the plains of Moab all Israel wept for him 30 days. After the conquest of Canaan, Eglon, king of Moab, with the assistance of the Ammonites and Amalekites, gained possession of Jericho and ruled over Israel 18 years. From this bondage they were delivered under the leadership of Ehud, a Benjamite, who killed Eglon secretly, and aroused the people to a victorious conflict in which 10,000 Moabites were slain. Afterward peace and friendship between the nations were restored. While the judges ruled, Jews sometimes took refuge in the land of Moab; and long afterward, when David was hard pressed by Saul, he obtained from the king of Moab a temporary asylum for his father and mother. Saul waged war successfully against the Moabites, and David made them tributary. After the revolt of the 10 tribes, the kingdom of Israel levied this tribute, and when, on the death of Ahab, the Moabites refused to pay it, Jehoram, with the help of Judah and Edom, attempted to hold them in subjection. The Moabites, in revenge, formed a powerful confederacy against Judah, but the different armies which composed it, panic-stricken, turned their arms against each other. Still later, they acted against the Jews as auxiliaries of the Chaldeans, under Nebuchadnezzar: yet this monarch, according to Josephus, five years after the capture of Jerusalem, made war also upon them, and subdued them. After the return of the Jews from captivity, they formed an intimate connection with the Moabites by intermarriages, which, however, the zeal of Ezra and Nehemiah broke up. Josephus mentions the cities between the Arnon and Jabbok as cities of Moab. Thenceforth they were almost lost to view among the Arabians; and for many centuries little was known concerning the region in which they lived. Even in more modern times few travelers ventured to explore it. Seetzen, in 1806, at the risk of his life, shed a new and unexpected light upon it. He found many ruined places still bearing the old names. In 1812 Burckhardt made the same tour from Damascus to Karak, and from that point advanced to Petra. From these and subsequent travelers we learn that the plains are covered with the sites of towns on every eminence or spot suitable for one. The land is capable of rich cultivation. The form of fields is still visible, and there are remains of Roman highways which are in some places completely paved, and on which there are mile-stones of Trajan, Marcus Aurelius, and Severus, with the numbers legible upon them. Denunciations against Moab were made by Balaam, Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and other prophets, who during its highest prosperity foretold that its cities should become desolate without any to dwell in them; and at the present day, while the sites, ruins, and names of many of its ancient cities can be traced, not one of them has been found inhabited by man. At the present time the American engineers of the Palestine exploration society are engaged in making a scientific survey and exploration of the land.

MOABITE STONE, THE, a stone bearing a long inscription in Hebrew-Phenician letters, discovered at Dibân, in Moab, in 1868. It appears to have been erected by Mesha, king of Moab, mentioned in 2 Kings, vii., and the inscription refers to his wars with Israel (in the 10th c. B.C.) The negotiations set on foot for its purchase led to quarrels among the Arab tribes claiming an interest in it, and the memorial was unfortunately broken to pieces. The fragments, however, were with great difficulty collected, and are now preserved in the Louvre.

MOABITE STONE, THE (ante). The authenticity of this stone, disputed on grounds which have little to do with true critical research, is now universally acknowledged. Its date may be taken as 890 B.C., and is almost the same as that of the inscriptions on the lions of Birs Nimrûd, that is, the reigns of Ashurnazirpal and Shalmanezar IV. Its characters are like those of the fourth Malta inscription, and again like that from Nora, in Sardinia. We have, then, in the 9th c. B.C., one single and same type of letter in use for current purposes from Sardinia to Assyria, which, about the 5th or 7th c., gives rise to the second form, or true Phenician, and to the old Hebrew of coins and gems, whose modern representative is the Samaritan. The stêl of Mesha contains all letters except Teth, and which, showing few dialectic variations, appears to stand, in willingness to express vowels, between the Hebrew and the Assyrian, without the parsimony so distinctive of the Phenician. There is a translation by Dr. Ginsburg in Records of the Past, vol. xi.

