320 M A O 
tcliuen: fifty-five miles north of Tching-tou. Lat. 31. 
38. N. Ion. 103. 32. E. 
MA'O-MIN'-GAN', n ftandard in the Mongul Tartary. 
Lat.4t.30. N. Ion. 109. 29. F.. 
MAO-PON'GO, a town of Bengueln, and capital of a 
diftrift. Lat. to. 30. S. 
MA'OCH, [Hebrew.] A man’s name. 
MA'ON, in ancient geography, a town of the tribe of 
Judah, to the fouth-eaft, towards the Dead Sea. It gave 
name to the Wilder.nfs of Maori, 1 Sam. xxii. 
MA'ON, a fmall ifland in the Adriatic, near the coaft 
of Dalmatia. Lat. 44. 44. N. Ion. 15. i.E. 
MA'ON, [Heb. a houfe. ] A fcripture name. 
MA'ONITE, f. A defcendant of Maon. 
MAOU'NA, or Mass'acre I'sland, one of the Navi¬ 
gators’ Itlands in the South Pacific Ocean, difcovered by 
Bougainville; and vifited by La Peroufe in 178-7. This 
ifland is furrounded by a reef of coral, on which the fea 
breaks with great force; but the reef almoft joined the 
fhore, and the coaft formed feveral little coves, in front of 
which were inlets where canoes could pafs, and probably, 
fays La Peroufe, our barges and long-boats. At the bot¬ 
tom of each of thefe creeks were numerous villages, whence 
came out a number of canoes in fucceflion laden with pigs, 
cocoa-nuts, and other fruits, which were exchanged for 
glafs trinkets. When M. de Langle and feveral officers 
landed, night came on, and the Indians lighted a great fire 
to make the landing-place clear ; and hither they brought 
birds, pigs, and fruit. Upon the firft vifit, while perfect 
tranquillity and apparent good humour prevailed, and 
whillt the cafks of La Peroufe’s frigates were filling with 
water, he entered a charming village fituated in the midft 
of a wood, or rather orchard, the trees of which were 
weighed down by fruit. The houfes were placed in the 
circumference of a circle about a hundred and fifty fa¬ 
thoms in diameter, the centreof which formed a large open 
place, with agrafs-plat of the moft beautiful verdure, and 
the trees which over-fhaded it kept up a delicious frefhnefs. 
Women, children, and old men, accompanied their new 
vifitor, and invited him into their houfes, where they fpread 
the finett and frefheft mats upon the ground, formed by 
final! picked pebbles, and which they had railed about 
two feet to proteft them from the damp. In the hand- 
fomeft of thefe huts, probably belonging to the chief, was 
a large room of lattice-work, equally well executed with 
thofe about Paris. This charming country, fays our na¬ 
vigator, united the twofold advantage of a foil fertile with¬ 
out culture, and a climate which required no clothing. 
Bread-fruit, cocoa-nuts,bananas,guavas, and orange-trees, 
furnifhed the inhabitants with abundance of wholefome 
nourifhment ; while fowls, pigs, and dogs, which live on 
the refufe of thefe fruits, afforded them an agreeable.va¬ 
riety of food. They were fo rich, and in want of fo little, 
that they difdained our inftruments of iron and fluffs, 
and coveted only fome beads ; burdened with real goods, 
they only wifhed for things that were ufelefs. Our navi¬ 
gator was ready to pronounce the inhabitants of this rich- 
ly-ftored and beautiful ifland the moft happy beings on 
earth. But he foon found that this pleafant abode was 
not the manfion of innocence. Although no arms were 
perceived, yet the bodies of thefe Indians, covered with 
fears, proved that they raufl be at war with their neigh¬ 
bours, or quarrel among themfelves ; and their counte¬ 
nances indicated a ferocity imperceptible in the phyfiog- 
nomy of the women, wliofe perfons were agreeable, and 
manners foft, lively, and engaging. This firft vifit, how¬ 
ever, did not pafs off without private quarrels, which were 
terminated by prudent and wary conduit on the part of 
our navigators. The iflanders became in procefs of time 
bold and indolent, and regardlefs of every reftraint to 
which they were fubjefted. The two frigates had during 
their flay trafficked for 500 hogs, a great quantity of fowls, 
pigeons, and fruit, and all at the expenfe of a few beads 
of glafs. La Peroufe gave orders for quitting the ifland 
before the ftorm burlt,- which lie perceived to be gather- 
M A P 
ing; but M. de Langle, the poft-captain, perfifted in his 
purpofe of obtaining a few long-boat loads of water be¬ 
fore he left the ifland ; the confequence was difaftrous ; 
the iflanders became turbulent; and M. de Langle formed 
a body of fixty men from among the choiceft hands of the 
crews, armed them with mufkets and cutlafl.es, and mount¬ 
ed fix fwivels in the long-boats, and, thus prepared, they 
landed in order to obtain water. The number of canoes 
increafed, and the number of iflanders, who were collected 
in hoflile array on the fhore, amounted to 1000 or 1200. 
