Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 10.djvu/533

 MONETA

479

MONGOLIA

phlets, "Die katholischen Zustiinde in Baden" (1841- 3).

Von Weech, Badische Biographien, II (Heidelberg, 1875). 88- 9; Idem in Allg. deutsche Biogr., XXII (Leipzig, 1885). 16.5-6. Portions of Mone'a correspondence were edited by von Webch in Zeitsckr. fUr die Gesch. des Oberrheins, LV (1901), 422 aqq., 650 sqq.;LVII (1903), 458 sqq.

Klemens Loffler.

Moneta (Monetus), theologian, b. at Cremona, Italy, date unknown; d. at Bologna, 1240. He was one of the first disciples of St. Dominic. Pre\-ious to his entrance into the order in 1220, he was professor of philosophy in the university of Bologna, where his rare erudition and depth of thought as well as his clearness of exposition won for him a wide reputation. The eloquence of Bl. Reginald, the superior of the local community, attracted to the order so many re- nowned doctors and students that Moneta began to fear for his own prestige, to insure which, he care- fully avoided the preacher and exhorted his pupils, by word and example, to do likewise. But yielding to his pupils' wishes one day he accompanied them to a sermon and was so deeply moved by it that he resolved to become a religious. He was later noted for his sanctity no less than for his eloquent and learned con- troversies with the heretics. His intense devotion to study caused him to lose his sight in the latter days of his life. He is the author of "Summa contra Catha- ros et Waldenses", a widely read work during his time. It was first edited in 1743 by a religious of his order, Thomas Aug. Ricchini, who supplied the work with copious notes. In a biographical sketch of the author with which he prefaced the work, we are in- formed that Moneta wrote also a commentary on Aristotle's logic and a " Summa casuum conscientiae".

Qc^TlF-EcHARD, SS. Ord. Prxd., I, 122; Man. Ord. Prad. Hist., I, 169; Denifle, Archio. fur Lit. u. Kirchgesch., II, 232; St. Giles, Life of Bl. Reginald, Eng. tr. (New Yorli, 1877), 56-9.

Joseph Schroder.

Mongolia. — The name used to designate an im- mense uneven plateau, part of the Chinese Em[)ire, extending, roughly speaking, from the Tarbagatai to the great K'ingan chains.

GEOGRAPHy. — Mongolia is bounded on the north by the Siberian provinces of Tomsk, Irkutsk, Yeniseisk, and Transbaikalia, as defined by the Russo-Chinese treaties of 1689 and 1727; on the east, by Manchuria, the frontier crossing the Nonni River; on the south, the frontier, after following the Shara Muran, which separates it from the Chinese provinces of Chi-li, Shan- si, Shen-si, and, crossing the bend of the Hwang-ho (Ordos Country), Kan-su, includes Ala-shan, following part of the Great Wall; on the southwest and west it is bounded by the New Dominion (Sin Kiang) and the Siberian province of Semipalatinsk to Mount Kaldar (Altai). The population of Mongolia is estimated variously at 2,000,000 (Statesman's Year Book, 1910), 2,580,000, or nearly 2 to the square mile, and 5,000,- 000. Its area of 1,367,9.53 square miles may be di- vided into three regions: the central region, known as the Mongolian Slia-mo, in contradistinction to the Great Sha-mo, or Desert of Gobi; the north-western region, a plateau connected with the Great Altai, in- cluding Kobdo and Urga, and bounded on the S. E.by the Ektagh Altai (or Mongolian, or Southern, Altai); the southwestern region of the great K' ingan, a long chain of mountains, stretching from the Shara Muren to the Argun River, separating the plateau of Gobi from the Manchurian plains.

