whose name is kept in remembrance by a group of islands east of New Guinea.

During the long war between France and England, at the commencement of the 19th century, Mauritius was a continual source of much mischief to English Indiamen and other merchant vessels; and at length the British government determined upon an expedition for its capture. This was effected in 1810; and upon the restoration of peace in 1814 the possession of the island was confirmed to Britain by the Treaty of Paris. By the eighth article of capitulation it was agreed that the inhabitants should retain their own laws, customs, and religion; and thus the island is still largely French in language, habits, and predilections; but its name has again been changed to that given by the Dutch. One of the most distinguished of the British governors was Sir Robert Farquhar (1810-1823), who did much to abolish the Malagasy slave trade and to establish friendly relations with the rising power of the Hova sovereign of Madagascar. Later governors of note were Sir Henry Barkly (1863-1871), and Sir J. Pope Hennessy (1883-1886 and 1888).

The history of the colony since its acquisition by Great Britain has been one of social and political evolution. At first all power was concentrated in the hands of the governor, but in 1832 a legislative council was constituted on which non-official nominated members served. In 1884-1885 this council was transformed into a partly elected body. Of more importance than the constitutional changes were the economic results which followed the freeing of the slaves (1834-1839)--for the loss of whose labour the planters received over £2,000,000 compensation. Coolies were introduced to supply the place of the negroes, immigration being definitely sanctioned by the government of India in 1842. Though under government control the system of coolie labour led to many abuses. A royal commission investigated the matter in 1871 and since that time the evils which were attendant on the system have been gradually remedied. One result of the introduction of free labour has been to reduce the descendants of the slave population to a small and unimportant class--Mauritius in this respect offering a striking contrast to the British colonies in the West Indies. The last half of the 19th century was, however, chiefly notable in Mauritius for the number of calamities which overtook the island. In 1854 cholera caused the death of 17,000 persons; in 1867 over 30,000 people died of malarial fever; in 1892 a hurricane of terrific violence caused immense destruction of property and serious loss of life; in 1893 a great part of Port Louis was destroyed by fire. There were in addition several epidemics of small-pox and plague, and from about 1880 onward the continual decline in the price of sugar seriously affected the islanders, especially the Creole population. During 1902-1905 an outbreak of surra, which caused great mortality among draught animals, further tried the sugar planters and necessitated government help. Notwithstanding all these calamities the Mauritians, especially the Indo-Mauritians, have succeeded in maintaining the position of the colony as an important sugar-producing country.

_Dependencies._--Dependent upon Mauritius and forming part of the
colony are a number of small islands scattered over a large extent of
the Indian Ocean. Of these the chief is Rodriguez (q.v.), 375 m. east
of Mauritius. Considerably north-east of Rodriguez lie the Oil Islands
or Chagos archipelago, of which the chief is Diego Garcia (see
CHAGOS). The Cargados, Carayos or St Brandon islets, deeps and shoals,
lie at the south end of the Nazareth Bank about 250 m. N.N.E. of
Mauritius. Until 1903 the Seychelles, Amirantes, Aldabra and other
islands lying north of Madagascar were also part of the colony of
Mauritius. In the year named they were formed into a separate colony
(see SEYCHELLES). Two islands, Farquhar and Coetivy, though
geographically within the Seychelles area, remained dependent on
Mauritius, being owned by residents in that island. In 1908, however,
Coetivy was transferred to the Seychelles administration. Amsterdam
and St Paul, uninhabited islands in the South Indian Ocean, included
in an official list of the dependencies of Mauritius drawn up in 1880,
were in 1893 annexed by France. The total population of the
dependencies of Mauritius was estimated in 1905 at 5400.