MOAT, the ditch round the ramparts of a fortress, may be either wet-i.e., full of water-or dry. In the latter, which is the commoner case, the depth should not be less than 12 ft., nor the width under 24. The more perpendicular the walls, so much the greater will be the obstruction to the enemy. In regular works the walls are usually revêted with masonry, that at the foot of the rampart being the scarp or escarp, and that below the covered way the counterscarp. See DITCH and FORTIFICATION.

MOAWIYAH, Caliph, 610-80, b. Mecca; son of an Arab chief of distinguished birth, and distantly related to Mohammed. He was made governor of Syria in 641, and during his term of office conquered the island of Rhodes, but lost Cyprus. On the proclamation of Ali as the successor of the caliph Othman in 655, Moawiyah revolted, and attempted to make himself caliph. He succeeded in getting control of most of the provinces of the empire, and took possession of Samarcand and Bokhara. His army, after making extensive conquests, was unable, after a long siege and repeated assaults, to capture Constantinople, and in 678 he entered into a treaty of peace. Moawiyah not only exerted absolute control over the Saracen empire, but succeeded in having the caliphate declared hereditary in his family.

MOBERLY CITY, Missouri. See page 882.

MOBERLY, GEORGE, D.C.L., b. St. Petersburg, 1803; son of an English merchant. He was educated at Winchester and Oxford. In 1826 he took the Oxford chancellor's prize for the best English essay, choosing for his subject, Whether a Rude or a Refined Age is the more Favorable to the Production of Works of Fiction. He took the degree of M.A. in 1828 and of D.C. L. in 1836. After a connection of some years with Balliol college, as tutor and fellow, he became, in 1835, head-master of Winchester school, where he remained until 1866. He was then presented with the living of Brixton in the isle of Wight, and in 1868 became a canon of Chester cathedral. In 1869 he was consecrated bishop of Salisbury. Of his numerous published works the most important are: A Few Remarks on the Proposed Admission of Dissenters into the University of Oxford, 1834; Sermons Preached at Winchester College, 1844; and Sermons on the Beatitudes, 1860. He delivered the Bampton lectures for 1868, which appeared under the title of The Administration of the Holy Spirit in the Body of Christ; and he was one of the "five clergymen❞ who published revised versions of various books of the New Testament between 1857 and 1870. He d. 1885.

MOBILE, MOBILIZE', an adjective and verb, used respectively in regard to continental armies, to designate a state of readiness for taking the field, and the act of making ready for such an operation. The process consists in augmenting a regiment from its peace to its war complement, in calling in men on furlough, in organizing the staff of divisions and brigades, constituting the commissariat, medical, artillery, and transport services, and in accumulating provisions and munitions. As the work of mobilizing an army causes great and inevitable expense, it is only resorted to when hostilities appear imminent.

MOBILE, a co. in s. w. Alabama, having the state line of Mississippi for its western border, the Mobile bay and the Mobile river flowing into it for its e. boundary, and the gulf of Mexico on the s.; drained by the Escatowpa river; 1500 sq.m.; pop. '80, 48,60244.709 of American birth, 21,426 colored. It is intersected by the Mobile and Ohio rail road, the New Orleans, Mobile and Texas, and the Mobile and Alabama Grand Trunk. Its surface is generally level, a large proportion being covered with pine forests growing on sandy hills. Its climate is healthy, and the water is pure. Live stock is raised. All the products of the southern states are found here, the soil being a productive, sandy loam. Lumber and rice are the chief products. Dauphin island lies directly s., the site of a French settlement in 1702, called Massacre island from the quantities of bones found there, and was the occasional seat of the colony of Louisiana in early times. From its county seat steamboats run to Montgomery, Tuscaloosa, and New Orleans, carrying on an important commerce. Its bay will admit vessels of 21 ft. draught, and the harbor of Mobile vessels drawing 13 ft., and cotton is largely exported; also, cigars, staves, shingles, resin, and turpentine. Its industries include the manufacture of tin, copper, engines and boilers, tar, and turpentine. Seat of justice, Mobile.

