notable for the defeat inflicted on a British brigade under General
Burrows by Ayub Khan on the 27th of July 1880 during the second Afghan
War (see AFGHANISTAN). Ayub Khan, Shere Ali's younger son, who had been
holding Herat during the British operations at Kabul and Kandahar, set
out towards Kandahar with a small army in June 1880, and a brigade under
General Burrows was detached from Kandahar to oppose him. Burrows
advanced to the Helmund, opposite Girishk, to oppose Ayub Khan, but was
there deserted by the troops of Shere Ali, the wali of Kandahar, and
forced to retreat to Kushk-i-Nakhud, half way to Kandahar. In order to
prevent Ayub passing to Ghazni, Burrows advanced to Maiwand on the 27th
of July, and attacked Ayub, who had already seized that place. The
Afghans, who numbered 25,000, outflanked the British, the artillery
expended their ammunition, and the native portion of the Brigade got out
of hand and pressed back on the few British infantry. The British were
completely routed, and had to thank the apathy of the Afghans for
escaping total annihilation. Of the 2476 British troops engaged, 934
were killed and 175 wounded or missing. This defeat necessitated Sir
Frederick Roberts' famous march from Kabul to Kandahar.
See Lord Roberts, _Forty-one Years in India_ (1896).
MAIZE, or INDIAN CORN, _Zea Mays_ (from [Greek: zeá] or [Greek: zeiá],
which appears to have been "spelt," _Triticum spelta_, according to the
description of Theophrastus), a plant of the tribe Maydeae of the order
Gramineae or grasses (see fig. 1). It is unknown in the native state,
but is most probably indigenous to tropical America. Small grains of an
unknown variety have been found in the ancient tombs of Peru, and Darwin
found heads of maize embedded on the shore in Peru at 85 ft. above the
present sea-level. Bonafous, however (_Histoire naturelle du maïs_),
quotes authorities (Bock, 1532, Ruel and Fuchs) as believing that it
came from Asia, and maize was said by Santa Rosa de Viterbo to have been
brought by the Arabs into Spain in the 13th century. A drawing of maize
is also given by Bonafous from a Chinese work on natural history,
_Li-chi-tchin_, dated 1562, a little over sixty years after the
discovery of the New World. It is not figured on Egyptian monuments, nor
was any mention made of it by Eastern travellers in Africa or Asia prior
to the 16th century. Humboldt, Alphonse de Candolle and others, however,
do not hesitate to say that it originated solely in America, where it
had been long and extensively cultivated at the period of the discovery
of the New World; and that is the generally accepted modern view. Some
hold the view that maize originated from a common Mexican fodder grass,
_Euchlaena mexicana_, known as Teosinte, a closely allied plant which
when crossed with maize yields a maize-like hybrid.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.
Maize--_Zea Mays_--unripe cob. The membranous spathes have been cut and
drawn aside, revealing the spike of fruit which bears the long silky
styles. One-third nat. size.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Spike of Male Flowers.]
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Male Spikelet.]
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Female Spike.]
The plant is monoecious, producing the staminate (male) flowers in a
large feathery panicle at the summit, and the (female) dense spikes of
flowers, or "cobs," in the axils of the leaves below, the long pink
styles hanging out like a silken tassel. They are invested by the
sheaths of leaves, much used in packing oranges in south Europe, and the
more delicate ones for cigarettes in South America. Fig. 2 shows a
branch of the terminal male inflorescence. Fig. 3 is a single spikelet
of the same, containing two florets, with the three stamens of one only
protruded. Fig. 4 is a spike of the female inflorescence, protected by
the sheaths of leaves--the blades being also present. Usually the
sheaths terminate in a point, the blades being arrested. Fig. 5 is a
spikelet of the female inflorescence, consisting of two outer glumes,
the lower one ciliated, which enclose two florets--one (a) barren
(sometimes fertile), consisting of a flowering glume and pale only, and
the other (b) fertile, containing the pistil with elongated style. The
mass of styles from the whole spike is pendulous from the summit of the
sheaths, as in fig. 4. Fig. 6 shows the fruit or grain. More than three
hundred varieties are known, which differ more among themselves than
those of any other cereal. Some come to maturity in two months, others
require seven months; some are as many feet high as others are inches;
some have kernels eleven times larger than others. They vary similarly
in shape and size of ears, colour of the grain, which may be white,
yellow, purple, striped, &c., and also in physical characters and
chemical composition. Dr E. Lewis Sturtevant, who has made an extended
study of the forms and varieties, classes into seven groups those grown
primarily for the grain, the distinguishing characters of which are
based on the grains or kernels; there are, in addition, forms of
horticultural interest grown for ornament. Pod corn (var. _tunicata_) is
characterized by having each kernel enclosed in a husk. Pop corn (var.
_everta_) has a very large proportion of the "endosperm"--the nutritious
matter which with the small embryo makes up the grain--of a horny
consistency, which causes the grain to pop when heated, that is to say,
the kernel becomes turned inside out by the explosion of the contained
moisture. It is also characterized by the small size of the grain and
ear. Flint corn (var. _indurata_) has a starchy endosperm enclosed in a
horny layer of varying thickness in the different varieties. The colour
of the grain is white, yellow, red, blue or variegated. It is commonly
cultivated in Canada and northern United States, where the seasons are
too short for Dent corn, and has been grown as far north as 50° N. lat.
Dent or field corn (var. _indentata_) has the starchy endosperm
extending to the summit of the grain, with horny endosperm at the sides.
The top of the grain becomes indented, owing to the drying and shrinkage
of the starchy matter; the character of the indented surface varies with
the height and thickness of the horny endosperm. This is the form
commonly grown in the United States; the varieties differ widely in the
size of the plants and the appearance of the ear.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Female Spikelet.]
The colour of the grain varies greatly, being generally white, yellow,
mottled red, or less commonly red. Soft corn (var. _amylacea_) has no
horny endosperm, and hence the grains shrink uniformly. It is cultivated
only to a limited extent in the United States, but seems to have been
commonly grown by the Indians in many localities in North and South
America. Sweet corn (var. _saccharata_) is characterized by the
translucent horny appearance of the grains and their more or less
wrinkled condition. It is pre-eminently a garden vegetable, the ear
being used before the grain hardens, when it is well filled but soft and
milky. It is often cooked and served in the cob; when canned it is cut
from the cob. Canned sweet corn is an important article of domestic
commerce in Canada and the United States. In starchy sweet corn (var.
_amylea-saccharata_) the grain has the external appearance of sweet
corn, but examination shows the lower half to be starchy, the upper
horny and translucent. A form of flint corn, with variegated leaves, is
grown for ornament under the name _Zea japonica_ or Japanese striped
corn.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--Grain.]
Chemical analysis, like common experience, shows that Indian corn is a
very nutritious article of food, being richer in albuminoids than any
other cereals when ripe (calculated in the dry weight). It can be grown
in the tropics from the level of the sea to a height equal to that of
the Pyrenees and in the south and middle of Europe, but it cannot be
grown in England with any chance of profit, except perhaps as fodder.
