Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/305

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MAUKITIUS railway revenue for the same years was 103,- 462 and 116,446, and the expenditure 73,- 194 and 88,423. The estimated army ex- penditure for 1872-'3 was 55,300; about one half of this outlay is generally contributed by the insular government. The granitic island of Rodriguez; the Seychelles islands, 35 or 36 in number; the Oarga dos Garayos or St. Brandon isles, 16 in number; the Perhos Banhos, 25 in number; the Amirantes, 17 in number; Die- go Garcia, and several smaller, are dependen- cies of Mauritius. Rodriguez is about 330 m. to the eastward, in lat. 19 41 ; S. It is 26 m. long by 12 broad, and is composed of hills, with intervening valleys covered to a great extent with rocks and stones. There is an abundance of fish around the island, great quantities of which are salted and sent to Mauritius ; and sperm whales abound in the vicinity. The isl- and of St. Brandon 1 is noted for its scarlet co- ral (tubifora musica). The Seychelles are be- tween lat. 3 30' and 5 45' S. They were dis- covered but never occupied by the Portuguese. In 1742 the French took possession of them and named them lies de Labourdonnais, but the name was soon changed to Seychelles, after the vicomte Herault de Seychelles. When Mauri- tius was taken possession of by the British, this group fell into their hands with it. The chief of the islands are Mahe", Praslin, Silhou- ette, La Digue, and Curieuse, and the area of the whole group is about 50,000 acres. More than half of this area is included in Mah6, which is 16 m. long and from 3 to 5 m. wide, with a very steep and rugged granite mountain running through the centre, of which the prin- cipal peak, Morne Blanc, is 2,000 ft. high. The vegetation of this island, as well as of many others of the group, is exceedingly lux- uriant ; among the productions are cotton, sugar cane, tobacco, and various spices. The town of Port Victoria, formerly Mahe", is situ- ated on the N. E. coast; pop. estimated at about 7,000. These islands are a favorite re- sort for whaling vessels; all have abundance of excellent water. The most remarkable pro- duction is the coco de mer (Lodoicea Seychel- larum), so called because the nuts, weighing some 40 Ibs. each, were found on the coast of Malabar long before the place of their growth was known. Tortoise shell is procured in con- siderable quantities. Storms are unknown ; and notwithstanding their proximity to the equator, the climate is agreeable, the heat be- ing tempered by the sea breezes. Diego Garcia lies about 14 further E., and is a low coral isl- and. It abounds with turtle, and has a few residents from Mauritius. The Amirantes are a group of low coral islands about 100 m. S. "W. of the Seychelles. They supply vessels with water, cocoanuts, sheep, fish, and turtle. Mauritius was discovered in 1505 by Pedro Mascarenhas, who called it Geme". The Portu- guese held it till 1598, when a Dutch squadron took possession of it, the commander changing the name to Mauritius, in honor of Maurice MAURY 293 of Nassau. The Dutch first settled here in 1644, but they abandoned it in 1712 for the Cape of Good Hope; and it was taken in 1715 by the French, who called it lie de France. The first regular settlement took place in 1721 ; and under Mahe de Labourdonnais, who in- troduced the cultivation of the sugar cane, in- digo, and manioc, and was appointed gover- nor in 1734, the colony became very prosper- ous. It was during his second administration that the ship St. Geran was wrecked, in which was lost the young lady whose story was the basis of Bernardin de Saint-Pierre's tale of " Paul and Virginia." During the wars of the revolution and empire, the French island owed most of its wealth to corsairs, the terror of British merchant vessels in the Indian seas. The British seized the island with its depen- dencies in 1810, and by the peace treaties of 1814 and 1815 the English possession of the island was ratified. In 1835 slavery ceased to exist in Mauritius. The island was made a bishopric in December, 1854. See Pike's " Sub- tropical Rambles in the Land of the Aphanap- teryx " (New York, 1873). MAI ROCORDATOS. See MAVROCORDATOS. MAURY, a central county of Tennessee, inter- sected by Duck river and drained by its tribu- taries; area, 570 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 36,289, of whom 16,265 were colored. It has a diver- sified surface, and the soil is fertile. It is in- tersected by the Nashville and Montgomery line of the Louisville, Nashville, and Great Southern railroad, and the branch to Mount Pleasant. The chief productions in 1870 were 200,684 bushels of wheat, 1,449,935 of Indian corn, 61,387 of oats, 28,570 of Irish and 24,962 of sweet potatoes, 14,245 Ibs. of tobacco, 35,- 544 of wool, 167,372 of butter, 4,114 tons of hay, and 9,367 bales of cotton. There were 8,464 horses, 5,346 mules and asses, 6,735 cows, 11,093 other cattle, 21,330 sheep, and 53,124 swine ; 3 flour mills, 1 cotton mill, 16 saw mills, 14 tanneries, and 6 wool-carding and cloth- dressing establishments. Capital, Columbia. MAIRY, Jean Siffrein, a French cardinal, born at Valreas, Venaissin, June 26, 1746, died May 11, 1817. He was the son of a shoemaker, and was educated for the priesthood at Avignon. At the age of 20 he went to Paris as abbe pre- cepteur, but devoted himself to preaching, ob- tained an accessit from the academy for an eloge on Fe"nelon in 1770, and by his panegyrics on St. Louis in 1772 and St. Augustine in 1775 placed himself at the head of the French pulpit orators of the time. He was appointed preach- er to the court, pleased both believers and phi- losophers, and through the influence of the former obtained the abbey of Fr6nade and the priory of Lihons, and through that of the lat- ter a seat in the academy. In 1785 he pro- nounced his masterpiece of religious eloquence, a panegyric on St. Vincent de Paul. At the convocation of the states general he was chosen to it as a deputy of the clergy, immediately took a leading part in the debates as a defender