Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/672

* MACAO. 592 MACARONI. Patera), and the expused position of the equally hhallow roadstead on the east, unfit it for a great seaport, modern vessels having to lie off shore from three to six miles. Its trade is now thielly in transit with Hong Kong and Canton, and is for the most part in the hands of the Chi- nese and Parsis. In 1808 it was valued at $18,- 858,000. The climate of Macao is delightful and many Europeans from Hong Kong and other southern jmrts are attracted here during the sunnnir. The moan temperature is 74° F., and the annual rainfall about 07 inches, chiefly in July and August. The Portuguese first settled here in 1577 when certain merchants who had s((uatted on the island of Lampaco, and who had assisted the Chinese authorities in dealing with pirates, were per- mitted to move hither to erect warehouses. Though Portugal sent out a royal Governor in 1028, ilacao continued to be regarded by the Chi- nese as Chinese territory until 1887, when by treaty China rclinc|uislicd her claim on condition that the land should never be alienated without China's consent. H is now, therefore, governed wholly as a Portuguese colony. All through the stormy days of early foreign relations with China, Macao was a place of safe retreat for both the merchant and the missionar.v. Here Wells Williams set up his ])rinting press in 1844, and here in the old Protestant Cemetery are the graves of many British and Americans who died at Macao, among them Robert Morrison, the first Protestant missionary to China. Camoes, the Portuguese poet, spent eighteen months of exile here, and on one of the hills is pointed out the grotto in which it is said he composed part of the Lusiad. Macao is notorious for its gambling houses, the tax on which provides most of the public revenue, aiul for its sliare in the infamous coolie traffic which came to an end only in 1873. MACAPA. mii-ka-pa'. A town in Brazil, on tlic nnrlh shore of the Amazon delta, 110 miles from its mouth (Map: Brazil, 3). It is a for- tified town with an excellent harbor, and has a good export trade in timber and cabinet woods. Poiiulation, 4000. MACAQTTE, ma-kak' (Fr. macaque, from macacu, hh/cio/ho, the native name). An Asiatic monkey of the genus Macacus, of the family Ccrcopithocid.'B (q.v. ). These monkeys are of moderate size, the males always decidedly larger than the females and with stronger canine teeth; they have cheek pouches and large ischial cal- losities; and the tail is usually short. Many of the monkeys seen in menageries are macaques. When yo ig they are docile and active, but as they grow old they become morose and exhibit some of the ferocity of their cousins the baboons. They are naturally forest-dwelling animals, and go about in troops which comprise individuals of both sexes and of all ages. These troops do not mix with other monkeys, and the voices and ges- tures of all the macaques differ markedly from those of the langurs and other Oriental monkeys. Their diet is varied, and includes, besides the ordinary insects, fruits, and succulent leaves, lizards, frogs, and crustaceans. One of the most widely known, called by the Malays 'kra' (J/«c«- ciis rii)iO)iioloi]iis). feeds mainly on crabs caught along the seashore. More familiar is the bonnet monkey (Macacus Sinicus), which takes its name from a quaint crest of upright hair on the crown, and is numerous all over Southern India, where it makes itself a nuisance by pillaging the pro- vision shops. A clo.sely related species, the "rilawa! (Macacus pileatus), is a favorite pet and trick monkey in Ceylon. Various other species are scattered through the Orient, of which the lion- tailed and rhesus monkeys are elsewhere de- scribed; the "pig-tailed' (Macacus leoninus) is notable for its size and short pig like tail ; and the Japanese species (Macacus fuscatus), whose tail is thickly haired, is the monkey so con- stantly represented in Japanese art. The most interesting of all the macaques, however, is the single .species making its home west of India — the 'magot' or Barbarj' ape (Macacus inuus). BARB.Ry Ape. This is the ape of the Rock of Gibraltar and the opposite coast of Africa, and hence remarkable as the only monkey living wild in Eurojie. Whether it was indigenous on the European side of the strait, or was taken there by human agency in some past time, cannot now be determined, but these apes are frequently im- jjorted from the mountains of Algeria and jIoroc- co, where they are a great pest to the Arab rus- tics, whose orchards and vegetable gardens they plunder; when this resource fails they live upon pine-nuts, chestnuts, and the like. Their habits are similar on Gibraltar, where a score or more are carefully protected as a public curiosity. This ape is undoubtedly the 'pithecus' of Aris- totle and other ancient writers; and it was the animal from which the Greek and other phy- sicians obtained all the information they had iu regard to human anatomy. Fossil remains of macaques occur in the Plio- cene rocks of Europe, and there is evidence that apes of this genus inhabited Great Britain in the Pleistocene period. See Monkey ; and Plate of Monkeys of the Old World. MACARO'NI (It. maccheroni, Olt. macca- roni. from inaccare, Lat. maccrare, to macerate). Wheat paste, usually in the form of tubes or threads, vaiying in diameter; formerly an ex- clusive product of Italy, but now made in France, the United States, and other countries. Wheat contiiining a large percentage of gluten is re- quired, and for this purpose the hard red wheat from the Black Sea coast is mixed with the Italian wheat. The wheat is first gi'ound into a coarse meal, from which the bran is removed. In this state it is called semola or semolina. The semola is worked up into a dough with hot water and the dough is placed in a vertical cylinder of brass, 8 or 9 inches in diameter, the bottom of which is perforated with holes of the size desired. In making vermicelli and all kinds of solid macaroni the holes are very small; but in making the tube macaroni the holes are larger and have a conical blade inserted to form the tube. The dough is squeezed out of the cylinder through these holes, by hydraulic pressure, and cut off in lengths of about three feet. The tube macaroni emerges with a hollow centre and a slit along one side where the conical knife is attached, but this quickly closes, forming a perfect tube. The sticks are then dried in the sun and are ready for shipment. The laborious hand process of making macaroni formerly employed has been given up. It is said that the best macaroni is made in Grognano and Torre dell' Annunziata, Italy. The manufacture