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desired opportunity to lead against Mecca 10,000 well- ity was compiled from the ancient Jewish and Chrisarmed soldiers, inspired by pious zeal. The terrified tian systems. The faithful adoration of Allah as the Koreishites made little resistance, and received life only God, unwavering obedience to the commands of and liberty only on condition that they embraced the the prophet, the necessity of prayer, charity to the Islam. The idols of the kaaba were demolished, but poor, purifications, abstinence from forbidden enjoythe sacred touch of the prophet made the black stone ments (especially from strong drinks-this prohibiagain the object of the deepest veneration. The tion was caused by the quarrels that arose among his temple became the principal sanctuary of the religion adherents), bravery, upholding even to death the of Mohammed, and its professors alone are allowed cause of God, and entire resignation to unavoidable access to the holy city of Mecca. This important fate, are the chief points of his moral system. Of event took place in the eighth year of the Hegira. solemnities, fasts, and usages such a religion for a The destruction of some celebrated idols, and the sub- sensual people could not be destitute; but the jugation of various Arab tribes, now employed the injunction of a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina Moslem arms. In the valley of Honain, not far from was unquestionably a political measure, in order to Mecca, where Mohammed incurred great personal sanctify for ever the original seat of the Islam, and danger, he achieved the victory only by the utmost to secure permanently the political and religious exertions. The following year the Mohammedans importance of Arabia. These doctrines are concall the year of embassies," because a number of tained in the Koran, to which was soon after added Arab tribes announced by deputies their submission a second collection,-Sunna (second book of the and conversion. At the head of 30,000 men, among rules of life, founded on Mohammed's example.) whom were 10,000 cavalry, Mohammed was resolved But all Mohammedans do not receive the latter: to anticipate the hostile plans of the emperor Hera- those who do, are therefore called Sunnites. One clius. He marched into Syria to Tabuk, half way to of the principal means of the rapid and extensive difDamascus, but returned to Medina, and contented fusion of his doctrines and dominion was force, all himself with summoning the emperor in writing to who did not submit of their own accord being comembrace his doctrines. After his return, he promul-pelled to do so at the edge of the sword. Rarely do gated a new chapter of the Koran, revoked all regulations in favour of idolaters, and declared all the compacts concluded with them null. He might now be regarded as master of the whole of Arabia, although all the inhabitants had not yet received his religion. He allowed the Christians a free exercise of their worship on the payment of a tribute. In the tenth year of the Hegira, Mohammed undertook his farewell pilgrimage to Mecca. On this occasion, he was surrounded with the utmost splendour, and attended by 90,000, or, as some say, 150,000 friends. This was the last important event of his life. He died soon after his return to Medina, in the arms of his wife Ayesha, in the eleventh year of the Hegira, in his sixty-third year. Of all his wives, the first alone bore him children, of whom only his daughter Fatima, wife of Ali, survived him.

we find in his history any traces of his having made use of women for promoting his plans, although he allowed polygamy, with some restrictions, and concubinage without any bounds. That he persuaded his first wife that the attacks of epilepsy which hẹ had were celestial trances, and that she first procured him adherents by the propagation of this fable, seems to be a tale, devised by his Christian opponents, to expose the prophet to contempt. Certain it is that he himself declared he did not work miracles. His disciples, nevertheless, ascribe to him the most absurd miracles; for example, that a part of the moon fell into his sleeves, and that he threw it back to the heavens; that stones, trees, and animals proclaimed him aloud to be the prophet of God, &c.; but of such fables we find abundance in the legends of the Christian saints. In a moral view, he can never be compared with the divine Founder of Christianity. His Africa. The reverence which the faithful Moslems pay to the prophet, and all that is connected with him in the remotest degree, is as great as the reverence of relics has ever been in Christendom; thus, for example, the camel which carries the Koran to the kaaba, and, in the territory of Mecca, an enormous number of doves, which must not even be scared from the fields, much less be killed, because they are thought to be descended from the dove that approached the ear of Mohammed, are objects of the most sacred reverence. But the wonder-loving populace alone gives credence to the fable that Mohammed's coffin is suspended in the air: on the contrary, he lies buried at Medina, where he died, and an urn, enclosed in the holy chapel, constitutes his sepulchre, which is surrounded with iron trellis work, and is accessible to no one. The (so called) Testament of Mohammed is a spurious work of later times. Mohammed's doctrines have given rise to many sects, among which the Sunnites and Shiites, the chief ones, still entertain the most violent mutual hatred among the Persians and Turks. See Hist. of Mohammedanism, &c., by Charles Mills; also the articles Koran, and Islam.

