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MOSQUITO KINGDOM. 



MOULINS. 



873 



length, and, though obstructed by rapids, they are navigable by bargee. 

 There are several other rivera in the kingdom, but none of much 

 consequence. 



The laznneg are a peculiar feature of this country. They are not 

 shalluw and stagnant collections of water, but deep lakes, connected 

 with the sea by one or more straits, by which the tide enters them. 

 They generally receive one stream, frequently several, and always have 

 therefore a current. Near the entrance of the laguncs the water ia 

 brackish, but in the interior it is quite sweet. The most extensive, 

 from south to north, are — Blewfields Lagime, into which the Blew- 

 fields River falls, 25 miles long, and Pearl Key Lagune, which is 20 

 miles long ; and, beyond Cape Gracias a Oios, Carataska Lagune, which 

 is much the largest, being 50 miles long and nearly 20 miles aoroas. 



The climate somewhat resembles that of Jamaica. The wet seasons 

 extend from Xovember to February, and from the middle of June to 

 the end of July, the dry seasons being the intermediate periods. On 

 the coast the rains are heavy, but very short; they are however 

 attended with heavy thunder-storms. In the coldest months (from 

 September to February) the temperature varies between 66° and 70°, 

 but descends occasionally to 62', and even to 60°. In summer the 

 thermometer ranges between 76°. and 84°, sometimes rising to 86°. 

 The country is said to be healthy. 



Vegetation is as vigorous as in any coimtry between the tropica. 

 The natural productions, vegetable and animal, are similar to those 

 of other parts of Central America. Maize, sugar, cotton, cacao, indigo, 

 and other tropical productions, are capable of being grown with great 

 success. In the interior are immense forests of fine timber, but log- 

 wood and sarsaparilla are the chief articles brought down to the coast 

 Tortoiseshell of fine quality is obtained along the coast 



The majority of the inhabitants do not materially differ from the 

 other savage tribes of America. AU the tribes, though they speak 

 different dialects, distinguish themselves from other nations by the 

 name of Miskitos, which the Europeans have changed into Mosquitoa. 

 The power of the king is absolute. 



The commerce of the Mosquito coast ia carried on by a few English 

 and American families which are settled there. There are several 

 Indian villages, at some of which are European residents ; but the 

 only towns are — Blewfields, the capital, on the west bank of Blewfields 

 Lagune ; and Oreytown, the chief or only trading town of the state, 

 situated at the mouth of the San Juan, and formerly known as San 

 Joan di Nicaragua. Oreytown, as noticed below, was destroyed, 

 July 12, 1854, by an American sloop-of-war ; it has since been to a 

 great extent rebuilt, but it will probably be some time before it recovers 

 its former prosperity. 



The first settlement of Englishmen on this coast dates from 1730, 

 when some families settled at Cape Gracias a Dios on Black River and 

 at the mouth of Blewfield's River. In 1S13, when the States of 

 Central America acquired their independence, that of Nicaragoa 

 claimed the Mosquito coast as a portion of its territories, but these 

 claims were rejected by England, and the King of the Mosquitos, an 

 Indian prince, was guaranteed by Great Britain the sovereignty of the 

 Mosquito coast. This English protectorate was protested against by 

 the United States, who refused to acknowledge the sovereignty of 

 the Ring of Mosquito, and in 1850 a treaty was concluded between 

 England and the United States, by which the British protectorate was 

 abandoned, the King of Mosquito being thrown on bis own resources ; 

 while the two powers agreed to coK>perate in the construction of 

 a neutral and secure Uqe of communication by way of the San Juan 

 River and Lake Nicaragua between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, 

 open on equal terms to all countries, and in establishing a free port 

 for all nations at each extremity of the line. An American company 

 was formed for constructing a canal and working the line by steam- 

 Iraats; and a body of mercantile men, chiefly Americans with some 

 British, settled in the old Spanish town of San Juan de Nicaragua at 

 the mouth of the San Juan River, which they declared a free port 

 under the title of Greytown. This town was within the Mosquito 

 Ungdom, and the merchants acknowledged themselves subject to the 

 king : but as Nicaragua also claimed the town, and there was no 

 attempt at the exercise of real sovereignty by either power, the 

 iobabitants organised a local government, and the town appeared to 

 be rtfodily growing in size and prosperity. In the beginning of 1854 

 the town was the chief commercial port on the new route, and con- 

 tained under 1 000 inhabitants, who are rather curiously described in 

 the massage of the President of the United States, as " a heterogeneous 

 assemblage gathered from various countries, and composed for the 

 most part of blacks and persons of mixed blood, and of mischievous 

 and dangerous propensities." Unfortunately differences sprung up 

 between the authorities of the town and the Transit Company. The 

 American Consul to Central America supported the company, and 

 when the 'mayor' of Greytown attempted to arrest the captain of 

 one of the company's steamboats who had murdered a townsman, the 

 consul interfered to rescue him. In doing so he received a blow from 

 one of the crowd ; and for this insult the American government sent 

 a Teasel of war to demand an apology and reparation. The com- 

 mander of the Cyane, the ihip sent on this mission, gave notice that 

 unless ample apology was offered and the sum of 24,000 dollars 

 immediately paid, he should nt once bombard the town. The oom- 

 nwnder of on English war schooner protested against the bombard- 



ment ; and the European and American inhabitants took refuge on 

 board the British schooner, while the Negroes and Indiaus fled into 

 the interior. The bombardment then proceeded, and every house 

 and warehouse in the town with their contents were entirely destroyed, 

 a body of men having been landed to bum such as had esc:vpcd the 

 cannonade. This proceeding excited great indignation in the United 

 States as well as in Europe, and was formally complained of by some 

 of the European powers ; but the American government have accepted 

 the responsibility of it, and justified the conduct of Captain HoUius, 

 who had been supposed to have exceeded hia instructions. 