MOBILE, the principal city and only seaport of Alabama, is situated on the w. side of Mobile river, and at the head of Mobile bay, which opens into the gulf of Mexico. It is built with broad shaded streets on a sandy plain, rising gradually from the river, with a fine custom-house and post-office, city hall and market-house, theater, odd fellows' hall, cathedral, 34 churches, 4 orphan asylums, several hospitals, a medical college, St. Joseph's college (a Jesuit institution), a convent of the visitation, and academy for young ladies. Mobile has several ship-yards, foundries, and cotton-presses. Its chief business is the export of cotton. The average export for five years preceding the civil war was 632,308 bales; in 1874-75, 131,343 bales, value $9,054,110, were exported. There is also a large exportation of turpentine, resin, and tar. Its harbor is defended by fort Morgan. Mobile was settled by the French in 1702. Pop. '70, 32,034.

MOBILE (ante). The city is 6 m. in length by 2 or 3 broad; pop. '80, 31,205; a decline from 1870 of 729. It is chiefly inhabited along the line of the river and to a distance of about a mile inland; is lighted by gas, and has an excellent water supply from a distance of 5 m.; it has also sufficient horse-railroad facilities for its local need. Mobile is connected with the general railroad system of the country by the Mobile and Ohio, Mobile and Montgomery, New Orleans, Mobile and Texas, and Alabama Grand Trunk railroads. There are also steamers to Montgomery and other river towns.-The followlowing tables display the trade of Mobile from 1878-79 to 1884.

RECEIPTS AND SHIPMENTS-BALES OF COTTON.

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By these tables it is to be observed that from 1877 to 1884 there was a general decline in the foreign trade of Mobile, as there was a falling off in the population between 1870 and 1880, according to the tenth decennial census. The early history of this city displays more than the usual proportion of disturbing influences. Originally colonized by the French, it was long the most important point in the Louisiana settlement. It was attacked by famine and by epidemic; and in 1706 was the scene of that exceptional revolt known as the "petticoat insurrection," when the women of the place became dissatisfied with Indian corn as their staple article of food, and threatened rebellion. A disastrous hurricane, accompanied by a flood, nearly destroyed the settlement in 1711, and necessitated its removal from the place where it then stood, supposed to have been a point some 20 m. from its present location. By the treaty of Paris in 1763, Mobile was transferred to the British government; but twenty years later it was ceded to the Spanish government, with all the rest of the British possessions on the gulf, and remained in the possession of Spain until 1813, when it was surrendered to gen. Wilkinson. In 1819 it was incorporated as a city. From Jan. 11, 1861, to April 11, 1864, Mobile was in the hands of the confederates. On Aug. 5, in the latter year, admiral Farragut, with his fleet, passed up Mobile bay, and the memorable engagement with the forts and the confederate ships ensued, resulting in the destruction or capture of the latter, and the surrender of forts Gaines and Morgan. Early in the following spring the place was fully invested, and the remaining fortifications carried by assault.

MOBILE BAY is an estuary of the gulf of Mexico, in the s.w. portion of the state of Alabama. The island of Dauphin lies on the w. of the entrance, and on the e. is Mobile point, the station of a light-house with a revolving light 55 ft. high. It has an outlet on the s. w. through Grant's pass, communicating with Mississippi sound, used by steamers of light draught, and the regular course of the Mobile and New Orleans steamers. The bar, 4 m. seaward, will admit vessels of from 18 to 20 ft. draught. The depth of the bay is from 12 to 14 ft. more shallow in the n. portion than in the s., the anchorage for the cotton fleet being near the entrance, where they are loaded by lighters from Mobile. It is fed by numerous affluents of the Alabama river, flowing into the n. por tion, over mud flats, changing with each season, and increasing the sedimentary deposits of the bay. At Choctaw pass, where the Mobile river enters the bay, a channel through the bar is maintained by dredging, and similar means render the Dog river navigable. Its margins are thickly wooded with groves of live oak and magnolia, especially near the n. extremity, and pine forests crown the high bluffs which rise in other portions.