The climate is extremely dry, and the temperature varies abruptly with the season of the year and even the hour of the day. An idea of the severity of a Mongolian winter may be gathered from the following description of conditions in the month of October: "The cold by this time was almost Arctic. All our provisions were frozen through and through; potatoes were like lumps of iron; meat had to be broken rather than cut; and some eggs which we had brought with

us were frozen so hard that, in spite of a preliminary thawing, the yolks were still solid lumps of ice when the whites were perfectly fried. Tea left in the bottom of a cup in the tent was frozen solid in a very few min- utes. The ink froze on one's pen as one wrote, and one had to blow on it after writing every two or tliree words, while each page had to be thawed over the lamp before it could be blotted. In the morning we woke with our moustaches fringed with lumps of ice and a coating of ice along the edge of the bed-clothes where the breath had fallen" (ludston, "China", no. 3, 1904, 21).

The Kerulon, or Kherelon, River, though "an in- considerable river, is the longest of the vixst arid East Mongol upland, and the permanence of the pastures along its banks has always attracted a large share of the nomad population; many of the Tsetsen princes keep their headquarters on or close to the Kerulon" (Campbell, 24). This river rises on the southern slopes of the Kentai Mountains, near Mount Burkhan Kal- duna and enters the Dalai Nor, five or six miles south- west of the Altan Emul (Golden Saddle), a pair of brown hills, famous in Mongol legend, between which the river flows. The Dalai, or Kulun Nor, is a lake in the Manchurian region, 16 miles from north-east to south-west, and about 10 miles from east to west, near the Transbaikalian frontier of Russia; it was visited in 1689 by Father Gerbillon. This lake receives on the north the waters of the Dalai Gol, which, united to the Khailar River, form the .'Vrgun River, and this in turn joins the Shllka. The Argiin and Shilka being united take the name of Amur, or He-lung-kiang, the great river which runs into the Okhotsk Sea. The Ursun Gol carries the overflow of the Buyr, or Bur, Nor to the Kulun Nor; the Khalka Gol, which rises in Lake Galba, on the western slope of the great K'ingan range, flows into the Buyr Nor; near it, on its south bank, stands the Ikhe Boshan Sume (Monastery of the Large Buddha). The Selenga River which runs into Lake Baikal, rises in the Ulan Taiga and Khan Taiga Mountains; its main tributaries are on the left, the Eke Gol flowing from the Kosso Gol in the middle of which is the Buddhist sacred island of Dalai Kui; on the right the Orkhon, which springs from the Khan- gai chain, receiving on the left the waters of the Tamir and on the right those of the Tola.

The People. — Organization. — With regard to the word Mongol, Mr. E. H. Parker (Asiatic Quart. Rev., July, 1910) writes: "It is usually believed that Jen- ghiz Khan gave the name Mung-Ku (the present Chinese name for 'Mongol') to his people, and the word is said to mean 'silver', just as the Liao (Kitan) dynasty is said to mean 'iron', and the Kin (Niuchen) dynasty to mean 'gold' . . . In the same way, I suspect the various forms, Mungu or Mungut, which have an unbroken descent from a. d. 600 to a. d. 1200 (before Jenghiz rose to power), must refer to some ancient stream or t>'pographical peculiarity in the Onon region, near where Jenghiz arose." In the History of the Ming Dynasty (Ming Shi) the Mon- gols are styled Ta-ta (Tatars) anil also Mcng-gu. The Mongol tribes are divided inio Xui Muiig-ku (Inner Mongols) and Wai Mung-ku (Outer Mongols). The Nui Mung-ku, including forty-nine banners (ho shun), arose out of the organization formed by the de- scendants of Jenghiz Khan, which has continued to the present time. Under the Yuan dyn.asty they were organized in six divisions (Djirgughan Tuman, or "Six Ten Thousands"), forming two wings, the right occupying the western portion of the Mongolian territory, the left the eastern portion. The Inner Mongols are now divided into six mcn.(7(Chines('), or cAo- golgdn (Mongol), including twenty-four pit (Chinese), or aimak (Mongol), as follows: I. Cherini Meng, or League, comprising the following pu, or tribes: (1) Khorch'in, 6 banners; (2) Djahiid, 1 banner; (3) Turbet, 1 banner; (4) Gtorloa, 2 banners. II. Cho-