MALACCA is a name given to the whole Malay Peninsula, that remarkable tongue of land 44 to 210 m. wide, stretching 800 m.  SE. from Burma between the Strait of Malacca and the Gulf of Siam; mountain ranges 7000 ft. high from the backbone; along the coast are deep mangrove swamps; the plains between yield rice, sugar-cane, cotton, and tobacco; there are forests of teak, camphor, ebony, and sandal-wood, and the richest tin mines in the world; the climate is unhealthy; the northern portion is Siamese, the southern constitutes the British Straits Settlements, of which one, on the W. coast, is specifically called MALACCA (92); it exports tin and tapioca; the capital, MALACCA (20), 120 m.  NW. of Singapore, was the scene of Francis Xavier’s labours.

MALACHI, a prophetic book of the Old Testament, the author of which is otherwise unknown, as the name, which means the “Messenger of Jehovah,” occurs nowhere else in the Bible, and it is a question whether the name is that of a person or a mere appellative; the prophecy it contains appears to have been uttered 420 B.C., and refers to abuses which came to a head between the first and second visits of Nehemiah to Jerusalem; it lacks the old prophetic fire, and gives the impression that the prophetic office is ended.

MALACHY, ST., archbishop of Armagh in the 12th century; was a friend of St. Bernard’s, who wrote his Life and in whose arms he died at Clairvaux; was renowned for his sanctity as well as learning; a book of prophecies ascribed to him bearing on the Roman pontiffs is a forgery.

MALADETTA, MOUNT (i. e. the accursed), the name of the highest summit of the Pyrenees, 11,168 ft. high, in NE. of Zaragoza.

MALAGA (132), Spanish seaport, 65 m.  NE. of Gibraltar, an ancient Phoenician town, is now an important but declining centre of commerce; it exports olive-oil, wine, raisins, lead, &c., and manufactures cotton, linen, machinery, fine-art pottery, &c.; its magnificent climate makes it an excellent health resort.

MALAGROWTHER, an old courtier in the “Fortunes of Nigel” soured by misfortune, and who would have every one be as discontented as himself.

MALAISE, an uneasy feeling which often precedes a serious attack of some disease.

MALAPROP, MRS., a character in Sheridan’s “Rivals,” noted for her blunders in the use of fine or learned words, as in the use of “allegory” for “alligator.”

MAeLAR LAKE, large and beautiful Swedish lake, stretching 80 m. westward from Stockholm; its shores are deeply indented with bays, and the surrounding hills as well as the thousand islands it contains are well wooded.

MALAY ARCHIPELAGO or INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO is that group of many hundred islands stretching from the Malay Peninsula SE. to Australia between the North Pacific and the Indian Ocean, of which Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and Celebes are the largest.

MALAYS, a branch of the human family now classed among the Mongols, and which inhabit the Malay Peninsula, the islands of the Indian Archipelago, as well as Madagascar, and many of the islands in the Pacific; they are of a dark-brown or tawny complexion, short of stature, have flat faces, black coarse hair, and high cheek-bones; there are three classes of them, distinguished from each other in character and habits of life; the more civilised of them are Mohammedans.