Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/570

Rh 544 M O G M O H it surrendered to Russia, but in 1661 the Russian garrison was massacred by the inhabitants. In the 18th century it was taken several times by Russians and by Swedes, and in 1708 Peter I. ordered it to be destroyed by fire. It was annexed to Russia in 1772. Of 40,500 inhabitants two-thirds are Jews and the remainder AYhite-Russians, with a few Poles (2500). Its manufactures are without importance ; but one branch of trade, namely, the prepa ration of skins, has maintained itself for many centuries. The commerce is mostly in the hands of Jews : corn, salt, sugar, and fish are brought from the south, whilst skins and manufactured ware imported from Germany (partly by smugglers) are sent to the southern provinces. MOGHILEFF ON THE DNIESTER (Mohttov), a district town of Russia, situated in the province of Podolia, on the left bank of the Dniester, 87 miles east-south-east of Kamenets- Podolsk, and 43 miles from the Zhmerinka railway junc tion. It has 18,200 inhabitants, nearly one-half of whom are Jews ; the remainder are Little Russians, Poles (1500), and a few Armenians. The Little-Russian inhabitants of Moghileff carry on agriculture, gardening, wine, and mul berry culture. The Jews and Armenians are engaged in a brisk trade with Odessa, to which they send corn, wine, spirits, and timber, floated down from Galicia, as well as with the interior, to which they send manufactured wares imported from Austria. Moghileff, named in honour of the Moldavian hospodar Mohila, was founded by Count Potocki about the end of the 16th century. Owing to its situation on the highway from Moldavia to the Ukraine, at the passage across the Dnieper, it developed rapidly. For more than 150 years it was disputed by the Cossacks, the Poles, and the Turks. It remained in the hands of the Poles, and was annexed to Russia in 1795. The Crown purchased it from Count Potocki in 1806. MOGILAS, PETRUS (c. 1600-1647), metropolitan of Kieff from 1632, belonged to a noble Wallachian family, and was born about the year 1600. He studied for some time at the university of Paris, and first became a monk in 1625. He was the author of a Catechism (Kieff, 1645) and other minor works, but is principally celebrated for the Orthodox Confession, drawn up at his instance by the abbot Kosslowski of Kieff, approved at a provincial synod in 1640, and accepted by the patriarchs of Constantinople, Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch in 1642-3, and by the synod of Jerusalem in 1672. See GREEK CHUKCH, vol. xi. p. 158. There are numerous editions of the Confession in Russian ; it has been edited in Greek and Latin by Panagiotes (Amsterdam, 1662), by Hofmann (Leipsic, 1695), and by Kimmel (Jena, 1843), and there is a German translation by Frisch (Frankfort, 1727). MOGUL, or MUGHAL, Ji, the Arabic and Persian form of the word Mongol, usually applied to the Mongol empire in India. See INDIA, vol. xii. p. 793 sqq. MOHACS, a market town in the Trans-Danubian county of Baranya, Hungary, stands on the right bank of the west arm of the Danube, 25 miles east-south-east of Pecs (Fiinf- kirchen), with which it is connected by railway, 45 58 N. lat., 18 37 E. long. At Mohdcs there are several churches and schools belonging both to the Roman Catholics and the Calvinists, also the summer palace of the bishop of Pecs, a monastery, an old castle, and a station for steamers plying on the Danube, by which means a considerable commerce in wine and the agricultural produce of the neighbourhood is carried on with Budapest and Vienna. Not far from Mohdcs are coal mines, and the town is an important coal depot of the Danubian Steam Navigation Company. The population in 1880 was 12,047 (Magyars, Serbs, and Germans). Two great battles fought in the vicinity of the town mark the commencement and close of the Turkish dominion in Hungary. In the first, 29th August 1526, the Hungarian army under Louis II. was annihilated by the Ottoman forces led by Soliman the Magnificent (see vol. xii. p. 369). In the second, 12th August 1687, the Austrians under Charles of Lorraine gained a great and decisive victory over the Turks, whose power was afterwards still further broken by Prince Eugene of Savoy. MOHAIR is the woolly hair of a variety of the common or domestic goat inhabiting the regions of Asiatic Turkey, of which Angora is the centre, whence the animal is known as the Angora Goat (see GOAT, vol. x. p. 708). Goat s hair has been known and used as a textile material in the East from the most remote periods ; but neither the Angora goat nor its wool was known in Western Europe till, in 1655, the animal was described by the naturalist Tourne- fort. That textures of mohair were in use in England early in the 18th century is obvious from Pope s allusion : &quot; And, when she sees her friend in deep despair, Observes how much a chintz exceeds mohair.