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MASANIELLO 145 MASCAGNI in running streams, forests, and grass land. The Masai are not a Negro or Bantu race; they resemble the Gallas, being men of magnificent stature and Apollo-like forms, though their faces are ugly and ferocious in expression. After marriage, which takes place when they lay aside the habits of the warrior, they settle down as cattle breeders. They are an aristocratic race, and clever public speakers. The work is done by slaves and by the women and boys. They speak a Hamitic language. MASANIELLO (ma-sa-nyel'lo) , the commonly received name of Tommaso Aniello, a fisherman of Naples; born in Amalfi, in 1623. He headed the popu- lace in their revolt against the Spanish viceroy in 1647, when only 24 years of age. His career lasted but nine days, in which time he had 150,000 men under his orders, and was elevated to sovereign authority. He was murdered by four assassins armed with arquebuses at Naples, July 16; and, as the resistance he commenced never ceased till the Span- ish yoke was broken, he has since been venerated as the liberator of his country. MASARYK, THOMAS GARBIGUE, first President of the Czecho-Slovak Re- public, and chief of the nationalist move- THOMAS G. MASARYK ment which led to the establishment of the Republic. He was born in G8ding, Moravia, 1850, received only an elemen- tary education, and was then apprenticed to a blacksmith. Through individual ef- fort he gained further education and finally entered the University of Leipsic, where he subsequently taught. In 1882 he became professor of philosophy at the new Czech University at Prague. In 1891 he was elected to the Austrian Par- liament, where he gained prominence by his criticism of the Austrian policy in Herzegovina. In 1893 he resigned, in protest against the inactivity of the Czech nationalist movement. He then came to the United States and lectured for a time at the University of Chicago. In 1907 he returned to Prague, where he remained until December, 1914, when he was compelled to flee to Italy, on account of his activities in favor of a nationalist movement, for which reason he was sentenced to death by the Aus- trian Government. During the war he represented the Czecho-Slovak nationalist organization in Paris, London, and Wash- ington, D. C, and gradually gained the recognition of the Czecho-Slovak nation from the Allied countries. In 1917 he went to Russia, at the urgent call of Paul Milyukoff, whence he proceeded to Tokio, Japan, and back to Washington, D. C. In October, 1918, he was formally proclaimed President of the Czecho-Slo- vak Republic. He immediately proceeded to Prague, where he took his oath of office on December 21, 1918. In politics he was liberal in his tendencies, but strongly nationalistic. MASAYA, a town in Nicaragua, 10 miles from Lake Nicaragua. Tobacco, coffee, and sugar are products of the vicinity. Has large hat factories. Pop. about 13,000. MASBATE (-ba'ta), an^ island of the Visayan group in the Philippine Islands, constituting a province; area, 1,732 square miles; pop. (1920) about 30,000, including 66 dependent islands. It is under a civil government in accordance with the provincial organization act of 1901. Lignite and gold are found, and a leading industry is the manufacture of sugar sacks. MASCAGNI, PIETRO (mas-kan'ye), an Italian composer; born in Leghorn, Tuscany, Dec. 7, 1863. He produced, after a somewhat irregular musical education, the brilliantly successful one-act opera "Cavalleria Rusticana" (Rustic Gallant- ry) in 1890, in competition for a prize, the plot being taken from a story ^ by Verga. Later operas were "Friend Fritz" (1891) ; "The Rantzaus" (1892) ; "Ami- ca" (1905); "Isobel" (1911); "L'Alodo- letta" (1913). He made a financially disastrous tour of the United States in 1905.