MOLDAVIA, a principality nominally under the Turkish government. It was the ancient Transalpine Dacia, and received the name it now bears in the fourteenth century, from the principal river which drains it. It extends in east longitude from 25. 13. to 28. 26., and in north latitude from 45. 24. to 48. 17., occupying 17,017 square miles. It is bounded on the north and the east by the Russian province of Podolia, from which it is divided by the river Pruth, and in part by the Danube; on the south by Wallachia, and on the south and west by the Austrian provinces of Transylvania and Gallicia. Its great divisionsare into Upper and Lower Moldavia, the former being subdivided into four, and the latter into nine circles. It is difficult to determine the precise amount of the population; some authorities state it as low as 300,000, and others, especially Camperhausen, make it to be near 600,000, since a part of the country has been transferred to Russia. The people are mostly of the Wallachian race, but there are intermixed with them many Greeks, Armenians, Jews, gipsy slaves, and Hungarians. The prevailing religion is that of the Greek church, which has an archbishop, threebishops, 87 monasteries, and 931 churches. The Catholics do not exceed 12,000, and have 13 churches, forming a part of the diocese of Nicooli. There is a seminary for education at the capital, Jassy, but very little attention is paid to the instruction of the mass of the people. The government is conducted by a delegate from Turkey, called a waiwode, who purchases the office. He must be a Greek; and, after being installed, he has a most unlimited degree of power, by the exercise of which he seeks to reimburse himself for the price of his purchase. This viceroy, as well as his wife, is considered as of princely rank, and maintains a court and army; but he is subject to sudden recall, and to heavy payments, at the will of the capricious or greedy cabinet of Constantinople. There is scarcely any written law; but what is by courtesy called justice is administered by the divan, of which the Archbishop of Jassy is president, and the other members are the several higher public functionaries[7:15:321]. In each circle there is an inferior court, from which appeals can be made to the divan. The waiwode has a body-guard of 400 men, and a force of 3000 military, chiefly Arnaut Greeks, who are regularly trained.

The Carpathian Mountains, on the western frontier, send out spurs, which gradually diminish in height as they approach the eastern side, and present the appearance of a beautifully undulating country. The soil is stony on the east, but gradually improves in fertility as it approaches the rivers; and the greater part is abundantly productive, amply rewarding the labour which is applied to it, notwithstanding the excessive heat of the summers, and the intense cold of the winters. The corn is excellent, especially the summer or hard wheat. The wine is good, and produced in abundance. Excellent cattle are fattened in the meadows; and good flax, hemp, hone; r , wax, and all kinds of fruits, are most abundant. There is little of trade or manufactures, as each family produces and consumes the necessaries of life in filth and idleness, and seems to require none of the gratifications of civilized man, whilst they indulge all the lower passions of our nature with little moral restraint.

Mole, in Architecture, a massive work formed of large stones laid in the sea by means of coffer-dams, extended either in a right line or an arc of a circle, before a port, which it serves to close; to defend the vessels in port from the impetuosity of the waves, and to prevent the passage of ships without leave. It is frequently fortified.

Mole is also sometimes used to signify the harbour itself, which it serves to form and defend.

Mole (moles'), amongst the Romans, was also used for a kind of mausoleum, built in the manner of a round tower on a square base, insulated, encompassed with columns, and covered with a dome. The mole of the Emperor Hadrian, now the castle of St Angelo, was the greatest and most stately of all the moles. It was crowned with a brazen pine-apple, in which was a golden urn containing the ashes of the emperor.