MOSS. [Aggerhocs.] 



MOSTAK. [Bosnia.] 



MOSUL, a town of Mesopotamia, capital of a pashalic, ia situated 

 on the right bank of the Tigris, opposite the ruins of Nineveh, at a 

 distance of iibout 220 miles N.N.W. from Baghdad, and has about 

 40,000 inhabitants, chiefly Arabs, Turks, and Kurds, with a consider- 

 able number also of Catholic, Syrian, Chaldean, and Nestoriau Chris- 

 tians and Jews. Caravans trade between Mosul and Diarbekr, Baghdad 

 and Aleppo. Indian goods are forwarded to Tocat in Asia Minor, 

 whence copper is received in return. The chief manufacture is that 

 of coarse cotton-cloths, dyed blue, and used by the lower order of 

 people. According to Marco Polo, the muslins took their name from 

 Mosul, where they were first manufactured. Gall-nuts from Kurdistan 

 and copper are exported to Baghdad in return for Indian goods, which 

 are sent to Syria, Kurdistan, Armenia, and Asia Minor. The Catholic 

 or Latin bishop of Diarbekr (or of Chaldea), resides here. The town 

 is surrounded by a wall, and is further defeuded by a castle built on 

 an Uland in the river ; the streets are narrow and uupaved; There 

 are several bazaars, numerous coffee-houses and baths, 10 or 12 Chris- 

 tian churches, and about 30 mosques. A bridge of boats connects 

 Mosul with the eastern bank of the Tigris. 



MOTALA-ELF. [Swedes.] 



M0TC0M6K [DORSETSHIRK.] 



MOTRICO. [Bas<hj» Provinces.] 



MOTUIL. [ORASAD,i.] 



MOTTE-UU-CAIRE, LA. [Alpes, Basses.] 



MOULINS, a town in France, capital of the department of AUier ; 

 the seat of tribunals of first instance and of commerce, of a primary 

 normal school, an endowed college, and a gratuitous school of design ; 

 is situated on the right bank of the AUier, here traversed by a 

 handsome stone bridge of thirteen arches, 160 miles in a straight line, 

 213 miles by railway through Orleans and Yierzon, S.S.E. from Paris, 

 in 46° 33' 59" N. lat, 3° 20' 9 ' E. long., at an elevation of 744 feet 

 above the level of the sea ; and had 15,398 inhabitants in the com- 

 mune at the census of 1851. It is said to have derived its name 

 from the number of mills driven by the AUier at this point. It 

 existed in the 13th century. Archambaud VIII. exempted the towns- 

 men from a certain tix in consideration of an annual rent of 200 

 livres. Robert, son of St Louis, founded an hospital in Moulins in 

 1269. Its prosperity dates from 1303, the year in which the Duke 

 of Bourbon returned from England, and built on the north side of 

 the town the castle of Moulins, in which he took up his residence. 

 The town was then small and surrounded with ditches, the sites of 

 which are now occupied by the Cours, or interior promenades of the 

 town. From this time till the flight of the constable of Bourbon in 

 the early part of the 1 6th century, Moulins was the chief town of 

 Bourbonnais, and its castlo the residence of Bourbon princes. The 

 marriage of Antoine de Bourbon with Jeanne d'Albret was celebrated 

 in the castle of Moulins, October 20tb, 1548. The castle was destroyed 

 by fire in 1755 : the only part of it now remaining is a square tower 

 (called Mal-Coifft$e, erected in 1327) which is used as a prison, and a 

 small wing occupied by the gendarmerie. 



Moulins stands in a fertile plain in a well wooded and very delight- 

 ful country. It is a neat and weU-built town ; the streets, clean and 

 well paved, are not remarkable for great width or regularity. The 

 houses are constructed with brick. The squares, of which the finest 

 are the Place d' AUier and the Place de la Bibliothique, are adorned with 

 fountains. Besides the Cours already mentioned there are several 

 handsome public walks ; the principal one is the AU^e de Berci, which 

 is perfectly level, 1100 yards long, and shaded by lofty trees. The 

 chief buildings are the town-hall, the court-house, both of which are 

 modem, and the church of the Convent of Visitation, which contains the 

 tomb of Henri de Montmorency, who was beheaded under Louis XIII. 

 at Toulouse ; the convent itself ia now occupied as a college. Under 

 the choirs of the church of Notre-Dame (which dates from 1386) 

 are buried several members of the house of Bourbon. In the interior 

 of the church is a stone monument, on which a dead body is sculptured 

 with remarkable truth and effect. The clock-tower is ancient and of 

 great height, the hours are struck by colossal figures moved by 

 machinery. The barracks, at the end of the bridge in the suburbs of 

 of La Madeleine, the public library of 16,000 volumes and some 

 valuable manuscripts, the general hospital, and the waterworks deserve 

 mention. The industrial products of MouUns comprise cutlery, sillc 

 and cotton hosiery, blankets, coverlets, cotton and woollen yam, 

 marquetry, leather, and ropes. There ia a considerable trade in com, 

 wine, iron, wood, coals, sidt, cattle, and pigs. Ten yearly fairs are 

 held. Moulins gives title to a bishop, whose see is the department of 

 AUier, Marshal de ViUars (1653) and Fitz-James, duke of Berwick 



