Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/569

Rh M F M G 543 agreeable position at the base of the Gallow Hill, 63 miles from Edinburgh, and 42 miles from Carlisle by railway. The Spa, which is H miles above the town (525 feet above sea-level), is sulphureous with some saline ingre dients, and is used in gout, rheumatism, and dyspepsia. Population (1881) 2161 ; in the season about 4000. MOFFAT, ROBERT, D.D. (1795-1883), African mission ary, was born at Ormiston, Haddingtonshire, Scotland, on 21st December 1795, of humble parentage. Moffat learned the craft of gardening, but in 1814 offered himself to the London Missionary Society, who, in 1816, sent him out to South Africa. After spending a year in Namaqua Land, with the powerful and dreaded chief Africaner, whom he converted, Moffat returned to Cape Town in 1819, and married Miss Mary Smith, a remarkable woman and most helpful wife. In 1820 Moffat and his wife left the Cape and proceeded to Griqua Town, and ultimately settled at Kuruman, among the Bechuana tribes lying to the west of the Vaal river. Here he worked as a missionary till 1870, when he reluctantly returned finally to his native land. He made frequent journeys into the neighbouring regions, as far north as the Matabele country, to the south of the Zambesi. The results of these journeys he communicated to the Royal Geographical Society (Jour. R. G. S., xxv. xxviii., and Proc. ii.), and when in England in 1842 he published his well-known Missionary Labours and Scenes in South Africa. Single-handed he translated the whole of the Bible into Bechuana. While solicitous to turn the people to Christian belief and practice, Moffat was perhaps the first to take a broad view of the missionary function, and to realize the importance of inducing the savage to adopt the arts of civilization. He himself was builder, carpenter, smith, gardener, farmer, all in one, and by pre cept and example he succeeded in turning a horde of bloodthirsty savages into a &quot;people appreciating and cultivating the arts and habits of civilized life, with a written language of their own.&quot; Now we find more or less Christianized communities extending from Kuruman to near the Zambesi. Moffat met with incredible discourage ment and dangers at first, which he overcame by his strong faith, determination, and genial humour. It was largely due to him that the work of Livingstone, his son-in-law, took the direction which it did. On his return to England, Moffat received a testimonial of about 6000. He died at Leigh, near Tunbridge Wells, 9th Aug. 1883. See Scenes and Services in South Africa, the Story of Moffat s Missionary Labours, London, 1876 ; and publications of the London Missionary and the 13. and F. Bible Societies. MOGADOR, or SFJERAH (Berber Tasurt), the most southern seaport town on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, and the capital of the province of Haha, stands from. 10 to 20 feet above high water on a projecting ridge of cal careous sandstone in 31 30 N. lat. and 10 44 W. long. In certain states of wind and sea it is turned almost into an island, and a sea-wall protects the road to Saffi. The streets are regular and, for a Moorish town, broad and clean. Within the walls there are three distinct divisions : the citadels old and new with the government buildings; to the north-west the outer town with its spacious markets in the centre ; and at the north-west corner the Mellah, or Jews quarter. In the citadels the houses are fairly good, and considerable attention is paid to sanitary matters. Water is brought from the Kseb, about 1| miles to the south, by an aqueduct. The prosperity of Mogador is due to its commerce ; only a few gardens break the barren ness of the immediate vicinity. The harbour or roadstead, though apparently protected by the island and quarantine station of Mogador, is extremely dangerous during west and south-west winds. Trade is carried on mainly with Marseilles, London, Gibraltar, and the Canaries, the prin cipal exports being almonds, goat-skins, gums, olive oil, and ostrich feathers, and the principal imports cotton goods (half of the total) and tea. The average value of the ex ports for the five years 1877-1881 was about 210,000, the imports rather less. Attention has been frequently directed to the value of Mogador as a health resort, especially for consumptive