Ma'onite (Heb. same word as Maon, used collec- tively; Sept. and Vulg. interpret Xavaav [v. r. MnCi- «/i], Chanuan, Auth. Vers. "Maonites"), an Arabian tribe mentioned in connection with the Amalekites, Si- donians, Philistines, and others as having oppressed the Hebrews (Judg. x, 12). They are the same as the Me- UNiTES (Ci^l^ri, Meiinim', the plural of Maon; Sept. MtrnTo/, confounding them with the Ammonites; Vulg. Ammonitce, and tabernacula ; Auth. Vers. "jNIehunims," and "the habitations"), elsewhere mentioned in a simi- lar connection (2 Chron. xxvi, 27 ; 1 Chron. iv, 41). See also Mehunim. At the present day there exists a town called Ma\in, with a castle, in Arabia Petrrea, to the south of the Dead Sea (see Seetzen, in Zach's Monatl. Corresp. xviii, 382; Burckhardt, Travels in Syria, p. 437). Prof. Kobinson says, " jNIa'an, the well-known town on the route of the Syrian Haj, nearly east of wady Musa, is with good reason assumed as the proba- ble seat of the Maonites mentioned in the Scriptures. Abulfeda {Syr. p. 14) describes Ma'an as inhabited by Ommiades and their vassals" {Researches, ii, 572). That the Mincei of Arabia (Diod. Sic. iii, 42 ; Ptol. vi, 7, 23 ; Strabo, xvi, 7(58) are a different people has long since been shown by Bochart {Phaleg, ii, 23). Traces of the name Maon are found in several localities besides that of the above passages. It is given to a town in the south of Judah, now identified with the ruins of Tell Mahi (Porter, Handbook for S. and P. p. 61). In pro- nouncing a prophetic curse upon Moab, Jeremiah men- tions Beth-meon (xlviii, 23), which may perhaps be the same as the Beth-baal-meon of Josh, xiii, 17, and the Baal-meon of Numb, xxxii, 38, and would thus be iden- tical with the ruin Mahi, three miles soutli of Ileshbon. See Beth-baal-meon. Hence " it is probable that all these names indicate the presence of an ancient and powerful nomad tribe, which was allied to the Phoeni- cians (or Sidonians), whose earliest settlements were in the vale of Sodom, and with the Amalekites who dwelt in the wilderness south of Palestine. These Maonites migrated eastward, leaving their name at ]Maon in the south of Judah, where they may have had their head- quarters for a time, and again at Betli-meon, on the plateau of IMoab ; and also at the large modern village above described" (Kitto).
Maphrian is in the Syrian Church the highest episcopal dignitarj' after the patriarch of Antioch. The jurisdiction of the maphrian extends over Chaktea, As- syria, and Mesopotamia. His residence was formerly at Tafrits, on the Tiger, but since this see has coalesced with that of IMosul it is at the latter place. Neale {In- trod. Hist, of the Eastei-n Church, p. 152) sa3'S that '"the maphrians are now only nominally distinguished from the other metropolitans."
Maoris. See New Zealand.
Mapletoft, John, D.D., an English minister, was born at ^largaret-Inge, Huntingdonshire, in 1C3I ; re- ceived his education at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge ; in 1(553 became fellow of Trinity; in 1(558 became tutor to Joscelin, carl of Nortlumibcr- land; in 1660 entered upon the study of medicine, and finally practiced it with great success, filling at one time the chair of physic in Gresham College, London. Hav- ing turned his attention to the study of divinity, he took, in 1(582, both deacon's and priest's orders ; was soon af- ter presented to the rectory of Braybrooke, in North- amptonshire, by lord Griffin; in 1(584 was chosen lec- turer of Ipswich; in 1685 vicar of St. Lawrence, Jewry,
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and lecturer of St. Christopher's, in London ; received liis D.I), in 16>S9, and in 1707 was chosen president of 8ioii College. He died at Westminster in 1721. Dr. Mapletoft published Principles and Duties of the C/irii- tiaii Religion ('id ed., corrected and enlarged, Lond. 1713, 8vo), and other minor pieces upon moral and theological subjects. — Gen. Biog. Diet. s. v.
Alappa, the name of the linen cloth with which the communion table, and subsequently the altar, was cov- ered. It came to be considered essential that this cloth should be of linen, according to some, in commemora- tion of the linen cloth in which the body of the Lord was wrapped. This, however, it seems would apply better to the corporale (q. v.). Optatus of Milene, in De schismute Donatistarum, speaks of this custom as general. In the Koman Catholic Church there are a number of regulations concerning the muppa, which is always to be blessed by the bishop, or by some one com- missioned by him for the purpose. — Pierer, Universal- Lexikon, x, 848 ; Herzog, lieal-EncyUupddie, ix, 7.
Ma'ra (Heb. Mara', X'n^, for n'i'a, hitter, as ex- plained in the context; Sept. Tri/cpia, Vulg. Mara, id est umara), a symbolical name proposed for herself by Na- omi on account of her misfortunes (Ruth i, 20). See
EUTH.
Mara, a famous diva of Hindu mythology men- tioned in the history of Gautama (q. v.).
Marabuts, a name given to the descendants of the Morurides (q. v. ; see also JIohajimedans), or A Imora- ^•ides, a certain Arabic tribe which, in 1075, founded a dynasty in the north-western parts of Africa, and held ]\Iorocco and Spain for a considerable jieriod. The Al- raohades having put an end to their temporal dominion, their descendants exercise to this day a kind of spiritual superiority over the Moslem negroes in Barbary, the coast of Guinea, etc. At present the Marabuts form a kind of priestly order, officiating at mosques and chap- els, explaining the Koran, providing the faithful with amulets, prophesying, and working miracles. They are looked up to with great awe and reverence by the com- mon people, who also allow them a certain vague li- cense over their goods and chattels, their wives not ex- cluded. The Great Marabut ranks next to the king, and the dignity of a IMarabut is generallv hereditary. One of the most eminent Marabuts of our day is the celebrated Mohammedan warrior Abd-el-Kader, who was born in 1807, and in 1832 opened the contest against the French to expel the latter from African territory, which resulted so unsuccessfully to the Mohammedan cause.