MOHAMMED MOLDAVIA. 



15 



MOHAMMED, SHEIK; the founder of the 

 famou sect of the Wahabees, who derive their 

 appellation from Abd el Wahab, the father of 

 Mohammed. For an account of him see the article 

 ff'tthabees. 



MOHAMMEDAN ERA. See Epoch, 



MOHAWK ; a large branch of the Hudson or 

 North river of New York, which rises in the north- 

 east 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 Walerford, 

 after a course of about 135 miles. Its source is 

 within a short distance of Black river, of lake Onta- 

 rio ; and from Rome it winds along through a deep 

 valley, bordered in many places by high and broken 

 hills, 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 manufac- 

 turing 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 coun- 

 try, 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. 



MOHICANS, or MOHEGANS; a tribe of In- 

 dians formerly occupying the western parts of Con- 

 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 Mis- 

 sissippi 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 GOILLACME, a French statuary, 

 was born at Paris, in 1747, of a family which pro- 

 duced several distinguished engravers and architects, 

 and early displayed so much talent for drawing, that 

 Pigalle, then the most eminent sculptor in Paris, re- 

 quested 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, neglect- 

 ing 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 con- 

 ception, 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, re- 

 presenting the country crowning the civic and war- 

 like virtues (destroyed after the restoration, when the 

 Pantheon was consecrated as the church of Gene- 

 vieve) ; that for the tomb of Desaix ; several bas- 

 reliefs in the Louvre, representing the muse of 

 history, with Moses and Numa ; warriors devoting 



themselves for their country, in the chamber of peers 

 are among his principal productions. 



MOLA, PETER FRANCIO, 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 Al- 

 bani. On leaving the last master, he went to 

 Venice, and studied under Guercino, perfecting him- 

 self in colouring from the productions of the Vene- 

 tian 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- 

 scape painter, for his varied composition and vigoi- 

 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 reputa- 

 tion in history and landscape ; but he is much in- 

 ferior to the preceding. 



MOLAI, JAMES HE, 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 cle 

 Beaujeu, was unanimously elected to the office of 

 grand-master. The wealth and power of the Tem- 

 plars, their pride and their dissolute manners, created 

 them a multitude of enemies, and led to their destruc- 

 tion. 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 coun- 

 cil of Vienne. Molai, with his companions, Guy 

 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 sub- 

 sequently retracted their confessions, which they had 

 made in the hope of obtaining their freedom, were 

 executed as relapsed heretics. They perished in the 

 flames at Paris, March 18, 1314, declaring their in- 

 nocence to the last. See Templars. 



MOLAR TEETH. See Teeth. 



MOLASSES, or MELASSES ; the liquid or urt- 

 crystallizable 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, Moldau; Turkish, 

 Bogdari) ; a province of the Ottoman empire, with 

 the title of principality, extending from lat. 45 1 2 ' 

 to 48 5' N., and from Ion. 25 W 10' to 28 20' E., 

 bounded on the east by the Russian province of Bes- 

 sarabia, 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 ex- 

 tended 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 