Frost kills the plant in all its stages and all its varieties; and the
crop does not flourish well if the nights are cool, no matter how
favourable the other conditions. Consequently it is the first crop to
disappear as one ascends into the mountain regions, and comparatively
little is grown west of the great plains of North America. In Brittany,
where it scarcely ripens the grain, it furnishes a strong crop in the
autumn upon sandy soil where clover and lucerne will yield but a poor
produce. It prefers a deep, rich, warm, dry and mellow soil, and hence
the rich bottoms and fertile prairies of the Mississippi basin
constitute the region of its greatest production. It is extensively
grown throughout India, both for the ripe grain and for use of the
unripe cob as a green vegetable. It is the most common crop throughout
South Africa, where it is known as mealies, being the staple food of the
natives. It is also largely used for fodder and is an important article
of export.
As an article of food maize is one of the most extensively used grains
in the world. Although rich in nitrogenous matter and fat, it does not
make good bread. A mixture of rye and corn meal, however, makes an
excellent coarse bread, formerly much used in the Atlantic states, and a
similar bread is now the chief coarse bread of Portugal and some parts
of Spain. It is either baked into cakes, called _tortilla_ by the
Indians of Yucatan, or made into a kind of porridge, as in Ireland. When
deprived of the gluten it constitutes oswego, maizena or corn flour.
Maize contains more oil than any other cereal, ranging from 3.5 to 9.5%
in the commercial grain. This is one of the factors in its value for
fattening purposes. In distilling and some other processes this oil is
separated and forms an article of commerce. When maize is sown,
broadcast or closely planted in drills the ears may not develop at all,
but the stalk is richer in sugar and sweeter; and this is the basis of
growing "corn-fodder." The amount of forage that may be produced in this
way is enormous; 50,000 to 80,000 lb. of green fodder are grown per
acre, which makes 8000 to 12,000 lb. as field-cured. Sugar and molasses
have from time to time been manufactured from the corn stalks.
See articles on corn and _Zea Mays_ in L. H. Bailey's _Cyclopaedia of
American Horticulture_ (1900-1902); and for cultivation in India,
Watt's _Dictionary of the Economic Products of India_, vi. (1893).
MAJESTY (Fr. _majesté_; Lat. _majestas_, grandeur, greatness, from the
base _mag-_, as in _magnus_, great, _major_, greater, &c.), dignity,
greatness, a term especially used to express the dignity and power of a
sovereign. This application is to be traced to the use of _majestas_ in
Latin to express the supreme sovereign dignity of the Roman state, the
_majestas reipublicae_ or _populi Romani_, hence _majestatem laedere_ or
_minuere_, was to commit high treason, _crimen majestatis_. (For the
modern law and usage of _laesa majestas, lèse majesté,
Majestätsbeleidigung_, see TREASON.) From the republic _majestas_ was
transferred to the emperors, and the _majestas populi Romani_ became the
_majestas imperii_, and _augustalis majestas_ is used as a term to
express the sovereign person of the emperor. Honorius and Theodosius
speak of themselves in the first person as _nostra majestas_. The term
"majesty" was strictly confined in the middle ages to the successors of
the Roman emperors in the West, and at the treaty of Cambrai (1529) it
is reserved for the emperor Charles V. Later the word is used of kings
also, and the distinction is made between imperial majesty (_caesareana
majestas_) and kingly or royal majesty. From the 16th century dates the
application of "Most Christian and Catholic Majesty" to the kings of
France, of "Catholic Majesty" to the kings of Spain, of "Most Faithful
Majesty" to the kings of Portugal, and "Apostolic Majesty" to the kings
of Hungary. In England the use is generally assigned to the reign of
Henry VIII., but it is found, though not in general usage, earlier; thus
the _New English Dictionary_ quotes from an _Address of the Kings Clerks
to Henry II._ in 1171 (Materials for the History of Archbishop Becket,
vii. 471, Rolls Series, 1885), where the king is styled _vestra
majestas_, and Selden (_Titles of Honour_, part i. ch. 7, p. 98, ed.
1672) finds many early uses in letters to Edward I., in charters of
creation of peers, &c. The fullest form in English usage is "His Most
Gracious Majesty"; another form is "The King's Most Excellent Majesty,"
as in the English Prayer-book. "His Sacred Majesty" was common in the
17th century; and of this form Selden says: "It is true, I think, that
in our memory or the memory of our fathers, the use of it first began in
England." "His Majesty," abbreviated H.M., is now the universal European
use in speaking of any reigning king, and "His Imperial Majesty,"
H.I.M., of any reigning emperor.
From the particular and very early use of "majesty" for the glory and
splendour of God, the term has been used in ecclesiastical art of the
representation of God the Father enthroned in glory, sometimes with the
other persons of the Trinity, and of the Saviour alone, enthroned with
an aureole.
MAJLÁTH, JÁNOS, or JOHN, COUNT (1786-1855), Hungarian historian and
poet, was born at Pest on the 5th of October 1786. First educated at
home, he subsequently studied philosophy at Eger (Erlau) and law at Györ
(Raab), his father, Count Joseph Majláth, an Austrian minister of state,
eventually obtaining for him an appointment in the public service.
Majláth devoted himself to historical research and the translation into
German of Magyar folk-tales, and of selections from the works of the
best of his country's native poets. Moreover, as an original lyrical
writer, and as an editor and adapter of old German poems, Majláth showed
considerable talent. During the greater part of his life he resided
either at Pest or Vienna, but a few years before his death he removed to
Munich, where he fell into a state of destitution and extreme
despondency. Seized at last by a terrible infatuation, he and his
daughter Henriette, who had long been his constant companion and
amanuensis, drowned themselves in the Lake of Starnberg, a few miles
south-west of Munich, on the 3rd of January 1855.
Of his historical works the most important are the _Geschichte der
Magyaren_ (Vienna, 1828-1831, 5 vols.; 2nd ed., Ratisbon, 1852-1853)
and his _Geschichte des österreichischen Kaiserstaats_ (Hamburg,
1834-1850, 5 vols.). Specially noteworthy among his metrical
translations from the Hungarian are the _Magyarische Gedichte_
(Stuttgart and Tübingen, 1825); and _Himfy's auserlesene Liebeslieder_
(Pest, 1829; 2nd ed., 1831). A valuable contribution to folk-lore
appeared in the _Magyarische Sagen, Märchen und Erzählungen_ (Brünn,
1825; 2nd ed., Stuttgart and Tübingen, 1837, 2 vols.).
MAJOLICA, a name properly applied to a species of Italian ware in which
the body is coated with a tin-enamel, on which is laid and fired a
painted decoration. It is also applied to similar wares made in
imitation of the Italian ware in other countries. The word in Italian is
_maiolica_. Du Cange (_Gloss. s.v._ "Majorica") quotes from a chronicle
of Verona of 1368, in which the form _majolica_ occurs for the more
usual Latin form _majorica_. It has usually been supposed that this type
of pottery was first made in the island of Majorca, but it is more
probable that the name was given by the Italians to the lustred Spanish
ware imported by ships hailing from the Balearic Islands. (See CERAMICS:
_Medieval and Later Italian_.)
