(bad). Others connect it with the name of an alleged Arab tribe,
Mà-âfir, once settled at Palermo. Giuseppe Pitré asserts that the
word is peculiar to western Sicily and that, with its derivatives, it
formerly meant, in Il Borgo, a district of Palermo, beauty or excellence.
Thus, a handsome woman showily dressed was said “to have
mafia,” or to be mafiusa. Often in Palermo the street merchants
call arance-mafiuse (fine oranges). Thus, Pitré argues, mafia,
applied to a man to express manly carriage and bravery, would
naturally become the title of a society the members of which were
all “bravos.” A less credible explanation of the term is connected
with Mazzini, who is said to have formed a secret society the members
of which were called Mafiusi, from Mafia, a word composed of
the initial letters of five Italian words, Mazzini autorizza furti, incendi,
avvelenamenti, “Mazzini authorizes theft, arson and poisoning.” This theory suggests that the word was unknown before 1859 or 1860.
The Mafia, however named, existed long before Mazzini’s day. In its crudest form it was co-operative brigandage, blended with the Vendetta (q.v.). The more strictly organized Mafia was the result of the disorders consequent upon the expulsion of the king of Naples by Napoleon. When the Bourbon court took refuge in Sicily there were a large number of armed retainers in the service of the Sicilian feudal nobility. Ferdinand IV., at the bidding of England, granted a constitution to the island in 1812, and with the destruction of feudalism most of the feudal troops became brigands. Powerless to suppress them, Ferdinand organized the bandits into a rural gendarmerie, and they soon established a reign of terror. The abject poverty of the poorer classes, unable to eke out existence by work in the sulphur mines or on the fields, fostered the growth of two classes of mafiusi—the vast majority of the inhabitants who were glad to put themselves as passive members under the protection of the Mafia, while the active members shared in the plunder. The Mafia thus became a loosely organized society under an unwritten code of laws or ethics known as Omertà, i.e., manliness (from Sicil. omu, Ital. uomo, a man), which embodied the rules of the Vendetta. Candidates were admitted after trial by duel, and were sworn to resist law and defeat justice. Like the Camorra, the Mafia was soon powerful in all classes, and even the commander of the royal troops acted in collusion with it. The real home of Mafia was in and around Palermo, where no traveller was safe from robbery and the knife. In an organized form the Mafia survives only in isolated districts. Generally speaking, it is to-day not a compact criminal association but a complex social phenomenon, the consequence of centuries of misgovernment. The Mafiuso is governed by a sentiment akin to arrogance which imposes a special line of conduct upon him. He considers it dishonourable to have recourse to lawful authority to obtain redress for a wrong or a crime committed against him. He therefore hides the identity of the offender from the police, reserving vengeance to himself or to his friends and dependants. This sentiment, still widely diffused among the lower classes of many districts, and not entirely unknown to the upper classes, renders difficult legal proof of culpability for acts of violence, and multiplies sanguinary private reprisals. In September 1892 about 150 Mafiusi were arrested at Catania, but all repressive measures proved useless. The only result was to drive some of the members abroad, with disastrous results to other countries. In October 1890 David Hennessy, chief of police in New Orleans, was murdered. Subsequent legal inquiry proved the crime to be the work of the Mafia, which had been introduced into the United States thirty years before. In May 1890 a band of Italians living in New Orleans had ambushed another gang of their fellow-countrymen belonging to a society called Stoppaghera. The severe police measures taken brought the vengeance of the society upon Hennessy. Eleven Italians were indicted on suspicion of being implicated in his murder; but the jury was terrorized and acquitted six. On the 14th of March 1891 a mob led by well-known New Orleans citizens broke into the gaol where nineteen Italians were imprisoned and lynched eleven of them.
See W. Agnew Paton, Picturesque Sicily (1898); C. W. Heckethorn, Secret Societies of all Ages (1897); Alongi, La Maffia (Turin, 1887); Le Faure, La Maffia (Paris, 1892).