The Mohammedan writers undoubtedly exag-system has been widely propagated in Asia and gerate the corporeal and mental endowments of their prophet: it is, however, very credible, that there was a prepossessing majesty in his appearance, and that he united much natural eloquence with a decisive and enterprising mind. By these gifts, he succeeded in exalting himself above his equals, and gaining confidence and popularity. Compared with his countrymen, he stands pre-eminent; compared with other legislators and monarchs, he holds but an inferior rank. Whether he himself believed what he promulgated as a divine revelation is a hard question to answer. Most probably he ought to be regarded as a religious enthusiast, who deemed himself actually inspired by the Divinity, but was not so entirely blinded as to overlook the means of making his doctrines acceptable to the people, and of confirming his dominion over their minds. Thence the fabrication of his interview with the angel Gabriel; thence his visionary journey through the seven heavens of paradise; thence his indulgence of the sensual desires of a sensual people. The first tenet of his creed was, "Allah alone is God, and Mohammed is his prophet." At the same time, Moses and Christ were regarded, in his system, as divinely inspired teachers of former times, and he by no means denied the authenticity of the sacred histories and revelations of ancient Judaism and Christianity, which he only believed to be corrupted. The paradise which he promised to his faithful adherents was a heaven of sensual pleasure; he himself perhaps anticipated no other. His moral

MOHAMMED II., Turkish emperor, surnamed Bujuk, the Great, born at Adrianople in 1430, succeeded his father, Amurath II., in 1451. He renewed the peace made by his predecessor with the Greek emperor, but resolved to complete the conquest of the enfeebled Greek empire by the capture of Con

talents, ambition, courage, and fortune, and disgraced by cruelty, perfidiousness, sensuality, and contempt of all laws. He spoke Greek, Arabic, and Persian; understood Latin; drew and painted; had a knowledge of geography and mathematics, and of the history of the great men of antiquity. In short, he would have been a hero, had not his cruelties blackened his reputation. Policy sometimes kept in check the impetuosity of his character; but he was too often the slave of passions, though all the cruelties ascribed to him are not to be credited.

stantinople. The Christian powers in Europe remained quiet spectators. April 6, 1453, Mohammed appeared before Constantinople, to which he laid siege with an army of 300,000 soldiers, and by water with 300 galleys and 200 small vessels. The besieged had drawn strong iron chains before the harbour, and made a brave resistance, though they had but about 10,000 men to oppose so great a force. But Mohammed, having contrived to get a part of his fleet over land into the harbour, and caused a bridge of boats to be constructed and occupied with cannon, the Greeks were overcome, after à defence of fifty-three days, and the empire came to its end. The city was taken by storm on the 29th May, and abandoned to pillage. The emperor Constantine Palæologus fell, at the commencement of the assault, sword in hand. In a few hours, the conquest of the city was completed. The conquerors gave themselves up to all cruelty and excess. During the sack, a young princess, named Irene, was brought to Mohammed, and for three days he compelled her to satisfy his passion. Some janizaries murmured, and a vizier even dared to reprove him. Mohammed immediately sent for the captive, took her by the hair, and murdered her before the discontented, with the words, "Thus Mohammed deals with love." When he entered the city, he found it desolate; but as he designed it for the principal seat of his empire, he strove to attract new inhabitants by promising the Greeks full religious liberty, and permitting them to choose a new patriarch, whose dignity he himself increased. Constantinople under him soon became again flourishing. He restored the fortifications, and, for greater security, caused the forts called the Dardanelles (q. v.) to be erected at the mouth of the Hellespont. Mohammed pursued his conquests, which were checked for a time by Scanderbeg, prince of Albania, who was favoured by the mountainous character of the country. The sultan finally concluded peace with him, but after Scanderbeg's death, in 1466, soon subjugated all Albania. His further advances into Hungary were prevented by the celebrated John Hunniades, who obliged him, in 1456, to raise the siege of Belgrade, in which he had lost 25,000 men, and had been himself severely wounded. The son of the great Hunniades, king Matthias Corvinus, also kept the Turks from Hungary, and even took from them Bosnia. On the other hand, Mohammed conquered, in a short time, Servia, Greece, and all Peloponnesus, most of the islands of the Archipelago, and the Greek empire of the Comneni, established in the beginning of the thirteenth century, at Trebisond, on the coast of Asia Minor. The Christian powers began to be apprehensive of the progress of his arms, and at the instigation of pope Pius II., in 1459, a crusade against the Turks was resolved upon at Mantua, which was never, however, executed, on account of the bad constitution of most of the European states. From the republic of Venice Mohammed tore Negropont, in 1470. He also stripped them of other possessions, and took Caffa from the Genoese, in 1474. Frequent wars with the Persians prevented the further prosecution of his enterprises against the Christian powers. In 1480, he attacked the island of Rhodes, but was repulsed by the knights with great loss. He now turned his arms against Italy, took Otranto, and would probably have pursued his conquests in this country but for his death, in 1481, on an expedition against Persia. During his reign of thirty years, he had conquered twelve kingdoms and upwards of 200 cities. On his tomb he ordered the words to be affixed, "I would have taken Rhodes and conquered Italy," probably as a stimulus to his successors. His character was distinguished by

