MAlNA MAINE. 



631 



MA IN A ; a small village of the Morca, which 

 gives its name to a district situated in a bay of the 

 Mediterranean ; Ion. 22 22' E. ; lat. 36 42' N. 

 The district is mountainous, the least fertile part of 

 the peninsula comprising the south-east part of 

 ancient Laconia, and at present is included in the 

 provinces of Laconia and Lower Messenia. See 

 Mainots. 



MAIN DE JUSTICE (French, hand of justice) 

 is a staff, at the upper end of which a raised hand 

 is fastened. It is one of the French insignia of 

 royalty. Napoleon had it among the imperial in- 

 signia. 



MAIN-MAST ; the chief or middle mast of a ship. 

 It is divided into four unequal sections, viz. the main- 

 mast, properly so called, which first rises from the 

 deck ; the main-top mast, immediately rising from 

 the main-mast ; the main-top-gallant-mast, just above 

 the main-top-mast ; and the main-royal-mast, which 

 crowns the whole. The form of the main-mast, like 

 that of other masts, is taper. Each division of the 

 mast has its particular sail, to which it gives name, 

 as the main-sail, main-fop sail, fyc.; and its parti- 

 cular yard, as the main-yard, main-top sail-yard, 

 main-top-gallant sail-yard, fyc.; besides its separate 

 head or top, as the main-top, main top-mast head, fyc. 

 The ropes, tackling, &c., of each section are named 

 in a similar manner. 



MAINE, MAYNE, or MAIN (anciently Moenus) 

 a river of Germany, which rises on the confines of 

 Bohemia. It is formed of two streams, the one end 

 called the JFeisser, or White, the other, Rothcr, or 

 Red ; both these join near C umbach. It receives the 

 Regnitz, the Franconian Saal, the Tauber, the Kin- 

 zig, and the Nidda, and flows through Bavaria, Bad- 

 en, Hesse-Cassel, Hesse-Darmstadt, the territory of 

 Frankfort, and the duchy of Nassau, and joins the 

 Rhine near Mentz. It affords a navigation as far as 

 Bamberg. Length, about 300 miles. 



MAINE ; formerly a province of the western 

 part of France, bounded by Normandy on the north, 

 the Orleannais on the east, Anjou and Touraine 

 on the south, and Brittany on the west. It now 

 constitutes the departments of the Sarthe and 

 the Mayenne. It derives its name from the Ceno- 

 manni, an ancient Gallic people. It was part of the 

 French dominions of Henry II. of England, and was 

 conquered by Philip Augustus. 



MAINE ET LOIRE, a department of France. See 

 Department. 



MAINE ; one of the United States of America, 

 bounded N. W. and N. by Lower Canada, E. by New 

 Brunswick, S. E. and S. by the Atlantic, and W. by 

 New Hampshire ; Ion. 66 49' to 70 55' W. ; lat. 

 43 5' to 48 12' N. Its length, on the northern 

 frontier, is 280 miles, on the eastern, 210 ; greatest 

 length from north to south, 225, and greatest breadth 

 from east to west, 195 ; square miles, 32,628 : popu- 

 lation in 1790, 96,540 ; in 1800, 151,719 ; in 1810, 

 228,705 ; in 1820, 298,335 ; in 1830, 399,462. The 

 principal rivers are the Penobscot, Kennebec, An- 

 droscoggin, Saco, St Croix, and St John's. The 

 principal bays are Casco, Penobscot, Frenchman's, 

 Englishman's, Machias, and Passamaquoddy. The 

 chief lakes are Moosehead, Umbagog, Sebago, 

 Schoodic, and several others farther in the interior. 