MOBILE POINT, at the e. extremity of the entrance to Mobile bay, is the end of a long, narrow strip of sand which stretches between Navy Cove and the bay of Bon Secours to the n., and the gulf of Mexico to the south. Fort Morgan is situated here, on the ground once occupied by fort Bowyer. The latter fort, which was rudely and unscientifically built, was attacked from the sea in Sept., 1814, by a British squadron of 2 brigs, and 2 sloops of war, and on the land by a force of 130 marines and 600 Indians. The American garrison, numbering but 130 men, under maj. Lawrence, and defended by 20 pieces of artillery, sustained for 3 hours the attack of the British, who were forced to withdraw with a loss of 232 killed and wounded; and their flag-ship was grounded and burned. The American loss was 8. Fort Bowyer was finally captured by the British, Feb., 1815.

MOBILE RIVER AND BAY of Alabama. The river is formed by the confluence of the Alabama and Tombigbee, 50 m. above Mobile, which lies at its mouth. It is a sluggish stream, with low banks and several channels. The bay is 30 m. from n. to s., and 10 or 12 from e. to west. The entrance from the gulf of Mexico, 3 m. wide, is defended by fort Morgan and fort Gaines.

MOBILE RIVER (ante), formed in the s. extremity of Clarke co., Ala., is the boundary line between the counties of Mobile and Baldwin, and is navigable by large steamboats. Throughout its course it takes a s. direction, and, 6 m. below the junction of the rivers which form its head, it divides into two branches, the e. being called Tensas, the w. Mobile, the latter a name derived from the Mauvilians or Mobilians, a tribe of Indians.

MOBILIER, CRÉDIT. On Nov. 18, 1852, the French government sanctioned the statutes of a new bank under the name of the Société Général de Crédit Mobilier. The

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name was intended as a contrast to the Sociétés de Crédit Foncier, which are of the nature of land banks, and advance money on the security of real or immovable property; while the Crédit Mobilier proposed to give similar aid to the owners of movable property. The declared object of this bank is especially to promote industrial enterprises of all kinds, such as the construction of railways, sinking of mines, etc. Various privileges were conferred upon it under its charter; in especial, it was allowed to acquire shares in public companies, and to pay the calls made upon it in respect of such shares by its own notes or obligations; also to sell or give in security all shares thus acquired. The operations of the society were conducted upon a very extensive scale. In 1854 it subscribed largely to the government loan on account of the Russian war, to the Grand Central railway company, to the General Omnibus company of Paris, and to various other important undertakings. The dividend for this year was 12 per cent. In 1855 it lent two sums to the government-the one of 250 and the other of 375 millions of francs. Its operations were vast during this year, and the dividends declared amounted to 40 per cent. The directors had not hitherto availed themselves of their privilege of issuing their own obligations, but this they now resolved on doing. They proposed to issue two kinds-the one at short dates; the other at long dates, and redeemable by installments. The proposed issue was to amount to 240 millions of francs; but the public became alarmed at the prospect of so vast an issue of paper-money, so that in Mar., 1856, the French government deemed it necessary to prohibit the carrying out of the proposed scheme. This was a severe blow to the institution. In 1856 its dividends did not exceed 22 per cent; in 1857 they were only 5 per cent. Several attempts had been made to resuscitate its credit, but failed. In 1875 it was put under a new board of management, who reported its assets at 77,000,000 francs. In 1876 the 500-franc shares were quoted at 200 francs. The Crédit Mobilier has undoubtedly been highly useful in developing the industrial power of France, but its operations have been hazardous, and had they not been checked in time, they would in all probability have ended in disaster.