MOHAMMED IV., born in 1642, was raised to the throne while a boy of seven years, his father, Ibrahim, having been murdered in an insurrection of the janizaries. His grandmother, an ambitious woman, managed the government, but perished in a revolution of the seraglio. The celebrated grandvizier Mohammed Kuperli (or Kuprili) was now placed at the head of the government. To this great minister, and to his equally great son and successor, the Turkish empire was indebted for the consequence which it maintained till the end of the seventeenth century. Mohammed was himself an insignificant personage, whose principal passion was the chase. Kuperli turned his chief attention to the restoration of the internal tranquillity of the empire, to which he sacrificed a great number of persons. The war begun in 1645 against the Venetians, mainly respecting the island of Candia, was, therefore, but weakly prosecuted. But, in 1667, Achmet Kuperli, one of the greatest Turkish generals, undertook the famous siege of this island (see Candia), which lasted two years and four months. The capitulation was signed September 5, 1669, at the same time with the terms of peace between Venice and the Turks. A war had already broken out (1660) with the emperor Leopold, on account of Transylvania. The Turks had made considerable progress in Hungary, when they were totally defeated, August 3, 1664, by Montecuccoli, at St Gothard. Nevertheless, to the astonishment of all, the emperor accepted the disadvantageous truce of Temeswar, of twenty days, proffered by the Turks. Never had the Turks approached so near the boundaries of Germany as now. The anarchy which prevailed in Poland under king Michael, and the disturbances of the Cossacks, gave occasion, in 1672, to a war of the Turks against Poland, which had to purchase peace on ignominious conditions. But the great Polish general John Sobieski revenged the ignominy of his nation by a decisive victory at Choczim, in 1673, and, in 1676, obtained from the Turks an honourable peace. Sobieski also contributed most essentially to the relief of Vienna, which was besieged for more than six weeks by the grand vizier Kara Mustapha, with 200,000 men, in the war caused, in 1683, by the malcontents in Hungary. The Turks were attacked in their camp, September 2, by the allied Christian army, and defeated, with extraordinary loss. The grand-vizier atoned for his ill success with his life. The emperor, Poland, Russia, and Venice, now concluded an alliance against the Turks, who suffered losses in every quarter :-for example, they were utterly defeated at Mohacz by Charles, duke of Lorraine. As all these misfortunes were attributed to the effeminacy and inactivity of the sultan, Mohammed IV., he was deposed in 1687, and died, in prison, in 1691.

