the centre of each island is a ridge of mountains, attaining an altitude of 4042 ft. in Huapu, whence rugged spurs forming deep valleys stretch towards the sea. The volcanic origin of the whole archipelago is proved by the principal rocks being of basalt, trachyte and lava. Vegetation is luxuriant in the valleys, which are well watered with streams and, from their seaward termination in small bays, are themselves known as “bays.” The flora includes about four hundred known species, many of them identical with those belonging to the Society Islands. The vegetable products comprise bananas, bread-fruit, yams, plantains, wild cotton, bamboos, sugar-cane, coco-nut and dwarf palms, and several kinds of timber trees. The land fauna however is very poor; there are few mammals with the exception of dogs, rats and pigs; and amphibia and insects are also generally scarce. Of twenty species of birds more than half belong to the sea, where animal life is as abundant as about other subtropical Polynesian groups. The climate, although hot and damp, is not unhealthy. During the greater part of the year moderate easterly trade-winds prevail, and at the larger islands there are often both land and sea breezes. The rainy season accompanied by variable winds sets in at the end of November, and lasts for about six months. During this period the thermometer varies from 84° to 91° F.; in the dry season its average range is from 77° to 86°. The archipelago, which has some small trade in copra, cotton and cotton seeds, is administered by a French resident, and has a total population of about 4300, nearly all natives.
The natives, a pure Polynesian race, are usually described as physically the finest of all South Sea Islanders. Their traditions point to Samoa as the colonizing centre from which they sprang. Their complexion is a healthy bronze. Until the introduction of civilization they were remarkable for their elaborate tattooing. Their cannibalism seems to have been dictated by taste, for it was never associated with their religion, the sacrifices to their gods being always swine. Of these and fowls they rear a great quantity. Their native drink is kava. Their houses are unlike those usual in Polynesia in being built on platforms raised from the ground. In disposition the islanders are friendly and hospitable, brave and somewhat bloodthirsty; and, although naturally indolent and morose, they have proved industrious and keen traders. As among their kinsfolk the Tahitians, debauchery was systematized and infanticide an organized institution. A population which at the time of the annexation by France (1842) was 20,000 has been reduced to little over 4000. Latterly the natives have for the most part outwardly adopted Christianity.
The Marquesas Islands were discovered on the 21st of July 1595 by Alvaro Mendaña, who, however, only knew of the south-eastern group, to which he gave the name by which they are generally known (although they also bear his own), in honour of Don Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza, marquis of Cañete, viceroy of Peru, and patron of the voyage. Captain Cook pursuing the same track rediscovered this group, with the addition of Fatuhuku, in 1774. The north-western islands were first sighted by the American Captain Ingraham in 1791, and given the name of Washington by him; the French Captain Marchand followed in the same year, and Lieut. Hergest in 1792. The Russian explorer, Adam Ivan Krusenstern, made an extensive investigation of the archipelago in 1804. In 1813 the American Commodore David Porter failed to establish a colony here; and in May 1842, after French Roman Catholic missionaries had prepared the way, Rear-admiral Dupetit-Thouars took formal possession of the archipelago for France. A complete settlement was not effected without bloodshed and about 1860–1870 the colony was practically abandoned.
See Vincendon-Dumoulin Îles Marquises (Paris, 1843); E. Jardin, Essai sur l’histoire naturelle de l’archipel de Mendaña (Paris, 1860); Clavel, Les Marquisiens (Paris, 1885); Dordillon, Grammaire et dictionnaire de la langue des Îles Marquises (Paris, 1904).
