MOABITES 



MOBILE 



241 



Restoration of the Mo*. 



was the great size and weight of the legs, the bones 

 of which and of the toes were in one species almost 



elephantine. 

 There was an 

 allied genus 

 called Palap- 

 teryx which 

 possessed the 

 rudiments of 

 wings and a 

 fourth toe, 

 which was ab- 

 sent in nioa. 

 They are most 

 nearly repre- 

 sented at pres- 

 ent by the 

 genus A p- 

 teryx, whose 

 relative size 

 may be seen 

 in the figure. 



Monbitcs, 



a pastoral 

 people, who 

 inhabited the 

 bleak and 



mountainous 

 country east of the lower part of the Jordan and 

 of the Dead Sea, divided into two portions by 

 the deep Ited of the Arnon. Their capitals were 

 Ar-Moah and Kir-Moab, both south of the Arnon, 

 but their kings often resided in their native 

 places, as Mesha in Dibon. Their sovereign 

 divinity was Chemosh, and patriotism was an 

 essential part of their religion. They were ethno- 

 logically cognate with the Hebrews, and were com- 

 pelled to Ijeeome tributary to David, but about 

 850 B.C. shook off their allegiance to the Jewish 

 kings, and afterwards took part with the Chaldeans 

 against the Jews. Their name no longer exists, 

 and the remnants of the people have long l>een 

 included among the Arabs. The most striking 

 feature about the country in modern times is the 

 immense number of rude stone monuments with 

 which it is covered. Major Conder found no 

 fewer than a thousand of these of the usual varieties 

 (dolmens, menhirs, circles, and alignments) familiar 

 in tin; Itriti.-h Isles and lirittany, occurring in dis- 

 tinct centres, usually with a cairn at the top of the 

 nearest hill. He rejects the sepulture theory, and 

 believes the dolmens to have been altars. The 

 menhirs were anciently objects of worship, anointed 

 with oil, or smeared with Mood, and such a series 

 of alignments and scattered stones as those of El- 

 Mareighftt may l>e supposed to be offerings of pil- 

 grims to this shrine. For the so-called Moabite 

 pottery, which Shapira succeeded in selling to the 

 < lerman government for nearly 3000, see an 

 account by M. Clermoiit-Gannean, who detected 

 the imposture, in Lrji Frautlet archfologiqiies en 

 Palestine ( 1885 ) ; see also Conder's Hetfi and Moab : 



rutinii* in 1881-82 ( 1883). 



MOAHITK STONK, a stone liearing an inscription of 

 thirty-four lines in Hebrew- Phirnician letters, was 

 discovered by the Rev. F. Klein in 1868 among the 

 ruins of Dhiban, the ancient Dibon. The stone was 

 of lilack basalt, rounded at the top and bottom, 2 

 feet broad, 3 feet 10 inches high, and 14J inches in 

 thickness, but was unfortunately broken up by the 

 Arabs, whose cupidity had been aroused by the 

 indiscreet eagerness to acquire it shown by M. 

 f'leriiiont-Ciaiinean. The fragments were after- 

 wards collected and laboriously fitted into their 

 proper places by means of imperfect squeezes made 

 Won the stone was broken, and the monument 

 now stands in the Louvre at Paris. The inscription 

 was discovered to be a record of Mesha, king of 

 Ml 



Moab, mentioned in 2 Kings, iii., referring to his 

 successful revolt against the king of Israel. The 



The Moabite Stone. 

 (From Dr Ginsburg's monograph.) 



characters of the inscription are Phoenician (see 

 ALPHABET), and form a link between those of the 

 Baal Lebanon inscription ( 10th century ) and those 

 of the Siloam text. 



See Dr Ginnburg's Moalnte Stone (2d ed. 1871); 

 Heron de Villefonse's monograph, Notice ile Monument! 

 proi'enantl de la Palatine (1876), contains a biblio- 

 graphy of books and papers written on this subject. 

 Headings are given by Clennont-Ganneau in the Renue 

 Critique for 1S75, by Profs. K. Smend and A. Socin of 

 Tubingen in their monograph, Die Inschrift des Konigt 

 Mtta ron Moab flir Akademitche Vurleiumjen (Freiburg, 

 i. B., 1886), and by Dr A. Neubauer in Recordt of tlie 

 Paet (new series, voL ii. 1889). 



Moawf ya. See CALIF, Vol. II. p. 648. 



lloherly, a city of Randolph county, Missouri, 

 148 miles by rail WNW. of St Louis, is an im- 

 portant railway junction, and the depot of a rich 

 coal country. It has large railway shops, rope- 

 walks, and foundries. Pop. (1900) 801 'A 



.Mobile, the principal city and only seaport of 

 Alabama, is situated on the west side of Mobile 

 River, and at the head of Mobile Bay, which opens 

 into the Gulf of Mexico, and is defended by Fort 

 Morgan. It is 141 miles by rail ENE. ot New 

 Orleans, and is built with broad shaded streets on 

 a.-;iiidy plain, rising gradually from the river. It 

 has a fine custom-house, and post-office ( 1859), a city 

 hall and market-house (1857), a Roman Catholic 

 cathedral and over thirty other churches, several 

 asylums and hospitals, a medical college, a Jesuit 

 college, and a convent and school. Mobile contains 



