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MOLDAVIA MOLE. 



mountainous, branches of the Carpathian chain pro- 

 jecting towards the interior; the southern is low and 

 iiiur>hy. '1 lie winters arc seven- ; the heat is great 

 in summer, but the nights are cool. The soil is fer- 

 tile, 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 pastur- 

 age, 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 inhabi- 

 tants 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 con- 

 quered Moldavia. The following cut represents the 

 costume of a male and female. Their language is a 



corrupt Latin, mixed with Sclavonic. They call 

 themselves Rumuni, or Rumniasti, probably a cor- 

 ruption of Romani. They are described as ignorant, 

 indolent, treacherous, and vindictive ; although not 

 slaves, they have always been the subjects of the 

 severest oppression. The different professions and 

 trades are almost entirely in the hauds of Armenians, 

 Jews, Italians, and Russians. The capital of the 

 province is Jassy (q. v.), which is also an archiepis- 

 copal see ; Okna and Galacz are the other principal 

 towns; the Pruth and the Sereth, both emptying into 

 the Danube, are the chief rivers. Moldavia has 

 generally shared the fate of YValachia, with which, 

 under the Romans, it formed the province of Dacia 

 Transalpina (beyond the Carpathian). Bogden, a 

 Walachian chief, established himself in the country 

 in the twelfth century, and from him it was called 

 Bogdiana, but afterwards received the name of Mol- 

 davia, from the river Moldava, a branch of the 

 Sereth. Although the Walachians and Moldavians 

 were of the same origin, and spoke the same language, 

 they were often at war with each other, and formed 

 two independent states. (See fPalachia.) In the 

 fourteenth century, Moldavia became tributary to 

 the kings of Hungary, and in the beginning of the 

 sixteenth century, became a dependant of Turkey. 

 The inhabitants were permitted to retain their laws 

 and privileges, and the free exercise of their religion, 

 and to appoint tl.ieir waywode. or hospodar. In the 

 beginning of the eighteenth century, the Porte as- 

 sumed the right of appointing the hospodar, and from 

 that time the dignity was sold to the rich Greeks of 

 Constantinople, who practised every means of extor- 



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 

 o/,and Ypsilanti). It was not evacuated until 1826, 

 after the most pressing demands of Russia. 1 1 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 indemnifica- 

 tion 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 tars, 

 and its eyes so very miiiute, 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 parti- 

 tions 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 skin- 

 ning 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. Linnaeus 

 says that it passes the winter in a state of torpidity : 

 in" this, however, he is contradicted by Buftbn, who 

 states, that it sleeps so little in winter, that it bur- 

 rows in the same manner as in summer. The 

 destruction caused by these little animals is some- 

 times 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 numer- 

 ous, in 1742, as to destroy the hopes of the agricul- 

 turists. 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 Linnasan Society of London, it 

 appears that the mole is able to swim great dis- 

 tances. 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. 



