his compilation. An interesting feature of the work is the treatment in it of the two poets of Bakr ibn Wā’il, uncle and nephew, called al-Muraqqish, who are perhaps the most ancient in the collection. The elder Muraqqish was the great-uncle of Ṭarafa of Bakr, the author of the Mu‛allaqa, and took part in the long warfare between the sister tribes of Bakr and Taghlib, called the war of Basūs, which began about the end of the 5th century A.D. Al-Mufaḍḍal has included ten pieces (Nos. 45–54) by him in the collection, which are chiefly interesting from an antiquarian point of view. One, in particular (No. 54), presents a very archaic appearance. It is probable that the compiler set down all he could gather of this ancient author, and that his interest in him was chiefly due to his antiquity. Of the younger Muraqqish, uncle of Ṭarafa, there are five pieces (Nos. 55–59). The only other authors of whom more than three poems are cited are Bishr ibn Abī Khāzim of Asad (Nos. 96–99) and Rabī‛a ibn Maqrūm of Ḍabba (Nos. 38, 39, 43 and 113).
The Mufaḍḍalīyāt differs from the Ḥamāsa in being a collection of complete odes (qaṣīdas), while the latter is an anthology of brilliant passages specially selected for their interest or effectiveness, all that is prosaic or less striking being pruned away. It is of course not the case that all the poems of al-Mufaḍḍal’s collection are complete. Many are mere fragments, and even in the longest there are often lacunae; but the compiler evidently set down all that he could collect of a poem from the memory of the rāwīs, and did not, like Abū Tammām, choose only the best portions. We are thus presented with a view of the literature of the age which is much more characteristic and comprehensive than that given by the brilliant poet to whom we, owe the Ḥamāsa, and enables us to form a better judgment on the general level of poetic achievement.
The Mufaḍḍalīyāt is not well represented by MSS. in the libraries of the West. There is an imperfect copy of the recension of al-Marzūqī (died 1030), with his commentary, in the Berlin collection. A very ancient fragment (dated 1080) of al-Anbārī’s recension, containing five poems in whole or part, is in the Royal Library at Leipzig. In the British Museum there is a copy made about a century ago for C. J. Rich at Bagdad of a MS. with brief glosses; and at Vienna there is a modern copy of a MS. of which the original is at Constantinople, the glosses in which are taken from al-Anbārī, though the author had access also to al-Marzūqī. In the mosque libraries at Constantinople there are at least five MSS.; and at Cairo there is a modern copy of one of these, containing the whole of al-Anbārī’s commentary. In America there are at Yale University a modern copy of the same recension, taken from the same original as the Cairo copy, and a MS. of Persian origin, dated 1657, presenting a text identical with the Vienna codex. Quite recently a very interesting MS., probably of the 6th century of the Hegira, but not dated, has come to light. It purports to be the second part of a combination of two anthologies, the Mufaḍḍalīyāt of al-Mufaqḍḍal and the Aṣma‛īyāt of al-Aṣma‛ī, but contains many more poems than are in either of these collections as found elsewhere. The commentary appears to be eclectic, drawn partly (perhaps chiefly) from Ibn as-Sikkīt (died 858), and partly from Abū-Ja‛far Aḥmad ibn ‛Ubaid ibn Nāṣih, one of al-Anbārī’s sources and a pupil of Ibn al-A‛rābī; and the compilation seems to be older in date than al-Anbārī, since its glosses are often quoted by him without any name being mentioned. This MS. (which is the property of Mr F. Krenkow of Leicester) appears to represent one of the recension’s mentioned by Muḥammad an-Nadīm in the Fihrist (p. 68), to which reference has been made above.
In 1885 Professor Heinrich Thorbecke began an edition of the text based on the Berlin codex, but only the first fasciculus, containing forty-two poems, had appeared when his work was cut short by death. In 1891 the first volume of an edition of the text, with a short commentary taken from al-Anbārī, was printed at Constantinople. In 1906 an edition of the whole text, with short glosses taken from al-Anbārī’s commentary, was published at Cairo by Abū Bakr b. ‛Omar Dāghistānī al-Madanī; this follows generally the Cairo codex above mentioned, but has profited by the scholarship of Professor Thorbecke’s edition of the first half of the work. A complete edition of al-Anbārī’s text and commentary, with a translation of the poems, undertaken by Sir C. J. Lyall (see J. R. A. S., April 1904) was in the press in 1910. (C. J. L.)