&quot; Owing, however, to the jealous restrictions of the Turkish power, it was not till 1820 that mohair became a regular article of import into the United Kingdom. In that year a few bales came into the market ; but so little was the material appreciated that it only realized lOd. per K. In 1870 average mohair fleece was selling at five times that price. From the small beginning of 1820 the imports gradually waxed, and the trade received a very consider able impetus through the introduction in 1836, by Titus Salt, of the analogous fibre alpaca. The increasing demand for and value of mohair early stimulated endeavours to acclimatize the Angora goat in other regions ; but all European attempts have failed, owing to humid and un- genial climates. In 1849 a flock was taken by Dr J. P. Davis to the United States of America, and since that time many fresh drafts have been obtained and distributed to Virginia and various Southern States, and to California and Oregon in the west. In these high and dry regions the goats thrive ; and the flocks in the Western States now number many thousands. The Angora goat has also been introduced into the Cape of Good Hope with much success. The first importation of mohair from the Cape, made in 1862, amounted to 1036 Ib ; and now about one- tenth of the total British supply is received from that source. Mohair has also been received in England from goats reared successfully in Fiji, where they were first in troduced in 1874, and there are also thriving flocks in Australia. The trade in mohair between Asia Minor and western Europe is controlled in Constantinople. There upwards of twenty varieties of fleeces are distinguished according to the localities of their pro duction, the richest and most lustrous qualities being produced in hilly and forest regions, while the fleeces from the open plains are comparatively kempy, coarse, and cottony. From the Lake Van district on the eastern borders of Asiatic Turkey a distinct and inferior variety of wool is obtained. It is known in commerce as Van mohair, and consists, to the extent of about 70 per cent., of white wool slightly streaked with black, with 30 per cent, of coloured red and black wool. At Konieh in the south, also, an inferior mohair known as Pelotous is produced, 80 per cent, of which is black and red, and the remainder white. The average weight of an Angora goat fleece is from 5 to 6 Ib. The finest quality of wool is obtained from the first clip, which is made in the second year of the animal. She-goats yield the best wool, after which come wethers, while the rams give the coarsest fleeces. Angora mohair is a brilliant white lustrous fibre, elastic and wiry in character, and devoid of felting properties. It attains the length of four or live inches, but the long fibre is mixed with an undergrowth of shorter wool, which in the spinning process is combed out as &quot;noils&quot; for separate use. It is a material of enormous durability, and, owing to its remarkable elasticity, it is especially fitted for working into long piled fabrics, such as plush and imitation furs, or for use in braids and bindings, and in boot and other laces. It is largely used for making Utrecht velvet or furniture plush for the upholstering of railway carriages, &c. , a trade centred at Amiens In the making of imitation seal skins, and imitation beaver, otter, chinchilla, and other furs, and for carriage rugs generally, mohair is extensively employed. Many dress fabrics of mixed mohair and alpaca, cotton, or silk are also manufactured ; but with changes in fashion such materials are con stantly changing in style, composition, and name. Mohair is also used for making certain qualities of lace, and an imitation of ostrich feathers for use as trimming has been made from the fibre. Tin 1 imports of mohair into the United Kingdom during 1882 amounted to 16,859,771 ft, valued at 1,433,584, a quantity largely in excess of the imports of any previous year.