Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Kelly, Edward" to "Kite" by Various
1790. The fortifications have fallen into decay. The name Kherson was
11673 words | Chapter 18
given to the town from the supposition that the site was formerly that
of Chersonesus Heracleotica, the Greek city founded by the Dorians of
Heraclea.
KHEVENHÜLLER, LUDWIG ANDREAS (1683-1744), Austrian field-marshal, Count
of Aschelberg-Frankenburg, came of a noble family, which, originally
Franconian, settled in Carinthia in the 11th century. He first saw
active service under Prince Eugène in the War of the Spanish Succession,
and by 1716 had risen to the command of Prince Eugène's own regiment of
dragoons. He distinguished himself greatly at the battles of
Peterwardein and Belgrade, and became in 1723 major-general of cavalry
(_General-Wachtmeister_), in 1726 proprietary colonel of a regiment and
in 1733 lieutenant field marshal. In 1734 the War of the Polish
Succession brought him into the field again. He was present at the
battle of Parma (June 29), where Count Mercy, the Austrian commander,
was killed, and after Mercy's death he held the chief command of the
army in Italy till Field Marshal Königsegg's arrival. Under Königsegg he
again distinguished himself at the battle of Guastalla (September 19).
He was once more in command during the operations which followed the
battle, and his skilful generalship won for him the grade of general of
cavalry. He continued in military and diplomatic employment in Italy to
the close of the war. In 1737 he was made field marshal, Prince Eugène
recommending him to his sovereign as the best general in the service.
His chief exploit in the Turkish War, which soon followed his promotion,
was at Radojevatz (September 28, 1737), where he cut his way through a
greatly superior Turkish army. It was in the Austrian Succession War
that his most brilliant work was done. As commander-in-chief of the army
on the Danube he not only drove out the French and Bavarian invaders of
Austria in a few days of rapid marching and sharp engagements (January,
1742), but overran southern Bavaria, captured Munich, and forced a large
French corps in Linz to surrender. Later in the summer of 1742, owing to
the inadequate forces at his disposal, he had to evacuate his conquests,
but in the following campaign, though now subordinated to Prince Charles
of Lorraine, Khevenhüller reconquered southern Bavaria, and forced the
emperor in June to conclude the unfavourable convention of
Nieder-Schönfeld. He disapproved the advance beyond the Rhine which
followed these successes, and the event justified his fears, for the
Austrians had to fall back from the Rhine through Franconia and the
Breisgau, Khevenhüller himself conducting the retreat with admirable
skill. On his return to Vienna, Maria Theresa decorated the field
marshal with the order of the Golden Fleece. He died suddenly at Vienna
on the 26th of January 1744.
He was the author of various instructional works for officers and
soldiers (_Des G. F. M. Grafen v. Khevenhüller Observationspunkte für
sein Dragoner-regiment_ (1734 and 1748) and a _règlement_ for the
infantry (1737), and of an important work on war in general, _Kurzer
Begriff aller militärischen Operationen_ (Vienna, 1756; French
version, _Maximes de guerre_, Paris, 1771).
KHEVSURS, a people of the Caucasus, kinsfolk of the Georgians. They live
in scattered groups in East Georgia to the north and north-west of Mount
Borbalo. Their name is Georgian and means "People of the Valleys." For
the most part nomadic, they are still in a semi-barbarous state. They
have not the beauty of the Georgian race. They are gaunt and thin to
almost a ghastly extent, their generally repulsive aspect being
accentuated by their large hands and feet and their ferocious
expression. In complexion and colour of hair and eyes they vary greatly.
They are very muscular and capable of bearing extraordinary fatigue.
They are fond of fighting, and still wear armour of the true medieval
type. This panoply is worn when the law of vendetta, which is sacred
among them as among most Caucasian peoples, compels them to seek or
avoid their enemy. They carry a spiked gauntlet, the terrible marks of
which are borne by a large proportion of the Khevsur faces.
Many curious customs still prevail among the Khevsurs, as for instance
the imprisonment of the woman during childbirth in a lonely hut, round
which the husband parades, firing off his musket at intervals. After
delivery, food is surreptitiously brought the mother, who is kept in
her prison a month, after which the hut is burnt. The boys are usually
named after some wild animal, e.g. bear or wolf, while the girls'
names are romantic, such as Daughter of the Sun, Sun of my Heart.
Marriages are arranged by parents when the bride and bridegroom are
still in long clothes. The chief ceremony is a forcible abduction of
the girl. Divorce is very common, and some Khevsurs are polygamous.
Formerly no Khevsur might die in a house, but was always carried out
under the sun or stars. The Khevsurs like to call themselves
Christians, but their religion is a mixture of Christianity,
Mahommedanism and heathen rites. They keep the Sabbath of the
Christian church, the Friday of the Moslems and the Saturday of the
Jews. They worship sacred trees and offer sacrifices to the spirits of
the earth and air. Their priests are a combination of medicine-men and
divines.
See G. F. R. Radde, _Die Chevs'uren und ihr Land_ (Cassel, 1878);
Ernest Chantre, _Recherches anthropologiques dans le Caucase_ (Lyons,
1885-1887).