MAJOR (or MAIR), JOHN (1470-1550), Scottish theological and historical
writer, was born at the village of Gleghornie, near North Berwick,
Scotland, in the year 1470. He was educated at the school of Haddington,
where John Knox was later a pupil. After a short period spent at
Cambridge (at God's House, afterwards Christ's College) he entered the
university of Paris in 1493, studying successively at the colleges of St
Barbe, Montaigu and Navarre, and graduating as master of arts in 1496.
Promoted to the doctorate in 1505, he lectured on philosophy at Montaigu
College and on theology at Navarre. He visited Scotland in 1515 and
returned in 1518, when he was appointed principal regent in the
university of Glasgow, John Knox being among the number of those who
attended his lectures there. In 1522 he removed to St Andrew's
University, where in 1525 George Buchanan was one of his pupils. He
returned to the college of Montaigu in 1525, but was once more at St
Andrew's in 1531, where he was head of St Salvator's College from 1534
until his death.
Major's voluminous writings may be grouped under (a) logic and
philosophy, (b) Scripture commentary, and (c) history. All are in Latin,
all appeared between 1503 and 1530, and all were printed at Paris. The
first group includes his _Exponabilia_ (1503), his commentary on Petrus
Hispanus (1505-1506), his _Inclitarum artium libri_ (1506, &c.), his
commentary on Joannes Dorp (1504, &c.), his _Insolubilia_ (1516, &c.),
his introduction to Aristotle's logic (1521, &c.), his commentary on the
ethics (1530), and, chief of all, his commentary on Peter Lombard's
_Sentences_ (1509, &c.); the second consists of a commentary on Matthew
(1518) and another on the Four Gospels (1529); the last is represented
by his famous _Historia Majoris Britanniae tam Angliae quam Scotiae per
J. M._ (1521). In political philosophy he maintained the Scotist
position, that civil authority was derived from the popular will, but in
theology he was a scholastic conservative, though he never failed to
show his approbation of Gallicanism and its plea for the reform of
ecclesiastical abuses. He has left on record that it was his aim and
hope to reconcile realism and nominalism in the interests of theological
peace. He had a world-wide reputation as a teacher and writer.
Buchanan's severe epigram, perhaps the only unfriendly words in the
flood of contemporary praise, may be explained as a protest against the
compromise which Major appeared to offer rather than as a personal
attack on his teacher. Major takes a more independent attitude in his
_History_, which is a remarkable example of historical accuracy and
insight. He claims that the historian's chief duty is to write
truthfully, and he is careful to show that a theologian may fulfil this
condition.
The _History_, on which his fame now rests, was reprinted by Freebairn
(Edinburgh, 1740), and was translated in 1892 by Archibald Constable
for the Scottish History Society. The latter volume contains a full
account of the author by Aeneas J. G. Mackay and a bibliography by
Thomas Graves Law.
MAJOR (Lat. for "greater"), a word used, both as a substantive and
adjective, for that which is greater than another in size, quality,
degree, importance, &c., often opposed correlatively to that to which
"minor" is applied in the same connotation. In the categorical syllogism
in logic, the major term is the term which forms the predicate of the
conclusion, the major premise is that which contains the major term.
(For the distinction between major and minor intervals, and other
applications in music, see MUSIC and HARMONY.)
The use of _Major_ as part of an official title in Med. Lat. has given
the Span. _mayor_, Fr. _maire_, and Eng. "_mayor_" (q.v.). In English the
unadapted form "major" is the title of a military officer now ranking
between a captain and a lieutenant-colonel. Originally the word was used
adjectivally in the title "sergeant-major," an officer of high rank
(third in command of an army) who performed the same duties of
administration, drill and encampments on the staff of the chief commander
as the sergeant in a company performs as assistant to the captain. This
was in the latter half of the 16th century, and very soon afterwards the
"sergeant-major" became known as the "sergeant-major-general"--hence the
modern title of major-general. By the time of the English Civil War
"majors" had been introduced in each regiment of foot, who corresponded
in a lesser sphere to the "major-general" of the whole army. The major's
sphere of duties, precedence and title have since varied but little,
though he has, in the British service, taken the place of the
lieutenant-colonel as second in command--the latter officer exercising
the command of the cavalry regiment, infantry battalion or artillery
brigade, and the colonel being, save for certain administrative
functions, little more than the titular chief of his regiment. Junior
majors command companies of infantry; squadrons of cavalry and batteries
of artillery are also commanded by majors. In most European armies,
however, and of late years in the army of the United States also, the
major has become a battalion commander under the orders of a regimental
commander (colonel or lieutenant-colonel). The word appears also in the
British service in "brigade-major" (the adjutant or staff officer of a
brigade). "Town-majors" (garrison staff officers) are now no longer
appointed. In the French service up to 1871 the "major-general" was the
chief of the general staff of a field army, and thus preserved the
tradition of the former "sergeant-major" or "sergeant-major-general."
MAJORCA (_Mallorca_), the largest of the group of Spanish islands in the
Mediterranean Sea known as the Balearic Islands (q.v.). Pop. (1900),
248,191; area, 430 sq. m. Majorca has the shape of a trapezoid, with the
angles directed to the cardinal points; and its diagonal, from Cape
Grozer in the west to Cape Pera in the east, is about 60 m. On the
north-west the coast is precipitous, but on the other sides it is low
and sloping. On the north-east there are several considerable bays, of
which the chief are those of Alcudia and Pollensa; while on the
south-west is the still more important bay of Palma. No fewer than
twelve ports or harbours are enumerated round the island, of which may
be mentioned Andraitx and Sóller. In the north-west Majorca is traversed
by a chain of mountains running parallel with the coast, and attaining
its highest elevation in Silla de Torrellas (5154 ft.). Towards the
south and east the surface is comparatively level, though broken by
isolated peaks of considerable height. The northern mountains afford
great protection to the rest of the island from the violent gales to
which it would otherwise be exposed, and render the climate remarkably
mild and pleasant. The scenery of Majorca has all the picturesqueness of
outline that usually belongs to a limestone formation. Some of the
valleys, such as those of Valdemosa and Sóller, with their luxuriant
vegetation, are delightful resorts. There are quarries of marble of
various grains and colours--those near Santañy, in the district of
Manacor, being especially celebrated; while lead, iron and cinnabar have
also been obtained. Coal of a jet-like character is found at Benisalem,
where it was first worked in 1836; at Selva, where it has been mined
since 1851; near Santa Maria and elsewhere. It is used in the industrial
establishments of Palma, and in the manufacture of lime, plaster and
bricks near the mines. A considerable quantity is also exported to
Barcelona.
