Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/198

186 MARQUETRY archy ; katailcis, secular rulers ; and toas, war chiefs. The non-tabooed classes are the peio pekeios, servants of the chiefs; arenas, fisher- men ; hokis, singers and dancers ; and nohuas, common laborers. The last named class hold a similar position to that of the pariahs in India. Among the peculiar social institutions of the islanders is polyandry, the woman choos- ing her husband or husbands, and retaining them or not according to her pleasure. Can- nibalism is also practised sometimes, but sim- ply as an act of vengeance ; it is only the bodies of slain enemies of which now and then a slice is eaten. Their ordinary food consists prin- cipally of vegetables. A highly intoxicating beverage is prepared by chewing the root of the kanoa plant (piper metisticum mixing it well with saliva, and then spitting it into a vessel, in which it is perfected by fermentation. The extensive use of this beverage produces leprosy or consumption. Besides these dis- eases, elephantiasis, scrofula, liver complaints, inflammation of the lungs, and diseases of the eyes, often resulting in blindness, are common among the islanders. Their scanty clothing is obtained from the mulberry tree, the bark of which they render thin and soft by beating, thus forming a kind of coarse cloth. Their habitations, small log huts thatched with leaves of the cocoanut tree, are erected on stone plat- forms from 3 to 5 ft. above the ground. In similar houses they bury their dead. These islanders have no history. Even the first dis- covery of the islands by Europeans has been entirely forgotten, though the Spaniards, who introduced swine, and also Cook (who in 1774 visited Fetuhugu or Hood island) and Mar- ch and, are still venerated as gods. The Mar- quesas were taken possession of in 1842 by Admiral Du Petit-Thouars, by authority of the French government. The inhabitants after- ward made some unsuccessful attempts at re- conquering their liberty. In 1850 the island of Nukahiva was made a penal colony for po- litical convicts. Only one convict was sent there, and the project was abandoned, but the protectorate of France is still maintained. MARQUETRY. See BUHL WORK. BIARQt'ETTE. I. A central county of the upper peninsula of Michigan, bounded K E. by Lake Superior and S. W. by Wisconsin, and drained by the Escanaba, Michigamig, and Me- quacumecum rivers and other streams ; area, about 3,425 gq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 15,033. The surface is diversified and covered by extensive pine forests. It contains granite and lime- stone, and immense deposits of iron ore, the mining of which is the chief business. It is traversed by the Marquette, Houghton, and Ontonagon railroad, and by the Peninsular di- vi-ii.n of the Chicago and Northwestern. Ac- cording to the census of 1870, there were 11 iron mines (the entire number in the Lake Su- perior region), employing 2,005 hands, and yielding 690,393 tons of ore, valued at $2,677,- 9f& There were 8 blast furnaces, 3 founder- MARQUETTE ies, 3 machine shops, 4 breweries, 3 charcoal factories, and 7 saw mills. The shipments in 1872 were 896,877 tons of ore, and 38,072 of pig iron. Capital, Marquette. II. A S. central county of Wisconsin, intersected by the Nee- nah or Fox river; area, about 550 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 8,056. The surface is diversified and the soil good ; it contains several lakes. The chief productions in 1870 were 144,562 bush- els of wheat, 77,488 of rye, 116,049 of Indian corn, 77,881 of oats, 68,950 of potatoes, 49,508 Ibs. of wool, 240,408 of butter, 22,391 of hops, and 20,192 tons of hay. There were 2,220 horses, 3,429 milch cows, 1,163 working oxen, 4,265 other cattle, 16,488 sheep, and 4,312 swine. Capital, Montello. MARQUETTE, a city, port of entry, and the county seat of Marquette co., Michigan, situa- ted on Lake Superior, at the terminus of the Marquette, Houghton, and Ontonagon railroad, 360 m. N. W. of Detroit, and 320 m. K of Chicago; pop. in 1874, 5,242. It is the chief depot of supplies for the iron mines of the upper peninsula, and the principal point of shipment for the ore. There are three blast furnaces and a rolling mill within the city limits, and several furnaces in the vicinity. Marquette is supplied with water on the Holly plan, is lighted with gas, and has an efficient fire department. It has three banks, with a joint capital of $700,000 ; graded public schools, with four school buildings costing $60,000 ; a weekly newspaper, a public library, and six churches, viz. : Baptist, Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Roman Catholic (two). MARQUETTE, Jaeqnes, a French explorer, born in Laon, France, in 1637, died May 18, 1675. At the age of 17 he entered the society of Jesus, and in 1666 sailed for Canada as a missionary. He spent about 18 months in the vicinity of Three Rivers, where he acquired the Montagnais and other dialects of the Al- gonquin spoken in Canada and New York, as well as the Huron and Iroquois. lie was first selected for the Mohawk mission, but in April, 1668, went to Lake Superior and there founded the mission of Sault Ste. Marie. In the following year he was sent to take the place of Allouez among the Ottawas and Hu- rons at Lapointe ; but his stay here was short, these tribes being soon dispersed by the Sioux. Marquette then followed the Hurons to Mack- inaw, and there in 1671 built a chapel at the mission of St. Ignatius. In the following year he wrote of his success at Mackinaw to Father Dablon, the superior of the Jesuit missions in Canada. " I am ready, however," he contin- ued, " to leave it in the hands of another mis- sionary, to go on your order to seek new na- tions toward the South sea who are still un- known to us, and to teach them of our great God whom they have hitherto not known." As early as 1669 he had resolved upon explo- ring the Mississippi, of which he had heard from the Indians, and had made preparations at Lapointe, his topographical skill being an