AUTHORITIES.--F. Leguat, _Voyages et aventures en deux isles désertes
des Indes orientales_ (Eng. trans., _A New Voyage to the East Indies_;
London, 1708); Prudham, "England's Colonial Empire," vol. i., _The
Mauritius and its Dependencies_ (1846); C. P. Lucas, _A Historical
Geography of the British Colonies_, vol. i. (Oxford, 1888); Ch. Grant,
_History of Mauritius, or the Isle of France and Neighbouring Islands_
(1801); J. Milbert, _Voyage pittoresque à l'Île-de-France, &c._, 4
vols. (1812); Aug. Billiard, _Voyage aux colonies orientales_ (1822);
P. Beaton, _Creoles and Coolies, or Five Years in Mauritius_ (1859);
Paul Chasteau, _Histoire et description de l'île Maurice_ (1860); F.
P. Flemyng, _Mauritius, or the Isle of France_ (1862); Ch. J. Boyle,
_Far Away, or Sketches of Scenery and Society in Mauritius_ (1867); L.
Simonin, _Les Pays lointains, notes de voyage (Maurice, &c.)_ (1867);
N. Pike, _Sub-Tropical Rambles in the Land of the Aphanapteryx_
(1873); A. R. Wallace. "The Mascarene Islands," in ch. xi. vol. i. of
_The Geographical Distribution of Animals_ (1876); K. Möbius, F.
Richter and E. von Martens, _Beiträge zur Meeresfauna der Insel
Mauritius und der Seychellen_ (Berlin, 1880); G. Clark, _A Brief
Notice of the Fauna of Mauritius_ (1881); A. d'Épinay, _Renseignements
pour servir à l'histoire de l'Île de France jusqu'à 1810_ (Mauritius,
1890); N. Decotter, _Geography of Mauritius and its Dependencies_
(Mauritius, 1892); H. de Haga Haig, "The Physical Features and Geology
of Mauritius" in vol. li., _Q. J. Geol. Soc._ (1895); the Annual
Reports on Mauritius issued by the Colonial Office, London; _The
Mauritius Almanack_ published yearly at Port Louis. A map of the
island in six sheets on the scale of one inch to a mile was issued by
the War Office in 1905. (J. Si.*)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See _Geog. Journ._ (June 1895), p. 597.

[2] The total population of the colony (including dependencies) on
the 1st of January 1907 was estimated at 383,206.

[3] Labourdonnais is credited by several writers with the
introduction of the sugar cane into the island. Leguat, however,
mentions it as being cultivated during the Dutch occupation.

[4] The régime introduced in 1767 divided the administration between
a governor, primarily charged with military matters, and an
intendant.

MAURY, JEAN SIFFREIN (1746-1817), French cardinal and archbishop of Paris, the son of a poor cobbler, was born on the 26th of June 1746 at Valréas in the Comtat-Venaissin, the district in France which belonged to the pope. His acuteness was observed by the priests of the seminary at Avignon, where he was educated and took orders. He tried his fortune by writing _éloges_ of famous persons, then a favourite practice; and in 1771 his _éloge_ on Fénelon was pronounced next best to Laharpe's by the Academy. The real foundation of his fortunes was the success of a panegyric on St Louis delivered before the Academy in 1772, which caused him to be recommended for an abbacy. In 1777 he published under the title of _Discours choisis_ his panegyrics on Saint Louis, Saint Augustine and Fénelon, his remarks on Bossuet and his _Essai sur l'éloquence de la chaire_, a volume which contains much good criticism, and remains a French classic. The book was often reprinted as _Principes de l'éloquence_. He became a favourite preacher in Paris, and was Lent preacher at court in 1781, when King Louis XVI. said of his sermon: "If the abbé had only said a few words on religion he would have discussed every possible subject." In 1781 he obtained the rich priory of Lyons, near Péronne, and in 1785 he was elected to the Academy, as successor of Lefranc de Pompignan. His morals were as loose as those of his great rival Mirabeau, but he was famed in Paris for his wit and gaiety. In 1789 he was elected a member of the states-general by the clergy of the bailliage of Péronne, and from the first proved to be the most able and persevering defender of the _ancien régime_, although he had drawn up the greater part of the _cahier_ of the clergy of Péronne, which contained a considerable programme of reform. It is said that he attempted to emigrate both in July and in October 1789; but after that time he held firmly to his place, when almost universally deserted by his friends. In the Constituent Assembly he took an active part in every important debate, combating with especial vigour the alienation of the property of the clergy. His life was often in danger, but his ready wit always saved it, and it was said that one _bon mot_ would preserve him for a month. When he did emigrate in 1792 he found himself regarded as a martyr to the church and the king, and was at once named archbishop _in partibus_, and extra nuncio to the diet at Frankfort, and in 1794 cardinal. He was finally made bishop of Montefiascone, and settled down in that little Italian town--but not for long, for in 1798 the French drove him from his retreat, and he sought refuge in Venice and St Petersburg. Next year he returned to Rome as ambassador of the exiled Louis XVIII. at the papal court. In 1804 he began to prepare his return to France by a well-turned letter to Napoleon, congratulating him on restoring religion to France once more. In 1806 he did return; in 1807 he was again received into the Academy; and in 1810, on the refusal of Cardinal Fesch, was made archbishop of Paris. He was presently ordered by the pope to surrender his functions as archbishop of Paris. This he refused to do. On the restoration of the Bourbons he was summarily expelled from the Academy and from the archiepiscopal palace. He retired to Rome, where he was imprisoned in the castle of St Angelo for six months for his disobedience to the papal orders, and died in 1817, a year or two after his release, of disease contracted in prison and of chagrin. As a critic he was a very able writer, and Sainte-Beuve gives him the credit of discovering Father Jacques Bridayne, and of giving Bossuet his rightful place as a preacher above Massillon; as a politician, his wit and eloquence make him a worthy rival of Mirabeau. He sacrificed too much to personal ambition, yet it would have been a graceful act if Louis XVIII. had remembered the courageous supporter of Louis XVI., and the pope the one intrepid defender of the Church in the states-general.