The inhabitants are principally devoted to agriculture, and most of the
arable land is cultivated. The mountains are terraced; and the old pine
woods have in many places given way to the olive, the vine and the
almond tree, to fields of wheat and flax, or to orchards of figs and
oranges. For the last-mentioned fruits the valley of Sóller is one of
the most important districts, the produce being largely transmitted to
France. The yield of oil is very considerable, and Inca is the centre of
the oil district. The wines are light but excellent, especially the
Muscadel and Montona. During the summer there is often great scarcity of
water; but, according to a system handed down by the Moors, the rains of
autumn and winter are collected in enormous reservoirs, which contain
sufficient water to last through the dry season; and on the payment of a
certain rate, each landholder has his fields flooded at certain
intervals. Mules are used in the agriculture and traffic of the island.
The cattle are small, but the sheep are large and well fleeced. Pigs are
reared for export to Barcelona, and there is abundance of poultry and
small game. Brandy is made and exported in large quantities. Excellent
woollen and linen cloths are woven; the silkworm is reared and its
produce manufactured; and canvas, rope and cord are largely made, from
both native and foreign materials.
The roads are excellent, the four principal being those from Alcudia,
Manacor, Sóller and Andraitx to the capital. Forty-eight miles of
railway were open at the beginning of the 20th century. The main line
runs from Palma to Manacor and Alcudia. The telegraphic system is fairly
complete, and there is regular steam communication with Barcelona and
Alicante. The principal towns include--besides Palma (63,937), Felanitx
(11,294) and Manacor (12,408), which are described in separate
articles--Andraitx (6516), Inca (7579), Llummayor (8859), Pollensa
(8308), Santañy (6692) and Sóller (8026).
MAJORIAN (JULIUS VALERIUS MAJORIANUS), emperor of the West from 457 to
461. He had distinguished himself as a general by victories over the
Franks and Alemanni, and six months after the deposition of Avitus he
was declared emperor by the regent Ricimer. After repelling an attack by
the Vandals upon Campania (458) he prepared a large force, composed
chiefly of barbarians, to invade Africa, which he previously visited in
disguise. Having during his stay in Gaul defeated and concluded an
alliance with Theodoric the Visigoth, at the beginning of 460 he crossed
the Pyrenees for the purpose of joining the powerful fleet which he had
collected at Carthagena. The Vandal king Genseric, however, after all
overtures of peace had been rejected, succeeded through the treachery of
certain officers in surprising the Roman fleet, most of the ships being
either taken or destroyed. Majorian thereupon made peace with Genseric.
But his ill-success had destroyed his military reputation; his efforts
to put down abuses and improve the condition of the people had roused
the hatred of the officials; and Ricimer, jealous of his fame and
influence, stirred up the foreign troops against him. A mutiny broke out
in Lombardy, and on the 2nd of August 461 Majorian was forced to resign.
He died five days afterwards, either of dysentery or by violence.
Majorian was the author of a number of remarkable laws, contained in the
Theodosian Code. He remitted all arrears of taxes, the collection of
which was for the future placed in the hands of the local officials. He
revived the institution of _defensores_, defenders of cities, whose duty
it was to protect the poor and inform the emperor of abuses committed in
his name. The practice of pulling down the ancient monuments to be used
as building material, which was connived at by venal officials, was
strictly prohibited. He also passed laws against compulsory ordination
and premature vows of celibacy.
See Sidonius Apollinaris, _Panegyric of Majorian_; Gibbon, _Decline
and Fall_, ch. xxxvi. (where an outline of the "novels" of Majorian is
given); J. B. Bury, _Later Roman Empire_, bk. iii.
MAJORITY (Fr. _majorité_; Med. Lat. _majoritas_; Lat. _major_, greater),
a term signifying the greater number. In legislative and deliberative
assemblies it is usual to decide questions by a majority of those
present at a meeting and voting. In law, majority is the state of being
of full age, which in the United Kingdom is twenty-one years of age. A
person attains his majority at twelve o'clock at night of the day
preceding his twenty-first birthday (see INFANT; AGE).
MAJUBA (properly AMAJUBA, Zulu for "the hill of doves"), a mountain in
northern Natal, part of the Drakensberg range, rising about 7000 ft.
above the sea and over 2000 ft. above the level of the surrounding
country. It overlooks the pass through the Drakensberg known as Laing's
Nek, is 8 m. S. of the Transvaal border and 18 m. N. of the town of
Newcastle. The railway from Durban to Johannesburg skirts the base of
the mountain. During the Boer War of 1880-81 Majuba was occupied on the
night of the 26th of February 1881 by some 600 British troops under Sir
George Pomeroy Colley. On the following morning the hill was stormed by
the Boers under Piet Joubert and the British routed, Colley being among
the slain.
MAKALAKA, a general designation used by the Bechuana, Matabele and
kindred peoples, for conquered or slave tribes. Thus many of the tribes
subjugated by the Makololo chief, Sebituane, about 1830 were called
Makalaka (see David Livingstone's _Missionary Travels and Researches in
South Africa_, London, 1857). By early writers on south-central Africa
certain of the inhabitants of Barotseland were styled Makalaka; the name
is more frequently used to designate the Makalanga, one of the tribes
now classed as Mashonas (q.v.), who were brought into subjection by the
Matabele.
MAKARAKA, or IDDIO ("Cannibals"), a negroid people of Central Africa,
closely related to the powerful Azandeh or Niam-Niam race, occupying the
Bahr-el-Ghazal west of Lado. They came originally from the country of
the Kibas, north of the Welle. Dr W. Junker described them as among the
most trustworthy, industrious and intelligent people of the
Bahr-el-Ghazal. They are a reddish-black, with nose less flat and
cheek-bones less prominent than the ordinary negroes, and, unlike the
latter, do not extract the incisors. Their long silky hair is built up
in the most fantastic form by means of vegetable substances. They are
well-known for strength and staying power.
See W. Junker, _Travels in Africa_ (1890-1892).
MAKART, HANS (1840-1884), Austrian painter, born at Salzburg, was the
son of an inspector of the imperial castle. He has been aptly called the
first German _painter_ of the 19th century. When he, as a youth, entered
the Vienna Academy German art was under the rule of Cornelius's cold
classicism. It was entirely intellectual and academic. Clear and precise
drawing, sculpturesque modelling, and pictorial erudition were the
qualities most esteemed; and it is not surprising that Makart, poor
draughtsman to the very last, with a passionate and sensual love of
colour, and ever impatient to escape the routine of art-school drawing,
was found to be "devoid of all talent" and forced to leave the Vienna
Academy. He went to Munich, and after two years of independent study
attracted the attention of Piloty, under whose guidance he made rapid
and astonishing progress. The first picture he painted under Piloty,
"Lavoisier in Prison," though timid and conventional, attracted
attention by its sense of colour. In the next, "The Knight and the Water
Nymphs," he first displayed the decorative qualities to which he
afterwards sacrificed everything else in his work. With the "Cupids" and
"The Plague in Florence" of the next year his fame became firmly
established. "Romeo and Juliet" was soon after bought by the Austrian
emperor for the Vienna Museum, and Makart was invited to come to Vienna,
where a large studio was placed at his disposal. In Vienna Makart became
the acknowledged leader of the artistic life of the city, which in the
'seventies passed through a period of feverish activity, the chief
results of which are the sumptuously decorated public buildings of the
Ringstrasse.
