Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/95

 MANAGUA MANAKIN 8T HI'

co: e bleaching works, but few manufacturing establishments. The government is vested in the queen in council, the governor, and the house of keys," a self -perpetuating body, nsisting of 24 landed proprietors, who are nsidered the representatives of the people, and whose concurrence is necessary to give validity to every law ; the acts of the British parliament do not affect the isle of Man unless expressly extended to it. The governor is ap- pointed by the crown and assisted by a coun- cil of officers. Besides the ordinary civil and ecclesiastical courts, there are ancient tribu- nals called "deemsters' courts," the judges of which, called deemsters, are chosen by the people, one for the N. and another for the S. division of the island, and possess very exten- sive authority. Questions relating to the her- ring fishery are tried before an officer called the water bailiff, who also appoints two fisher- men called admirals to preserve order among their fellows. The established religion is that of the church of England, under the bishop of Sodor and Man, who has a seat but no vote in the British house of lords. The island was originally peopled by the Manx, a Celtic tribe, whose language, a sub-dialect of the Gaelic or Celtic, forming one branch with the Erse and Irish, is still spoken in the northwest and west, though English is generally understood. The island was held for some time as a feu- dal sovereignty by the earls of Derby, and af- terward by the dukes of Athol, from whom the sovereignty and revenues were purchased by the crown in 1765 for the sum of 70,000, to which an annuity of 2,000 was subse- quently added. In 1829 the ducal family's remaining interests in the island, including the manorial rights and patronage of the see, were sold to the crown for 416,114. The chief towns are Castletown (the capital), Peel, Douglas, and Ramsay. MANAGUA, a city and the capital of Nicaragua, and of the department of Granada, situated on the S. shore of the lake of the same name, 220 ft. above the level of the Pacific, in lat. 12 7' N., Ion. 86 12' W. ; pop. about 6,500, for the most part proprietors of the fertile lands which surround it, and which are productive in all tropical staples. The public buildings are few and devoid of beauty. The old parish church, which was in a state of ruin, has been demolished, and a new edifice is in process of construction ; and there are four other churches. The national palace is a low square edifice with balconies in the Spanish style, the only ornate portions of which are the congress halls and those occupied by the president of the repub- lic. A new structure beside the palace con- tains the cdbildo or city hall, a prison, and barracks. The environs of Managua are vry picturesque; on the declivities of the moun- tain range to the south there are more than 100 coffee plantations, yielding copious crops, despite the lack of water for irrigation in some of them ; and in another direction are the lakes of Tiscapa-, Nejapa, and Asososca, near the banks of which last exist curious antique paintings. Managua owes its rank as capital chiefly to the rivalries of the cities of Granada and Leon, and partly to its central position. MANAGUA, Lake, a beautiful body of water in Nicaragua, about 40 m. long by 16 m. wide, 157 ft. above the Pacific ocean, from which it is separated by a ridge of land 15 m. broad in its narrowest part. It has a depth of water varying from 2 to 40 fathoms ; but numerous moving sand banks render its navigation diffi- cult for large vessels. The N. and E. banks are unhealthy marshy deserts ; the W. shores are sandy, interspersed with bold rocks; and there are several ports, that of Managua being the best, and the point designated for the in- land terminus of the projected railway from the lake to the port of Corinto via Leon. It has an outlet at its S. extremity called Eio Tipitapa or Estero de Panaloya, connecting it with Lake Nicaragua. The difference of level between the two lakes, at average stages of water, is 28 ft. The Rio Tipitapa, during se- vere rainy seasons, has a considerable body of water ; but it is frequently almost dry, the evaporation from the surface of the lake ex- ceeding the supply of water from its tributa- ries, which are all intermittent streams, ex- cept Sinogapa and Rio Viejo. In the various projects for an interoceanic communication through Nicaragua, it has been proposed to connect the two lakes by means of a canal, deepening the Tipitapa and constructing a se- ries of locks to the superior lake, with another canal from the lake to the port of Realejo, or by means of the Estero Real to the bay of Fonseca. Bet ween "the N. portion of the lake and the Pacific there is only the magnificent plain of Leon, having an elevation at its high- est part of about 50 ft. above the level of water in the lake. The volcano of Momo- tombo projects boldly into the lake at its N. extremity, and within the lake itself rises the island cone of Moraotombita, which had a sa- cred repute among the aborigines, and still contains numbers of their idols and other monuments, concealed beneath the shadows of its dense forests. The city of Leon was first built on the shore of the N. "W. extremity of the lake, at a place called Imbita, abandoned for the present site in 1610. MANAKIN, the name applied to the denti- rostral birds of the family ampelidce or chat- terers and subfamily piprina; they are gen- erally small and of brilliant colors, and with one exception inhabitants of the warmer parts of South America. They have a moderate or short bill, depressed, with broad base, curved ridge, compressed sides, and toothed tip; the nostrils are hidden by the frontal feathers ; the wings generally short and pointed ; tail short and even ; tarsi moderate and slender ; toes long, the outer united to the middle to beyond the second joint ; claws acute. The red manakin or chatterer (phoenicercus carnifex, Swains.) is