244

MOHAWKS....MOHEGANS.

most the only musical one to be found in the island of New Zealand. His melody is so sweet, and his notes so varied, that any one would imagine himself surrounded by a hundred different sorts of birds, when the little warbler is exerting himself: from this circumstance it was named the mocking bird....Cooke's Voyage.

In

MOHAWKS, a famous tribe of Indians, who inhabited along the Mohawk river, in the state of New-York, and were the head tribe of the six nations. The Mohawk language, which is the language of the six nations, is wholly destitute of labials, or has no words which require the lips to be closed in pronouncing them. this respect, it is perhaps different from any other language. The strength of mind and memory which the Mohawks possessed, will appear from the following fact. In the year 1689, commissioners from Boston, Plymouth and Connecticut, had a conference with the five nations (afterwards six nations) at Albany. A Mohawk Sachem in a long oration, answered the English message, and repeated all that had been said the preceding day. The art they had to assist their memories was this. The Sachem who presided, had a bundle of sticks prepared for the purpose, and at the close of every principal article of the message delivered to them, gave a stick to another Sachem, charging him with the rememberance of it. By this means the orator, after a previous conference with the other Sachems, was prepared to repeat every part of the message, and give it its proper reply. As the Mohawks were strongly attached to the Johnson family, on account of Sir William Johnson, so they emigrated to Canada with Sir John Johnson, about the year 1776. The principal part of the tribe settled on Grand River, in Upper Canada.... Dr. Edwards, Smith's History.

MOHEGANS, a numerous tribe of Indians, who possessed a considerable part of the present territory of Connecticut, at the time of the first arrival of the English. According to Dr. Edwards, their language abounded with labials; had no diversity of gender, either in nouns or pronouns, and no adjectives; and seemed to be radically different from the language of the Mohawks

MOLE....MOLOCH.

245

of New-York. Although these nations of Indians lived at no great distance apart, there was not to be found one word in either language, which had any analogy to the correspondent word in the language of the other. The Mohegans were distinguished by their friendship to the white people. The remnant of this tribe, together with the Stockbridge Indians, migrated and settled near lake Oneida, in the state of New-York.

MOLE, a common little animal, of a wonderful conformation; which, if we compare with its manner of living, we shali find a manifest attention in Providence to adapt the one to the other. It scarce has eyes, which are not much needed, as a subterraneous abode is allotted to it. Its fore feet are broad, strong, short, and inclined outwards; answering the purpose of digging, serving to throw back the earth with greater ease, and to pursue the worms and insects which are its prey. The form of the body is not less admirably contrived for its way of life. The fore part is thick and very muscular, giving great strength to the action of the fore feet, enabling it to dig its way with amazing swiftness, either to pursue its prey, or elude the search of the most active enemy.... Goldsmith.

MOLOCH, an horrid idol of the ancient Ammonites and Canaanites, and afterwards of the Carthagenians : it is thought by the Jewish Rabbins to have been Saturn, and was the same as Baal or the idol of the sun, (see Jeremiah 19th 5th.) The image of Moloch is said to have been made of brass, hollowed within; and being thoroughly heated like iron in a furnace, it was prepared to receive its victims which consisted of children. The idol stood with extended but declining arms, in the act of receiving; so that when the human victim was presented, it dropt down into the devouring furnace. It was a custom for parents to select the most lovely of their children for this oblation; in the mean time, to drown the cries of the victims, various kinds of musical instruments were sounded during the whole of the shocking scene. In the worship of Moloch, children were sometimes cast into the brazen furnace, and consumed, and sometimes were made to pass through or

246 MONATI....MONEY-POUND....MONKEY.

between two fires for purification. Even the Israelites, in the time of Solomon, were infected with this most detestable idolatry.

MONATI, an animal resembling the whale-kind, and which lives in the Kamskatkan and northermost American seas. They live in families, one near another; each consists of a male, a female, a half-grown young one, and a very small one. The females oblige the young to swim before them, while the other old ones surround, and, as it were, guard them on all sides. If the female is attacked, the male will defend her to the utmost, and if she is killed, will follow her dead body to the very shore, and swim for some days near the place it has been landed at. When they are transfixed with the harpoon, they lay hold, of the rocks with their paws, and stick so fast as to leave the skin before they can be forced off. When a monati is struck, his companions swim to his assistance; some will attempt to overturn the boat by diving under it; others will push down the rope, in order to break it; and others will strike at the harpoon with their tails, with a seeming design of getting it out, which they often succeed in. This animal is of an enormous size; some are twenty-eight feet in length.... Winterbotham.