The _Oeuvres choisies du Cardinal Maury_ (5 vols., 1827) contain what
is worth preserving. Mgr Ricard has published Maury's _Correspondance
diplomatique_ (2 vols., Lille, 1891). For his life and character see
_Vie du Cardinal Maury_, by Louis Siffrein Maury, his nephew (1828);
J. J. F. Poujoulat, _Cardinal Maury, sa vie et ses oeuvres_ (1855);
Sainte-Beuve, _Causeries du lundi_ (vol. iv.); Mgr Ricard, _L'Abbé
Maury_ (1746-1791), _L'Abbé Maury avant 1789, L'Abbé Maury et
Mirabeau_ (1887); G. Bonet-Maury, _Le Cardinal Maury d'après ses
mémoires et sa correspondance inédits_ (Paris, 1892); A. Aulard, _Les
Orateurs de la constituante_ (Paris, 1882). Of the many libels written
against him during the Revolution the most noteworthy are the _Petit
carême de l'abbé Maury_, with a supplement called the _Seconde année_
(1790), and the _Vie privée de l'abbé Maury_ (1790), claimed by J. R.
Hébert, but attributed by some writers to Restif de la Bretonne. For
further bibliographical details see J. M. Quérard, _La France
littéraire_, vol. v. (1833).

MAURY, LOUIS FERDINAND ALFRED (1817-1892), French scholar, was born at Meaux on the 23rd of March 1817. In 1836, having completed his education, he entered the Bibliothèque Nationale, and afterwards the Bibliothèque de l'Institut (1844), where he devoted himself to the study of archaeology, ancient and modern languages, medicine and law. Gifted with a great capacity for work, a remarkable memory and an unbiassed and critical mind, he produced without great effort a number of learned pamphlets and books on the most varied subjects. He rendered great service to the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, of which he had been elected a member in 1857. Napoleon III. employed him in research work connected with the _Histoire de César_, and he was rewarded, proportionately to his active, if modest, part in this work, with the positions of librarian of the Tuileries (1860), professor at the College of France (1862) and director-general of the Archives (1868). It was not, however, to the imperial favour that he owed these high positions. He used his influence for the advancement of science and higher education, and with Victor Duruy was one of the founders of the École des Hautes Études. He died at Paris four years after his retirement from the last post, on the 11th of February 1892.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--His works are numerous: _Les Fées au moyen âge_ and
_Histoire des légendes pieuses au moyen âge_; two books filled with
ingenious ideas, which were published in 1843, and reprinted after the
death of the author, with numerous additions under the title
_Croyances et légendes du moyen âge_ (1896); _Histoire des grandes
forêts de la Gaule et de l'ancienne France_ (1850, a 3rd ed. revised
appeared in 1867 under the title _Les Forêts de la Gaule et de
l'ancienne France); La Terre et l'homme_, a general historical sketch
of geology, geography and ethnology, being the introduction to the
_Histoire universelle_, by Victor Duruy (1854); _Histoire des
religions de la_ _Grèce antique_, (3 vols., 1857-1859); _La Magie et
l'astrologie dans l'antiquité et dans le moyen âge_ (1863); _Histoire
de l'ancienne académie des sciences_ (1864); _Histoire de l'Académie
des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres_ (1865); a learned paper on the
reports of French archaeology, written on the occasion of the
universal exhibition (1867); a number of articles in the _Encyclopédie
moderne_ (1846-1851), in Michaud's _Biographie universelle_ (1858 and
seq.), in the _Journal des savants_ in the _Revue des deux mondes_
(1873, 1877, 1879-1880, &c.). A detailed bibliography of his works has
been placed by Auguste Longnon at the beginning of the volume _Les
Croyances et légendes du moyen âge_.