MARQUESS, or Marquis (Fr. marquis, Ital. marchese; from med. Lat. marchio, marchisus, i.e. comes marchiae, “count of the
March”), a title and rank of nobility. In the British peerage
it is the second in order and therefore next to duke. In this
sense the word was a reintroduction from abroad; but lords of
the Welsh and Scottish “marches” are occasionally termed
marchiones from an early date. The first marquess in England
was Robert de Vere, the 9th earl of Oxford, who was created
marquess of Dublin by Richard II. on the 1st of December 1385
and assigned precedence between dukes and earls. On the 13th
of October following the patent of this marquessate was recalled,
Robert de Vere then having been raised to a dukedom. John
de Beaufort, earl of Somerset, the second legitimate son of John
of Gaunt, was raised to the second marquessate as marquess of
Dorset on the 29th of September 1397, but degraded again to
earl in 1399. The Commons petitioned for the restoration of
his marquessate in 1402, but he himself objected because “le
noun de Marquys feust estraunge noun en cest Roialme.” From
that period this title appears to have been dormant till the reign
of Henry VI., when it was revived (1442), and thenceforward it
maintained its place in the British peerage. Anne Boleyn was
created marchioness of Pembroke in 1532. A marquess is
“most honourable,” and is styled “my lord marquess.” His
wife, who is also “most honourable,” is a marchioness, and is
styled “my lady marchioness.” The coronet is a circlet of gold
on which rest four leaves and as many large pearls, all of them
of equal height and connected. The cap and lining, if worn, are
the same as in the other coronets (see Crown and Coronet).
The mantle of parliament is scarlet, and has three and a half
doublings of ermine.
In France, so early as the 9th century, counts who held several counties and had succeeded in making themselves quasi-independent began to describe themselves as marchiones, this use of the word being due to the fact that originally none but the margraves, or counts of the marches, had been allowed to hold more than one county. The marchio or marquess thus came to be no more than a count of exceptional power and dignity, the original significance of the title being lost. In course of time the title was recognized as ranking between those of duke and count; but with the decay of feudalism it lost much of its dignity, and by the 17th century the savour of pretentiousness attached to it had made it a favourite subject of satire for Molière and other dramatists of the classical comedy. Abolished at the Revolution, the title of marquess was not restored by Napoleon, but it was again revived by Louis XVIII., who created many of Napoleon’s counts marquesses. This again tended to cheapen the title, a process hastened under the republic by its frequent assumption on very slender grounds in the absence of any authority to prevent its abuse. In Italy too the title of marchese, once borne only by the powerful margraves of Verona, has shared the fate of most other titles of nobility in becoming common and of no great social significance. (See also Margrave.) (J. H. R.)
MARQUETRY (Fr. marqueterie, from marqueter, to inlay, literally to mark, marquer), an inlay of ornamental woods,
ivory, bone, brass and other metals, tortoise-shell, mother-of-pearl,
&c., in which shaped pieces of different materials or tints
are combined to form a design. It is a later development of the
ornamental inlays of wood known by the name of Intarsia, and
though in the main the latter was a true inlay of one or more
colours upon a darker or lighter ground, while marquetry is
composed of pieces of quite thin wood or other material of equal
thickness laid down upon a matrix with glue, there are examples
of Intarsia in which this mode of manufacture was evidently
followed. For instance, the backs of the stalls in the cathedral
of Ferrara show the perspective lines of some of the subjects
traced upon the ground where the marquetry has fallen off, but
none of the sinkings in the surface which would be there if the
panels had been executed as true inlays. In the endeavour to gain
greater relief, shading and tinting the wood were resorted to, the
shading being generally produced by scorching, either with a hot
iron or hot sand, and the tinting by chemical washes and even by
the use of actual colour, but the result is usually hardly commensurate
with the labour expended. A combination of tortoise-shell
and metal, the one forming the ground and the other the
pattern upon it, which may be classed as marquetry also appears
in the 17th century. The subjects of the intarsiatori are generally
arabesques or panels with elaborate perspectives, either of
buildings or cupboards with different articles upon the shelves
seen through half-open doors, which themselves are frequently
of lattice-work delineated with extraordinary perfection, though
figure subjects occur also. The later marqueteurs used a freer
form of design for the most part, and scrolls and bunches of
