MOHAMMERAH 



5466 



MOIR 



Mohammerah OR MUHAMMERA. 

 Seaport of Mesopotamia. It is 

 situated on the Karun, near its 

 junction with the Shatt el Arab, at 

 the head of the Persian Gulf. Lying 

 about 25 m. S.E. of Basra, it and 

 the country in the immediate 

 neighbourhood form a semi-inde- 

 pendent state, under the suze- 

 rainty of Persia, but closely related 

 politically to Great Britain. Dur- 

 ing the Great War its ruling sheikh 

 joined the Allies, and the British 

 had troops in the town, as well as 

 in other towns in the Karun valley, 

 for the protection of the Anglo- 

 Persian Oil Company's pipe lines 

 and offices. The town has a trade 

 in dates, wool opium, and horses. 

 Pop. 10,000. - . 



Moharram OR MUHARRAM 

 (Arab., sacred). First month of the 

 Mahomedan year ; also a religious 

 celebration during that month. 

 The celebration is observed by 

 Shiites as a time of mourning and 

 fasting to commemorate the mar- 

 tyrdom of Hasan and Hussein, 

 grandsons of Mahomet. A miracle 

 play is performed on the anniver- 

 sary of the death of Hussein. In 

 India the Moharram ceremonies are 

 observed by both Sunnit.es and 

 Shiites, and also by Hindus, especi- 

 ally Marathas, as a festival of re- 

 joicing rather than of mourning, 

 and are sometimes called by Brit- 

 ish soldiers " Hobson-Jobson " 

 (q.v. ), a corruption of the words 

 " Hasan, Hussein," as chanted by 

 the worshippers. 



Mohawks (Narraganset, man- 

 eaters). North American Indian 

 tribe of Iroquoian stock. Formerly 

 one of the Six Nations, their loca- 

 tion between the St. Lawrence and 

 the Catskills led to early trade re- 

 lations with the Dutch (1614), who 

 exchanged firearms for pelts. They 

 ultimately migrated to Canada, and 

 in 1916 they exceeded 5,000. See 

 American Indians ; Six Nations. 



Mohawks OR MOHOCKS. London 

 fraternity of dissolute young men 

 of fashion in the early 18th century, 

 the name being adopted from the 

 Mohawk tribe. They were the suc- 

 cessors of the so-called "scourers," 

 and their favourite exploits were 

 beating the watch, slitting noses, 

 and rolling women in barrels down 

 Snow Hill. The Tories endeavoured 

 to saddle the Whigs with the Mo- 

 hawks' delinquencies; in his Jour- 

 nal to Stella Dean Swift says : 

 " They are all Whigs." A royal 

 proclamation was issued against 

 them, March 18, 1712. Another In- 

 dian tribe has given its name to the 

 20th century Paris street ruffian, 

 the Apache (q.v. ). 



Mohicans. Name popularly 

 applied to a N. American Indian 

 tribe, officially called Mahicans. 



An allied tribe are called Mohegans 

 (wolf). Of Algonquian stock, the 

 former moved from the Hudson 

 valley into Pennsylvania, the latter 

 northward into New England. 

 Both are extinct. The Mahicans 

 lived in communal bark-houses, 

 and their villages were frequently 

 stockaded. The men wore feather 

 mantles, and the women large 

 quantities of wampum (q.v.). ' 



Mohilev (Russian, Mogilyof) 

 Government and town of W. Rus- 

 sia. The government is traversed 

 N. to S. by the Dnieper, and is 

 bounded by the governments of 

 Vitebsk, Smolensk, Chernigov, and 

 Minsk. The inhabitants, mostly 

 White Russians, are chiefly occu- 

 pied in agriculture. The main 

 industries are tanning, distilling, 

 brewing, and the manufacture of 

 paper, tobacco, and matches. 



The town of Mohilev is the capital 

 of the government of the same 

 name. It stands on the Dnieper, 

 85 m. S.W. of Smolensk. There is 

 considerable trade in leather, corn, 

 salt, sugar, hemp, and timber. It is 

 the seat of a Greek Catholic bishop. 