MAURY, MATTHEW FONTAINE (1806-1873), American naval officer and hydrographer, was born near Fredericksburg in Spottsylvania county, Virginia, on the 24th of January 1806. He was educated at Harpeth academy, and in 1825 entered the navy as midshipman, circumnavigating the globe in the "Vincennes," during a cruise of four years (1826-1830). In 1831 he was appointed master of the sloop "Falmouth" on the Pacific station, and subsequently served in other vessels before returning home in 1834, when he married his cousin, Ann Herndon. In 1835-1836 he was actively engaged in producing for publication a treatise on navigation, a remarkable achievement at so early a stage in his career; he was at this time made lieutenant, and gazetted astronomer to a South Sea exploring expedition, but resigned this position and was appointed to the survey of southern harbours. In 1839 he met with an accident which resulted in permanent lameness, and unfitted him for active service. In the same year, however, he began to write a series of articles on naval reform and other subjects, under the title of _Scraps from the Lucky-Bag_, which attracted much attention; and in 1841 he was placed in charge of the Dépôt of Charts and Instruments, out of which grew the United States Naval Observatory and the Hydrographie Office. He laboured assiduously to obtain observations as to the winds and currents by distributing to captains of vessels specially prepared log-books; and in the course of nine years he had collected a sufficient number of logs to make two hundred manuscript volumes, each with about two thousand five hundred days' observations. One result was to show the necessity for combined action on the part of maritime nations in regard to ocean meteorology. This led to an international conference at Brussels in 1853, which produced the greatest benefit to navigation as well as indirectly to meteorology. Maury attempted to organize co-operative meteorological work on land, but the government did not at this time take any steps in this direction. His oceanographical work, however, received recognition in all parts of the civilized world, and in 1855 it was proposed in the senate to remunerate him, but in the same year the Naval Retiring Board, erected under an act to promote the efficiency of the navy, placed him on the retired list. This action aroused wide opposition, and in 1858 he was reinstated with the rank of commander as from 1855. In 1853 Maury had published his _Letters on the Amazon and Atlantic Slopes of South America_, and the most widely popular of his works, the _Physical Geography of the Sea_, was published in London in 1855, and in New York in 1856; it was translated into several European languages. On the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, Maury threw in his lot with the South, and became head of coast, harbour and river defences. He invented an electric torpedo for harbour defence, and in 1862 was ordered to England to purchase torpedo material, &c. Here he took active part in organizing a petition for peace to the American people, which was unsuccessful. Afterwards he became imperial commissioner of emigration to the emperor Maximilian of Mexico, and attempted to form a Virginian colony in that country. Incidentally he introduced there the cultivation of cinchona. The scheme of colonization was abandoned by the emperor (1866), and Maury, who had lost nearly his all during the war, settled for a while in England, where he was presented with a testimonial raised by public subscription, and among other honours received the degree of LL.D. of Cambridge University (1868). In the same year, a general amnesty admitting of his return to America, he accepted the professorship of meteorology in the Virginia Military Institute, and settled at Lexington, Virginia, where he died on the 1st of February 1873.

Among works published by Maury, in addition to those mentioned, are
the papers contributed by him to the _Astronomical Observations_ of
the United States Observatory, _Letter concerning Lanes for Steamers
crossing the Atlantic_ (1855); _Physical Geography_ (1864) and _Manual
of Geography_ (1871). In 1859 he began the publication of a series of
_Nautical Monographs_.

See Diana Fontaine Maury Corbin (his daughter), _Life of Matthew
Fontaine Maury_ (London, 1888).

MAUSOLEUM, the term given to a monument erected to receive the remains of a deceased person, which may sometimes take the form of a sepulchral chapel. The term _cenotaph_ ([Greek: kenos], empty, [Greek: taphos], tomb) is employed for a similar monument where the body is not buried in the structure. The term "mausoleum" originated with the magnificent monument erected by Queen Artemisia in 353 B.C. in memory of her husband King Mausolus, of which the remains were brought to England in 1859 by Sir Charles Newton and placed in the British Museum. The tombs of Augustus and of Hadrian in Rome are perhaps the largest monuments of the kind ever erected.

MAUSOLUS (more correctly MAUSSOLLUS), satrap and practically ruler of Caria (377-353 B.C.). The part he took in the revolt against Artaxerxes Mnemon, his conquest of a great part of Lycia, Ionia and of several of the Greek islands, his co-operation with the Rhodians and their allies in the war against Athens, and the removal of his capital from Mylasa, the ancient seat of the Carian kings, to Halicarnassus are the leading facts of his history. He is best known from the tomb erected for him by his widow Artemisia. The architects Satyrus and Pythis, and the sculptors Scopas, Leochares, Bryaxis and Timotheus, finished the work after her death. (See HALICARNASSUS.) An inscription discovered at Mylasa (Böckh, _Inscr. gr._ ii. 2691 _c._) details the punishment of certain conspirators who had made an attempt upon his life at a festival in a temple at Labranda in 353.

See Diod. Sic. xv. 90, 3, xvi. 7, 4, 36, 2; Demosthenes, _De Rhodiorum
libertate_; J. B. Bury, _Hist. of Greece_ (1902), ii. 271; W. Judeich,
_Kleinasiatische Studien_ (Marburg, 1892), pp. 226-256, and
authorities under HALICARNASSUS.

