Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 06.djvu/372

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MORNING GLORY 310 MOROCCO stitutionality of the law was established by the Supreme Court of the United States. In 1887 the Mormon Church was disincorporated by Congress and its im- mense property was confiscated with the exception of $50,000. Finally, in Septem- ber, 1890, after the vast property holdings of the Church had been lost, President Woodruff issued his famous proclamation against polygamous marriages. MORNING GLORY, a name given to several climbing plants of the convolvu- lus family, having handsome purple or white, sometimes pink or pale blue, fun- nel-shaped flowers. MORNINGSIDE COLLEGE, a coedu- cational institution in Sioux City, la.; founded in 1894 under the auspices of the Methodist Church; reported at the close of 1919: Professors and instructors, 33; students, 788; president, F. E. Moss- man, D. D. MORNING STAR, in astronomy, the planet Venus when it is visible in the morning. Also a weapon used in ancient times. It consisted of a ball with spikes, united by a chain to a staff. Called also holy-water sprinkler. MORO, those inhabitants of the Phil- ippine Islands living in the Sulu Archi- pelago and the island of Mindanao who are Mohammedans. Most of them live in rude boats near the coast and wan- der from place to place wherever the fishing is good. Others of them live like the "lake dwellers" on houses erected on piles over the streams and ponds. They are in a rude stage of barbarism and are a cruel and warlike race. Polygamy and slavery are practiced among them, and as far as they have any government it is patriarchal. The Sultan of Sulu is sup- posed to be the supreme ruler, but his actual authority is small over the more distant groups. MOROCCO, or MAROCCO, known to the natives as Maghreb-el-Aksa,^ "the farthest West," is a former empire or sultanate which, though at one time comprising a portion of Algeria in one direction, and exercising in the other a modified jurisdiction as far as Timbuktu, is now confined to that part of northwest Africa bounded on the E. (at the Wad Kiss) by Algeria, and on the S. by Cape Nun and the Wad Draa, though both here and on the Sahara side of the Atlas the limits of the empire are rather inde- terminate. Area, about 219,000 square miles; pop. estimated at 6,000,000. Polit- ically, Morocco comprises at present the old kingdoms of Fez and Morocco and the territories of Tafilet (Tafilalet) and Sus; but the two latter are almost inde- pendent, recognizing the Sultan only as the Prince of True Believers, an office which he holds as the most powerful of the Shereefs or descendants of Moham- med. These four principal governments are divided into 17 primary provinces or "amalats," each presided over by a Kaid or "Bashaw," as the Europeans call him. Topography. — Morocco is, as a rule, mountainous, the Atlas traversing it in several chains from S. W. to N. E., and by various spurs both to the coast coun- try and to the desert. There are, how- ever, numerous level plains, some of which are of great extent, and very rich, the soil being in many places a deep, black loam, evidently the bed of an an- cient lake or of a primeval forest. There are also numerous more or less level pla- teaus similar to those of Algeria. But with the exception of parts of the Atlas, the forest of Mamora, the date and argan groves of the S., and a few straggling copses around the burial places of saints, Morocco has, in the course of the last thousand years, been almost denuded of timber, the palmetto scrub being about the most common representative of wood- land. Climate. — The climate of Morocco varies much, though the W. slope, being tempered by the sea breezes and pro- tected from the hot desert winds by the Atlas, is temperate, the thermometer sel- dom falling below 40° or rising above 90°. But in summer the interior valleys are very hot, and in winter snow often falls in Fez and Mequinez, where ice an inch thick is by no means uncommon. Farther S. extremes of heat and drought are more common, though as a rule the climate is equable. In the Sus country and the region of Tafilet rain is scarce and in places almost unknown. But far- ther N., and on the Atlantic and Medi- terranean slopes, it falls with tolerable regularity every year between October and April. Trade. — The total value of imports in 1918 was $73,706,922, and for the ex- ports, $24,654,973. The imports were chiefly cotton goods, sugar, tea, and wine. The exports consisted of eggs, breadstuffs, hides and skins, seeds, and vegetables. Agriculture. — The principal products of the country are cattle, eggs, barley, corn, hides, vegetables. Among the fruits grown in quantities are figs, lemons, olives, oranges, and dates. Cot- ton growing was introduced in 1911. The soil is capable of extensive cultivation. Education. — In 1918 there were 191 schools open to the public. There were 21,520 pupils, with 668 teachers.