but its present appearance, save a bastion of the ancient castle, is wholly modern. There are flour-mills and a considerable general trade. Maryborough returned two members to the Irish parliament from 1585 until the union in 1800. The singular lofty rock of Dunamase or Dunmall, about 3 m. from the town, bears on its summit extensive ruins of a castle, originally belonging to the kings of Leinster, but probably built in the main by William Bruce (c. 1200) and dismantled in 1650 by Cromwell’s troops.
MARYBOROUGH, a town of March county, Queensland, Australia, on the left bank and 25 m. from the mouth of the Mary river, 180 m. by rail N. of Brisbane. Pop. (1901), 10,159. Besides a handsome court-house and town hall, the principal buildings are the hospital, a technical college, a library, the Anglican Church of St Paul with a fine tower and peal of bells, and the grammar schools. There is a large shipbuilding yard, and breweries, distilleries, a tannery, boot factories, soap works, saw-mills, flour-mills, carriage works and iron foundries, besides extensive sugar factories in the neighbourhood. The largest smelting works in Australia are 5 m. distant, in which ore from all the states is treated. Maryborough is the port of shipment for a wide agricultural district yielding maize and sugar, and also for the Gympie gold-fields. Timber abounds in the neighbourhood and is exported. Maryborough is also the second coaling port in Queensland, the government railway wharf being in direct communication with the Burrum coal-fields.
MARYBOROUGH, a municipal town of Talbot county,
Victoria, Australia, 112 m. by rail N.W. of Melbourne. Pop.
(1901), 5633. It has fine government buildings, a town hall, a
botanical garden, and numerous park lands. It is an important
railway centre, and has extensive railway workshops, as well
as coach factories, breweries and foundries. The gold mining
of the district is deep alluvial. Wheat, oats and wine are the
chief agricultural products of the neighbourhood.
MARYLAND, a South Atlantic state of the United States,
and one of the original thirteen, situated between latitudes
37° 53′ and 39° 44′ N. and longitudes 75° 4′ and 79° 33′ W. (the
precise western boundary has not been determined). It is
bounded N. by Pennsylvania and Delaware; E. by Delaware and
the Atlantic Ocean; S. and W. by the Potomac river and its
north branch, which separate it, except on the extreme W.
border, from Virginia and West Virginia; W., also, by West
Virginia. It is one of the small states of the Union—only seven
are smaller—its total area being 12,327 sq. m. of which 2386
sq. m. are water surface.
Physical Features.—Maryland is crossed from north to south by each of the leading topographical regions of the east section of the United States—the Coastal Plain, the Piedmont Plateau, the Appalachian Mountains, and the Appalachian Plateau—hence its great diversity of surface. The portion within the Coastal Plain embraces nearly the whole of the south-east half of the state and is commonly known as tide-water Maryland. It is marked off from the Piedmont Plateau by a “Fall Line” extending from Washington (D.C.) north-east through Baltimore to a point a little south of the north-east corner of the state, and is divided by the Chesapeake Bay into two parts known as the East Shore and the West Shore. The East Shore is a low level plain, the least elevated section of the state. Along its entire Atlantic border extends the narrow sandy Sinepuxent Beach, which encloses a shallow lagoon or bay also called Sinepuxent at the north, where, except in the extreme north, it is very narrow, and Chincoteague at the south, where its width is in most places from 4 to 5 m. Between this and the Chesapeake to the west and north-west there is a slight general rise, a height of about 100 ft. being reached in the extreme north. A water-parting extending from north-east to south-west and close to the Atlantic border separates the East Shore into two drainage systems, though that next to the Atlantic is insignificant. That on the Chesapeake side is drained chiefly by the Pocomoke, Nanticoke, Choptank and Chester rivers, together with their numerous branches, the general direction of all of which is south-west. The branches as well as the upper parts of the main streams flow through broad and shallow valleys; the middle courses of the main streams wind their way through reed-covered marshes, the water ebbing and flowing with the tide; in their lower courses they become estuarine and the water flows between low banks. The West Shore is somewhat more undulating than the East and also more elevated. Its general slope is from north-west to south-east; along the west border are points 300 ft. or more in height. The principal rivers crossing this section are the Patuxent, Patapsco and Gunpowder, with which may be grouped the Potomac, forming the state’s southern boundary. These rivers, lined in most instances with terraces 30 to 40 ft. high on one or both sides, flow south-east into the Chesapeake Bay through valleys bounded by low hills. The Fall Line, which forms the boundary between the Coastal Plain and the Piedmont Plateau, is a zone in which a descent of about 100 ft. or more is made in many places within a few miles and in consequence is marked by waterfalls, cascades and rapids.
