The inhabitants are of the same race as those of the Society and Sandwich islands. They are well propor- tioned and handsome, but degraded in their reUgion and in many of their customs. They exhibit some confused notion of a divine being, whom they call Etooa; but they give the same name to the spirit of a priest, of a king, or any of his relations, and generally to all Euro- peans, as superior beings. The principal appearance of a religious feeling is found in their reverence for any- thing pronounced to be " taboo"' or sacred, which a priest only can extend to any general object, but which every person may effect upon his own property by merely de- claring that the spirit of his father, or of some king, or of any other person, reposes in the spot or article which he wishes to preserve. They have a universal belief in charms (which they name " kaha") which kill, by im- perceptible means and slow degrees, those against whom they are directed, and which the priests chiefly are un- derstood to be able to render effectual. Some reference to a future life appears in their funeral rites. The corpse is washed, and laid upon a platform under a piece of new cloth ; and, to obtain a safe passage for the de- ceased through the lower regions, a great feast is given by the family to the priests and the relations. The body continues to be rubbed for several months with cocoa-nut oil, till it becomes quite liard and incorrupti- ble ; and a second feast, exactly twelve months after the first, is then given to thank the gods for having granted to the deceased a safe arrival to the other world. The corpse is then broken in pieces, packed in a box, and deposited in the moral or burj'ing-place, which no wom- an is permitted to approach upon the pain of death.
On some of the islands there are missionary stations; but, although cannibalism has been abolished, the efforts of the missionaries have not otherwise met with much success. The Gospel was introduced in the Marquesas Isles by the "London Missionarj' Society" in 1797. The first missionary was William Crook, a man of great zeal and untiring energy. Though greatly discouraged by the ignorance and rudeness of the natives, he pushed the good work, and accomplished much, notwithstanding his failure to secure converts. In 1825, when three teach- ers came to his aid, it was found that the natives had destroyed many of their idols, and were improving in morals. In 1828 the mission was abandoned : but in 1831 jMr. Darling, then a missionary to Tahiti, visited the isles^
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and gave the home society such glowuig accounts of the improvements that had been wrought by their ear- Uer efforts, that the mission was re-estabUshed in 1833 by Mr. Darhng, assisted by Messrs. Rodgerson and Stall- worthy, and four natives from Tahiti ; but in 1841 the work was again abandoned. The Komanists gained a footing in 1838; and when in 18-42 the isles were placed under French protection, the Roman Catholics secured most favorable terms for their missionaries. Their work, however, remains thus far without fruit. See Aikman, Cyclop, of Christian Missions, p. G8.
Marquette, Jacques, a celebrated French mission- ary and discoverer of the 17th century, was born at Laon, in Picardy ; entered the Order of the Jesuits : be- came a missionary, and travelled and labored several years in Canada and other regions. He was a member of the first exploring party to the Mississippi River, and wrote a narrative of the expedition (Paris, 1G81), "He writes," says professor Sparks, '■ as a scholar, and as a man of careful observation and practical sense. In ev- ery point of view, this tract is one of the most interest- ing among those that illustrate the early history of America." On his return from the Mississippi he re- sumed his missionary labors among thcMiamis on Lake Michigan, and died there in 1675. — Charlevoix, Histoire de la Nouvelle France, s. v. ; Moreri, Dictionnaire Ilis- torique, s.v.; Bacqueville de la Potheric, Hist, de VAmer- ique Septenfrionale (Paris, 1872, 4 vols. r2mo); Sparks, Amer. Biog. vol. x, 1st series, s. v. ; Hoefer, Nouv. Biofj. Generale, xxxiii, 942.
Marquez, Ji?ax, a Spanish theologian, was bom at Madrid in 1564 ; studied at the University of Salaman- ca ; joined the Augustines of Madrid, and attained to the first dignities of his order. He died at Salamanca Feb. 17, 1621. He has written El gohernador Christiana, de ducido de las vidos de Moysen y Josue, principes del pue- blo a Bios (Salamanca, 1612, 1619, 1634, M.y.—Los dos Estados de la espiritual Gerusalem sohre los Psalmos cxxv y cxxxvi (Medina, 1603, and Salamanca, 1610, 4to) : — Origin de los Padros Ermitaiios de son A gust in, y su verdadera institucion antes del gran concilio Lateranense (Salamanca, 1618, fol.) : — Yida del V. P. F. Alonso de Horozco (Madrid, 1648, 8vo). He left m manuscript some comedies and several theological treatises. —Nich- olas Antonio, Bihliotheca Scriptorum Hispanice, iii, 734 ; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, vol. xxxiii, s. v.
Marquis, James E., a Presbyterian minister, was born near Cross Creek, Pa., Nov. 20, 1815 ; was educated in Jefferson College. Canonsburg, Pa. ; studied divinity in the Western Theological Seminary, Alleghany, Pa. ; was licensed by Washington Presbytery in 1844, and ordamed by Sidney Presbyterj- in 1848. During the first ten years of his mmistry he labored successively in the churches of Kenton, Mansfield, Shelby, and Ontario, Ohio. In 1858 -he removed to Bloomington, lU., and commenced to labor as presbyterial missionarj' for the presbyteries of Peoria and Bloomington. In 1859 he accepted the united charge of the churches of Salem, Brunswick, and Elm wood, which he retained until his death, Feb. 22, 1863. Mr. Marquis was noted for his faithfulness, devotion, and purity of life. He was emi- nently successful as a pastor ; earnest and instructive as a preacher. Sec Wilson, Presh, Hist. Almanac, 1864, p. 171. (J.L.S.)