The enthusiasm of the time, the splendour of the fêtes over which Makart
presided, and the very obvious appeal of his huge compositions in their
glowing richness of colour, in which he tried to emulate Rubens, made
him appear a very giant to his contemporaries in Vienna, and indeed in
all Austria and Germany. The appearance of each of his ambitious
historical and allegorical paintings was hailed with enthusiasm--the
"Catherina Cornaro," "Diana's Hunt," "The Entry of Charles V. into
Antwerp," "Abundantia," "Spring," "Summer," "The Death of Cleopatra" and
the "Five Senses." He reached the zenith of his fame when, in 1879, he
designed, single-handed, the costumes, scenic setting, and triumphal
cars of the grand pageant with which the citizens of Vienna celebrated
the silver wedding of their rulers. Some 15,000 people participated in
the pageant, all dressed in the costumes of the Rubens and Rembrandt
period. Makart died in Vienna in October 1884.
Unfortunately Makart was in the habit of using such villainous
pigments and mediums that in the few decades which have passed since
his death, the vast majority of his large paintings have practically
perished. The blues have turned into green; the bitumen has eaten away
the rich glow of the colour harmonies; the thickly applied paint has
cracked and in some instances crumbled away. And this loss of their
chief quality has accentuated the weaknesses of these pictures--the
faulty drawing, careless and hasty execution, lack of deeper
significance and prevalence of glaring anachronisms. Important
examples of his work are to be found at the galleries of Vienna,
Berlin, Hamburg and Stuttgart. For the Vienna Museum he also executed
a series of decorative lunettes.
MAKING-UP PRICE, a term used in the London and other British Stock
Exchanges, to denote the price at which speculative bargains are carried
over from one account to the next. The carrying over of a "bull"
position in Eries, for example, implies a sale for cash and a
simultaneous repurchase for the new account, both bargains being done at
the making-up price. This is fixed at noon on carry-over day, in
accordance with the market price then current (see ACCOUNT; STOCK
EXCHANGE). The term is also used in New York, where the making-up prices
are fixed at the end of a day's business, in accordance with the
American system of daily settlements.
MAKÓ, a town of Hungary, capital of the county of Csanád 135 m. S.E. of
Budapest by rail. Pop. (1900), 33,701. It is situated near the right
bank of the Maros, and is a typical Hungarian town of the Alföld. The
most noteworthy building is the palace of the bishop of Csanád, whose
usual residence is in Temesvár. The town possesses numerous mills, and
the surrounding country is fertile. The communal lands are extensive;
they afford excellent pasturage for horses and sheep and also for large
herds of horned cattle, for the size and quality of which Makó has
obtained a high repute.
MAKRAN, or MEKRAN, a province of Baluchistan, fringing the Arabian Sea
from Persia almost to Sind for about 200 m. It is subject to the khan of
Kalat under British political supervision. Estimated area, 26,000 sq.
m.; estimated pop. (1903), 78,000. The long lateral valley of Kej is
usually associated with Makran in early geographical records. The
Kej-Macoran of Marco Polo is the Makran of to-day.
The long stretch of sandy foreshore is broken on the coast-line by the
magnificent cliffs of Malan, the hammer-shaped headlands of Ormarah and
Gwadar, and the precipitous cliffs of Jebel Zarain, near Pasni. Within
them lies the usual frontier band of parallel ridges, alternating with
narrow valleys. Amongst them the ranges called Talana and Talur are
conspicuous by their height and regular configuration. The normal
conformation of the Baluchistan frontier is somewhat emphasized in
Makran. Here the volcanic action, which preceded the general upheaval of
recent strata and the folding of the edges of the interior highlands, is
still in evidence in occasional boiling mud volcanoes on the coast-line.
It is repeated in the blazing summit of the Kuh-i-taftan (the burning
mountain of the Persian frontier) which is the highest active volcano in
Asia (13,000 ft.), and probably the farthest inland. Evidence of extinct
mud volcanoes exists through a very wide area in Baluchistan and
Seistan. Probably the _miri_, or fort, at Quetta represents one of them.
The coast is indented by several harbours. Ormarah, Khor Kalmat, Pasni
and Gwadar are all somewhat difficult of approach by reason of a
sand-bar which appears to extend along the whole coast-line, and which
is very possibly the last evidence of a submerged ridge; and they are
all subject to a very lively surf under certain conditions of wind. Of
these the port of Gwadar (which belongs to Muscat and is therefore
foreign territory) is the most important. They all are (or were)
stations of the Indo-Persian telegraph system which unites Karachi with
Bushire. With the exception of the Kej valley, and that of the Bolida,
which is an affluent of the Kej, there are no considerable spaces of
cultivation in Makran. These two valleys seem to concentrate the whole
agricultural wealth of the country. They are picturesque, with thick
groves of date palms at intervals, and are filled with crops and
orchards. They are indeed exceedingly beautiful; and yet the surrounding
waste of hills is chiefly a barren repetition of sun-cracked crags and
ridges with parched and withered valleys intersecting them, where a
trickle of salt water leaves a white and leprous streak amongst the
faded tamarisk or the yellow stalks of last season's grass. Makran is
the home of remnants of an innumerable company of mixed people gathered
from the four corners of Asia and eastern Africa. The ancient
Dravidians, of whom the Brahui is typical, still exist in many of the
districts which are assigned to them in Herodotus. Amongst them there is
always a prominent Arab element, for the Arabs held Makran even before
they conquered Sind and made the Kej valley their trade highway to
India. There are negroes on the coast, bred from imported slaves. The
Meds of the Indus valley still form the greater part of the fishing
population, representing the Ichthyophagi of Arrian. The old Tajik
element of Persia is not so evident in Makran as it is farther north;
and the Karak pirates whose depredations led to the invasion of India
and the conquest of Sind, seem to have disappeared altogether. The
fourth section includes the valleys formed by the Rakshan and Mashkel,
which, sweeping downwards from the Kalat highlands and the Persian
border east and west, unite to break through the intervening chain of
hills northward to form the Mashkel swamps, and define the northern
limits of Makran. In these valleys are narrow strips of very advanced
cultivation, the dates of Panjgur being generally reckoned superior even
to those of the Euphrates. The great Mashkel swamp and the Kharan desert
to the east of it, mark the flat phase of southern Baluchistan
topography. It is geologically part of an ancient inland lake or sea
which included the present swamp regions of the Helmund, but not the
central depression of the Lora. The latter is buttressed against hills
at a much higher elevation than the Kharan desert, which is separated
from the great expanse of the Helmund desert within the borders of
Afghanistan by a transverse band of serrated hills forming a distinct
watershed from Nushki to Seistan. Here and there these jagged peaks
appear as if half overwhelmed by an advancing sea of sand. They are
treeless and barren, and water is but rarely found at the edges of their
foothills. The Koh-i-Sultan, at the western extremity of the northern
group of these irregular hills, is over 6000 ft. above sea-level, but
the general level of the surrounding deserts is only about 2000 ft.,
sinking to 1500 ft. in the Mashkel Hamun and the Gaod-i-Zirreh.