MOHAMMED ALI (also MEHEMMED ALI) Pacha, viceroy of Egypt, is of Turkish origin, and was born at Cavala, in Macedonia, in the year 1769. His life, like that of his contemporary, Mahmoud II., is so intimately connected with the modern history of the East, that we shall here take a brief view of it, although death has not yet marked out

pared; the ulemas were transformed into paid officers; agriculture was extended, the races of sheep and horses improved; commerce and manufactures flourished; Europeans were protected and rewarded, and learned travellers encouraged. Ismael Gibraltar and others were sent, in 1818, to Europe, in order to form alliances; the canal of Mahmoud was dug, connecting Cairo with Alexandria; olive and mulberry trees, hitherto unknown in Egypt, were planted, sugar refineries, and saltpetre manufactories, and cannon founderies established, quarantine rules and vaccination introduced, schools founded, &c.- The British, French, and other nations now sought the friendship of Mohammed. The Porte was terrified at his power, as he had, during the struggle with the Greeks, established himself in Candia. He was, however, appointed commander-in-chief against the Greeks in 1824; but he sent his son Ibrahim, at the head of an army of 16,000 men, together with a fleet under the command of Ismael Gibraltar, who was to conquer the Morea, and establish a negro colony there. The latter, with a capudan pacha, was defeated in several naval actions, in September, 1824, by the Greek admiral Miaulis, and Canaris, the commander of the fire-ships; but a second Egyptian expedition, succeeded, in March, 1825, in effecting a landing at Modon, and captured Navarino, Tripolizza, and other places. Ibrahim then laid waste the Morea, and sent its inhabitants as slaves to Egypt. In October, 1827, a third expedition of the viceroy was blockaded in the harbour of Navarino by the British admiral Codrington and the French admiral De Rigny, in consequence of the treaty of July 6, 1827, and it was required of the viceroy by the allied powers, that he should refrain from every act of hostility towards Greece. The combined Turkish and Egyptian fleets were shortly after destroyed at this place. See Navarino.

the limits of his career. By his boldness, sagacity, and courage, he has raised himself from an humble station to that of a sovereign, before whom Arabia and Nubia tremble, and who is flattered by his proud master, the Porte. He has ruled Egypt, since 1806, on European principles. From his youth, Mohammed exhibited an extraordinary penetration, uncommon dexterity in all bodily exercises, and a fiery ambition. The Turkish governor at Cavala gave this poor young orphan a common education, and then an office and a rich wife. Reading and writing he learned after he had become a pacha. A merchant of Marseilles, named Lion, who lived in Cavala, and was his patron, inspired him with an inclination towards the French, and with religious tolerance. On this account the residence of strangers in Egypt has been facilitated. In 1820, the viceroy gave the family of Lion proofs of his gratitude. His first employment was the tobacco trade, and he is now engaged in great commercial enterprises, extending even to India. His first campaign was in Egypt, against the French (1800), as commander-in-chief (binbashi) of the contingent of Cavala. The capitan pacha, who was a witness of his bravery in the battle of Rahmanieh against general Lagrange, elevated him to a higher post, in which he also acquired the favour of the Albanian troops. He established his reputation as a soldier in the long contest of the pachas with the mamelukes, after the French had abandoned Egypt in 1802; but soon after the governor became jealous of the ambitious Mohammed, and, to get rid of him, obtained his appointment as pacha of Saloniki. Mohammed's influence was already so great, that the inhabitants of Cairo took arms in his favour, and the ulemas and sheiks represented by agents to the divan of Constantinople, that Mohammed alone was able to restore order and tranquillity to Egypt, which the governor Khurschid Pacha plundered and oppressed. At the same time, they conferred on him the office of governor; but the prudent Mohammed refused the external dignities of the office, although in secret he directed affairs. At length the Porte (April 1, 1806) confirmed him as governor of Egypt, and elevated him to the rank of a pacha of three tails. He maintained himself in this office by the attachment of the Albanians and the influence of France, when the Porte had been prevailed on by the British to appoint, in his stead, the mameluke Elfy Bey, governor of Egypt. Mohammed soon restored the distracted country to order, accustomed the undisciplined troops to obed- The purchase of ships of war in France, and his ience, and compelled the British, who, in March, expeditions against the Morea, exhausted his trea1807, had occupied Alexandria, after several battles, sures, and caused oppressive taxes. In Egypt, he to leave Egypt in September. He then reduced the protects the Greeks as well as the Franks; he causes mameluke beys to subjection, and, in March, 1811, young Turks to be educated in England and France on a festive occasion, perfidiously murdered 470 of in the European manner; the Christians possess his them; the rest were decapitated. They were confidence, but there is no security for the permaaccused of secret plots. The French mamelukes nence of his plans. Ibrahim himself appears not alone remained unmolested. (See Mamelukes.) to approve of his father's projects of colonization From this time tranquillity reigned in Egypt. The and civilization. Had Mohammed Ali never been campaign of Ibrahim Pacha, the second son of the stained with treachery and murder, he would perviceroy (the first died in the field), against the Waha- haps deserve to be called the second Saladin of bees, in 1816, had a successful issue; he deprived Egypt.-See Mengin's Histoire de l'Egypte sous le that sect of Mecca and Medina, conquered their Gouvernement de Mohammed Aly, etc. (Paris, 1823, capital, Derayeh, in 1818, and sent their leaders 2 vols.); Histoire de la Régénération de l'Egypte, prisoners to Constantinople. The expedition to by Planat, a staff-officer in the pacha's service Nubia and Sennaar, in 1821, which the French (Geneva, 1830); the travels of Madden, Lushington, traveller Cailliaud (see Meroë) accompanied, in the Hanniker, Minutoli, &c. Mohammed has a grandexpectation of discovering gold mines, ended with son, whom he is carefully educating, and two marthe murder of the leader, Ismael Pacha, the youngest ried daughters. (See the articles Egypt, Nubia, son of the viceroy. At the same time Mohammed Wahabees, Greece, Revolution of.) In 1827, he had directed the internal administration of affairs. Ar- twelve regiments organized, clothed in uniform, and mies and fleets, fortifications, and the maintenance armed after the European manner, each regiment of the troops were established upon the European consisting of 4000 men. They were raised by implan; telegraphs and Congreve rockets were pre-pressment from the Arabs and peasantry.

