a small body of loyalists, who fired one volley, whereupon both sides retreated at full speed. Two days later the Governor marched out at the head of his forces and attacked the Reformers at Montgomery's Farm, and after a brief engagement utterly defeated them. Mackenzie escaped to the United States, where he found many sympathizers, and with their help set abont organizing an expedition, establishing his headquarters on Navy Island in the Niagara River. Not long afterwards, while in Buffalo, he was arrested for violating the neutrality laws of the United States, was convicted, and was imprisoned at Rochester until pardoned on May 10, 1840. After his release he was employed in the New York Custom House, and later on the New York Tribune. On February 1, 1849, the Canadian Government granted a general amnesty to all who had taken part in the rebellion, and Mackenzie then returned to Toronto and was once more elected to the legislature, in which he served from 1850 to 1858. Among his publications are: Sketches of Canada and the United States (1833); Lives and Opinions of Benjamin Franklin Butler and Jesse Hoyt (1845); and Life and Times of Martin Van Buren (1846). Consult: Lindsay, Life and Times of William Lyon Mackenzie (Toronto, 1862); Dent, Story of the Upper Canadian Rebellion (Toronto, 1885); and Read, The Canadian Rebellion of 1837 (Toronto, 1896).
MACKENZIE RIVER. A river of the Dominion of Canada, one of the longest streams of North America, first explored in 1789 by Alexander Mackenzie, from whom it derives its name (Map: Canada, E 3). It has its origin under the name of Athabasca River near Mount Brown, in the Rocky Mountains, on the eastern borders of British Columbia, and after a north-northeast course of 687 miles falls into Lake Athabasca. Emerging from this lake as the Slave River, it receives the Peace River, and after another course of 210 miles empties into Great Slave Lake (q.v.). It thence assumes the name of Mackenzie River, and conveys the waters of Great Slave Lake to the Arctic Ocean at Mackenzie Bay. Estimated total length, 2500 miles; area of basin, 590,000 square miles. After leaving Great Slave Lake it receives the waters of Great Bear Lake. Its upper course lies through a fertile and well-timbered district, and there is an extensive deposit of lignite along its lower course and estuary. On its banks are Forts Simpson, Norman, and Good Hope. In many places it is more than a mile in width, and during the summer months is navigated by the steamboats of the Hudson's Bay Company throughout the greater part of its course from Great Slave Lake to the Arctic Ocean. There is only one obstruction and that not a serious one, occurring near Fort Good Hope, about latitude 66° N.
MACKEREL (OF. makerel, maquerel, maquereau, Fr. maquereau, from ML. macarellus, mackerel, probably from Lat. macula, spot). A fish of the spiny-rayed family Scombridæ, and especially of the typical genus Scomber. The body is spindle-shaped and compressed, with a slender caudal peduncle, keeled on each side, and a crescent-shaped tail. There are two dorsal fins, the posterior one succeeded by from five to nine finlets. The common mackerel (Scomber scombrus) is abundant on both sides of the North Atlantic, south to Spain, in Europe, and Cape Hatteras in America. It is a very beautiful fish, brilliant green and blue above with about thirty-five wavy black transverse streaks, and silvery below. The average length is about 12 inches, such a fish weighing about a pound. Occasionally one finds a specimen 20 inches in length with a weight of 3 to 4 pounds. Maturity is reached about the fourth year. Young mackerel are variously called ‘spikes,’ ‘blinkers,’ and ‘tinkers,’ according to their size. The mackerel appear along the coast in spring in immense schools, often estimated to contain hundreds of thousands of barrels, wandering widely and voraciously feeding upon anything smaller than themselves, mainly young fishes; and withdraw again in the fall to deeper, warmer waters. They spawn in May, June, and July on the American coast. The eggs are very minute and at first float at the surface, but subsequently gradually sink to the bottom. A single female may contain as many as 200,000 eggs; and during the summer of 1896 24,000,000 mackerel eggs were artificially hatched by the United States Fish Commission.
There are only a few species of mackerel, but these are widely distributed and everywhere highly valued as food. The flesh, especially of the common species, is excellent when eaten fresh, and is salted in very great quantities. The mackerel fisheries (see Fisheries) are among the most important in both Europe and America. The principal fishing station in the United States is Gloucester, Mass. About 1000 vessels were employed in former years, but now the number has been reduced to less than 500. The chub mackerel (Scomber colias) is found in both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The immense horse mackerel (Thunnus thynnus), pelagic and found in both oceans, reaches a length of 10 feet and a weight of 1500 pounds. The flesh is excellent and large numbers of the fish are caught by Europeans. (See Tunny.) The Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus maculatus) occurs on both coasts of the United States, attaining a weight of 8 or 9 pounds, and is a most excellent food fish. Consult: Goode, Fishery Industries, sec. i. (Washington, 1884), and other works cited under Fish and under Fisheries. See Plate of Mackerels.
MACKEREL GUIDE. A British name for a gar (q.v.).
MACKEREL GULL (so called because of feeding on mackerel). Any of several of the smaller gulls, as the laughing gull. In New Zealand, a small and numerous species locally called ‘tarpunga,’ which plunders oyster-catchers and other shore-birds of food.
MACKEREL MIDGE. A British name for any local species of codling.
MACKEREL SHARK. See Probeagle.
MACK′EY, Albert Gallatin (1807-81). An American writer on Freemasonry. He was born at Charleston, S. C., and was educated there for the practice of medicine, which he later relinquished for literature and especially that pertaining to Freemasonry. In 1850 he established in Charleston a Masonic monthly magazine and in 1858 a quarterly in the same interest. His chief works include: Cryptic Masonry and Masonic Ritualist (1867); Symbolism of Freemasonry (1869); A Text-Book of Masonic Jurisprudence
