Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 06.djvu/126

LEFT MANAGUA 98 MANCHESTER MANAQUA (ma-na'gwa), the capital of Nicaragua, situated in a fertile dis- trict, on the S. shore of Lake Managua, 53 miles S. E. of Leon. Pop. about 35,000. MANAHIKI(ma-ne-he'ke) ISLANDS, a group of low, wooded atolls, scattered over the Central Pacific, between the Marquesas and Union groups; area 12 square mjles; pop. (1920) about 500. Most of these islands, as Caroline, Mai- den, Starbuck, Penrhyn, Humphrey, Vos- tok, Flint, and two or three others, be- long to New Zealand. MANAOS (ma-na'os), capital of the state of Amazonas, Brazil, on the Rio Negro, 12 miles above its confluence with the Amazon. A whitewashed cathedral rises in the center of the town, which also has a custom house and a military hospital. It is a well-built city, with many modern municipal improvements. There are a school of chemistry, a mu- seum, and a public library. The city is a steamboat station, and has a considerable trade in various forest products, but principally in india-rubber. Pop. about 50,000. MANASABOWAR (ma' "na-sa"r6- war'), a lake of Tibet, N. of the main chain of the Himalaya Mountains; it is almost circular in form, about 15 miles in diameter, and drained by the Sutlej. MANASSAS JUNCTION, a small town in Prince William co., Va. (twice during the Civil War an important military po- sition), where the Alexandria and Manas- sas Gap railways meet, near a creek named Bull Run, 35 miles S. W. of Washington, D. C. The battles of Bull Run, fought July 21, 1861, and Aug. 29- 30, 1862, were known to the Confed- erates as the battles of Manassas. MANASSEH, in Scripture history, the eldest son of Joseph, born in Egypt. His descendants constituted a full tribe. This was divided in the promised land; one part having settled E. of the Jordan, in the country of Bashan, from the river Jabbok N. ; and the other W. of the Jor- dan, between Ephraim and Isnaehar, ex- tending from the Jordan to the Mediter- ranean. A King of Judah, who succeeded his father, Hezekiah, at the age of 12 years. In 677 B. c. Esarhaddon, King of Assyria, invaded his dominions, and car- ried Manasseh captive to Babylon. After a long captivity, the King of Babylon restored him to his kingdom. On his return to Jerusalem he established the worship of the true God. He died in 643 B. C. MANATEE, any individual of the genus Manatus, more particularly M. australia (americanus), first discovered by the early Spanish colonists. Mana- tees are found in the creeks, lagoons, and estuaries of some of the West India islands, on the American coast from Florida as far as 20° S., in the great rivers of Brazil, on the coast of Africa from 16° N. to 10° S., and in Lake Tchad. They are slow and inactive and quite in- offensive; they browse on aquatic, pre- ferably fluviatile, plants in shallow water. Their numbers are rapidly di- minishing, as they are hunted for the sake of their skin, the oil they yield, and their flesh. MANCHA, LA (man'cha), a district of Spain, in the old kingdom of New Castile, comprising most of the present province of Ciudad Real, with parts of Albacete, Toledo, and Cuena. It is the country of the ever-memorable Don Quixote, his squire Sancho Panza, and of the peerless Dulcinea del Toboso. MANCHE (mansh), LA, a maritime department in the N. W. of France, formed from the old province of Nor- mandy, derives its name from La Manche (the English Channel), which washes its rock coasts; greatest length, 81 miles; average breadth, 28 miles; area, 2,475 square miles; pop. about 500,000. The climate is mild, but humid. Cereals, flax, hemp, beet root, and fruits are extensively cultivated. Horses of the true Norman breed are reared, and ex- cellent cattle and sheep are fed on the extensive pastures. There are valuable granite quarries. The port of Cherbourg and the rock of St. Michel (with its cele- brated abbey) belong to this department. MANCHESTER, a town in Hartford CO., Conn.; on the Hockanum river and on the New York, New Haven, and Hart- ford and South Manchester railroads. There is a public library, high school, electric street railroad, and electric lights, and several newspapers. It has extensive manufacturing plants, includ- ing the great Cheney silk^ mills, paper mills, cotton and woolen mills, electrical supply works, etc. The town was rein- corporated in 1907 and has the commis- sion form of government. Pop. (1910) 13,641; (1920) 18,370. MANCHESTER, a city and one of the county-seats of Hillsboro co., N. H.; on the Merrimae river and on several branches of the Boston and Maine rail- road; 56 miles N. of Boston. It derives water power for manufacturing from the Amoskeag Falls in the Merrimae, by means of a system of canals. There are