MAST. 171 MASTER AND SERVANT. shrouds lead from the iiiasllipad just above the liouuds to each side uf Ihi' sliip. whcri' they spread out fauwise and sustaiu the nuist ayainst thwart- ship pressure; the stajs lead from the masthead forward alonfj the centre line of the ship, fur- nishing strength in that direction; wliile the backstays, also descending from the masthead, extend to the sides of the ship abaft the shrouds to resist the forward pull of the sails. L'pper masts have similar rigging, but the lower ends are secured differently. The heel passes through a hole in a heavy iron-bound wooden block ealled a cap, which is secured to the head of the lower mast, and extends downward to the trestletrces, between which it passes and to which it is secured by a heavy piece of wood or iron called a Kd passing through the mast and trestle- trees or simply resting on the latter, the heel extending beyond the fid hole far enough to he held from horizontal movement by a framed hole between the trestletrces. On the head of the uppermost mast there is usually placed a small disk of wood called the truck, which has sheaves or holes for signal halliards. Upper masts and the lower masts of schooners and of other fore-and-aft rigged craft are (when the masts of the latter are not of iron) almost invariably of one stick, the sliding of yards and of the hoops of fore-and-aft sails being interfered with if Iiands are used. When masts are large and made of a single stick they form no incon- siderable item in the equipment of a ship, for they must be straight, free from blemishes, cracks, deep-seated knots, etc. They are usually of pine, spruce, or fir, which woods combine light- ness with strength in addition to other desirable qualities. As regards position in a ship masts are vari- ously named. In two-masted vessels the forward is called the foremast, the after one the main- mast. In three-masted ships the forward one is the foremast, the middle one the mainmast, the after one the mizzen or mizzenmast. W'lien there are four masts, all large, they are called the foremast, forward mainmast, after mainmast, and mizzen: if the after mast is small, they are called the foremast, mainmast, mizzen, and Jig- ger. When the masts exceed four in number there is no fixed rule for naming. See Ship; Siiipnrii.Dixn, etc. MAS'TABA. An Arabic word of uncertain derivation, meaning a bench, applied by Jtarietto to Kg^-])tian tombs of a type which |>revailcd under the Memphite dynasties of the ancient Empire. Many hundreds of these tombs ex- ist in the great necropolis lietween Abu Roash and Dashur, especially at Gizeli and Saqqara, They are oblong, bench-like structures with flat roofs of stone and walls of sun-dried brick or of stone, having a slight inclination or hatter in- ward. They -ary in size from Ut by 2.5 feet to 84 by 172 feet, and are earefully oriented, with the long axis set north and south. Upon this axis an opening in the roof marks the mouth of the burial shaft, which leads to the mummy chamber, cut in the rock at a depth of some 40 feet. The mastaba itself is sometimes solid, sometimes ehambered. The solid mastaba has upon its eastern face a reetangilar recess, con- taining an inscribed stele. In the chambered mastaba a doorway set in a recess, which in the more important examples forms a spacious vesti- bule or porch fronted by twin piers, gives access Vol, XIII.— 12. to the chamber uy ■i-hapel.' This is often richly adorned with mural paintings, designed for the delectation of the /.((, or disembodied 'double' of the deceased, and invariably possesses on its western wall an inscribed stele and a sculptured door, through which the ka might eventually pass to the land of the Sun of Night, From this chamber also small openings lead to the scrdubs or secret chambers containing the ka-statues, by means of which the leu was supposed to re- tain his or her identity while confined in the limbo of the tomb. Sometimes these openings are wanting, the scrdubs being hermetically sealed. The chapel was open to any one to enter. Consult: Perrot and Chipiez, llistoire de Part dans I'antiqiiite, vol. i. (Paris, 1882) ; Mariette, Les mastabas de I'ancien empire (Paris, 1881- 87); Erman, Life in Ancient Egypt (London, 1894). MASTER (OF. maistre, Fr. maltre, from Lat. miigister, leader; connected with muynus, (ik. ^^yas, megas, great). The proper designation of the commauder of a merchant vessel. The courtesy title of captain which is generallj' ac- corded him is a military designation properly belonging to the naval service only. The rank of master existed in the navy and was the title of an officer next junior to lieutenant. It was the survival of the term sailing-master, which in turn was a relic of the days when ships were commanded and fought by soldiers but navigated and manoeuvred by the sailing-master and his crew of seamen. The act of Congress of August, 1882, changed the title of master to that of lieutenant (junior grade). MASTER AND SERVANT. In its broadest sense, persons in such a relation that one is em- ployed to work for and represent the other, ilodern law, however, distinguishes the employee who is engaged to represent his employer in busi- ness transactions involving the making of con- tracts on the employer's behalf from otlicrs. and designates him as agent (q.v.). This article will be confined to the law of master and servant in its narrow sense — to the rules governing the relation of persons where one is employed to render service for the other but not to bind him by contract. Formerly servants were classified as voluntary and involuntary, the latter class incliuling slaves and apprentices (q.v.). Only voluntary ser- vants will be here considered. Emiinenl leiral writers hold that some of the rules governing master and servant to-day "can only be ex- plained by going back to the time when servants were slaves." For example, it is said the genesis of the master's extraordinary liability for acts of his servant which he has neither commanded nor approved is found in the right of the ancient master to surrender the slave who has injured another. This and similar views, however, have not been sufTiciently established. The modern servant becomes such as the result of an agreement with the master which either party may break at will, subject only to the usual consequence that the party in the wrong is liable to pay damage for the breach. If the contract is not to be performed within a year after it is made, it is required by the Statute of Frauds (q.v.) to be in writing. If, however, it be for an indefinite period, which mav end within a year after the agreement is entered into, no writ-