 In the 14th century Mohilev be- 

 longed to Russian princes, but in 

 the 15th became the property of 

 the kings of Poland. At the first 

 partition of Poland, 1772, it was 

 annexed to Russia by Catherine II. 

 Area, 18,500 sq. m. Pop., govern- 

 ment, 1,700,000 ; town, 54,000. 



Mohilev. Town of W. Russia. 

 It is in the government of Podolia, 

 on the Dniester and the Zhmerinka- 

 Novoselitsy rly., 58 m. S.E. of 

 Kamenets-Podolsk, and near the 

 frontier of Bessarabia. The chief 

 industries are shoemaking and silk- 

 worm-rearing ; considerable trade 

 is done in cereals, flax, timber, and 

 dried fruits. Pop. 33.000. 



Mohmand. Pathan tribe of the 

 Indo- Afghan frontier. Iranian 

 Aryans, speaking a N. Pushtu 

 dialect, their physique has suf- 

 fered from their occupation of the 

 lowland valleys N. of the Afridi. 

 The British campaign of 1897 

 secured their submission. The clans 

 within the North-West frontier 

 provinces are assured by treaty of 

 their full Afghan privileges. In 

 1915-16 the Mohmands, stirred up 

 by German emissaries, gave the 

 Indian government considerable 

 trouble. In Nov., 1916, they 

 raided Indian territory and an 

 action was fought with the British 

 near Peshawar, the latter using 

 aeroplanes for the first time in 

 Indian warfare. The raiders were 

 defeated and driven back, with the 

 loss of over 100 killed. 



Mohmand Country. Section of 

 the North-West Frontier Province, 

 India. It lies N. of the Khyber 

 Pass and the Kabul river, in a 



4th Baron Mohun, 

 Irish peer 



Afler Kncllcr 



region of rugged barren hills. The 

 population includes those Moh- 

 mands who live E. of the Durand 

 line. The district owes its import- 

 ance to the route through it, which 

 obviates the necessity of using the 

 Khyber Pass. 



Mohun, BARON. Irish title 

 borne from 1628 to 1712 by the 

 family of Mohun. John Mohun (c. 

 1592-1640) 

 was the first 

 holder, but the 

 best known is 

 CharlesMohun, 

 the 4th. A son 

 of the 3rd 

 baron, he soon 

 became known 

 for his riotous 

 conduct. I n 

 1692 he helped 



& f riend) Rich . 



ard Hill, in an attempt to carry off 

 the actress, Mrs. Bracegirdle, this 

 leading to a scuffle between him 

 and William Mountfort, the actor, 

 in which the latter was killed. 

 Mohun was tried by his peers and 

 acquitted, pleading that he killed 

 his man in fair fight, and in 1699 

 he was similarly relieved from a 

 charge of murder. On Nov. 15, 

 1712, he fought a duel in Hyde 

 Park with the 4th duke of Hamil- 

 ton and both were killed, an inci- 

 dent immortalised in Thackeray's 

 Henry Esmond. The barony there- 

 upon became extinct. 



Moi. Annamese collective name 

 for aboriginal hill-tribes in French 

 Indo-China. Estimated (1919) at 

 600,000, they display some ethnic 

 admixture on the fringes of their 

 upland habitat, but are essentially 

 long - headed, level - eyed Indone- 

 sians, with a primitive social or- 

 ganization and animistic beliefs 

 based on spirit -worship and witch- 

 craft. See Asia ; Kha. 



Moidore (Port, moeda d'ouro, 

 money of gold). Obsolete Portu- 

 guese gold coin. Valued at 4,800 



Moidore. Obverse and reverse of 

 the Portuguese coin, ;; actual size 



reis, or a little over a guinea nomin- 

 ally, it was not minted after 1732. 

 The coin was also known as the 

 lisbonine, and was in use in many 

 countries of W. Europe. 

 .1 Moir, DAVID MACBETH (1798- 

 1851). Scottish humorist. He 

 was born at Musselburgh, Jan. 5, 

 1798, and spent his life there en- 

 in medical practice. Over 