MÖBIUS, AUGUST FERDINAND, 1790-1868, b. Germany; educated at Leipzig, where he was professor of astronomy from 1815. He reorganized the Leipzig observatory, and published a number of astronomical treatises, of which the best known are Elements of Celestial Mechanics, 1843, and Principles of Astronomy. His Manual of Statics treats of the relation between geometry and statics.

MOCCASIN SNAKE or WATER MOCCASIN, also called cotton mouth, the ancistrodon piscivorus, a venomous serpent inhabiting the southern part of the United States. It has a length of about 2 ft.; color dark brown above and a gray belly. It lives in swamps and wet places and frequents the water. It is one of the most dangerous of all serpents. MOCHA, the most strongly fortified seaport, and once the capital, of the province of Yemen, in Arabia. It is situated on the Red sea, at the head of a little bay near the strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, and 130 m. w.n.w. of Aden (q.v). All round the shore is a hot sandy waste. The principal trade is in coffee, of which 10,000 tons (of the finest quality) are annually exported to Jiddah, Suez, and Bombay. Other exports are dates, gums, balm, ivory, senna, etc. Pop. 5,000.

MOCHA STONES are pieces of agate or of chalcedony, containing dendritic infiltrations, often assuming appearances very like finely ramified confervæ, etc. They receive the name mocha stone because, when they first became known in Europe, they were brought from Mocha. Of the same nature with mocha stones are moss agates. The resemblance of the inclosed infiltrations to plants is often merely accidental, but it appears to be sometimes really due to plants, which were inclosed in the cavity in which the silicious mineral itself was formed. See illus., DIAMONDS, vol. IV., p. 796, fig. 4. MOCKING-BIRD, or MOCKING-THRUSH (Mimus or Orpheus), a genus of birds of the family merulide, having a more elongated form than the true thrushes, a longer tail, shorter wings, and the upper mandible more curved at the tip. They are all American. The best known species, the mocking-bird of the United States (M. polyglottus), is about the size of the song-thrush; the upper parts of a dark brownish ash color, the wings and tail nearly black, the under parts brownish white. The mocking-bird is common in all parts of America, from the s. of New England to Brazil; n. of the Delaware, it is only a summer visitant, but in more southern regions it is found at all seasons. It is one of the most common birds of the West Indies, and its exquisite song fills their groves with melody by night, for which reason it is there very generally known as the nightingale. By day, the mocking-bird is generally imitative, excelling all birds in its power of imitation, now taking up the song of one bird, and now of another, and often deceiving the most practiced ear by its perfect performance. By night, its song is for the most part natural. It does not confine itself, however, to musical strains; it seems to take equal pleasure in repeating the harshest cries of the feathered tribes; and in domestication readily adds to its accomplishments the imitation of almost any sound which it is accustomed to hear, passing from one to another with great rapidity, so as to produce an incomparable medley. The mocking-bird readily learns to whistle a tune, even of considerable length, but there is no well-authenticated instance of its imitating the human voice. The barking of a dog, the mewing of a cat, the crowing of a cock, the cackling

of a hen, the creaking of a wheelbarrow, are all within the compass of its powers. During its performances, it spreads its wings, expands its tail, and throws itself about as if full of enthusiasm and enjoyment. The mocking-bird is vocal at all seasons of the year. It enjoys almost everywhere the protection of man, and often makes its nest in a tree or bush close beside a house. Two or three broods are produced in a year. The male is extremely attentive to his mate, and manifests extraordinary courage in driving away enemies from the nest. Mocking-birds often assemble on such occasions, and birds of prey, far superior to them in size and strength, are compelled to retreat. Snakes are killed by reiterated blows on the head, and cats learn to consider the vicinity of a mocking-bird's nest unsafe. The food of the mocking-bird consists chiefly of berries and insects. Another species of mocking-bird is found in the Rocky mountains, and species of the same genus are among the finest song-birds of the temperate parts of South America.