MAUVE, ANTON (1838-1888), Dutch landscape painter, was born at Zaandam, the son of a Baptist minister. Much against the wish of his parents he took up the study of art and entered the studio of Van Os, whose dry academic manner had, however, but little attraction for him. He benefited far more by his intimacy with his friends Jozef Israels and W. Maris. Encouraged by their example he abandoned his early tight and highly finished manner for a freer, looser method of painting, and the brilliant palette of his youthful work for a tender lyric harmony which is generally restricted to delicate greys, greens, and light blue. He excelled in rendering the soft hazy atmosphere that lingers over the green meadows of Holland, and devoted himself almost exclusively to depicting the peaceful rural life of the fields and country lanes of Holland--especially of the districts near Oosterbeck and Wolfhezen, the sand dunes of the coast at Scheveningen, and the country near Laren, where he spent the last years of his life. A little sad and melancholy, his pastoral scenes are nevertheless conceived in a peaceful soothing lyrical mood, which is in marked contrast to the epic power and almost tragic intensity of J. F. Millet. There are fourteen of Mauve's pictures at the Mesdag Museum at the Hague, and two ("Milking Time" and "A Fishing Boat putting to Sea") at the Ryks Museum in Amsterdam. The Glasgow Corporation Gallery owns his painting of "A Flock of Sheep." The finest and most representative private collection of pictures by Mauve was made by Mr J. C. J. Drucker, London.

MAVROCORDATO, MAVROCORDAT or MAVROGORDATO, the name of a family of Phanariot Greeks, distinguished in the history of Turkey, Rumania and modern Greece. The family was founded by a merchant of Chios, whose son Alexander Mavrocordato (c. 1636-1709), a doctor of philosophy and medicine of Bologna, became dragoman to the sultan in 1673, and was much employed in negotiations with Austria. It was he who drew up the treaty of Karlowitz (1699). He became a secretary of state, and was created a count of the Holy Roman Empire. His authority, with that of Hussein Kupruli and Rami Pasha, was supreme at the court of Mustapha II., and he did much to ameliorate the condition of the Christians in Turkey. He was disgraced in 1703, but was recalled to court by Sultan Ahmed III. He left some historical, grammatical, &c. treatises of little value.

His son NICHOLAS MAVROCORDATO (1670-1730) was grand dragoman to the Divan (1697), and in 1708 was appointed hospodar (prince) of Moldavia. Deposed, owing to the sultan's suspicions, in favour of Demetrius Cantacuzene, he was restored in 1711, and soon afterwards became hospodar of Walachia. In 1716 he was deposed by the Austrians, but was restored after the peace of Passarowitz. He was the first Greek set to rule the Danubian principalities, and was responsible for establishing the system which for a hundred years was to make the name of Greek hateful to the Rumanians. He introduced Greek manners, the Greek language and Greek costume, and set up a splendid court on the Byzantine model. For the rest he was a man of enlightenment, founded libraries and was himself the author of a curious work entitled [Greek: Peri kathêkontôn] (Bucharest, 1719). He was succeeded as grand dragoman (1709) by his son John (Ioannes), who was for a short while hospodar of Moldavia, and died in 1720.

Nicholas Mavrocordato was succeeded as prince of Walachia in 1730 by his son Constantine. He was deprived in the same year, but again ruled the principality from 1735 to 1741 and from 1744 to 1748; he was prince of Moldavia from 1741 to 1744 and from 1748 to 1749. His rule was distinguished by numerous tentative reforms in the fiscal and administrative systems. He was wounded and taken prisoner in the affair of Galati during the Russo-Turkish War, on the 5th of November 1769, and died in captivity.

PRINCE ALEXANDER MAVROCORDATO (1791-1865), Greek statesman, a descendant of the hospodars, was born at Constantinople on the 11th of February 1791. In 1812 he went to the court of his uncle Ioannes Caradja, hospodar of Walachia, with whom he passed into exile in Russia and Italy (1817). He was a member of the Hetairia Philike and was among the Phanariot Greeks who hastened to the Morea on the outbreak of the War of Independence in 1821. He was active in endeavouring to establish a regular government, and in January 1822 presided over the first Greek national assembly at Epidaurus. He commanded the advance of the Greeks into western Hellas the same year, and suffered a defeat at Peta on the 16th of July, but retrieved this disaster somewhat by his successful resistance to the first siege of Missolonghi (Nov. 1822 to Jan. 1823). His English sympathies brought him, in the subsequent strife of factions, into opposition to the "Russian" party headed by Demetrius Ypsilanti and Kolokotrones; and though he held the portfolio of foreign affairs for a short while under the presidency of Petrobey (Petros Mavromichales), he was compelled to withdraw from affairs until February 1825, when he again became a secretary of state. The landing of Ibrahim Pasha followed, and Mavrocordato again joined the army, only escaping capture in the disaster at Sphagia (Spakteria), on the 9th of May 1815, by swimming to Navarino. After the fall of Missolonghi (April 22, 1826) he went into retirement, until President Capo d'Istria made him a member of the committee for the administration of war material, a position he resigned in 1828. After Capo d'Istria's murder (Oct. 9, 1831) and the resignation of his brother and successor, Agostino Capo d'Istria (April 13, 1832), Mavrocordato became minister of finance. He was vice-president of the National Assembly at Argos (July, 1832), and was appointed by King Otto minister of finance, and in 1833 premier. From 1834 onwards he was Greek envoy at Munich, Berlin, London and--after a short interlude as premier in Greece in 1841--Constantinople. In 1843, after the revolution of September, he returned to Athens as minister without portfolio in the Metaxas cabinet, and from April to August 1844 was head of the government formed after the fall of the "Russian" party. Going into opposition, he distinguished himself by his violent attacks on the Kolettis government. In 1854-1855 he was again head of the government for a few months. He died in Aegina on the 18th of August 1865.

