Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/823

 MOOKSHEDABAD MOOSEHEAD LAKE 805 Ferdinand the Catholic, who in 1492 raised the cross on the walls of Granada. After this event many of the Moors emigrated to north- ern Africa, where they were inhospitably re- ceived by the Arabs, but found a home in the coast cities. The remnant in Spain, named Moriscoes, were subjected to a bloody persecu- tion by Philip II. , and were finally and com- pletely expelled from Spain by Philip III. in 1609. (See SPAIN.) MOORSHEDABAD, a town of British India, in Bengal, 124 m. N. of Calcutta; pop. about 150,000, including 90,000 Brahmans and 56,000 Mussulmans. It is the most populous town of the district of Moorshedabad (area, 2,705 sq. m. ; pop. in 1872, 1,355,549), but has been .superseded by Berhampore as the capital. The town comprises Moorshedabad proper on the E. bank of the Bhagruttee (an arm of the Ganges) and Mahinagar on the W. bank; it extends N. and S. about 8m., with an average breadth of 4 m. It consists chiefly of mud buildings, but contains a splendid palace of dazzling whiteness, beautifully situated, and completed in 1840 ; and there is also a native college. The commerce in silk and indigo, the staple products, is considerable, and the situa- tion of the town is the most favorable on the water route between Calcutta and the North- western Provinces; but the port is inaccessible during the spring except for the smallest craft. The defective drainage makes the place very unhealthy. It was once the capital of Bengal, and so prosperous that Clive used to compare it to the city of London ; but it has greatly declined. The court of the titular nawaub of Bengal, however, still "plays here its farce of mimic state," according to Hunter's " Our In- dian Mussulmans" (London, 1874). MOORUK, the native name of a species of struthious bird, discovered in 1857 in the island Hooruk (Casuarius Bennett!). of New Britain, and named by Mr. John Gould casuarius Bennetti, in honor of Dr. George Bennett of Sydney, N. S. W., who first brought it to the notice of the scientific world. The height of the bird when standing erect is 5 ft., of which the neck is 2 ft. ; the color rufous mixed with black on the back, and raven black about the neck and breast ; the loose wavy skin of the neck is iridescent, with tints of bluish purple, pink, and green ; the feet and legs are large and strong, pale ash-colored, the claw of the inner toe being nearly three times as long as the others ; there is a horny plate on the top of the head, resembling pearl covered with black lead; the bill is narrower, longer, and more curved than in the emu, somewhat like that of a rail, with a black leathery cere at the base, and a small tuft of black hair-like feath- ers behind the plate, continued here and there over the neck; the wings are rudimentary. Living specimens have been exhibited at the London zoological gardens. It seems to form the link between the emu and the cassowary, resembling the former in its bearing and gait ; it also resembles the kiwi-kiwi (apteryx) in the style of its motions and attitudes ; it is tame and familiar in captivity, and when pleased dances about its place of confinement ; it will thrive on boiled potatoes, with occasionally a little meat ; it emits a peculiar whistling chirping sound, and some louder notes resembling the name given it by the natives ; it is shy, difficult to approach, and still more difficult to pursue on account of its speed in running through the thick brush and its extraordinary power of leaping; it has all the inquisitiveness of the domesticated fowls. The eggs are of about the same size and form as those of the common cassowary, having in most cases thick tubercu- lated shells ; they vary from 13 to 14 in. in cir- cumference in the longest diameter, and from 11 to 1H in the widest; the color is pale olive green, with darker oh' ve tubercles ; sometimes they are smooth and without spots. Another struthious bird is the C. awtralis (Wall), dis- covered in the Cape York district of Australia in 1854. It is about the same size as the moo- ruk; the head is without feathers, covered with a bluish skin, and has a bright red protu- berance or helmet; the skin of the neck has six or eight round fleshy balls of blue and scar- let; the body is thickly covered with dark brown wiry feathers ; the wings are mere ru- diments. The flesh was eaten by its captors, and was said to be delicious. It is stronger and heavier than the emu, very wary, and not easily killed except with the rifle. MOOSE. See ELK. MOOSEHEAD LAKE, an irregular sheet of water on the borders of Somerset and Piscataquis counties, Me., the largest lake in the state and the source of Kennebec river, about 35 m. long and from 3 to 12 m. wide. It is situated 1,023 ft. above the level of the sea, in the midst of a wild and as yet mostly uninhabited region, 2 m. S. of the Penobscot and 75 m. N. by E. of Augusta. The densely wooded shores, which in general are but slightly elevated, rise in Spencer mountain, at the head of Spencer bay on the E. shore, to a height of 4,000 ft. Owing