The whole of this country has been surveyed by Indian surveyors and the
boundary between Persian and British Baluchistan was demarcated by a
commission in 1895-1896. In 1898 a column of British troops under
Colonel Mayne was despatched to Makran by sea, owing to a rebellion
against the authority of the khan of Kalat, and an attack made by some
Makran chiefs on a British survey party. The campaign was short and
terminated with the capture of the Kej citadel. Another similar
expedition was required in 1901 to storm the fort at Nodiz. The
headquarters of the native governor, under the khan of Kalat, are at
Turbat, with deputies at Tump, Kolwa, Pasni and Panjgur. A levy corps,
with two British officers, is stationed along the western frontier. The
port of Gwadur forms an enclave belonging to the sultan of Muscat.
_Baluchistan District Gazetteer_, vol. vii. (Bombay, 1907).
(T. H. H.*)
MAKSOORA, the term in Mahommedan architecture given to the sanctuary or
praying-chamber in a mosque, which was sometimes enclosed with a screen
of lattice-work; the word is occasionally used for a similar enclosure
round a tomb.
MALABAR, a district of British India, in the Madras Presidency.
Geographically the name is sometimes extended to the entire western
coast of the peninsula. Properly it should apply to the strip below the
Ghats, which is inhabited by people speaking the Malayalam language, a
branch of the Dravidian stock, who form a peculiar race, with castes,
customs and traditions of their own. It would thus be coextensive with
the old kingdom of Chera, including the modern states of Travancore and
Cochin, and part of Kanara. In 1901 the total number of persons speaking
Malayalam in all India was 6,029,304.
The district of Malabar extends for 145 m. along the coast, running
inland to the Ghats with a breadth varying from 70 to 25 m. The
administrative headquarters are at Calicut. Area, 5795 sq. m. Malabar is
singularly diversified in its configuration; from the eastward, the
great range of the Western Ghats, only interrupted by the Palghat gap,
looks down on a country broken by long spurs, extensive ravines, dense
forests and tangled jungle. To the westward, gentler slopes and downs,
and gradually widening valleys closely cultivated, succeed the forest
uplands, till, nearer the seaboard, the low laterite table-lands shelve
into rice plains and backwaters fringed with coco-nut palms. The coast
runs in a south-easterly direction, and forms a few headlands and small
bays, with a natural harbour in the south at Cochin. In the south there
is considerable extent of table-land. The mountains of the Western Ghats
run almost parallel to the coast, and vary from 3000 to 7000 ft. in
height. One of the most characteristic features of Malabar is an all but
continuous chain of lagoons or backwaters lying parallel to the coast,
which have been formed by the action of the waves and shore currents in
obstructing the waters of the rivers. Connected by artificial canals,
they form a cheap means of transit; and a large local trade is carried
on by inland navigation. Fishing and fishcuring is an important
industry. The forests are extensive and of great value, but they are
almost entirely private property. The few tracts which are conserved
have come into government hands by escheat or by contract. Wild animals
include the elephant, tiger, panther, bison, _sambhar_, spotted deer,
Nilgiri ibex, and bear. The population in 1901 was 2,800,555, showing an
increase of 5.6% in the decade.
The staple crop is rice, the next most important product being
coco-nuts. Coffee is grown chiefly in the upland tract known as the
Wynaad, where there are also a few acres under tea. The Madras railway
crosses the district and has been extended from Calicut to Cannanore
along the coast. There are eleven seaports, of which the principal are
Calicut, Tellicherry, Cannanore and Cochin. The principal exports are
coffee, coco-nut products and timber. There are factories for cleaning
coffee, pressing coir and making matting, making tiles, sawing timber
and weaving cotton.
See _Malabar District Gazetteer_ (Madras, 1908).
MALABARI, BEHRAMJI (1853- ), Indian journalist and social reformer, was
born in 1853 at Baroda, the son of a poor Parsi in the employment of the
state, who died shortly after his birth. His mother took him to Surat,
where he was educated in a mission school, but he never succeeded in
gaining an academical degree. Coming to Bombay, he fell under the
influence of Dr John Wilson, principal of the Scottish College. As early
as 1875 he published a volume of poems in Gujarati, followed in 1877 by
_The Indian Muse in English Garb_, which attracted attention in England,
notably from Tennyson, Max Müller, and Florence Nightingale. His life
work began in 1880 when he acquired the _Indian Spectator_, which he
edited for twenty years until it was merged in the _Voice of India_. In
1901 he became editor of _East and West_. Always holding aloof from
politics, he was an ardent and indefatigable advocate of social reform
in India, especially as regards child marriage and the remarriage of
widows. It was largely by his efforts, both in the press and in tours
through the country, that the Age of Consent Act was passed in 1891. His
account of his visits to England, entitled _The Indian Eye on English
Life_ (1893), passed through three editions, and an earlier book of a
somewhat satirical nature, _Gujarat and the Gujaratis_ (1883), was
equally popular.
See R. P. Karkaria, _India, Forty Years of Progress and Reform_,
(London, 1896).
MALABON, a town of the province of Rizal, Luzon, Philippine Islands, 1
m. inland from the shore of Manila Bay and 3 m. N. of the city of
Manila, with which it is connected by an electric tramway. Pop. (1903),
20,136. The leading industries are the refining of sugar, fishing,
trade, the weaving of jusi cloth, the making of cigars, and the
cultivation of ilang-ilang-trees (_Cananga odorata_) for their flowers,
from which a fine perfume is distilled; ilang-ilang is one of the
principal exports, mostly to France. Tagalog and Spanish are the
principal languages. Malabon was formerly known as Tambóbong.
MALACCA, a town on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula, in 2° 14´ N.,
102° 12´ E., which, with the territory lying immediately around and
behind it forms one of the Straits Settlements, and gives its name to
the Straits which divide Sumatra from the Malay Peninsula. Its name,
which is more correctly transliterated _melaka_, is that of a species of
jungle fruit, and is also borne by the small river on the right bank of
which the old Dutch town stands. The Dutch town is connected by a bridge
with the business quarter on the left bank, which is inhabited almost
exclusively by Chinese, Eurasians and Malays.