 Maine is rather an elevated country, having gener- 

 ally a diversified surface. A tract commencing on 

 the west side of the district, east of the White moun- 

 tains in New Hampshire, and holding a north-east 

 direction as far as the heads of the Aroostic, about 

 160 miles in length, and sixty in its greatest breadth, 

 is mountainous. Katahdin mountain is the most ele- 

 vated summit in this range. There is also a small 

 mountainous tract in the northern extremity. The 



remainder of the state may be considered, generally, 

 as a moderately hilly country. The tract of country 

 along the sea-coast from ten to twenty miles wide, 

 embraces all the varieties of sandy, gravelly, clayey, 

 and loamy soils, frequently interspersed at short dis- 

 tances ; seldom very rich ; in many places tolerably 

 fertile, but generally poor. Of this section, Indian 

 corn, rye, barley, grass, &c., are the principal pro- 

 ductions. In the tract lying north of this, and extend- 

 ing fifty miles from the sea in the western, eighty 

 in the central, and ninety in the eastern part, the 

 same kinds of soil are found, but they are less fre- 

 quently diversified, and generally more fertile. The 

 surface rises into large swells of generally good soil, 

 between which, on the margin of the streams, are 

 frequently rich intervals, and in other places sandy 

 or gravelly pine plains, or spruce and cedar swamps. 

 Of this section, the principal productions are grass, 

 Indian corn, wheat, barley, rye, flax,&c. The coun- 

 try beyond the limits above specified, is but little 

 settled. It exhibits great diversities in the appear- 

 ance of its soil, growth of timber, and also in climate. 

 The land on the Kennebec, and between this river 

 and the Penobscot, is accounted the best in the state. 

 It is well adapted to the various purposes of agricul- 

 ture, and, as a grazing country, is one of the finest in 

 New England. Though the climate of Maine is 

 subject to great extremes of heat and cold, yet the 

 air, in all parts of the country, is pure and salubri- 

 ous. The summers, in most parts, are favourable to 

 the growth of all the vegetable productions of the 

 Northern States. In some parts, however, Indian 

 corn, and some other plants of a more tender kind, 

 are frequently injured, and sometimes destroyed, by 

 frosts late in the spring and early in the autumn. 

 The cold of winter is severe, yet the serenity of the 

 sky, and the invigorating influence of the atmo- 

 sphere, during the same season, make amends, in 

 some degree, for the severity of the weather. Maine 

 enjoys great facilities for commerce. The coast is 

 indented with bays, abounding in excellent harbours. 

 All the settled parts of the country lie near a mar- 

 ket, and the produce of the farmer is readily ex- 

 changed for money, at a good price. The principal 

 article of export is timber. Vast quantities of 

 boards, shingles, clapboards, masts, spars, &c. are 

 transported to the neighbouring states, to the West 

 Indies, and to Europe. Much of the fire-wood con- 

 sumed in Boston, Salem, &c. is brought from Maine. 

 Dried fish and pickled salmon are considerable arti- 

 cles of export. Beef, pork, butter, pot and pearl 

 ashes, and some grain, are also among the exports. 

 Great quantities of lime are annually exported from 

 Thomastown. The value of the imports for 1829, 

 was 742.781 dollars, or about .160,000 ; of the 

 exports, 737,832 dollars, of which 729,106 was of 

 domestic produce. The tonnage in the beginning of 

 that year was 232,939. Cumberland and Oxford 

 canal extends from Portland to Sebago pond. (Sc^ 

 Canals.) The principal literary institutions are 

 Bowdoin college at Brunswick (students in 1830, 

 112); Waterville college at Waterville,- the Bangor 

 theological seminary ; the Gardiner lyceum at Gar- 

 diner, founded in 1821, for the purpose of affording 

 a useful education to the operative and productive 

 classes ; the Wesleyan seminary at Readfield ; and 

 twenty-nine academies, with funds of the value of 

 170,000 dollars, or about 36,000. Each town is 

 required by law to raise a sum equal to forty cents 

 for each inhabitant, for the support of free schools 

 In 1826, there were in the state 2499 school districts, 

 and 137,930 scholars. Some voyages of discovery 

 were made by the British to that portion of the 

 country since called Maine, as early as 1602 ami 

 1603, and it is described under the name of Mavoo- 



