2(J MAHOMET the greater part of that in use is made of cheaper woods covered with a thin veneer of mahogany. Alkalies are often applied to the colored wood in order to deepen the
- ,ut the best etfect is produced by using
a colorless varnish, which brings out in fresh beauty the rich veins, and leaves its natural tints unchanged. The grain, or curl as it is called, is sometimes so beautiful, that it in- creases the value of the log to an enormous price; several logs have been sold for over $5,000 each ; in one instance three logs, each i >ng and 38 in. square, produced from a sin-le tree, brought $15,000. It is usually a difficult matter for dealers to judge with pre- cision of the worth of the wood in logs by in- spection of the exterior. Mahogany is said to have been employed about the year 1595 in repairing some of Sir Walter Raleigh's ships, but it was not used for cabinet work till 1720, when a few planks from the West Indies were riven to Dr. Gibbons of London. A man named Wollaston, employed to make some ar- (.111 this wood, discovered its rare quali- tnd it was soon in high repute. See s Botanical Miscellany," vol. i. (Lon- don, 1830). MAHOMET. See MOHAMMED. MAHOX. See PORT MAHOX. HAI10X, Lord. See STANHOPE, EAKL. MAHOMVG, a N. E. county of Ohio, bor- dering on Pennsylvania, drained by the Ma- honing and Little Beaver rivers ; area, 422 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 31,001. It has an undula- ting surface and a highly productive soil. Coal and iron ore are found. It is traversed by the Atlantic and Great Western and the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne, and Chicago railroads. The chief productions in 1870 were 175,907 bushels of wheat, 861,439 of Indian corn, 449,385 of oats, 124,758 of potatoes, 31,000 of flax seed, 2,684,- .":;i Ihs. of flax, 91,757 of maple sugar, 295,- 467 of wool, 963,557 of butter, and 45,371 tons of hay. There were 7,312 horses, 18,582 cat- tle, 68,055 sheep, and 8,667 swine; 3 manufac- "f machinery, 3 of woollen goods, 2 of bolts and nuts, 1 of nails and spikes, 7 iron furnaces, 4 founderies, 2 rolling mills, 12 tan- ning and currying establishments, 5 flour mills, and 27 saw mills. Capital, Canfield. MAINUY, FrtQfls, an Irish journalist, born in Cork about 1805, died in Paris, May 19, He -tudied at a Jesuit college in Paris, 1'sequently in Rome, where he remained for seven years, and took orders. He after- ibandoned the clerical profession, and the staff of "Fraser's Magazine," his MBtritaftkmi to which were published in book f-.nii. under th.- title of "Reliques of Father Trout." in ls:ii;, :m d ri'publMied. with etch- ing* by Macli>e, in I860. lie was also one of the earliest and most popular contribu- !;,-ntle's Mi-cellany" in 1837. Af- ter travelling through Hungary, Greece, Egypt, and Aia Minr, he originated the Roman cor- tiie London "Daily News," MAHRATTAS in which he powerfully advocated the cause of Italy. His letters were collected under the title " Facts and Figures from Italy, by Don Jeremy Savonarola, Benedictine Monk " (Lon- don, 1849). He was also for many years Paris correspondent of the London "Globe." In 1864 he retired to a monastery in Paris, where he passed the rest of his life. The "Final Reliques of Father Prout" was edited by Blanchard Jerrold (London, 1874). MAIIBATTAS (Maha-rashtra, great people), a people inhabiting the region in central and western India bounded N. by the Satpoora mountains, E. by the Wyne-Ganga and Manjera rivers, S. by the Kistnah and Malpurda, and W. by the Indian ocean. They eventually spread themselves across the whole peninsula, through the dominions of Holkar, Sindia (Gwalidr), and the guicowar, and the country of Nagpore, where they still form an important element in the population. Some writers, however, regard them as foreigners who emigrated from the W. part of Persia about the 7th century, and Pick- ering assigns them an Arabian or Egyptian ori- gin. They are of Hindoo race, and are hardy, active, and well proportioned, but very ill-fa- vored ; their stature is small, their skin is dark, and their features are irregular. They are much given to athletic exercises, and are excellent horsemen, but turbulent and predatory, and un- fit for regular military service. They are cruel and perfidious, and have exercised a disastrous influence upon the countries they have conquer- ed. They are devout Brahmans. They first become conspicuous in history about the middle of the 17th century, when they possessed a nar- row tract of territory bordering on the Arabian sea and extending nearly from Goa to Guzerat. Sevajee (born in 1627, died in 1680), the son of an officer in the service of the last Mohamme- dan king of Bejapoor, was the founder of the Mahratta empire. Having collected an army among the mountains, he overthrew the king- dom of Bejapoor, and gradually united under his own rule the multitude of petty states among which the Mahrattas were divided. His son Sambajee extended his conquests, but was finally put to death by Aurungzebe in 1689. Under Saho, grandson of Sevajee, the heredi- tary prime minister or peishwa became the ac- tual ruler of the Mahrattas, and maintained their supremacy against the repeated assaults of Nizam ul-Mulk, the representative of the Mogul emperor in the Deccan. At the culmi- nation of their power, in the middle of the 18th century, the peishwa, with his capital at Poo- nah, was the recognized head of the confeder- acy of great chiefs who ruled the several Mah- ratta states. Guzerat, where subsequently arose the independent power of the guicowar, and a great part of Malwa, were overrun by the Mahrattas, and about '1760 they made them- selves masters of Delhi. Defeated however by Ahmed Khan of Afghanistan in the great battle of Paniput (1761), their downfall began; and though they again occupied Delhi (1772), they