See E. Legrand, _Genealogie des Mavrocordato_ (Paris, 1886).

MAWKMAI (Burmese _Maukmè_), one of the largest states in the eastern division of the southern Shan States of Burma. It lies approximately between 19° 30´ and 20° 30´ N. and 97° 30´ and 98° 15´ E., and has an area of 2,787 sq. m. The central portion of the state consists of a wide plain well watered and under rice cultivation. The rest is chiefly hills in ranges running north and south. There is a good deal of teak in the state, but it has been ruinously worked. The sawbwa now works as contractor for government, which takes one-third of the net profits. Rice is the chief crop, but much tobacco of good quality is grown in the Langkö district on the Têng river. There is also a great deal of cattle-breeding. The population in 1901 was 29,454, over two-thirds of whom were Shans and the remainder Taungthu, Burmese, Yangsek and Red Karens. The capital, MAWKMAI, stands in a fine rice plain in 20° 9´ N. and 97° 25´ E. It had about 150 houses when it first submitted in 1887, but was burnt out by the Red Karens in the following year. It has since recovered. There are very fine orange groves a few miles south of the town at Kantu-awn, called Kadugate by the Burmese.

MAXENTIUS, MARCUS AURELIUS VALERIUS, Roman emperor from A.D. 306 to 312, was the son of Maximianus Herculius, and the son-in-law of Galerius. Owing to his vices and incapacity he was left out of account in the division of the empire which took place in 305. A variety of causes, however, had produced strong dissatisfaction at Rome with many of the arrangements established by Diocletian, and on the 28th of October 306, the public discontent found expression in the massacre of those magistrates who remained loyal to Flavius Valerius Severus and in the election of Maxentius to the imperial dignity. With the help of his father, Maxentius was enabled to put Severus to death and to repel the invasion of Galerius; his next steps were first to banish Maximianus, and then, after achieving a military success in Africa against the rebellious governor, L. Domitius Alexander, to declare war against Constantine as having brought about the death of his father Maximianus. His intention of carrying the war into Gaul was anticipated by Constantine, who marched into Italy. Maxentius was defeated at Saxa Rubra near Rome and drowned in the Tiber while attempting to make his way across the Milvian bridge into Rome. He was a man of brutal and worthless character; but although Gibbon's statement that he was "just, humane and even partial towards the afflicted Christians" may be exaggerated, it is probable that he never exhibited any special hostility towards them.

See De Broglie, _L'Église et l'empire Romain au quatrième siècle_
(1856-1866), and on the attitude of the Romans towards Christianity
generally, app. 8 in vol. ii. of J. B. Bury's edition of Gibbon
(Zosimus ii. 9-18; Zonaras xii. 33, xiii. 1; Aurelius Victor, _Epit._
40; Eutropius, x. 2).

MAXIM, SIR HIRAM STEVENS (1840- ), Anglo-American engineer and inventor, was born at Sangerville, Maine, U.S.A., on the 5th of February 1840. After serving an apprenticeship with a coachbuilder, he entered the machine works of his uncle, Levi Stevens, at Fitchburg, Massachusetts, in 1864, and four years later he became a draughtsman in the Novelty Iron Works and Shipbuilding Company in New York City. About this period he produced several inventions connected with illumination by gas; and from 1877 he was one of the numerous inventors who were trying to solve the problem of making an efficient and durable incandescent electric lamp, in this connexion introducing the widely-used process of treating the carbon filaments by heating them in an atmosphere of hydrocarbon vapour. In 1880 he came to Europe, and soon began to devote himself to the construction of a machine-gun which should be automatically loaded and fired by the energy of the recoil (see MACHINE-GUN). In order to realize the full usefulness of the weapon, which was first exhibited in an underground range at Hatton Garden, London, in 1884, he felt the necessity of employing a smokeless powder, and accordingly he devised maximite, a mixture of trinitrocellulose, nitroglycerine and castor oil, which was patented in 1889. He also undertook to make a flying machine, and after numerous preliminary experiments constructed an apparatus which was tried at Bexley Heath, Kent, in 1894. (See FLIGHT.) Having been naturalized as a British subject, he was knighted in 1901. His younger brother, Hudson Maxim (b. 1853), took out numerous patents in connexion with explosives.

