MONTRE, Fr. The review, or muster of the men. Le régiment a fait montre devant le commissaire. The regiment has passed muster before the commissary. Les officiers mirent leur valets dans les rangs, et les firent passer à la montre. The officers put their servants in the ranks, and made them pass muster.
Montre likewise signified, in the old French service, the money which was paid to soldiers every month, when they passed muster. Il a reçu sa montre; he has received his monthly pay.
Monture, Fr. The complement of men, and number of cannon, on board a French ship of war.
Monture d’un fusil, d’un pistolet, Fr. the stock of a gun or pistol.
MONUMENT, (Monument, Fr.) In a military sense, any public edifice, pillar, or mark of distinction, which is exhibited to perpetuate the memory of some illustrious character.
MOOTIANA, Ind. Soldiers employed to collect the revenue.
MOQUA, MUCK, a frenzical riot of some mahomedans, who have returned from Mecca, against those who have not professed mahomedanism. This horrid custom has been lately practised by the Malays, both at the island of Ceylon, and at the Cape of Good Hope. In the latter place indeed, the fanaticism of one of these blind enthusiasts went so far, that he stabbed a soldier who stood centinel at the governor’s gate. His intention was to have destroyed the governor. He that runs the moqua, or muck, gets intoxicated with bang, or opium, loosens his hair, (which is generally bound up under a handkerchief) then takes a dagger (called a kreese) in his hand, whose blade is usually half poisoned, and in the handle of which there is some of his mother’s or father’s hair preserved, and running about the streets kills all those he meets, who are not mahomedans, till he is killed himself; pretending to believe, that he serves God and Mahomed by destroying their enemies. When one of these madmen is slain, all the mahomedan rabble run to him, and bury him like a saint, every one contributing his mite towards making a noble burial.
MORAILLE, Fr. Barnacles. An instrument made commonly of iron for the use of farriers, to hold a horse by the nose, to hinder him from struggling when an incision is made.
Le MORAL, Fr. This word is frequently used among the French, as a substantive of the masculine gender, to express the moral condition of man. It likewise means the prepossession or assurance which we feel in conscious superiority, viz. Quand les Anglois se battent sur mer, ils ont le moral pour eux, les Francois l’ont sur terre.
MORASS, in military drawings, denotes moor, marshy, or fenny low grounds, on which waters are lodged.