MADAGASCAR 



3577 



MADAGASCAR 



(Federal estimate ). The area exceeds nine 

 square miles. 



Commerce and Industry. Seven miles above 

 the city the river has a fall of ninety feet, fur- 

 nishing ample power for manufacturing pur- 

 poses. Macon lies in the midst of a rich agri- 

 cultural district which produces cotton, fruit 

 and vegetables. As an inland cotton market it 

 ranks fourth in the United States; the cotton 

 manufacturing industry is rapidly growing and 

 promises to rival that of Northern cities; its 

 various factories employ about one-quarter of 

 the city's wage earners. Next in importance 

 are the manufactories of cottonseed products, 

 which include cottonseed oil, cottonseed meal 

 and cake, compound lard and soap. The lum- 

 ber and planing-mill products, too, are impor- 

 tant, and the manufacture of bricks exceeds 

 that of any other city in the southeast. The 

 largest vein of kaolin in the United States is 

 found within a few miles of Macon, and there 

 are forests of yellow pine and hardwood and 

 hills of granite in the vicinity. "Macon is lo- 

 cated on the border of the noted Georgia peach 

 belt and ships great quantities of peaches and 

 other fruits each season. The city has the 

 largest greenhouses in the South. 



Buildings and Institutions. In addition to 

 the public school system and two libraries, Ma- 

 con's educational enterprises include Wesleyan 

 Female College, the oldest chartered female 

 college in the world (1836) ; Mercer University 

 (Baptist) ; Saint Stanislaus College (Roman 

 Catholic) ; Mount De Sales Academy, and the 

 State Academy for the Blind, which has an 

 extensive library. Noteworthy buildings are 

 the $306,000 Federal building, erected in 1908, 

 the handsome city hall and auditorium, a $500,- 

 000 hotel, the Y. M. C. A. building, Saint Jo- 

 seph's church, a Home for Aged Masons and 

 the Union passenger station, completed at a 

 cost of $1,000,000. 



History. The site occupied by Macon was 

 visited by Hernando De Soto in 1540. In the 

 same year this was the scene of the first Chris- 

 tian baptism in America and of the firing of 

 the first cannon on American soil, so far as 

 known. In 1822 the first settlement was made; 

 the following year it was incorporated as a 

 town, and in 1832 a city charter was granted. 

 It was named in honor of Nathaniel Macon, an 

 American political leader. W.H.C.J. 



MADAGASCAR, madagas'kar, the largest 

 island in the west Indian Ocean, a country of 

 many half-civilized tribes. It is the fifth larg- 

 est island in the world, having an area of 228,- 



000 square miles, nearly as great as that of the 

 Canadian province of Alberta, and four times 

 that of the state of Michigan. Its length is 

 equal to the distance between New York and 

 Chicago, and in width it would extend from 

 Milwaukee to Saint Louis. The island is 

 owned by France. 



Madagascar is divided into 'three distinct 

 parts as to its surface features. The eastern 

 region is mountainous, having short rivers, 

 marshy valleys and frequent rains. There are 

 dense forests of bamboo and rosewood, filled 

 with ferns and hung with parasitic orchids. The 



raphia palm, so useful to the native for his 

 buildings, the cocoanut palm, papaws, man- 

 goes and tanghinia are abundant. The east 

 coast is very regular, having only three places 

 of access for ships. Its many shallow lagoons 

 are the fishing grounds of the natives. Tama- 

 tave has one of the few good harbors. The 

 central region is a saucerlike plateau of glit- 

 tering red clay, broken by cone-shaped vol- 

 canoes and mountains containing gold, iron, 

 copper, lead, silver and other minerals, though 

 this great store of wealth has not been exten- 

 sively developed. The western region is com- 

 paratively flat; there is a marked dry season, 

 and the land is less fertile. 



The animal life of Madagascar is unique, in 

 that African beasts of prey are not found here, 

 as would be expected, owing to the proximity 

 of that continent, but numerous species of le- 

 mur are.peculiar to the island. 