MAXIMA AND MINIMA, in mathematics. By the _maximum_ or _minimum_ value of an expression or quantity is meant primarily the "greatest" or "least" value that it can receive. In general, however, there are points at which its value ceases to increase and begins to decrease; its value at such a point is called a maximum. So there are points at which its value ceases to decrease and begins to increase; such a value is called a minimum. There may be several maxima or minima, and a minimum is not necessarily less than a maximum. For instance, the expression (x² + x + 2)/(x - 1) can take all values from -[oo] to -1 and from +7 to +[oo], but has, so long as x is real, no value between -1 and +7. Here -1 is a maximum value, and +7 is a minimum value of the expression, though it can be made greater or less than any assignable quantity.

The first general method of investigating maxima and minima seems to have been published in A.D. 1629 by Pierre Fermat. Particular cases had been discussed. Thus Euclid in book III. of the _Elements_ finds the greatest and least straight lines that can be drawn from a point to the circumference of a circle, and in book VI. (in a proposition generally omitted from editions of his works) finds the parallelogram of greatest area with a given perimeter. Apollonius investigated the greatest and least distances of a point from the perimeter of a conic section, and discovered them to be the normals, and that their feet were the intersections of the conic with a rectangular hyperbola. Some remarkable theorems on maximum areas are attributed to Zenodorus, and preserved by Pappus and Theon of Alexandria. The most noteworthy of them are the following:--

1. Of polygons of n sides with a given perimeter the regular polygon
encloses the greatest area.

2. Of two regular polygons of the same perimeter, that with the
greater number of sides encloses the greater area.

3. The circle encloses a greater area than any polygon of the same
perimeter.

4. The sum of the areas of two isosceles triangles on given bases, the
sum of whose perimeters is given, is greatest when the triangles are
similar.

5. Of segments of a circle of given perimeter, the semicircle encloses
the greatest area.

6. The sphere is the surface of given area which encloses the greatest
volume.

Serenus of Antissa investigated the somewhat trifling problem of finding the triangle of greatest area whose sides are formed by the intersections with the base and curved surface of a right circular cone of a plane drawn through its vertex.

The next problem on maxima and minima of which there appears to be any record occurs in a letter from Regiomontanus to Roder (July 4, 1471), and is a particular numerical example of the problem of finding the point on a given straight line at which two given points subtend a maximum angle. N. Tartaglia in his _General trattato de numeri et mesuri_ (c. 1556) gives, without proof, a rule for dividing a number into two parts such that the continued product of the numbers and their difference is a maximum.

Fermat investigated maxima and minima by means of the principle that in the neighbourhood of a maximum or minimum the differences of the values of a function are insensible, a method virtually the same as that of the differential calculus, and of great use in dealing with geometrical maxima and minima. His method was developed by Huygens, Leibnitz, Newton and others, and in particular by John Hudde, who investigated maxima and minima of functions of more than one independent variable, and made some attempt to discriminate between maxima and minima, a question first definitely settled, so far as one variable is concerned, by Colin Maclaurin in his _Treatise on Fluxions_ (1742). The method of the differential calculus was perfected by Euler and Lagrange.

John Bernoulli's famous problem of the "brachistochrone," or curve of quickest descent from one point to another under the action of gravity, proposed in 1696, gave rise to a new kind of maximum and minimum problem in which we have to find a curve and not points on a given curve. From these problems arose the "Calculus of Variations." (See VARIATIONS, CALCULUS OF.)

The only general methods of attacking problems on maxima and minima are those of the differential calculus or, in geometrical problems, what is practically Fermat's method. Some problems may be solved by algebra; thus if y = f(x) ÷ [phi](x), where f(x) and [phi](x) are polynomials in x, the limits to the values of y[phi] may be found from the consideration that the equation y[phi](x) - f(x) = 0 must have real roots. This is a useful method in the case in which [phi](x) and f(x) are quadratics, but scarcely ever in any other case. The problem of finding the maximum product of n positive quantities whose sum is given may also be found, algebraically, thus. If a and b are any two real unequal quantities whatever {½(a + b)}² > ab, so that we can increase the product leaving the sum unaltered by replacing any two terms by half their sum, and so long as any two of the quantities are unequal we can increase the product. Now, the quantities being all positive, the product cannot be increased without limit and must somewhere attain a maximum, and no other form of the product than that in which they are all equal can be the maximum, so that the product is a maximum when they are all equal. Its minimum value is obviously zero. If the restriction that all the quantities shall be positive is removed, the product can be made equal to any quantity, positive or negative. So other theorems of algebra, which are stated as theorems on inequalities, may be regarded as algebraic solutions of problems on maxima and minima.