Malacca, now a somnolent little town, a favourite resort of rich Chinese
who have retired from business, is visited by few ships and is the least
important of the three British settlements on the Straits which give
their name to the colony. It has, however, a remarkable history. The
precise date of its foundation cannot be ascertained, but there is
strong reason to believe that this event took place at the earliest in
the 14th century. The Roman youth Ludovigo Barthema is believed to have
been the first European to visit it, some time before 1503; and in 1509
Diogo Lopez de Siqueira sailed from Portugal for the express purpose of
exploiting Malacca. At first he was hospitably received, but
disagreements with the natives ensued and word was brought to Siqueira
by Magellan, who was one of his company, that a treacherous attack was
about to be made upon his ships. Siqueira then sent a native man and
woman ashore "with an arrow passed through their skulls" to the sultan,
"who was thus informed," says de Barros, "through his subjects that
unless he kept a good watch the treason which he had perpetrated would
be punished with fire and sword." The sultan retaliated by arresting Ruy
de Araujo, the factor, and twenty other men who were ashore with him
collecting cargo for the ships. Siqueira immediately burned one of his
vessels and sailed direct for Portugal. In 1510 Mendez de Vasconcellos
with a fleet of four ships set out from Portugal "to go and conquer
Malacca," but d'Alboquerque detained him at Goa, and it was not until
1511 that d'Alboquerque himself found time to visit Malacca and seek to
rescue the Portuguese prisoners who all this time had remained in the
hands of the sultan. An attack was delivered by d'Alboquerque on the
25th of July 1511, but it was only partially successful, and it was not
until the 4th of August, when the assault was repeated, that the place
finally fell. Since that time Malacca has continued to be the possession
of one or another of the European Powers. It was a Portuguese possession
for 130 years, and was the headquarters of their trade and the base of
their commercial explorations in south-eastern Asia while they enjoyed,
and later while they sought to hold, their monopoly in the East. It was
from Malacca, immediately after its conquest, that d'Alboquerque sent
d'Abreu on his voyage of discovery to the Moluccas, or Spice Islands,
which later were the objective of Magellan's voyage of circumnavigation.
During the Portuguese tenure of Malacca the place was attacked at least
twice by the Achinese; its shipping was harried by Lancaster in 1592,
when the first British fleet made its way into these seas; it was
besieged by the Dutch in 1606, and finally fell to a joint attack of the
Dutch and the Achinese in 1641. It was under the Portuguese government
that St Francis Xavier started a mission in Malacca, the first Christian
mission in Malayan lands.
The Dutch held Malacca till 1795, when it was taken from them by Great
Britain, and the Dutch system of monopoly in the straits was forthwith
abolished. The colony was restored to the Dutch, however, in 1818, but
six years later it came finally into the hands of Great Britain, being
exchanged by a treaty with Holland for the East India Company's
settlement of Benkulen and a few other unimportant places on the western
coast of Sumatra. By this treaty the Dutch were precluded from
interference in the affairs of the Malay Peninsula, and Great Britain
from similar action in regard to the States of Sumatra, with the sole
exception of Achin, the right to protect that state being maintained by
Great Britain until 1872 when it was finally abandoned by a treaty
concluded with Holland in that year. The Dutch took advantage of this
immediately to invade Achin, and the strife begun in 1873 still
continues and is now a mere war of extermination. It was not until 1833
that the whole territory lying at the back of Malacca was finally
brought under British control, and as late as 1887 the Negri Sembilan,
or Nine States, which adjoin Malacca territory on the east and
north-east, were completely independent. They to-day form part of the
Federated Malay States, which are under the protection of Great Britain,
and are governed with the assistance and by the advice of British
officers.
Malacca, in common with the rest of the Straits Settlements, was
administered by the government of India until 1867, when it became a
crown colony under the control of the Colonial Office. It is to-day
administered by a resident councillor, who is responsible to the
governor of the Straits Settlements, and by a number of district
officers and other officials under his direction. The population of the
town and territory of Malacca in 1901 was 94,487, of whom 74 were
Europeans and Americans, 1598 were Eurasians, the rest being Asiatics
(chiefly Malays with a considerable sprinkling of Chinese). The
population in 1891 was 92,170, and the estimated population for 1905 was
97,000. The birth-rate is about 35 per thousand, and the death-rate
about 29 per thousand. The trade of this once flourishing port has
declined, most of the vessels being merely coasting craft, and no large
line of steamers holding any communication with the place. This is due
partly to the shallowness of the harbour, and partly to the fact that
the ports of Penang and Singapore, at either entrance to the straits,
draw all the trade and shipping to themselves. The total area of the
settlement is about 700 sq. m. The colony is wholly agricultural, and
the land is almost entirely in the hands of the natives. About 50,000
acres are under tapioca, and about 9000 acres are under rubber
(_hevea_). This cultivation is rapidly extending. There are still
considerable areas unoccupied which are suitable for rubber and for
coco-nuts. The settlement is well opened up by roads; and a railway,
which is part of the Federated Malay States railway system, has been
constructed from the town of Malacca to Tampin in the Negri Sembilan.
There is a good rest-house at Malacca and a comfortable seaside bungalow
at Tanjong Kling, seven miles from the town. Malacca is 118 m. by sea
from Singapore and 50 m. by rail from Seremban, the capital of the Negri
Sembilan. There is excellent snipe-shooting to be had in the vicinity of
Malacca.
See _The Commentaries of d'Alboquerque_ (Hakluyt Society); _The
Voyages and Adventures of Fernand Mendez Pinto_ (London, 1653); _An
Account of the East Indies_, by Captain Alexander Hamilton (Edinburgh.
1727); Valentyn's _History of Malacca_, translated by Dudley Hervey;
_Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society_; "Our
Tropical Possessions in Malayan India," by the same author, _ibid._;
_Further India_, by Hugh Clifford (London, 1904); _British Malaya_, by
Sir Frank Swettenham (London, 1906). (H. Cl.)
MALACHI, the name assigned to the last book of the Old Testament in
English (the last of the "prophets" in the Hebrew Bible), which
according to the title (Mal. i. 1) contains the "word of Yahweh to
Israel by the hand of Malachi." In form the word means "my messenger."
It could be explained as a contraction of Malachiah, "messenger of
Yahweh"; but the Septuagint is probably right in not regarding it as a
proper name ("by the hand of His messenger"). Not only do we know
nothing from internal or external evidence of the existence of a prophet
of this name,[1] but the occurrence of the word in the title is
naturally explained as derived from iii. 1: "Behold, I send my
messenger" (cf. ii. 7). The prophecy must, therefore, be regarded as
anonymous; the title was added by the compiler who wrote similar
editorial titles to the anonymous prophecies beginning Zech. ix. 1, xii.
1.
The contents of the prophecy fall into a series of clearly marked
sections, as in the paragraph division of the Revised Version. These
apply, in various ways, the truth emphasized at the outset: Yahweh's
love for Israel in contrast with his treatment of Edom (i. 2-5).
Israel's response should be a proper regard for the ritual of His
worship; yet any offering, however imperfect, is thought good enough for
Yahweh's altar (i. 6-14). Let the priests, who are responsible, take
warning, and return to their ancient ideals (ii. 1-9). Again, the common
Fatherhood of God should inspire a right relation among fellow
Israelites, not such conduct as the divorce of Israelite wives in order
to marry non-Israelite women (ii. 10-16).[2] The prevalence of
wrong-doing has provoked scepticism as to righteous judgment; but the
messenger of Yahweh is at hand to purge away indifferentism from worship
and immorality from conduct (ii. 17-iii. 6). The payment of tithes now
withheld will be followed by the return of prosperity (iii. 7-12).
Religion may seem useless, but Yahweh remembers His own, and will soon
in open judgment distinguish them from the irreligious (iii. 13-iv. 3).
