MADDER 



3578 



MADEIRA RIVER 



The People. Of the total population of 

 Madagascar, less than one per cent are Euro- 

 peans and Asiatics. There were in 1911 about 

 3,225,000 natives, belonging to seven different 

 tribes, ranging in race and intelligence from 

 the enlightened Hovas of Malayan origin to 

 the Baras, a degenerate, warlike African tribe. 

 The Hovas have adopted European customs, 

 are cultivating the country and building up 

 Madagascar's cattle trade. Though polygamy 

 and fetish worship still exist (see FETISH), 

 many of the natives have adopted Christianity. 

 The Europeans are developing manufacturing 

 industries and extending the railroad, telegraph 

 and telephone systems. Wagon roads have 

 been built between the chief cities; there is 

 postal communication throughout the island, 

 and cable communication with Africa, besides 

 three government wireless stations. Commerce 

 with France is growing in importance; of the 

 10,086 vessels entering the port of Tamatave in 

 1913, nearly 6,900 were French. Primary edu- 

 cation has been made compulsory, and besides 

 more than twenty schools for Europeans, there 

 are nearly 650 native schools. 



Government. Madagascar is governed by the 

 French Governor-General, and an administra- 

 tive council at Antananarivo, the capital. Na- 

 tives are employed to a large extent as local 

 governors and chiefs of districts. There is no 

 elective assembly and no representation in 

 French Parliament. The natives have district 

 courts, with the right of appeal to higher tri- 

 bunals, and finally to the Governor-General. 



History. No one knows how long Madagas- 

 car has been inhabited by its scattered, warring 

 tribes. They jealously guarded their territory, 

 and with the exception of some early Arab set- 

 tlements, colonization has been of recent date. 

 The turbulent chieftains were united into one 

 kingdom in 1810 by Radama I, their one great 

 king. After his death the native sovereigns 

 proved the inability of the black race to govern 

 themselves and the French colonists brought 

 about intercession by the European powers. In 

 1890 England recognized the French protector- 

 ate of Madagascar (see PROTECTORATE), but the 

 natives stubbornly refused to submit. After 

 troops were sent to the island to enforce the 

 French claims, the ruling queen was deposed, 

 and in 1896 Madagascar became a colony of 

 France; since then there has been a rapid de- 

 velopment of its resources and its people. E.B.P. 



Consult Matthews' Thirty Years in Madagascar. 



MADDER, mad' er, a group of plants native 

 to the warmer parts of both hemispheres, for- 



merly of great economic importance because of 

 the coloring matters, alizarin and purpurin, 

 found in their roots. Owing to the recent de- 

 velopment of the artificial manufacture of aliz- 

 arin (which see), madder preparation have been 

 almost eliminated. The most important species 

 of the plant is dyer's madder, cultivated in 

 European, countries, in the East Indies and in 

 China. It flowers year after year, producing 

 small greenish-yellow blossoms, black fruit and 

 rough, prickly leaves. From the roots of a spe- 

 cies cultivated extensively in Holland is ob- 

 tained the much-admired Turkey red dye. By 

 the use of a mordant (which see) madder colors 

 varying from pink through red and yellow to 

 purple and brown may be obtained. 



MADEIRA, made'ra, an island off the 

 northwest coast of Africa in the North Atlantic 

 Ocean, the largest of the Madeira group, all of 

 which belong to Portugal. It is 620 miles south- 

 west of Lisbon, Portugal, and 280 miles north 

 of Teneriffe, in the Canaries. It is about thirty- 

 eight miles long and twelve miles wide, and has 

 an area of 315 square miles. The mountain 

 range which extends across it rises gradually 

 from the shore to its highest point, the Pico 

 Ruivo, 6,050 feet above the sea; the average 

 peak elevation of the mountains is 4,000 feet. 

 The snow-crowned summits of the highest 

 peaks lend an element of grandeur to the pic- 

 turesque beauty of the island, with its many 

 deep valleys and steep and rocky shores. 



Madeira abounds in date palms, bananas, In- 

 dian corn, custard apples, figs, pomegranates, 

 sugar and coffee. The grape disease has inter- 

 fered greatly with the principal industry of the 

 island in recent years, and the export of wine 

 is less extensive than in former years. The cli- 

 mate, which is famed for its constancy and 

 healthfulness, attracts many who suffer from 

 diseases of the chest; the temperature differs 

 only 10 between winter and summer. Funchal, 

 which has a population of about 25,000, is the 

 capital and the port of the island. The inhabit- 

 ants are of mixed Portuguese, negro and Moor- 

 ish descent ; they are strong and industrious, 

 but the majority are uneducated. 



The Portuguese word madeira means timber, 

 and the island is so called on account of the 

 abundant forests which formerly covered it. 

 Madeira was discovered by the Portuguese in 

 1420, and its colonization was soon begun under 

 the direction of Prince Henry the Navigator. 

 Population, 1911, 169,800. 



MADEIRA RIVER, a majestic river of 

 South America, the largest tributary of the 