For purely geometrical questions the only general method available is practically that employed by Fermat. If a quantity depends on the position of some point P on a curve, and if its value is equal at two neighbouring points P and P´, then at some position between P and P´ it attains a maximum or minimum, and this position may be found by making P and P´ approach each other indefinitely. Take for instance the problem of Regiomontanus "to find a point on a given straight line which subtends a maximum angle at two given points A and B." Let P and P´ be two near points on the given straight line such that the angles APB and AP´B are equal. Then ABPP´ lie on a circle. By making P and P´ approach each other we see that for a maximum or minimum value of the angle APB, P is a point in which a circle drawn through AB touches the given straight line. There are two such points, and unless the given straight line is at right angles to AB the two angles obtained are not the same. It is easily seen that both angles are maxima, one for points on the given straight line on one side of its intersection with AB, the other for points on the other side. For further examples of this method together with most other geometrical problems on maxima and minima of any interest or importance the reader may consult such a book as J. W. Russell's _A Sequel lo Elementary Geometry_ (Oxford, 1907).

The method of the differential calculus is theoretically very simple.
Let u be a function of several variables x1, x2, x3 ... x_n, supposed
for the present independent; if u is a maximum or minimum for the set
of values x1, x2, x3, ... x_n, and u becomes u + [delta]u, when x1,
x2, x3 ... x_n receive small increments [delta]x1, [delta]x2, ...
[delta]x_n; then [delta]u must have the same sign for all possible
values of [delta]x1, [delta]2 ... [delta]x_n.

Now
_ _
__ [delta]u | __ [delta]²u __ [delta]³u |
[delta]u = \ --------- [delta]x1 + ½ | \ ---------- + 2 \ ------------------- [delta]x1 [delta]x2 ... | + ...
/__ [delta]x1 |_ /__ [delta]x1² /__ [delta]x1 [delta]x2 _|

The sign of this expression in general is that of
[Sigma]([delta]u/[delta]x1)[delta]x1, which cannot be one-signed when
x1, x2, ... x_n can take all possible values, for a set of increments
[delta]x1, [delta]x2 ... [delta]x_n, will give an opposite sign to the
set -[delta]x1, -[delta]x2, ... -[delta]x_n. Hence
[Sigma]([delta]u/[delta]x1)[delta]x1 must vanish for all sets of
increments [delta]x1, ... [delta]x_n, and since these are independent,
we must have [delta]u/[delta]x1 = 0, [delta]u/[delta]x2 = 0, ...
[delta]u/[delta]x_n = 0. A value of u given by a set of solutions of
these equations is called a "critical value" of u. The value of
[delta]u now becomes
_ _
| __ [delta]²u __ [delta]²u |
½ | \ --------- [delta]x1² + 2 \ ------------------- [delta]x1 [delta]x2 + ... |;
|_ /__ [delta]x1² /__ [delta]x1 [delta]x2 _|

for u to be a maximum or minimum this must have always the same sign.
For the case of a single variable x, corresponding to a value of x
given by the equation du/dx = 0, u is a maximum or minimum as d²u/dx²
is negative or positive. If d²u/dx² vanishes, then there is no maximum
or minimum unless d²u/dx² vanishes, and there is a maximum or minimum
according as d^4u/dx^4 is negative or positive. Generally, if the
first differential coefficient which does not vanish is even, there is
a maximum or minimum according as this is negative or positive. If it
is odd, there is no maximum or minimum.

In the case of several variables, the quadratic

__ [delta]²u __ [delta]²u
\ ---------- [delta]x1² + 2 \ ------------------- + ...
/__ [delta]x1² /__ [delta]x1 [delta]x2

must be one-signed. The condition for this is that the series of
discriminants

a11 , | a11 a12 | , | a11 a12 a13 | , ...
| a21 a22 | | a21 a22 a23 |
| a31 a32 a33 |

where a_pq denotes [delta]²u/[delta]a_p[delta]a_q should be all
positive, if the quadratic is always positive, and alternately
negative and positive, if the quadratic is always negative. If the
first condition is satisfied the critical value is a minimum, if the
second it is a maximum. For the case of two variables the conditions
are

[delta]²u [delta]²u / [delta]² \²
---------- · ---------- > ( ------------------- )
[delta]x1² [delta]x2² \ [delta]x1 [delta]x2 /

for a maximum or minimum at all and [delta]²u/[delta]x1² and
[delta]²u/[delta]x2² both negative for a maximum, and both positive
for a minimum. It is important to notice that by the quadratic being
one-signed is meant that it cannot be made to vanish except when
[delta]x1, [delta]x2, ... [delta]x_n all vanish. If, in the case of
two variables,