MAPLE LEAF 



3644 



MARATHON 



dian Pacific Railway, eighty-five miles south- 

 west of Swift Current and sixty-three miles 

 east of Medicine Hat. Maple Creek is of im- 

 portance as a distributing and shipping point 

 for the surrounding mixed-farming district. It 

 has large grain elevators, farm-implement ware- 

 houses 'and lumber yards, and its only manufac- 

 turing establishment is a flour mill. The town 

 owns and operates its waterworks and sewerage 

 system. The local post office, which cost $35,- 

 000, is the most striking building. Population 

 in 1911, 936; in 1916, estimated, 2,000. W.J.R. 



MAPLE LEAF, THE, the national song of 

 Canada, celebrating the Dominion emblem, the 

 leaf of the sugar maple. One who has visited 

 the forests of Eastern Canada in the autumn 

 and has seen them fairly ablaze with the red 

 and gold of the frost-tinted leaves of this beau- 

 tiful tree feels the fitness of this emblem. The 

 song, while it celebrates the valor of the "brave 

 fathers" of bygone days, is not purely a Do- 

 minion song, but rather an Empire song, for it 

 "entwines" with the beloved maple leaf the rose 

 of England, the thistle of Scotland and the 

 shamrock of Ireland, and it closes with the in- 

 vocation of a blessing on those far-away but 

 closely-related lands. The words of the song 

 appear on page 3643. 



MARABOU, mair'aboo, a stork from which 

 is obtained the marabou feathers that are used 

 so much for muffs and scarfs and as trimming 

 for hats and gowns. There are two species; the 

 original marabou, a large, white stork with 

 greenish-gray wings and a large pouch beneath 

 its bill, is a native of Africa, where it lives on 

 fish, the larger lizards and small mammals; the 

 other species, the argala, or adjutant bird, is 

 common in India, where it is called the bird of 

 blessing. Both kinds have the soft, much- 

 prized, downy feathers under wings and tail. 



MARACAIBO, mahrahki'bo, the principal 

 seaport of Venezuela and the capital of the 

 state of Zulia. It is situated on the western 

 shore of a strait that connects Lake Maracaibo 

 with an arm of the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of 

 Maracaibo. It has all the equipment of a mod- 

 ern progressive city, with fine public buildings 

 and a university, and for a long time it was the 

 literary center of Venezuela. At the present 

 time it is the only port of entry for Western 

 Venezuela and a section of Eastern Colombia, 

 and it carries on a thriving export trade in cof- 

 fee, cocoa, hides, sugar, dyewoods and quinine. 

 Its estimated population is 55,000. 



Lake Maracaibo, situated in the northwestern 

 part of Venezuela, is connected with the gulf 



of the same name by a strait about fifty miles 

 long. At the broadest part the lake is about 

 eighty miles wide and in places reaches a depth 

 of 500 feet, but owing to a sandbar at its en- 

 trance vessels drawing more than ten feet of 

 water cannot enter. 



MARA JO, mahrahzho', or JOANNES, jo 

 ah'neez, a large island about 180 miles long 

 and 150 miles wide, lying between the estuaries 

 of the Amazon and Para rivers, and belonging 

 to the state of Para, Brazil. It is so low and 

 swampy that during the rainy season the greater 

 part of it is flooded, but in the dry season much 

 of it affords excellent pasturage. In the swampy 

 forests there are dense groves of rubber trees. 

 The island is sparsely inhabited, though there 

 is a small settlement on the east side, called 

 Saure. Most of the inhabitants are herders and 

 rubber hunters who visit the island during the 

 dry season. 



MARAT, marah', JEAN PAUL (1744-1793), 

 the second of three men in succession who 

 wrought the worst evils in the French Revolu- 

 tion, Danton being first and Robespierre third.. 

 He was born at Boudry, studied medicine in 

 Bordeaux, then removed to Paris and won fame 

 as a court physician. After traveling exten- 

 sively in Europe, he practiced medicine in Lon- 

 don and published a number of scientific works. 

 In 1789 he established a journal in Paris called 

 Le Publiciste Parisien, which became the organ 

 of the irresponsible element of the French capi- 

 tal. From this time he dropped all scientific 

 study and identified himself with the Revolu- 

 tion. He called himself the friend of the peo- 

 ple, and was always urging death upon the 

 guillotine for opponents of his policy, at one 

 time demanding 270,000 heads. 



In 1792 he became a member of the Com- 

 mune, and through his journal he instigated an 

 insurrection, claiming that "no poverty, no mis- 

 ery or persecution could keep him quiet." He 

 was brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal 

 in April, 1793, but was acquitted of the charge 

 of sedition and became even more powerful. 

 His wickedness so stirred the heart of a girl 

 named Charlotte Corday that on July 13, 1793, 

 she slew him with a dagger, and for her act 

 suffered death on the guillotine. See CORDAY 

 D'ARMONT, MARIE ANNE CHARLOTTE; FRENCH 

 REVOLUTION. 



MARATHON, mair'a thon, a plain in Greece, 

 on which was fought one of the decisive battles 

 in the world's history. It is about twenty miles 

 from Athens, and it was the Athenians, with 

 their allies, the Plataeans, who, in 490 B. c., de- 