The part of Maryland within the Piedmont Plateau extends west from the Fall Line to the base of Catoctin Mountain, or the west border of Frederick county, and has an area of about 2500 sq. m. In general it has a broad rolling surface. It is divided into two sections by an elevated strip known as Parr’s Ridge, which extends from north-east to south-west a short distance west of the middle. The east section rises from about 450 ft. along the Fall Line to from 850 to 900 ft. along the summit of Parr’s Ridge. Its principal streams are those that cross the West Shore of the Coastal Plain and here wind their way from Parr’s Ridge rapidly toward the south-east in narrow steep-sided gorges through broad limestone valleys. To the west of Parr’s Ridge the surface for the most part slopes gently down to the east bank of the Monocacy river (which flows nearly at a right angle with the streams east of the Ridge), and then from the opposite bank rises rapidly toward the Catoctin Mountain; but just above the mouth of the Monocacy on the east side of the valley is Sugar Loaf Mountain, which makes a steep ascent of 1250 ft.
The portion of the state lying within the Appalachian Region is commonly known as Western Maryland. To the eastward it abounds in mountains and valleys; to the westward it is a rolling plateau. West of Catoctin Mountain (1800 ft.) is Middletown Valley, with Catoctin Creek running through it from north to south, and the Blue Ridge Mountains (2400 ft.), near the Pennsylvania border, forming its west slope. Farther west the serrated crests of the Blue Ridge overlook the Greater Appalachian Valley, here 73 m. in width, the broad gently-rolling slopes of the Great Cumberland or Hagerstown Valley occupying its eastern and the Appalachian Ridges its western portion. Through the eastern portion Antietam Creek to the east and Conococheague Creek to the west flow rapidly in meandering trenches that in places exceed 75 ft. in depth. The Appalachian Ridges of the western portion begin with North Mountain on the east and end with Wills Mountain on the west. They are long, narrow, uniformly-sloping and level-crested mountains, extending along parallel lines from north-east to south-west, and reaching a maximum height in Martin’s Ridge of more than 2000 ft. Overlooking them from the west are the higher ranges of the Alleghenies, among which the Savage, Backbone and Negro Mountains reach elevations of 3000 ft. or more. In the extreme west part of the state these mountains merge, as it were, into a rolling plateau, the Appalachian Plateau, having an average elevation of 2500 ft. All rivers of Western Maryland flow south into the Potomac except in the extreme west, where the waters of the Youghiogheny and its tributaries flow north into the Monongahela.
Fauna and Flora.—In primitive times deer, ducks, turkeys, fish and oysters were especially numerous, and wolves, squirrels and crows were a source of annoyance to the early settlers. Deer, black bears and wild cats (lynx) are still found in some uncultivated sections. Much more numerous are squirrels, rabbits, “groundhogs” (woodchucks), opossums, skunks, weasels and minks. Many species of ducks are also still found; and the reed-bird (bobolink), “partridge” (elsewhere called quail or “Bob White”), ruffed grouse (elsewhere called partridge), woodcock, snipe, plover and Carolina rail still abound. The waters of the Chesapeake Bay are especially rich in oysters and crabs, and there, also, shad, alewives, “striped” (commonly called “rock”) bass, menhaden, white perch and weak-fish (“sea-trout”) occur in large numbers. Among the more common trees are several species of oak, pine, hickory, gums and maple, and the chestnut, the poplar, the beech, the cypress and the red cedar; the merchantable pine has been cut, but the chestnut and other hard woods of West Maryland are still a product of considerable value. Among wild fruit-trees are the persimmon and Chickasaw plum; grape-vines and a large variety of berry-bushes grow wild and in abundance.
Climate.—The climate of Maryland in the south-east is influenced by ocean and bay—perhaps also by the sandy soil—while in the west it is influenced by the mountains. The prevailing winds are westerly; but generally north-west in winter in the west section and south-west in summer in the south section. In the south the normal winter is mild, the normal summer rather hot; in the west the normal winter is cold, the normal summer cool. The normal average annual temperature for the entire state is between 53° and 54° F., ranging from 48° at Grantsville in the north-west to 53° at Darlington in the north-east, and to 57° at Princess Anne in the south-east. The normal temperature for the state during July (the warmest month) is 75.2° F., and during January (the coldest month) 32.14° F. Although the west section is generally much the cooler in summer, yet both of the greatest extremes recorded since 1891 were at points not far apart in Western Maryland: 109° F. at Boettcherville and −26° F. at Sunnyside. The normal