Mohammed is, in reality, the sovereign of Egypt, though he preserves the external marks of respect towards the grand seignior. He is a despot, and is obliged to be so; but at the same time he possesses political knowledge, and often exhibits magnanimity. He is the absolute lord of the soil and all its productions. He holds the monopoly of the productions of Egypt, and of the East India goods which pass through Egypt; only a few houses, designated by himself, are permitted to take part in the com

merce.

are among his principal productions.

MOHAMMED, SHEIK; the founder of the | themselves for their country, in the chamber of peers famous sect of the Wahabees, who derive their appellation from Abd el Wahab, the father of Mohammed. For an account of him see the article Wahabees.

MOLA, PETER FRANCIS, an eminent painter, was born at Coldra in 1621, or at Lugano in 1609. He was the pupil of the cavalier D'Arpino and of Albani. On leaving the last master, he went to Venice, and studied under Guercino, perfecting himself in colouring from the productions of the Venetian school. On his return to Rome, he painted several scriptural pieces for popes Innocent X. and Alexander VII., of which that of Joseph discovering · himself to his brothers, in the Quirinal, is the most esteemed. He is still more distinguished as a land

MOHAMMEDAN ERA. See Epoch. MOHAWK ; a large branch of the Hudson or North river of New York, which rises in the northeast part of Oneida county, about twenty miles north of Rome, to which place it runs nearly south, and then turns eastward towards the Hudson, which it enters by several mouths, between Troy and Waterford, after a course of about 135 miles. Its source is within a short distance of Black river, of lake Onta-scape painter, for his varied composition and vigorrio; and from Rome it winds along through a deep valley, bordered in many places by high and broken bilis, and in others by extensive and very valuable alluvial tracts. The stream of the Mohawk is unequal, with many breaks and rapids, and two considerable falls. With the aid of canals, the Mohawk is navigable from Schenectady to Rome; but it serves the purposes of navigation principally by feeding the numerous canals which cross it or range near its borders. It is remarkably well adapted for supplying water-power for all manufacturing purposes. The land on its borders is very rich. It is excellent for wheat, and good also for all common purposes of agriculture.

