Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/710

 MCESIA MOGADORE the lake from the river, and for the next six months into the river from the lake." The same historian ascribes the formation of this lake to a king Mceris who lived about 1350 B. 0., and who is identified by modern Egyptolo- gists with Amen-hotep (Amenophis) III., the Meranon of the later Greeks and Romans. But he confounds the natural lake Birket-el-Keroon with the artificial lake Mceris. (See BIRKET- EL-KEROON.) During the annual inundation of the Nile the two lakes would appear as one. Mceris in reality was an extensive reservoir secured by dams and communicating by canals with all parts of Fayoom, to supply which with water was the object of its construction. MCESIA (in Greek, Mysia), an ancient coun- try of eastern Europe, bounded N. by the Savus (Save) and Ister (Danube), E. by the Euxine, S. by the Hsemus (Balkan) and Scardus ranges, and W. by the Drinus river (Drin). It was di- vided by the Romans, who conquered it in the early period of the empire, into Mcesia Inferior or E. Mcesia, the present Bulgaria, and Mcesia Superior or W. Mcesia, the present Servia, di- vided by the little river Ciabrus (Tzibritza). The original inhabitants were chiefly Thracians, among them the Triballi. Under Aurelian the Dacian colonies were removed there, when the middle part of the province also received the name of Dacia AurelianL It was occupied by the Goths in the 4th century, who were called Moaso-Goths, and who surrendered the territo- ry to the emperor Theodosius I. Slavs settled here in the 6th and 7th centuries. MOFFAT, Robert, a Scottish missionary, born at Inverkeithing, Fifeshire, in 1795. He was reared in the Secession church, but his religious associations from 1811 till 1816 were largely with the Methodists of England, where he then lived. He was a gardener, but devoted his lei- sure hours to study, and in 1815 offered him- self as a missionary. He was originally des- tined to accompany Williams to the South sea, but was finally sent to South Africa. He sailed in 1817, and immediately on his arrival at Cape Town went to Namaqualand, where he entered upon his labors at the kraal of Africaner, a chief whose name had long been a terror to the neighboring districts, but who had lately become an enthusiastic convert to Christianity. Here Moffat labored for three or four years with great success. But the situation being unsuitable for a principal mission station, he set out in search of a better locality, and labor- ed successively with much promise in the coun- tries to the north and northeast of Cape Colony, and in every place guided the people in the arts of civilized life. He often made tours among barbarous warlike tribes. His remark- able adventures in these journeys are described in his u Missionary Labors and Scenes in Southern Africa" (8vo, London, 1842), which he wrote and published during a visit of sev- eral years to Britain, rendered necessary by the state of his health. During his stay there, he also carried through the press a version of the New Testament and the Psalms in the Bechuana language. He returned to Africa in 1842, and continued there until recently, when he went back to London. He has compiled a " Seeuana Hymn Book " (London, 1843), and his " Farewell Services " were edited by Dr. Campbell, and published in 1843. Dr. Liv- ingstone was Moffat's son-in-law. MOGADORE, or Snirah, a fortified seaport town of Morocco, on the Atlantic, 130 m. W. by S. of the city of Morocco; pop. about 20,000, many of whom are Jews. The town stands Mogadore. on an eminence, opposite an island of the same name, and is surrounded by a low sandy flat, which at high water is overflowed by the sea. It consists of two parts, one called the cita- del, inhabited by Moors, and the other called Mellah, by Jews. The town is well supplied with water by an aqueduct. The houses are generally large and flat-roofed. Some of the