MODE, in music. Every musical passage is referable to and forms part of a succession of sounds having some appreciable relation to one another. This succession of sounds is called the scale, and is a series of steps leading from a given note called the key-note, or tonic (q.v.), to its octave. The steps or degrees of the scale are of unequal size, and on the place of the smaller ones or semitones depends the mode of the music. Taking our natural scale, there are only two notes in it which can satisfy the ear as key-notes

viz., C and A. In the major mode, with C as key-note, the semitone or small interval falls between the third and fourth sounds; in the minor mode, with A as key-note, it falls between the second and third sounds; in the former case, the third of the key-note is a major third, in the latter a minor third. The minor mode further requires to be modified by occasionally sharpening its sixth and seventh, in order to be pleasing to modern ears. The scale of the major mode is derived from simpler harmonic proportions than that of the minor. Melodies composed in the latter mode have generally more or less of a plaintive or melancholy character. For the theory of these modes, see MUSIC. Ancient musicians admitted of a greater variety of modes. The Greeks had six, designated the Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixo-Lydian, Ionic, and Æolian. The Ionic is the modern major, the Eolian the minor mode; the others are more or less intolerable to a modern ear. They are used to a limited extent in the music of the Greek church, and in the Ambrosian chant.

MODE (ante), in music, a term applied to the two varieties, major and minor, of the diatonic scale, or series of tones employed in modern music. It is more rarely used for key, as "the twelve major and twelve minor modes or keys." In the old Greek music each note could become, as in the modern, the key-note of a new key or scale; but, as there was no introduction of new semitones, this change of key became a change of mode in the same sense as our major and minor. At first there were only four Greek modes the Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, and Myxo-Lydian--but later the Ionian and the Eolien modes were added. St. Ambrose chose the first four for use in the church in the 4th c., and St. Gregory introduced the others 200 years later. They were termed ecclesiastical modes, and gave rise to the eight "Gregorian tones" or chants.

MODELING is the process of preparing the original pattern or design from which a work in sculpture is to be cast or carved: the technical details will be found under SCULPTURE. Modeling is also practiced by medalists; the head or figure intended to be cut in the die being first modeled in relief with wax on a piece of slate. Goldsmiths, silversmiths, and jewelers also model intricate and artistic forms and ornaments of pieces of plate, to be cast and chased by them, or in which jewels are to be set. Wax is the substance used when delicacy and minuteness are required. Modeling is also a branch of the potter's trade. Flaxman modeled for Wedgwood numerous figures and groups in wax. For large models, the material employed is potter's clay, which, when used by sculptors, is mixed with a portion of sandstone, finely pulverized, to make it work freely. MODENA, formerly a duchy of Italy, in the n., between the Po and the Mediter ranean. It was bounded on the n. by Lombardy and the papal states, on the e. by Tus cany and the papal states, on the s. by Tuscany, Sardinia, and the Mediterranean, and on the w. by Sardinia and Parma. Area, 2,371 sq.m.: pop. in 1860, about 600,000. The only rivers of importance are the Margra and the Serchio, which empty into the Mediterranean. The n.e. part of the duchy is fertile, like the Lombard plain, to which it belongs. The vine is extensively cultivated, and the other chief productions are wheat, maize, hemp, and flax. For the history of the duchy, see MODENA, the capital. The modern province of Modena comprises the provinces Modena and Frignana of the old duchy. Area, 960 sq.m.; pop. '81, 279,405.

MODENA (anc. Mutina), capital of the former duchy of same name, a fortified city of Northern Italy, 24 m. w.n. w. of Bologna. Pop. '81, 31,053. It stands between the rivers Secchia and Panaro, in a pleasant plain, noted for its rich soil and salubrious air,