Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 10.djvu/463
day customs and beliefs, including many pagan sur- vivals, particularly bird and other animal sacrifices. Food is still buried with the dead and libations made to the earth, while offerings are still made secretly at heathen shrines and before idols hidden away in secret caves. One of these was discovered by the parish priest of their principal town a few years ago, and ac- cording to reliable testimony instances of cannibal sacrifice have occurred within living memory. Among their numerous dances is a dramatic performance founded upon the story of the Conquest, with charac- ters representing Montezuma, Cortes, and Malinche.
The Mixe language is peculiarly harsh in sound and is spoken in several dialects. Its chief monument is the "Institucion Cristiana, que contiene el Arte de la lengua Mije" of the Dominican Father Agustin Quin- tana (c. 1660-1734). It was published at Puebla in 1729 and reprinted at Oaxaca in 1S91.
Bancroft, Native Races. I-III (San Franciaco, 1882); Idem, Hist, of Mexico (.San Francisco, 1SS6-8); Barnard, Uthmus of Tehuantepec ^\' V. \ rk, 1^:,.'}; Brinton, .4mcricaii iJuM (New York, 18911; I I I ' riuaa iiidigenas de Mexico, U (Mex-
ico, 1865): Si , I , / ntphy of Southern Mexico in Proc.
Daiienport .Ir.n/ s , \ III (Davenport. 1901); Idem, Recent
Mexican stuoif -■/ the notire langttages of Mexico in Bulletin IV, Dept. Anthropology, Univ. of Chicago (Chicago, 1900) ; Idem, In Indian Mexico (Chicago, 1908).
James Mooney.
Mixed Marriages. See Marriage, Mixed.
Mixteca Indians (also Misteca, Latin, Mish- te-ka), one of the most important civilized tribes of southern Mexico, occupying an extensive territory in western and northern Oaxaca and extending into Guerrero and Puebla. They mmiber in all about 2,50,- 000 souls, or somewhat more than the whole Indian population of the United States together. Their east- em and southern neighbours are the rude Mixe and the cultured and powerful Zapotec, with the last named of whom they constitute a distinct linguistic stock, designated as the Zapotecan. The ancient cul- ture and governmental forms of the Mixteca were practically the same as those of the Zapotec. They are now industrious farmers, weavers, and potters, the pottery manufacture, contrary to the Indian custom generally, being in the hands of the men. They stand high for industry and ingenuity, dignified and relia- ble disposition, hospitality and love of liberty. They were brought under Spanish dominion about the same time as the Zapotec and Mixe, in 1521-4, shortly after which the work of their conversion was begun by the Dominicans and prosecuted with sucli success that the whole nation may now be considered as Christian, notwithstanding some survivals from pagan times. They are active and enterprising, and have taken prominent part in Mexican politics, being particularly devoted to the Revolutionary eau.se in ISll. I're.si- dent Diaz of Mexico is of one-fourth Mixteca blood,
San Bartolo, one of their towns, is described by Starr as a delightful place, large and strung along two or three long straight streets. The houses were of poles set upright, with thick thatchings of palm.s, in yards completely filled with fruit trees, and garden beds of spinach, lettuce, and onions. Beehives in quan- tity were seen at nearly every house. Almost every woman was clad in native garments, many of wh.ieh were beautifully decorated. The men wore brilliant sashes, woven in the town. At Teposcolula, "the great convent church historically interesting, is strik- ing in size and architecture. The priest, an excel- lent man, is a pure-blooded Mixteca Indian, talk- ing the language as his mother tongue. With great pride he showed us about the building, which was once a grand Dominican monastery. . . . The cura had ten churches in his charge. He seemed a devout man, and emphasized the importance of his preaching to his congregation in their native tongue and his. So convinced is he that the native idiom of the people is the shortest road to their heart and understanding,
that he has prepared a catechism and Christian doc- trine in the modem Mixtec, which has been printed." The MLxteca language is spoken in a number of dia- lects and in spite of its peculiarly difficult character, has been much studied on account of the importance of the tribe. The standard authority is the " Arte en lengua Mixteca" of Fr. Antonio de los Reyes (Mexico, 1593, and reprinted at Mexico in 1750). The Indian priest author noted by Starr is Fr. Casiano Palacios, who.se "Catecismo" was published in Oaxaca in 1896. Pimentel also devotes a chapter to the language. (See also Zapotec.)