MOFETTA (Ital. from Lat. mephitis, a pestilential exhalation),
a name applied to a volcanic discharge consisting chiefly of carbon
dioxide, often associated with other vapours, representing the
final phase of volcanic activity. The word is used frequently
in the plural as mofette, or, following the French, mofettes. The
volcanic vents yielding the emanations are themselves called
mofette. They are not uncommon in Auvergne and in the
Eifel, notably on the shore of the Laacher See; whilst other
examples are furnished by the Grotta del Cane, near Puzzuoli,
the Valley of Death in Java, and the Death Gulch in the
Yellowstone Park.
MOFFAT, ROBERT (1795–1883), Scottish Congregationalist missionary to Africa, was born at Ormiston, Haddingtonshire,
on the 21st of December 1795, of humble parentage. He began
as a gardener, but in 1814, when employed at High Leigh in
Cheshire, offered himself to the London Missionary Society,
and in 1816 was sent out to South Africa. After spending
a year in Namaqua Land, with the chief Afrikaner, whom
he converted, Moffat returned to Cape Town in 1819 and
married Mary Smith (1795–1870), the daughter of a former
employer, a remarkable woman and most helpful wife. In 1820
Moffat and his wife left the Cape and proceeded to Griqua
Town, and ultimately settled at Kuruman, among the Bechuana
tribes living to the west of the Vaal river. Here he worked as a
missionary till 1870, when he reluctantly returned finally to his
native land. He made frequent journeys into the neighbouring
regions as far north as the Matabele country. The results of
these journeys he communicated to the Royal Geographical
Society (Journal xxv.–xxxviii. and Proceedings ii.), and when
in England on furlough (1839—1843) he published his well-known
Missionary Labours and Scenes in South Africa (1842). He
translated the whole of the Bible and The Pilgrim’s Progress
into Sechwana. Moffat was builder, carpenter, smith, gardener,
farmer, all in one, and by precept and example he succeeded in
turning a horde of bloodthirsty savages into a “people appreciating
and cultivating the arts and habits of civilized life, with a
written language of their own.” He met with incredible discouragement
and dangers at first, which he overcame by his
strong faith, determination and genial humour. It was largely
due to him that David Livingstone, his son-in-law, took up his
subsequent work. On his return to England he received a
testimonial of £5000. He died at Leigh, near Tunbridge Wells,
on the 9th of August 1883.
See Lives of Robert and Mary Moffat, by J. S. Moffat (1885); and C. S. Horne, The Story of the L. M. S. (1894).
MOFFAT, a burgh of barony, and police burgh, of Upper Annandale, Dumfriesshire, Scotland. Pop. (1901), 2153. It is situated 21 m. N.N.E. of Dumfries by road and 63 m. distant by the Caledonian railway, from both Edinburgh and Glasgow. It is the terminus of a branch line from Beattock, 2 m. distant. It has been famous for its sulphur and saline waters since the middle of the 18th century, and also enjoys great vogue as a holiday resort. The hills in the locality range from the adjacent Gallow Hill (832 ft.) to Hartfell (2651 ft.); about 5 m. north there is abundance of beautiful and varied scenery on the Annan, the Evan, the Birnock and the Moffat. The spa, a mile to the north of the town, was acquired by the burgh commissioners in 1898, and there are also spas at Hartfell (312 m. north) and Garpel (2 m. south-west). Dumcrieff House, 2 m. south-west, is the seat of Lord Rollo.
MOGADOR (Es-Sueira), the most southern seaport on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, in 31° 50′ N., 9° 20′ W., the capital of the province of Haha. Pop. (1908), about 20,000, of whom nearly a half are said to be Jews, and about 100 Europeans. The town stands from 10 to 20 ft. above high water on a projecting ridge of calcareous sandstone. In certain states of wind and sea it is turned almost into an island, and a sea-wall protects the road to Saffi. On the land side stretch miles of sand-dunes studded with broom, and beyond, the argan forests, distinctive of southern Morocco. Approached from this side the city bursts on the view like a mirage between sky and sea, and this perhaps entitles it to its name—Es-Sueira—“the picture.” It is the best planned and cleanest town in the empire, and this combined with the climate, which is very equable, makes it a health resort, especially for consumptive patients. The mean temperature of the hottest month is 71°·06, and of the coldest month 58°·69. The rainfall varies between 13 and 20 in. annually. The water supply is carried by an overground conduit from a spring near