The book closes with an appeal to observe the law of Moses, and with a
promise that Elijah shall come before the threatened judgment.[3]
The topics noticed clearly relate the prophecy to the period of Ezra and
Nehemiah, when the Temple had been rebuilt (i. 10; iii. 1, 10), the
province of Judah was under a Persian governor (i. 8), and there had
been time enough for the loss of earlier enthusiasm. The majority of
modern scholars are agreed that the prophet prepares for the work of
those reformers (Ezra, 458; Nehemiah, 444, 432 B.C.). The abuses of
which he particularly complains are such as were found rampant by Ezra
and Nehemiah--marriage with foreign women (ii. 11; cf. Ezra ix.; Neh.
xiii. 23 seq.; Deut. vii. 3) and failure in payment of sacred dues (iii.
8 seq.; cf. Neh. x. 34 seq.; xiii. 10 seq.; Deut. xxvi. 12 seq.). The
priests have fallen into contempt (ii. 9) and have neglected what is
still one of their chief trusts, the oral law (ii. 6 seq.). The priestly
code of written law was not promulgated until 444 B.C. (Neh. viii.-x.);
"Malachi" writes under the influence of the earlier Code of Deuteronomy
only,[4] and must therefore belong to a date prior to 444. The
independent character of the attack on current abuses also suggests
priority to the work of Ezra in 458. The prophecy affords an interesting
and valuable glimpse of the post-exilic community, with its various
currents of thought and life. The completion of the second Temple (516
B.C.) has been followed by disillusionment as to the anticipated
prosperity, by indifference to worship, scepticism as to providence, and
moral laxity.[5] In view of these conditions, the prophet's message is
to reassert the true relation of Israel to Yahweh, and to call for a
corresponding holiness, especially in regard to questions of ritual and
of marriage. He saw that "the disobedience of his time was the outcome
of a lowered morality, not of a clearer spiritual vision."[6] A strong
sense of the unique privileges of the children of Jacob, the objects of
electing love (i. 2), the children of the Divine Father (ii. 10), is
combined with an equally strong assurance of Yahweh's righteousness
notwithstanding the many miseries that pressed on the unhappy
inhabitants of Judaea. At an earlier date the prophet Haggai had taught
that the people could not expect Yahweh's blessing while the Temple lay
in ruins. In Malachi's time the Temple was built (i. 10) and the priests
waited in their office, but still a curse seemed to rest on the nation's
labours (iii. 9). To Malachi the reason of this is plain. The "law of
Moses" was forgotten (iv. 4 [iii. 22]); let the people return to Yahweh,
and He will return to them. It was in vain to complain, saying, "Every
one that doeth evil is good in the eyes of Yahweh," or "Where is the God
of judgment?"--vain to ask "Wherein shall we return?" Obedience to the
law is the sure path to blessing (ii. 17-iii. 12).
He calls the people to repentance, and he enforces the call by
proclaiming the approach of Yahweh in judgment against the sorcerers,
the adulterers, the false swearers, the oppressors of the poor, the
orphan and the stranger. Then it shall be seen that He is indeed a God
of righteous judgment, distinguishing between those that serve Him and
those that serve Him not. The Sun of Righteousness shall shine forth on
those that fear Yahweh's name; they shall go forth with joy, and tread
the wicked under foot. The conception of the day of final decision, when
Yahweh shall come suddenly to His temple (iii. 1) and confound those who
think the presumptuous godless happy (iii. 15), is taken from earlier
prophets, but is applied wholly within the Jewish nation. The day of
Yahweh would be a curse, not a blessing, if it found the nation in its
present state: the priests listlessly performing a fraudulent service
(i. 7-ii. 9), the people bound by marriage to heathen women, while the
tears of the daughters of Israel, thrust aside to make way for
strangers, cover the altar (ii. 11-16), all faith in divine justice gone
(ii. 17; iii. 14 seq.), sorcery, uncleanness, falsehood and oppression
rampant (iii. 5), the house of God deprived of its dues (iii. 8), and
the true fearers of God a little flock gathered together in private
exercises of religion (perhaps the germ of the later synagogue) in the
midst of a godless nation (iii. 16). That the day of Yahweh is delayed
in such a state of things is but a new proof of His unchanging love
(iii. 6), which refuses to consume the sons of Jacob. Meantime He is
about to send His messenger to prepare His way before Him. The prophet
Elijah must reappear to bring back the hearts of fathers and children
before the great and terrible day of Yahweh come. Elijah was the
advocate of national decision in the great concerns of Israel's
religion; and it is such decision, a clear recognition of what the
service of Yahweh means, a purging of His professed worshippers from
hypocritical and half-hearted service (iii. 3) that Malachi with his
intense religious earnestness sees to be the only salvation of the
nation. In thus looking to the return of the ancient prophet to do the
work for which later prophecy is too weak, Malachi unconsciously
signalizes the decay of the order of which he was one of the last
representatives; and the somewhat mechanical measure which he applies to
the people's sins, as for example when he teaches that if the sacred
dues were rightly paid prosperous seasons would at once return (iii.
10), heralds the advent of that system of formal legalism which thought
that all religious duty could be reduced to a system of set rules. Yet
Malachi himself is no mere formalist. To him, as to the Deuteronomic
legislation, the forms of legal observance are of value only as the
fitting expression of Israel's peculiar sonship and service, and he
shows himself a true prophet when he contrasts the worthless ministry of
unwilling priests with the pure offering of prayer and praise that rises
from the implicit monotheism of even Gentile worship[7] (i. 11), or when
he asserts the brotherhood of all Israelites under their one Father
(ii. 10), not merely as a ground of separation from the heathen, but as
inconsistent with the selfish and cruel freedom of divorce current in
his time.[8] The book is a significant landmark in the religious history
of Israel. Its emphasis on the observance of ritual finds fullest
development in the Priestly Code, subsequently promulgated; its protest
against foreign marriages is made effective through the reforms of Ezra
and Nehemiah;[9] the influence of its closing words on later expectation
is familiar to every reader of the new Testament.[10]
The style of Malachi, like his argument, corresponds in its generally
prosaic character to that transformation or decay of prophecy which
began with Ezekiel; and Ewald rightly called attention to the fact that
the conduct of the argument already shows traces of the dialectic manner
of the schools. Yet there is a simple dignity in the manner not unworthy
of a prophet, and rising from time to time to poetical rhythm.
LITERATURE.--Nowack, _Die kleinen Propheten_ (1897; 2nd ed., 1904);
Wellhausen, id. (iii. 1898); G. A. Smith, _The Book of the Twelve_
(ii. 1898); A. C. Welch, art. "Malachi" in Hastings's _Dict. of the
Bible_, iii. 218-222 (1900); C. C. Torrey, id. in _Ency. Bib._ iii. c.
2907-2910 (1902); Marti, _Dodekapropheton_ (1904); Stade, _Biblische
Theologie des Alten Test._ § 141 (1905); Driver, _The Minor Prophets_,
ii. (Century Bible, 1906). (W. R. S.; H. W. R.*)