Bancroft. Nntire Races, I-III (San Francisco, 1SS2): Idem,
Hist, of Me.riro I.Sr,n Knincisco, 1886-8); BniNT..N, American Race (New \'-!^ Ixmi, I'imentel, Le/i(7ua,>i ;"■■■. "' '- \l- rn-o, I (Mexico, I-' ' -I .1 I Ethnography of :<■■ 1/ ,,. in
Proc.Darenr ' 1 .,.■<•.?, VIII (Davciii -:, I li.BM,
Recent MesLca:. -'i-'j -j :f-r native languages uj .\l:^..o. Lau. of Chicago. Dept. Anthropology, Bull. /F (Chicago, 1900); Idem, In Indian Mexico (Chicago, 1908).
James Mooney. Mixtecas. See Huaju.4pam de Leon, Diocese of.
Moab, Moabites.— In the Old Testament, the word Moab (2N1D) desrignates (1) a son of Lot by his elder daughter (Gen., xix, 37) ; (2) the people of whom this son of Lot is represented as the ancestor (Ex., xv, 15, etc.), and who are also called "the Moabites" (Gen., xix, 37); and possibly (3) the territory occupied by the Moabites (Num., xxi, 11). Its etymology: "from my father", which is added by the Septuagint to the Hebrew text in Gen., xix, 37, is more probable than any derivation suggested by modern scholars. The origin and race of the Moabites need not be dis- cussed here, since according to Gen., xix they are the same as those of the Ammonites, which have been ex- amined in the article Ammonites.
From the mountainous district above Segor (Zoar), a town which lay in the plain near the south-eastern end of the Dead Sea (cf. Gen., xix, 30), Lot's children forcibly extended themselves in the region of eastern Palestine. .Amnion settled in the more distant north- east country, Moab in the districts nearer to the Dead Sea. These were inhabited by the Emims, a gigantic people, whom, however, the Moabites succeeded in ex- pelHng (Deut., ii, 9, 10). Moab's territory was at first of considerable extent, some fifty miles long by thirty broad. It comprised the highlands east of the Dead Sea and the Jordan as far as the mountains of Galaad, together with the level stretch between the highlands and the river, and the well-watered and fer- tile land at the south end of the Dead Sea. On three sides, it had natural boundaries: on the west, the Dead Sea and the southern section of the Jordan; on the south, the Wady el-Hasy, separating the uplands of Moab from those of Edom; on the east, the Arabian desert. Only on the north, were there no natural feat- ures conspicuous enough to form a fixed boundary, and hence Moab's northern front ier fluctuated at differ- ent periods between the Arnon, and adiagonal running south-east from the torrent now called Wady Nimrin to the Arabian desert .
The highlands are the great bulk of this territory. They form a table-land about :5000 feet above the Mediteranean, or 4:iO() feet :il)ov(' the Dead Sea, ris- ing slowly from north to .soulli, h;iving steep western slopes, and separated eastward from the tlesert. by low, rolling hills. The geology of this almost treeless plateau is the same ;us that of the range of western Palestine; but its climate is decidedly colder. In spring, its limestone hills are covered with grass and wild flowers, and parts of the plateau arc now sown with com. It is traversed by three deep valleys, the middle of which, the Arnon, is the deepest, and it abounds in streams. It is dotted with dolmens, men- hirs, and stone circles, and .also with ruins of vill;iges and towns, mostly of the Roman and Hyz;inline peri- ods. In Old Testament times, Moab was an excellent pasture land (IV Kings, iii, 4), and its population was
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