Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/752

* MOHAVE. 674 MOHILEV. Tlicy niiniber now about 2100, of wliom 000 are on Colorado Kiver Kc^oivation, Arizona, and earn a fair livinjr as mine laborers, woodeiitters, and boatmen alonj; the river. (Some study of the tribe has been made by Kroeber, of the University of L'-alifoniia. MOHAVE DESERT. A desert region in southern California, lying principally in San Eernardino County (Map: California, E 4). It is a part of the Colorado Desert (q.v.), although the two names are often used synonymously. MO'HAWK (New England Algonquian name, M'cjii'i. Muliiiijiia, liear; they call themselves (laiiiegaroiio, Bear People, or Flint People). The leading tribe of the Iroijuois confederacy (q.v.) and formerly occupying the I.ower Mo- hawk River Valley, in Xew York. They were considered the keepers of the eastern 'door' or frontier of the "long House' of the con- federacy, the Seneca being assigned the duty of guarding the western door. The ilohawk terri- tory was supposed to extend northward to the Saint Lawrence, eastward to the country of the jMahican and Wappinger along the Hudson, and southward to the watershed of the Delaware River and the Catskill Mountains, where they bordered upon the Delaware and Munsec. Their geographic position thus brought them into early and intimate contact with the Dutch and Englisli settlers, from whom they procured the firearms which soon made their very name a terror to the remoter tribes. This e.xposed situation, however, caused them to suffer much more than their con- federates in the colonial wars, so that their seven villages of 1044 were reduced to five in 1077, some whole clans seeming to have been wiped out. They also furnished the larger share of recruits for the Catholic mission colony of Caughnawaga (q.v.). At the beginning of the Revolution they took sides with the liritish. and nearly the entire tribe, under Brant, fled to Canada, where they liave resided ever since. The remainder were driven out by the Oneidas, who burned their vil- lages. The most reliable early estimate, about ICGO, gave the Mohawk 2.500 souls. Then began a rapid decline, caused by war with other tribes and with the French, and by removals to Caughnawaga and other French (,'atholic mission settlements, and in 1077 they were estimated at only 1.500. Later figures, being only partial estimates, give no idea of their full number. No Moliawk, olliciallv so recognized, now resides on the New York reservations or elsewhere in the United States. In Canada the only Indians separately reported as Mohawk are the "Mohawk (if the Pay of t^uinte.' Ontario, nundiering I'i.'iO. ehielly farmers, and reported as increasing in industry year by year, making good progiess and beconiing richer. Besides them there are n iiuml>er of this tribe living with the other Six Nations on the Orand Uiver Reser'e. Ontario, while the "Iroquois' of the mixed Iroquois and Algonquian bands at Oibson, Ontario (total 125). nn<l Oka or Lake of Two Mountains. Queliec (total 44.5), with the Iroquois of Cauglinaw.lga and Saint Regis (q.v.), numbering altogether about 4400. are largely of Mohawk origin and all u«e Ih.nt lanL'iia;.'e. See iROgiol.s. MOHAWK RIVER. The largest affluent of (be Hudson. II rises near the boundary of Oneida and Lewis counties, N. Y., and flows south to Rome, where it takes a general easterly course through Herkimer, Montgomery, Schenec- tady, and Saratoga counties, and joins the Hud- son at Cohoes (Map: New York, F 3). In its course of nearly 150 miles it pas.ses through the celebrated Mohawk A'alley, one of the most beau- tiful and fertile agricultural regiims in the United States. In colonial times the valley was the main highway to the tireat Lakes, and during the Revolution a bitter contest was waged be- tween the American and British forces for its contrtd. There are many thriving manufactur- ing cities along the Jlohawk, which is paralleled by the Erie Canal, and the New Vork Central and the West Shore railroads, forming a great trade route between the Atlantic seaboard and the West. See New Yokk. MOHE'GAN (dialectic form of Jlnhiran, from wliiili tribe the Mohegan were originally an oll'shoot). An Algompiian tribe formerly re- siding chicUy upon the Thames Kiver in eastern Connecticut, and claiming dominion by conquest over several smaller adjoining tribes, not all of which, however, admitted the claim. They seem to have been an eastern extension from the Mahican of the Hudson, while the warlike Pequot (q.v.) were in turn a branch of the Mohegan. At the period of the first settlement of Connecti- cut the two last named tribes formed one body, under the rule of Sassacus. Uncas, a svibordinate chieftain, rebelled against him and assumed a distinct authority as the leader of a small band on the Thames, near the present Norwich, This band became known in history as the ilohegan, while those remaining with Sassacus were distin- guished as Pe(|Uot, In the struggle between the Pequot and the colonists Uneas aided the Eng- lish, and in consequence on the destruction of the Petiuot tribe in 1037 the greater part of the sur- vivors were placed midcr the dominion of the Mohegan chief, who thus obtained control of the territory of both tribes. He took siich care to strengthen his power with the English that after the death of King Philip in 1070 the Mohegan were the only important tribe remaining in ."southern New England. As the settlements ex- tended they sold most of their lan<ls, retaining only a small reservation on the Thames River, in New London Coimty. Connecticut, centring about their village, Mohegan. The villages of Groton and Stonington. occupied chiefly by the remnant.'? of the conquered Pequot, were considered also as under Jlohegan jurisdiction. They rapidly dwindled when surrounded by the wliites. many joining the kindred mission bands at Scaticook and Brotberton in New York. The rest con- tinuid to reside at Mohegan until now (bey are so mixed with negro and while blood that they have practically lost their identity, although they still retain ollicial State recognition. In 1705 they nundiered "."iO at Molu'gan. reduced to "200 in 1774 and 00 in ISOrt. any larger number reported later being due to foreign admixture. MOHILEV, mAh;-lyf-f'. A government of European Russia, bounded by the Government of Viteh.sk on the north, Smolensk on the cast, Tchernigov on the southeast and south, and Minsk on the west (Map: Russia, D 4). Area, IS. 522 square miles. The norlhern part of the government is slightly elcv.ited. forming the watershed between the Dnieper and the Dilna. The southern and larger part belongs to the re-