MOHAWKS; a tribe of North American Indians, belonging to the confederacy of the Five (afterwards Six) Nations. (See Iroquois.) With the rest of the confederacy, they adhered to the British interest during the war of the revolution, and left the country, on its termination, for Canada, where lands were assigned them on the Grand river. Their village is composed of houses built of logs, with few of the conveniences of civilized life. The Mohawks lived originally on the river which still bears their name, and were remarkable for their courage and ferocity. Brandt was a Mohawk chieftain.

ous touch. In 1665, he received an invitation to the court of Louis XIV., with which he was about to comply, when a sudden disorder carried him off. There was another Mola (John Baptist), said by some to be his brother, who acquired some reputation in history and landscape; but he is much inferior to the preceding.

MOLAI, JAMES DE, the last grand-master of the order of the knights Templars, of the family of the lords of Longwic and of Raon. He was admitted into the order about 1265, and, on the death of William de Beaujeu, was unanimously elected to the office of grand-master. The wealth and power of the Templars, their pride and their dissolute manners, created them a multitude of enemies, and led to their destruction. In 1307, an order was issued for the general arrest of the knights throughout France. They were accused of heresy, impiety, and other revolting crimes. Fifty-seven were burned in 1311, and the order was abolished the following year, by the council of Vienne. Molai, with his companions, Gay Dauphin of Auvergne and Hugh de Peralde, was detained in prison at Paris till 1313, when their trial took place before commissioners appointed by the pope; and, confessing their crimes, they were condemned to perpetual seclusion. Molai and Guy, having subsequently retracted their confessions, which they had

MOHICANS, or MOHEGANS; a tribe of Indians formerly occupying the western parts of Con-made in the hope of obtaining their freedom, were necticut and Massachusetts. See Iroquois.

MOIDORE, or MOED'OR, or MOEDA; a gold coin formerly used in Portugal (from 1690-1722) of the value of six dollars.

MOINES, DES, the largest western tributary of the Mississippi above the Missouri, enters the Mississippi in about lat. 40°. It is 150 yards wide at its mouth, and is supposed to be 800 miles long, and navigable for boats for 300 miles.

MOIRA, EARL of. See Hastings, Francis. MOITTE, JEAN GUILLAUME, a French statuary, was born at Paris, in 1747, of a family which produced several distinguished engravers and architects, and early displayed so much talent for drawing, that Pigalle, then the most eminent sculptor in Paris, requested that he might receive the young artist as a pupil. In 1768, Moitte went to Italy, and studied the remains of ancient art, without, however, neglecting the study of nature. He returned to France in 1773, was one of the first members of the national institute, received the cross of the legion of honour from Napoleon, and died in 1810. His works are distinguished for correctness of design, elevated conception, beauty of proportion, variety of expression, and delicacy of taste. A statue of a sacrificateur (1783); the bass-reliefs of several of the barriers of Paris; that of the frontispiece of the Pantheon, representing the country crowning the civic and warlike virtues (destroyed after the restoration, when the Pantheon was consecrated as the church of Genevieve); that for the tomb of Desaix; several basreliefs in the Louvre, representing the muse of history, with Moses and Numa; warriors devoting

executed as relapsed heretics. They perished in the flames at Paris, March 18, 1314, declaring their innocence to the last. See Templars.

MOLAR TEETH. See Teeth.

MOLASSES, or MELASSES; the liquid or uncrystallizable part of the juice of the sugar-cane, which separates from the granulated part or sugar. (See Sugar.) The name is also applied to the similar portion of any other vegetable juice from which sugar is obtained.

MOLDAU; a river of Bohemia, which rises in the Bohmerwald (Bohemian forest), flows north through Bohemia, by Budweis and Prague, and empties itself into the Elbe opposite to Melnik, and thus furnishes Bohemia a communication with the North sea. A project was formed for uniting the Moldau, by means of a canal, with the Danube; but, on account of the difficulty of cutting through the mountains, a railroad has been considered a more practicable undertaking. See Austria.

