Murten

Murten, battle. See Morat.

Murviedro

Murviedro (Moor-vee-ay'dro; 'old walls'), or Sagunto, a town of Spain, 18 miles NNE. of Valencia, stands on the site of Saguntum, a Greek colony, the siege of which by Hannibal in 219 b.c. began the second Punic war. Pop. 6436.

Murzuk

Murzuk. See Fezzan.

Muscat

Muscat', or Maskat, capital of the independent state of Oman or Muscat, in the south-eastern corner of Arabia. Its situation in a narrow rocky pass from the interior to the Indian Ocean makes it important for the commerce between eastern Arabia, Persia, India, East Africa, and the Red Sea. Its total trade reaches £1,100,000 annually, the chief exports being pearls, fish, salt, dates, drugs, dyestuff, horses, and the imports, coffee, rice, sugar, piece-goods, oil, etc. Pop. 20,000. In 1508 the Portuguese took pos-session of Muscat, and under them it developed into a prosperous commercial centre. From 1658 it was governed by native rulers (imams), who also (till 1856) succeeded the Portuguese as masters of Zanzibar.

Muscatine

Muscatine, capital of Muscatine county, Iowa, is mostly on rocky bluffs on the west bank of the Mississippi, 211 miles by rail WSW. of Chicago. It has pork-packing, flour and lumber mills, and plough and furniture factories. Pop. 14,454.

Muscovy

Muscovy. See Russia.

Musha Islands

Musha Islands. See Obok, Muske'gon, capital of Muskegon county, Michigan, is on the Muskegon River, which here (4 miles from its mouth in Lake Michigan) widens into Muskegon Lake, the best harbour on the east side of Lake Michigan. Muskegon is 40 miles by rail NW. of Grand Rapids, and saws and ships enormous quantities of lumber. It has also foundries, machine-shops, boiler-works, etc. Pop. 21,700.

Musselburgh

Musselburgh, an old-fashioned town of Midlothian, near the mouth of the Esk in the Firth of Forth, 6 miles E. of Edinburgh by a branch-line (1847). Since 1832 it has united with Leith and Portobello to return one member, the parliamentary burgh including the large fishing-suburb of Fisherrow, with a small tidal harbour, and the pretty village of Inveresk, whose conspicuous spired church was rebuilt in 1805 by 'Jupiter' Carlyle, and occupies a Roman prAetorium. Musselburgh's chief features are its golf-links (since 1817 also the Edinburgh racecourse). Loretto school (marking the site of a famed place of pilgrimage), Pinkie House (1613), the 'Roman' bridge, the quaint tolbooth, and a statue (1853) of David Moir. Colonel Yule was a native. The manufactures include paper, nets, leather, etc. Pop. (1841) 6366 ; (1901) 11,711. See Paterson's History of Musselburgh (1857).

Mussooree

Mussooree, or Masuri, a sanatorium on a range of Himalayan foot-hills 7433 feet high, 12 miles NE. of Dehra, in the NW. Provinces of India. It forms a municipality with Landaur (q.v.).

Mustapha

Mus'tapha, a suburb of Algiers (q.v.).

Muta Nzige

Muta Nzige. See Albert-Edward Nyanza.

Muttra

Muttra, or Mathura, a town of India, in the United Provinces, on the right bank of the Jumna, 30 miles above Agra. There are numerous temples and mosques ; the river is lined with magnificent flights of stairs, leading down to the bathing-places in the sacred river ; large numbers of pilgrims resort to the city on the occasion of its religious festivals ; and troops of monkeys and river-turtles are supported by charity. The city, for centuries a centre of Buddhism, was sacked by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1017, and plundered by the Afghans in 1756; in 1803 it passed to the British. Pop. 61,800.