patients. The climate is remarkably steady : mean temperature of the hottest month 7 1 06, of coldest month 58 69. . The annual rainfall is only 10 or 12 inches, and the rainy days of winter and spring about 28. The sirocco is but rarely felt. The population is about 15,000 (7000 Jews, about 150 foreigners). Jews, Protestants, and Roman Catholics have religious edifices in the town. A place called Mogador is marked in the 1351 Portulan of the Lau- rentian Library, and the map in Hondius s Atlas Minor shows the island of Mogador/. Domegador ; but the origin of the present town is much more recent. Mogador was founded by Sultan Mohammed, and completed in 1770. The town received from the Moors the name of Suerah (little picture), while the Portuguese called it after the shrine of Sidi Mogadul, which lies towards the south half-way to the village of Diabat, and forms a striking landmark for seamen. In 1844 the citadel was bombarded by the French. MOGHILEFF, a north-western government or province of the Russian empire, situated on the upper Dnieper, between the provinces of Vitebsk and Smolensk on the north and east, Tchernigoff and Minsk on the south and west. In the north it is occupied by the watershed which separates the basins of the Dwina and the Dnieper, an undulating tract from 650 to 900 feet above the sea-level, and covered nearly everywhere with forests. This water shed slopes gently to the south, that is, to the valley of the Dnieper, which enters the province from the north east and flows west and afterwards due south. The southern part of the province is flat and has much in com mon with the Polyesie of the province of Minsk ; it is, however, more habitable, the marshes being less extensive. The province is covered by the Tertiary formation ; Devonian sandstone appears in the north, and Carboniferous limestones in the east. The soil is mostly sand, clay (brick-clay and potter s-clay are not uncommon), and peat-bogs, with a few patches of &quot;black- earth.&quot; The climate is rude and wet, the average yearly tempera ture at the Gorki meteorological observatory being 40 &quot;4 Fahr. (14 2 in January, and 63 8 in July) ; cold nights in summer are often the cause of bad crops. The province has about 1,140,000 inhabitants (947,625 in 1870), mostly White -Russians (78 per cent.), belonging to the Greek Church ; Jews are numerous (16 per cent.) ; Poles, belonging mostly to the nobility, make only 3 per cent, of the population. Agriculture is the chief occupation ; nearly one half (46 per cent.) of the surface of the province is under crop ; but, except after unusually good harvests, corn is imported, chiefly by the navigable channels of the Dnieper and Sozh. There are many distilleries on the estates of landowners, and wine-spirit is exported. The hemp culture is important ; hemp and hemp- seed oil are exported to Riga. The province has one large paper- mill, a few iron and copper works, and minor manufactures. The province of Moghileff is divided into eleven districts, with the chief towns: Moghileff (40,500 inhabitants), Chausy (4200), Tcherikoff (3900), Gomel (13,030), Gorki, formerly the seat of an agricultural institute (5050), Klimovichi (4000), Mstislavl (6700), Orsha (5350), Eogacheir (7750), Staryi Bykhoff (5200), and Syenno (2550). Of about 80 other municipal towns, we name Shkloil (13,000 inhabitants), Dubrovka (7000), Krieheff(4000). This province was inhabited in the 10th century by the Krivichi and Radimichi. In the 14th century it became part of Lithuania and afterwards of Poland. Russia annexed it in 1772. MOGHILEFF ON THE DNIEPER, a town of Russia, capital of the province of same name. It is situated on both banks of the Dnieper, 40 miles south of the Orsha station of the railway between Moscow and Warsaw. A railway along the Dnieper will soon bring Moghileff into railway communication with these capitals. Moghileif is mentioned for the first time in the 14th century as a dependency of the Vitebsk, or of the Mstislavl principality. At the beginning of the 15th century it became the personal property of the Polish kings. But it was continually plundered either by Russians, who attacked it six times during the 16th century, or by Cossacks, who plundered it tliree times. In the 17th century its inhabitants who belonged to the Greek Church suffered much from the persecutions of the Union. In 1654