Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/125

M U S M U Z 113 C 30 H 44 N 2 S 2 O 16 , in several aspects analogous to sinigrin. In presence of water it is acted upon by myrosin, present also in White Mustard, splitting it up into sulphocyanate of acrinyl, sulphate of sinapine, and sugar, Sulphocyanate of acrinyl is a powerful rubefacient principle, whence White Mustard, although yielding no volatile oil, forms a valuable material for cataplasms. The seeds of Brassica juncea have the same constitution and properties as Black Mustard, as a substitute for which they are extensively cultivated in Russia. The mustard- seed imported from the East Indies is also largely composed of B, juncea. Both as a table condiment and as a medicinal substance, mustard has been known from a very remote period. Under the name of VO.TTV it was used by Hippocrates in medicine. The form in which table mustard is now sold in the United Kingdom dates from 1720, about which time Mrs Clements of Durham hit on the idea of grinding the seed in a mill and sifting the flour from the husk. The bright yellow farina thereby produced under the name of "Durham mustard" pleased the taste of George I., and rapidly attained wide popularity. As it is now prepared mustard consists essentially of a mixture of black and white farina in certain proportions. Several grades of pure mustard are made containing nothing but the farina of mustard-seed, the lower qualities having larger amounts of the white cheaper mustard ; and corresponding grades of a mixed preparation of equal price, but containing certain proportions of wheaten or starch flour, are also prepared and sold as " mustard condiment." The mixture is free from the unmitigated bitterness and sharpness of flavour of pure mustard, and it keeps much better. All varieties of mustard-seed contain from 25 to 35 per cent, of a bland inodorous yellow-coloured fixed oil, free from pungency and with little tendency to become rancid. It is extensively used in India for cooking and all ordinary purposes, and is one of the ordinary commercial oils of Western countries. The mustard papers commonly used as rubefacients and vesicants are made from mustard flour entirely deprived of its fixed oil. MUTINY. This word, which primarily means a com motion and then an insurrection or sedition, is in English military law applied to a sedition in any forces belonging to Her Majesty s regular, reserve, or auxiliary forces, or navy. Such offences are dealt with by courts-martial, which up to the year 1879 derived their authority from the annual Mutiny Act (Act for punishing Mutiny and Desertion and for the better payment of the Army and their Quarters), the maintenance of a standing army in time of peace being illegal without the consent of parlia ment. For further details see MILITARY LAW and COURT MARTIAL. MUTTRA, a district in the lieutenant-governorship of the North -Western Provinces, India, lying between 27 14 and 27 58 N. lat. and 77 19 and 78 33 E. long., is bounded on the N. by Aligarh and Gurgaon, on the E. by Aligarh, Mainpuri, and Etah, on the S. by Agra, and on the W. by Bhartpur state, with an area of 1453 square miles. The district consists of an irregular strip of terri tory lying on both sides of the Jumna. The general level is only broken at the south-western angle by low ranges of limestone hills. The eastern half consists for the most part of a rich upland plain, abundantly irrigated by wells, rivers, and canals, while the western portion, though rich in mythological association and antiquarian remains, is comparatively unfavoured by nature. The crops are scanty, and the larger forest trees are not found. For eight months of the year the Jumna shrinks to the dimen sions of a mere rivulet, meandering through a waste of sand. During the rains, however, it swells to a mighty stream, a mile or more in breadth. Till recently nearly the whole of Muttra consisted of pasture and woodland, but new roads constructed as relief works in 1837-38 have thrown open many large tracts of country, and the task of reclamation has since proceeded rapidly. The census of 1881 returned the population of Muttra at 671,690 (males 360,967, females 310,723), Hindus numbering 611,669 and Mohammedans 58,088. There were only 65 native Christians. The population of the three municipal towns in 1881 was as follows : Muttra, 55,016; Brindaban, 21,467; and Kosi, 11,231. In 1881-82, 1048 square miles were returned as cultivated, 172 as cultivable, and 103 as uncultivable. Jodr and cotton form the principal staples for the autumn (kharif) harvest, while gram and barley are the chief grains grown for the spring (rabi) harvest. Sugar-cane, tobacco, indigo, and vegetables are all but unknown. The mass of the population is fairly well off, and the peasantry are described as being in better circumstances than those of neighbour ing districts. Great extremes of temperature occur, the cold of winter being comparatively excessive, while hot winds blow from the west with great violence during April, May, and June. The average rainfall for the ten years ending 1869 was 23 "6 inches. The central portion of Muttra district forms one of the most sacred spots in Hindu mythology. A circuit of 84 kos around Gokul and Brindaban bears the name of the Braj-Mandal, and carries with it many associations of the earliest Aryan times. Here Krishna and his brother Balarama fed their cattle upon the plain ; and numerous relics of antiquity in the towns of Muttra, Cobard- han, Gokul, Mahaban, and Brindaban still attest the sanctity with which this holy tract was invested. During the Buddhist period Muttra became a centre of the new faith. After the invasion of Mahmud of Ghazni the city fell into insignificance till the reign of Akbar ; and thenceforward its history merges in that of the Jats of Bhartpur, until it again acquired separate individuality under Suraj Mall in the middle of the last century. The Bhartpur chiefs took an active part in the disturbances consequent on the declining power of the Mughal emperors, sometimes on the imperial side, and at others with the Mahrattas. The whole of Muttra passed under British rule in 1804. MUTTRA, chief town and administrative headquarters of the above district, is situated on the right bank of the Jumna, about 30 miles above Agra, in 27 30 N. lat. and 77 43 E. long., with a population (1881) of 55,016, viz., males 28,769, and females 26,247. It is an ancient town, mentioned by Fa Hian as a centre of Buddhism about 400 A.D. ; his successor Hiouen Thsang, about 650, states that it then contained twenty Buddhist monasteries and five Brahmanical temples. Muttra has suffered more from Mohammedan sack and plunder than most of the towns of northern India. It was sacked by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1017-18 ; about 1500 Sultan Sikandar Lodi utterly destroyed all the Hindu shrines, temples, and images ; and in 1636 Shah Jahan appointed a governor expressly to "stamp out idolatry." In 1669-70 Aurangzeb visited the city and continued the work of destruction. Muttra was again captured and plundered by Ahmad Shah with 25,000 Afghan cavalry in 1756. The town still forms a great centre of Hindu devo tion, and large numbers of pilgrims flock annually to the festivals. MUZAFFARGARH, a district in the lieutenant-gover norship of the Punjab, India, lying between 29 1 and 30 46 N. lat. and 70 33 and 71 49 E. long., is bounded on the N. by Dera Ismail Khan and Jhang districts, on the E. and S.E. by the Chenab river, and on the W. by the Indus, with an area of 31 36 square miles. It occupies the extreme southern apex of the Sind Sagar Doab, the wedge-shaped tract between the Indus and the Five Rivers or Panjnad. The district stretches northward from their confluence in a narrow ridge of land, gradually widening for about 120 miles, until at its northern border it is 55 miles broad. In the northern half of the district is the wild thai or central desert of the Sind Sagar Doab, an arid elevated tract with a width of 40 miles in the extreme north, which gradually contracts until it disappears about 10 miles south of Muzaffargarh town. Although apparently a tableland, it is really composed of separate sandhills, with intermediate valleys lying at a lower level than that of the Indus, and at times flooded. Scattered amid this waste of sand-heaps are a few good plots of land, which the industry of the Jat cultivators has appropriated. The border strips fringing the thai towards the rivers are also for the most part under cultivation. South of the thai, the country consists of rich and productive lands, out of the reach of excessive flooding and at the same time within XVII. 15