M. de Langle and his companions betook themfelves to 
their boats amidft volleys of ftones, and the Indians fur- 
rounded them within the diftance of a toife ; after a fliower 
of ftones, M. de Langle had only time to fire his mufket 
twice, when he was knocked down, and unfortunately 
fell over the larboard fide, the Indians immediately maf- 
. facring him with clubs and (tones. Of the fixty-one men 
who had engaged in this expedition, forty-nine fayed 
themfelves by f wimming to the barges of the frigates, but 
the remaining twelve fell a facrifice to the fury of thefe 
lavages, and all the others were wounded more or lefs. 
M. de Lamanon, the philofopher and natural!!!, was one 
of the number who loft his life on this occafion. See 
vol. xii. p. 94. Many of the Indians were killed or wound¬ 
ed in this conflict. M. de Vaujuas doles his narrative of 
this event w ith the following general remark : “ All thofe 
who were on-fhore can bear witnefs, like me, that no vio¬ 
lence or imprudence on our fide provoked the attack of 
the favages. Our captain had, with refpeft to this, ifiued 
the moft drift orders, which no one difobeyed.” Captain 
Edwards calls this ifland Otutuela. The anchoring-place 
was in lat. 14. 22. S. Ion. 189.1. E. Peroufe s Voyage , vol. ii. 
MAP, f. \_mappa, low Latin.] A geographical pifture 
on which lands and feas are delineated according to the 
longitude and latitude.—Old coins are like fo many maps 
for explaining the ancient geography. Addifon on Ancient 
Coins. 
Over the map my finger taught to ftray, 
Crofs many a region marks the winding way j 
From fea to fea, from realm to realm I rove. 
And grow a mere geographer by love. Tickel. 
For full inftruftions as to the various methods of form¬ 
ing maps, fee the article Geography, vol. viii. p. 342- 
366.—The following hints for the improvement of maps 
are extrafted front the Monthly Magazine. The habi¬ 
table earth is commonly delineated on fourdiftincl fheets ; 
one of which contains Europe, one Afia, one Africa, and 
one America. In order to include each divifion on a 
fingle flieet of paper, a different fcale is adopted for every 
map. By this method of delineation, an erroneous efti- 
mate of the relative magnitude of countries is imprefled 
on the memory. Europe and its fubdivifions all pafs for 
larger, and Afia and its fegments for fmaller, than they 
really are. Why not make fix lefs-u:iequal feftions of 
Europe, Africa, Afia, Polynefia, North America, and 
South America? By habitually including Arabia, Syria, 
Natolia, and the whole Cafpian, in the maps of Europe, 
a great convenience would be attained. Thefe countries 
have always been involved in the revolutions of European 
policy. Whether we are reading ancient, middle, or mo¬ 
dern, hiftory; whether we are following the progrefs of 
Alexander, Mahomet, or Bonaparte, we have occalion to 
look fouthward as far as the tropic, and eaftward as far 
as Ferfepolis. Befides, the Ruffians have enafted Mount 
Ural to be the boundary of Europe in the north ; it feems 
obvious to continue the line down through the Cafpian 
to the Perfian Gulf. The primxval feat of European re¬ 
ligion fliould not be fevered.from the refidences of the 
votaries. Africa makes a next feparate Iheet i but maps 
of Africa fliould include the Arabian peninfula, which is 
much connected with Egyptian hiftory. To about fixty 
degrees weft of London, both the European and African 
maps fliould always extend. Continental Afia, on account 
of its great breadth, mult be lopped of Kamfchatka by 
the 
