the coast towns and the plains of Morocco, occupied largely by Arabs. The name Moor is however still applied to the populations speaking Arabic who inhabit the country extending from Morocco to the Senegal, and to the Niger as far east as Timbuktu, i.e. the western Sahara. In this vast region and in all the towns of Barbary many of the Andalusians settled.
The Moors are ethnically a very hybrid race with more Arab than Berber blood. A common mistake is to regard them as a black race, as indicated by the old English phrase “Black-a-Moor,” i.e. black as a Moor. They are a white race, though often sunburnt and bronzed for generations, and both their children and those who have lived in the cities might pass anywhere as Europeans.
The typical Moors of Morocco are a handsome race, with skin the colour of coffee-and-milk, with black eyes and black silky hair, and the features of Europeans. They wear a full beard, and are characterized by a marked dignity of demeanour. There is a general tendency to obesity, which is much admired by the Moors in their women, young girls being stuffed like chickens, with paste-balls mixed with honey, or with spoonfuls of olive oil and sesame, to give them the necessary corpulence. The Moors are an intellectual people, courteous in manner and not altogether unlettered; but they are cruel, revengeful and bloodthirsty. Among the pirates who infested the Mediterranean none were worse than the Moors.
They are fanatical Mahommedans, regarding their places of worship as so sacred that the mere approach of a Jew or a Christian is forbidden. The Moors are temperate in their diet and simple in their dress, though among the richer classes of the towns the women cover themselves with silks, gold and jewels, while the men indulge to excess their love of fine horses and splendid arms. The national fault is gross sensuality. The position of women is little better than a pampered slavery. They are uneducated, indolent and vicious. Such education as the children receive is of a superficial kind. Slavery flourishes, and slave auctions, conducted like those of cows and mules, take place on the afternoons of stated days, affording a lounge for the rich Moors, who discuss the “goods” offered and seek for bargains. This public sale of slaves was prohibited in the coast towns, c. 1850, under pressure from European powers, but means are found to evade the prohibition.
Of games the young Moors play a great number; the principal one is a kind of football, more like that of Siam and Burma than that of England; wrestling and fencing are popular, but the chief amusement of the adult Moors is the “powder-play” (la‛ab el bārūd), which consists of a type of military tournament, the horsemen going through lance and musket exercises or charging in review fashion, firing volleys as they gallop. Other recreations much in favour throughout Morocco are music, singing, jugglery, snake-charming and acrobatic performances. As professional story-tellers many Moors are remarkable, but the national music is monotonous and not very harmonious.
See Dr Arthur Leared, Morocco and the Moors (1891); Budgett Meakin, The Moorish Empire (1899); and The Moors (1902); Frances Macnab, A Ride in Morocco (1902); and see under Morocco; Mauretania; Berbers, &c.
MOOSE, the North American Indian (Algonquian) name of the North American representative of the European elk (q.v.). The word is said to mean “cropper” or “trimmer,” from the animal’s habit of feeding on the branches of trees.
MOOT, a meeting or assembly, in O. Eng. mót, gemót, a word of which “to meet” is a derivative. “Moot” or its alternative form “mote” is the common term for the assemblies of the people of the hundred, burgh, &c., in the history of early English
institutions, and especially for the national assembly or council, the Witenagemot. The name survives in “moot hall,” the term still given to town-halls and council buildings in some towns in England, as at Aldeburgh. From its meaning of assembly, the word was applied to a debate or discussion, especially of the discussion of a hypothetical case by law students at the Inns of Court. These moots are still carried on at Gray’s Inn. As an adjective, “moot” means doubtful, undecided.
MOP, a bunch of cloth, rags or coarse yarn, fastened to a pole and serving as a broom or brush for swabbing up wet floors or other surfaces and for cleaning generally. The word is usually taken to be an adaptation of Lat. mappa, cloth, napkin, cf. “map.” A particular application of the term in provincial English is to an annual hiring or statute-fair, a. “mop-fair,” at which domestic and agricultural servants out
of places attended, carrying a broom, a mop or other implement indicative of their calling.
MOPLAH (Malayalam mappila), a fanatical Mahommedan sect found in Malabar. The Moplahs, who number upwards of a million, are believed to be descended from Arab immigrants, who landed on the western coast of India in the 3rd century after the Hegira. They are remarkable for the fanaticism displayed in successive attacks upon the Hindus, and they have several times resisted British troops. A regiment of the Indian army was recruited among them, but the experiment proved a failure, and the Moplah Rifles were disbanded in April 1907.
MOPSUS, in Greek legend, the name of two seers. (1) Son of Ampyx (or Ampycus) and the nymph Chloris, a Lapith of Oechalia in Thessaly. He took part in the Calydonian boar
hunt and accompanied the Argonauts as their prophet. He died from the bite of a serpent which sprang from the blood of the Gorgon Medusa. He is represented on the chest of Cypselus as boxing with Admetus. He was afterwards worshipped as a hero and an oracle was consecrated to him. (2) Son of Rhacius (or Apollo) and Manto, daughter of Teiresias. The rival seer Calchas is said to have died of chagrin because the predictions of Mopsus were fulfilled, while his own proved incorrect. Together with another seer, Amphilochus, Mopsus founded Mallus in Cilicia after the return from Troy; and in a quarrel for its possession both lost their lives. According to Pausanias (vii. 3, 2) Mopsus expelled the native inhabitants of Caria, and built the town of Colophon. Mopsus was worshipped as a god by the Cilicians, and had two famous oracles at Colophon and Mallus. His name survives in the town of Mopsuestia (Μόψου Ἑστία) and the spring of Mopsucrene. Mopsus appears to be the incarnation of Apollo of Claros.
MOQUEGUA, a maritime province of southern Peru, bounded N. by the departments of Arequipa and Puno, and S. by the republic of Chile. Area, 5550 sq. m.; pop. (1906 estimate), 31,920. The province extends from the Pacific coast eastward to the Cordillera Occidental, which forms the boundary line with Puno and the republic of Bolivia. Eastern Moquegua is volcanic, and is broken by the high range that forms the Western rim of the Titicaca basin. Among the volcanoes in the province are Tutupacu, the last eruption of which occurred in 1802, Huaynaputina and Hachalayhua, which were in violent eruption in 1606, Coropuna, Omate, Ubinas and Candarave—the last three still showing signs of activity. This region is also subject to severe earthquake shocks. On the lower slopes of the Cordillera there are fertile irrigated valleys which produce grapes and olives for commercial purposes, and a considerable variety of fruits, cereals and vegetables for local consumption. The best-known grape-producing districts are Moquegua (capital) and Locumba—the product being converted into wine and brandy for export. The capital is Moquegua (pop. about 5000 in 1906), in the upper valley of the Ilo River, 4500 ft. above sea-level, and 65 m. by rail from the small port of Ilo on the Pacific coast.
Moquegua was formerly one of the three provinces forming a department of the same name. The other two provinces (Tacna and Arica) were held for indemnity by Chile after the war of 1879—1883 with the understanding (treaty of Ancon, March 8, 1884) that at the expiration of ten years a plébiscite should be taken in the two provinces to determine whether they should remain with Chile, or return to Peru—the country to which they should be annexed to pay the other 10,000,000 pesos. Chile did not comply with this treaty agreement, and in 1910 still held both provinces.
MORA, JOSÉ (1638–1725), Spanish sculptor, was a pupil of Alonzo Cano. He died in Granada in 1725 and was buried in
