MASAI, a warlike tribe in Africa, between the coast of Zanzibar and Victoria Nyanza, of the race of the Gallas, men of powerful physique, though far from prepossessing in appearance; when their warlike spirit and prowess are spent they settle down to cattle-breeding.

MASANIELLO, a fisherman of Amalfi, who headed a revolt against the Spanish viceroy in Naples, which proved successful, but turned his head and led to his assassination (1623-1647).

MASHONALAND, a plateau 4000 ft. high crossed by the Umvukwe Mountains, lying to the NE. of Matabeleland and S. of the Zambesi River, of which its streams are tributaries; is a fertile country, and being traversed continually by cold SE. winds is healthy and bracing; the natives, of Bantu stock, are peaceful and industrious, growing rice, maize, tobacco, and cotton, which they also weave, and working with skill in iron; they live in dread of the fierce Matabele tribes; the country is very rich in iron, copper, and gold, and has traces of ancient scientific gold-mining; it has been under British protection since 1888.

MASK, IRON.  See IRON MASK.

MASKELYNE, NEVIL, astronomer-royal, born in London; determined the method of finding longitude at sea, and the density of the earth by experiments at Schiehallion, and commenced the “National Almanack,” and produced the first volume of “Astronomical Observations at Greenwich” (1732-1811).

MASON, SIR JOSIAH, Birmingham manufacturer and philanthropist, born at Kidderminster; made his fortune by split rings, steel pens, electro-plating; founded an orphanage at Erdington at the cost of nearly L300,000, and the college at Birmingham which bears his name (1795-1881).

MASON, WILLIAM, a minor poet, a friend of poet Gray; the author of two tragedies, “Elfrida” and “Caractacus” (1724-1797).

MASON AND DIXON’S LINE, so called after English engineers who surveyed it 1764-67; is the boundary separating Maryland from Pennsylvania and Delaware; during the Civil War it was inaccurately regarded as dividing the slave-holding from the free States, Maryland and Delaware both recognising slavery.

MASPERO, GASTON CAMILLE CHARLES, French Egyptologist, born at Paris; made extensive explorations and important discoveries in Egypt; has written, among works bearing on Egypt, “Histoire Ancienne des Peuples d’Orient”; b. 1846.

MASSACHUSETTS (2,239), a New England State of the American Union, lies on the Atlantic seaboard between New Hampshire and Vermont on the N. and Rhode Island and Connecticut on the S., with New York on its western border; has a long irregular coast-line and an uneven surface, rising to the Green Mountains in the W.; the scenery is of great beauty, but the soil is in many places poor, the farms raising chiefly hay and dairy produce; the winters are severe; Massachusetts is the third manufacturing State of the Union; its industries include cotton, woollen, worsted, clothing,