MOLDAVIA (in German, Moldan; Turkish, Bogdan); a province of the Ottoman empire, with the title of principality, extending from lat. 45° 12' to 48° 5' N., aud from lon. 25° 10′ to 28° 20′ E., bounded on the east by the Russian province of Bessarabia, from which it is separated by the Pruth, on the south by Bulgaria and Walachia, and on the west by Transylvania; superficial extent, 17,000 square miles; population differently stated at from 360,000 to 500,000. Previously to the treaty of 1812, it extended eastward to the Dniester, with a superficial area of about 34,000 square miles, and a population of 800,000. The western part of the country is

mountainous, branches of the Carpathian chain projecting towards the interior; the southern is low and marshy. The winters are severe; the heat is great in summer, but the nights are cool. The soil is fertile, but war and an oppressive government have prevented it from being well cultivated. Corn, fruits, wine, honey, wax, and tobacco of an inferior quality, are among the principal productions; the gold, silver, and iron mines are not worked; mineral salt and saltpetre are produced in large quantities. The greater part of the country is devoted to pasturage, and immense numbers of horses, black cattle, sheep, and swine are raised by the inhabitants. The horses are strong, active, and gentle, and 10,000 have been exported annually to Austria and Prussia. The cattle are of an excellent quality, and have been sent generally to Poland and Russia. The inhabitants are strongly attached to the Greek church. The Moldavians are supposed to be descendants of the ancient Dacians, whose country they occupy, of Roman colonists, and of the Sclavonians, who conquered Moldavia. The following cut represents the costume of a male and female. Their language is a

tion upon the inhabitants. In 1812, the region lying to the east of the Pruth was ceded to Russia. In 1821, the hospodar Michael Suzzo, a Greek, received the Greek insurgents with open arms, and raised the standard of revolt. Turkish armies were poured into the unhappy province, which became a scene of the most barbarous atrocities. (See Greece, Revolution of, and Ypsilanti). It was not evacuated until 1826, after the most pressing demands of Russia. It was then stipulated that the hospodars should be chosen by the Boyards, from their own number, for a term of seven years, subject to the confirmation of the Porte. In 1828, the Russians occupied Moldavia without resistance. By the peace of Adrianople, 1829, it is provided that the hospodar shall be named for life; that the province shall pay a tribute of 165,000 piastres to Turkey, and be subject to no requisitions; that no Turk shall reside in the country, which remains in the hands of Russia till indemnification for the expenses of the war shall be made by the Porte. See Russia, and Ottoman Empire.

MOLE (talpa). The mole is from five to six inches in length: its head is large, without any external ears, and its eyes so very minute, and concealed by its fur, that it is a vulgar opinion, that it is deficient in these important organs. Its fore legs are very short, and extremely strong and broad, turned outwards, by which conformation it is enabled to burrow with great ease. The snout is slender, strong, and tendinous, and it has no external appearance of a neck. The females bring forth four or five young, about the month of April, for the preservation of which, the parents construct a habitation, with great diligence and care. They first raise the earth by forming an arch, leaving partitions or pillars at certain distances; beat and press the earth, interweave it with the roots of plants, and, at last, render it so hard and solid, that the rain cannot penetrate. They then raise a small hillock under the principal arch, on which they construct the nest for their young. This internal hillock is pierced with sloping holes, which serve as passages for the parent animals to go out. These paths are firm, and extend about twelve or fifteen paces, issuing from the nest like rays from a centre.-Moles live in pairs, and are chiefly found in places where the soil is loose and soft, and affords the greatest quantity of worms and insects. They exhibit great dexterity in skinning the worms, which they always do before they eat them, stripping the skin from end to end, and squeezing out all the contents of the body. The skin of the mole is extremely tough; its fur is close set, and as soft as the finest velvet: it is usually black, but has sometimes been found spotted with white, and, more rarely, altogether of that colour. Though common in almost all parts of Europe, it is said to be entirely unknown in Ireland. Linnæus says that it passes the winter in a state of torpidity: in this, however, he is contradicted by Buffon, who states, that it sleeps so little in winter, that it burrows in the same manner as in summer. The destruction caused by these little animals is sometimes very great; and such are their numbers, that Buffon caught 1300 of them in three weeks. In Holland, we are also told that they were so numerous, in 1742, as to destroy the hopes of the agriculturists. Even in ancient times, it appears that they were considered as pests, and a temple was erected, in Eolia, to Apollo Smintheus, or the destroyer of moles. From an account given by Mr Bruce, in the Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, it appears that the mole is able to swim great distances. Doctor Darwin has given a very interesting paper on these animals in his Phytologia, and of the best methods of capturing them, to which we refer those of our readers who wish for fuller information.

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