MONEY-POUND, a real pound in weight at first, but at length becoming, as at present, only a nominal pound. The English pound sterling, in the time of Edward 1, contained a full pound, tower weight, of silver, of a particular fineness; the tower pound being something less than the troyes pound. The English pound contains at present about a third only; the Scots pound about a thirty-sixth; and a French pound about a sixty-sixth part of their original value. Princes and sovereign states, by ordaining that three or four ounces of silver, or less, should be called a pound, opened the way for the easy payment of their debts: private debtors took advantage of the public cheat, paying nominal pounds of silver for real pounds; and creditors were defrauded and ruined.....A. Smith.

MONKEY, an extraordinary animal, which closely

resembles a man in his shape and appearance. He is always found to inhabit hot countries, the forests of which in some parts of the world are filled with innumerable bands of these animals. He is extremely active, and his fore-legs resemble the arms of a man, so that he not only uses them to walk upon, but frequently to climb trees, to hang by the branches and to take hold of his food. He supports himself upon almost every species of wild fruit that is found in those countries; and is continually scrambling up and down the highest trees in order to procure himself sustenance. Large bands of these animals will frequently sally out to plunder the gardens in the neighborhood; and in these predatory excursions, some of them are placed as spies to give notice to the rest, in case any human being should approach the garden; and should that happen, one of the centinels informs them by a particular chattering, and they all escape in an instant. In Reid's ingenious essays on the intellectual and active powers of man, the author says: "I have been informed on good authority, that a monkey, having once been intoxicated with strong drink, in consequence of which it burned its foot in the fire, and had a severe fit of sickness, could never after be induced to drink any thing but pure water." Happy were it for thousands of the stock of Adam, if, in this one respect, they had as much prudence and forecast as the aforementioned monkey....Day.

MONKS, an order of men in the Romish church, who led a secluded life, under pretence of extraordinary devotion. During the first fervors of monastic rage, the monks ran naked through the lonely deserts, and lodged in gloomy caverns; or like cattle took their abode in the open air. Many chose their rugged dwelling in the hollow side or narrow cleft of some rock, which obliged them to sit, or stand in the most painful and excruciating posture, during the remainder of their wretched lives; and not a few, under the name of Stylites or Pillar Saints, ascended the top of some lofty column, where they remained for years, night and day, without any shelter from the heat or cold. It happened, however, at length, that these contemners of the world used every juggling art to enrich themselves,

248

MONONGAHELA....MONSOONS.

in which they had great success. Beside the wealth and influence gained by them in consequence of the superstitious ignorance of the great, as well as of the vulgar, a popular opinion which prevailed toward the end of the tenth century, contributed greatly to augment their opulence. The thousand years mentioned by St. John, in the book of Revelation, were supposed to be nearly accomplished, and the day of judgment at hand. Multitudes of Christians, therefore, anxious only for their eternal salvation, delivered over to the monks all their lands, treasures, and other valuable effects, and repaired with haste to Palestine where they expected the appearance of Christ on Mount Sion....Mosheim, Russell.

MONONGAHELA, a river of the United States; rising at the foot of the Laurel Mountain in Virginia; thence by a south by east direction passing into Pennsylvania; and thence, winding, proceeds in a north by west course till it joins the Allegany river at Pittsburgh; where the Ohio, at the confluence of these two rivers, begins. On the banks of this river, facing Pittsburgh, the hills, which are at least three hundred feet high, appear to be one solid body of coal. Six miles from Pittsburgh, on the banks of the Monongahela, lies Braddock's Field, or the place where General Braddock, with the first division of his army, consisting of one thousand four hundred men, fell into an ambuscade of four hundred men, French and Indians; by whom he was defeated and mortally wounded, July 9, 1755. Colonel George Washington, at that time twenty-three years of age, was one of the aids-de-camp to General Braddock; and in a very short time after the action had commenced, he was the only aid remaining alive and unwounded. He had two horses killed under him, and four balls through his hat; but to the astonishment of all, escaped unhurt, while every other officer on horseback was either killed or wounded. Dr. Craik, who was an eye-witness, remarked, that "nothing but the superintending care of Providence could have saved him from the fate of all around him.".... Marshall.

MONSOONS, winds prevailing chiefly in some