opened by the
Romans.

MAETERLINCK, MAURICE, Belgian dramatist, born at Ghent; earned his
fame by "La Princesse Maleine," produced in Paris 1890, and followed by
"L'Intruse," "Les Aveugles," and several other plays; his essays show
religious sympathies; _b_. 1864.

MAFEKING, a station in NE. of British Bechuanaland, on the Transvaal
frontier, on the railway from Cape Town.

MAFFIA, a Sicilian secret society which aims at boycotting the
law-courts, superseding the law, and ruling the island; its chief weapon
is the boycott; violence is only resorted to for vengeance; funds are
raised by blackmail; popular support enables it to control elections,
avoid legal proceedings, and influence industrial questions. The Italian
government try in vain to put it down.

MAGDALA, an Abyssinian hill fortress on a lofty plateau 300 m. S. of
Massowah; captured by Lord Napier, who had been sent in 1868 to rescue
certain British subjects held prisoners there, and which he succeeded in
doing.

MAGDALENE, MARY, a Galilaean, belonging to Magdala, on the Sea of
Galilee, who followed Christ, stood by the cross, prepared spices for His
sepulchre, to whom He first appeared after His resurrection, and who is
supposed by some recent critics to be the sole voucher for His rising
again.

MAGDEBURG (202), on the Elbe, 75 m. SW. of Berlin, is the capital of
Prussian Saxony, one of the most important fortresses, the chief sugar
market of Germany, and the seat of large iron manufactures; it has also
distilleries and cotton mills, and is a busy railway centre; it is a
place of ancient date and historical interest.

MAGELLAN, FERDINAND, Portuguese navigator; served his country first
in the East Indies and Morocco, but dissatisfied with King Manuel's
treatment of him, offered himself to Spain; under Charles V.'s patronage
he and Ruy Falero set out to reach the Moluccas by the west in 1519; he
reached the Philippines, and died in battle in Matan; on this voyage he
discovered the MAGELLAN STRAIT, 375 m. long and 15 m. wide, between
the South American mainland and Tierra del Fuego; he gave name to the
Pacific from the calm he exceptionally, it appears, experienced on
entering it (1470-1521).

MAGELLANIC CLOUDS, two masses of stars and nebulae seen in the
southern hemisphere, not far from the South Pole.

MAGENDIE, FRANCOIS, a celebrated French physiologist, born at
Bordeaux; was the author of several works on physiology, made impor