Minas
capital of Minas department, Uruguay, 55 miles N. E. of Montevideo, on railroad to Montevideo. Is center of farming and stock-raising district, with stone quarries. Pop. about 10,000.
MINAS GERAES (zhe-rīs'), the most populous state of Brazil, inland from Espirito Santo and S. of Bahia; area 222,894 square miles. Pop. (1917) 5,064,- 858. Lying wholly in the tableland, its surface is occupied with grass and bushcovered campos, rising, however, in the Serra do Espinhaco to 5,900 feet; the principal rivers include the navigable Sao Francisco and the Rio Grande, which unites with the Paranahyba to form the Paraná. Agriculture and stock raising are the chief industries; some gold is still obtained, and diamonds, iron, and lead are mined. The inhabitants are principally Indians.
MINCIO (min'cho), ancient Mincius, a river of northern Italy. It flows from the southern extremity of Lake Garda, and after forming lakes and marshes around Mantua joins the Po, 8 miles beyond. It was a military base during the old wars between France and Austria, and is 115 miles long. MINERAL CAOUTCHOUC mals; any apparent intelligence on their part was attributed to instinct. Darwin declared that the intellect and even the moral powers of man did not differ in kind, though very greatly in degree, from the rudiments of them exhibited by the lower animals. Not denying the latter instincts, he sought to establish that they had reason too, and that the superiority was the result chiefly of natural selection carried on through cosmic periods of time.
MINDANAO (mēn-da-nä'ō), one of the Philippine Islands, next to Luzon in point of size; length about 300 miles, breadth 150 miles; area 36,292 square miles; pop. about 500,000. All the country, except on the sea-coast, is mountainous, the volcano of Apo being 8,819 feet high. Coffee, cocoa, and cotton are exported. The chief town is Zamboanga or Samboangan, and naval station at its W. extremity. Pop. about 30,000.