MAFRA, a town of Portugal, in the district of Lisbon (formerly
in the province of Estremadura); near the Atlantic coast and the
right bank of the river Lizandro, and 20 m. N.W. of Lisbon.
Pop. (1900), 4769. Mafra is remarkable for its monastery,
church, and palace, built by John V. in 1717–1732, in consequence
of a vow made during a dangerous illness to build a
convent for the poorest friary of the kingdom—which proved
to be a small Franciscan settlement here. The architects,
Johann Friedrich Ludwig of Regensburg, and his son Johann
Peter, took the Escurial for their model; but the imitation is
less successful than the original, though the cost exceeded
£4,000,000. The building is in the form of a parallelogram
measuring upwards of 800 ft. from north to south and 700 ft.
from east to west; it is said to contain 866 rooms, and to be
lighted by no fewer than 5200 windows. The centre is occupied
by the church, sumptuously built of marble, and richly adorned
with statues and other objects of art. In each of the twin
towers there is a chime of 57 bells. Part of the palace, originally
designed as barracks, is used as a military academy. Adjoining the palace are fine gardens and a royal model farm.
MAGADHA, an ancient kingdom of India, mentioned in both the Ramayana and the Mahābhārata. It comprised that portion of Behar lying S. of the Ganges, with its capital at Pataliputra
or Patna. As the scene of many incidents in the life of Gautama
Buddha, it was a holy land. It was also the seat of the
Maurya Empire, founded by Chandragupta, which extended
over all India under Asoka; and, later, of the powerful Gupta
dynasty.
MAGALDÁN, a town in the northern part of the province of
Pangasinan, Luzon, Philippine Islands, about 2 m. from the
shore of the Gulf of Lingayen. Pop. (1903), 15,841. In 1903
the adjacent municipality of Mapandan (pop. in 1903, 4198)
was annexed to Magaldán. Most of its inhabitants are engaged
in rice culture. The principal language is Pangasinan; Ilocano
is also spoken.
MAGALLANES (Spanish form of Magellan), a territory of
southern Chile extending from 47° S. to Cape Horn and including
the mainland from the Argentine frontier to the Pacific coast, the
islands extending along that coast, the Fuegian archipelago, and
the western half of Tierra del Fuego. Area, about 71,127 sq. m.;
pop. (1895), 5170. It is one of the most inhospitable regions
of the world, being exposed to cold westerly storms for most
of the year. The islands are barren, but the mainland is covered
with forests, practically inaccessible to exploitation because of
the inclement climate and the wet spongy soil. The coast is
indented with bays and fjords and affords remarkable scenery.
There is little animal life on land, but the coast is frequented
by the seal and sea-otter and the sheltered waters by countless
sea-fowl. The only permanent settlements are at Punta
Arenas, the capital, on the Straits of Magellan, Palomares on
Otway Water, Mina Marta on Skyring Water, and Ultima
Esperanza (Last Hope) on the east shore of Worsley Sound.
All are east of the Andean ranges and partially sheltered from
the westerly storms. In this sheltered region there are open
plains where sheep are grazed. A few sheep ranges have
been established on Tierra del Fuego. Some nomadic tribes
of Indians inhabit Tierra del Fuego and the extreme southern
end of the mainland, but their numbers are small. Coal has been found in the vicinity of Punta Arenas, and gold occurs.
See The Voyage of the Adventure and Beagle (1839).
MAGAZINE, primarily a warehouse for goods or merchandise (Arab. makhzan, a storehouse, from khazana, to store up). In Morocco makhzan (or maghzen) has come to be used as the name of the government. The Spaniards adopted the Arabic in the form magacen, and the English form comes through the older French magazin, modern magasin. The meaning of a storehouse or large shop, common in French, is rare in English except in the military use of the term for a building for the storage of explosives and ammunition. It is applied to the chamber of a repeating rifle or machine-gun containing the supply of cartridges. The name as applied to a periodical publication
