climate of the district is comparatively cool, owing to the proximity of the hills; and the average annual rainfall is 33 in. The population in 1901 was 877,188, showing an increase of 13·5% in the decade, which was a period of unexampled prosperity. The principal crops are wheat, pulse, cotton and sugar-cane. The district is crossed by the North-Western railway from Delhi to Saharanpur.
Hindu tradition represents Muzaffarnagar as having formed a portion of the Pandava kingdom of the Mahābhārata; authentic history, however, dates from the time of the Moslem conquests in the 13th century, from which time it remained a dependency of the various Mahommedan dynasties which ruled at Delhi until the practical downfall of the Mogul Empire in the middle of the 18th century. In 1788 the district fell into the hands of the Mahrattas. After the fall of Aligarh, the whole Doab as far north as the Siwalik hills passed into the hands of the British without a blow, and Muzaffarnagar became part of Saharanpur. It was created a separate jurisdiction in 1824. During the Mutiny there was some disorder, chiefly occasioned by official weakness, but no severe fighting.
See Muzaffarnagar District Gazetteer (Allahabad, 1903).
MUZAFFARPUR, a town and district of British India, in the
Patna division of Bengal. The town is on the right bank of
the Little Gandak river, and has a railway station. Pop. (1901),
45,617. The town is well laid out, and is an important centre
of trade, being on the direct route from Patna to Nepal. It is
the headquarters of the Behar Light Horse volunteer corps and
has a college established in 1899.
The District of Muzaffarpur has an area of 3035 sq. m. It was formed in January 1875 out of the great district of Tirhoot, which up to that time was the largest and most populous district of Lower Bengal. The district is an alluvial plain between the Ganges and the Great Gandak, the Baghmat and Little Gandak being the principal rivers within it. South of the Little Gandak the land is somewhat elevated, with depressions containing lakes toward the south-east. North of the Baghmat the land is lower and marshy, but is traversed by elevated dry ridges. The tract between the two rivers is lowest of all and liable to floods; Pop. (1901), 2,754,790, showing an increase of 1·5% in the decade. Average density, 914 per sq. m., being exceeded in all India only by the neighbouring district of Saran. Indigo (superseded to some extent, owing to the fall in price, by sugar) and opium are largely grown. Rice is the chief grain crop, and cloth, carpets and pottery are manufactured. The district is traversed in several directions by the Tirhoot system of the Bengal and North-Western railway. It suffered from drought in 1873–1874, and again in 1897–1898.
See Muzaffarpur District Gazetteer (Calcutta, 1907).
MUZIANO, GIROLAMO (1528–1592), Italian painter, was
born at Acquafredda, near Brescia, in 1528. Under Romanino,
an imitator of Titian, he studied his art, designing and colouring
according to the principles of the Venetian school. But it was
not until he had left his native place, still in early youth, and
had repaired to Rome about 1550, that he came into notice.
There his pictures soon gained for him the surname of Il Giovane
de' paesi (the young man of the landscapes); chestnut-trees
are predominant in these works. He next tried the more
elevated style of historical painting. He imitated Michelangelo
in giving great prominence to the anatomy of his figures, and
became fond of painting persons emaciated by abstinence or
even disease. His great picture of the "Resurrection of
Lazarus" at once established his fame. Michelangelo praised
it, and pronounced its author one of the finest artists of that age.
It was placed in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, but was
afterwards transferred to the Quirinal Palace. Muziano, with
dogged perserverance (at one time he shaved his head , so as not
to be tempted to go out of doors), continued to proceed in the
path on which he had entered. He grew excellent in depicting
foreign and military costumes, and in introducing landscapes
into his historical pieces after the manner of Titian. Mosaic
working also occupied his attention while he was employed as
superintendent at the Vatican; and it became under his hands
a perfect imitation of painting. His ability and industry soon
gained for him a handsome fortune. Part of this he expended
in assisting to found the Academy of St Luke in Rome. He
died in 1592, and was buried in the church of Santa Maria
Maggiore.
Many of Muziano’s works are in the churches and palaces of Rome; he also worked in Orvieto and Loreto. In Santa Maria degli Angeli, Rome, is one of his chief works, “St Jerome preaching to Monks in the Desert”; his “Circumsion” is in the church of the Gesù, his “Ascension” in the Araceli, and his “St Francis receiving the Stigmata” in the church of the Conception. A picture by him, representing Christ washing the feet of His Disciples, is in the cathedral of Rheims.
MUZZIOLI, GIOVANNI (1854–1894), Italian painter, was born in Modena, whither his family had removed from Castelvetro, on the 10th of February 1854. From the time that he began to attend the local academy at the age of thirteen he was recognized as a prodigy, and four years later, by the unanimous vote of the judges, he gained the Poletti scholarship entitling him to four years’ residence in Rome and Florence. After his return to Modena, Muzzioli visited the Paris Exhibition, and there came under the influence of Sir L. Alma Tadema. His first important picture was “In the Temple of Bacchus” (1881); and his masterpiece, “The Funeral of Britannicus,” was one of the chief successes of the Bologna Exhibition of 1888. From 1878 to his death (August 5, 1894) Muzzioli lived in Florence, where he painted the altar-piece for the church of Castelvetro.
See History of Modern Italian Art, by A. R. Willard (London, 1898).
MWERU, a large lake of Eastern Central Africa, traversed
by the Luapula or upper Congo. It lies about 3000 ft. above the sea;
measures about 76 m. in length by some 25 in breadth, and is
roughly rectangular, the axis running from S.S.W. to N.N.E.
It is cut a little south of its centre by 9° S. and through its
N.E. corner passes 29° E. At the south end a shallow bay
extends to 9° 31′ S. East of this, and some miles further north,
the Luapula enters from a vast marsh inundated at high water;
it leaves the lake at the north-west corner, making a sharp bend
to the west before assuming a northerly direction. Besides
the Luapula, the principal influent is the Kalungwizi, from the
east. Near the south end of the lake lies the island of Kilwa,
about 8 m. in length, rising into plateaus 600 ft. above the
lake. Here the air is cool and balmy, the soil dry, with short
turf and clumps of shady trees, affording every requirement for
a sanatorium. Mweru was reached by David Livingstone in
1867, but its western shore was first explored in 1890 by Sir
Alfred Sharpe, who two years later effected its circumnavigation.
The eastern shores from the Luapula entrance to its exit,
together with the Kilwa Island, belong to British Central Africa;
the western to the Belgian Congo.
MYAUNGMYA, a district in the Irrawaddy division of lower Burma, formed in 1893 out of a portion of Bassein district, and reconstituted in 1903. It has an area of 2663 sq. m., and a population (1901) of 278,119, showing an increase of 49% in the decade and a density of 104 inhabitants to the square mile. Among the population were about 12,800 Christians, mostly Karens. The district is a deltaic tract, bordering south on the sea and traversed by many tidal creeks. Rice cultivation and fishing occupy practically all the inhabitants of the district. The town of Myaungmya had 4711 inhabitants in 1901.
MYCENAE, one of the most ancient cities of Greece, was situated on a hill above the northern extremity of the fertile Argive plain—μύχῳ Ἄργεος ἱπποβότοιο. Its situation is exceedingly strong, and it commands all the roads leading from Corinth and Achaea into the Argive plain. The walls of Mycenae are the greatest monument that remains of the Heroic age in Greece; part of them is similar in style and doubtless contemporary in date with the walls of the neighbouring town Tiryns. There can therefore be little doubt that the two towns were the strongholds of a single race, Tiryns commanding the sea-coast and Mycenae the inner country. Legend tells of the rivalry between the dynasties of the Pelopidae at Mycenae