KHILCHIPUR, a mediatized chiefship in Central India, under the Bhopal
agency; area, 273 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 31,143; estimated revenue, £7000;
tribute payable to Sindhia, £700. The residence of the chief, who is a
Khichi Rajput of the Chauhan clan, is at Khilchipur (pop. 5121).
KHINGAN, two ranges of mountains in eastern Asia.
(1) GREAT KHINGAN is the eastern border ridge of the immense plateau
which may be traced from the Himalaya to Bering Strait and from the
Tian-shan Mountains to the Khingan Mountains. It is well known from 50°
N. to Kalgan (41° N., 115° E.), where it is crossed by the highway from
Urga to Peking. As a border ridge of the Mongolian plateau, it possesses
very great orographical importance, in that it is an important climatic
boundary, and constitutes the western limits of the Manchurian flora.
The base of its western slope, which is very gentle, lies at altitudes
of 3000 to 3500 ft. Its crest rises to 4800 to 6500 ft., but its eastern
slope sinks very precipitately to the plains of Manchuria, which have
only 1500 to 2000 ft. of altitude. On this stretch one or two
subordinate ridges, parallel to the main range and separated from it by
longitudinal valleys, fringe its eastern slope, thus marking two
different terraces and giving to the whole system a width of from 80 to
100 m. Basalts, trachytes and other volcanic formations are found in the
main range and on its south-eastern slopes. The range was in volcanic
activity in 1720-1721.
South-west of Peking the Great Khingan is continued by the In-shan
mountains, which exhibit similar features to those of the Great
Khingan, and represent the same terraced escarpment of the Mongolian
plateau. Moreover, it appears from the map of the Russian General
Staff (surveys of Skassi, V. A. Obruchev, G. N. Potanin, &c.) that
similar terrace-shaped escarpments--but considerably wider apart than
in Manchuria--occur in the Shan-si province of China, along the
southern border of the South Mongolian plateau. These escarpments are
pierced by the Yellow River or Hwang-ho south of the Great Wall,
between 38° and 39° N., and in all probability a border range
homologous to the Great Khingan separates the upper tributaries of the
Hwang-ho (namely the Tan-ho) from those of the Yang-tsze-kiang. But
according to Obruchev the escarpments of the Wei-tsi-shan and
Lu-huang-lin, by which southern Ordos drops towards the Wei-ho
(tributary of the Hwang-ho), can hardly be taken as corresponding to
the Kalgan escarpment. They fall with gentle slopes only towards the
high plains on the south of them, while a steep descent towards the
low plain seems to exist further south only, between 32° and 34°. Thus
the southern continuations of the Great Khingan, south of 38° N.,
possibly consist of two separate escarpments. At its northern end the
place where the Great Khingan is pierced by the Amur has not been
ascertained by direct observation. Prince P. Kropotkin considers that
the upper Amur emerges from the high plateau and its border-ridge, the
Khingan, below Albazin and above Kumara.[1] If this view
prevail--Petermann has adopted it for his map of Asia, and it has been
upheld in all the Gotha publications--it would appear that the Great
Khingan joins the Stanovoi ridge or Jukjur, in that portion of it
which faces the west coast of the Sea of Okhotsk. At any rate the
Khingan, separating the Mongolian plateau from the much lower plains
of the Sungari and the Nonni, is one of the most important
orographical dividing-lines in Asia.
See Semenov's _Geographical Dictionary_ (in Russian); D. V. Putiata,
_Expedition to the Khingan in 1891_ (St Petersburg, 1893); Potanin,
"Journey to the Khingan," in _Izvestia Russ. Geog. Soc._ (1901).
(2) The name LITTLE KHINGAN is applied indiscriminately to two distinct
mountain ranges. The proper application of the term would be to reserve
it for the typical range which the Amur pierces 40 m. below
Ekaterino-Nikolsk (on the Amur), and which is also known as the Bureya
mountains, and as Dusse-alin. This range, which may be traced from the
Amur to the Sea of Okhotsk, seems to be cleft twice by the Sungari and
to be continued under different local names in the same south-westerly
direction to the peninsula of Liao-tung in Manchuria. The other range to
which the name of Little Khingan is applied is that of the Ilkhuri-alin
mountains (51° N., 122°-126° E.), which run in a north-westerly
direction between the upper Nonni and the Amur, west of
Blagovyeshchensk. (P. A. K.; J. T. Be.)
FOOTNOTE:
[1] See his sketch of the orography of East Siberia (French trans.,
with addenda, published by the _Institut Géographique_ of Brussels in
1902).
KHIVA, formerly an important kingdom of Asia, but now a much reduced
khanate, dependent upon Russia, and confined to the delta of the
Amu-darya (Oxus). Its frontier runs down the left bank of the Amu, from
40° 15´ N., and down its left branch to Lake Aral; then, for about 40 m.
along the south coast of Lake Aral, and finally southwards, following
the escarpment of the Ust-Urt plateau. From the Transcaspian territory
of Russia Khiva is separated by a line running almost W.N.W.-E.S.E.
under 40° 30´ N., from the Uzboi depression to the Amu-darya. The length
of the khanate from north to south is 200 m., and its greatest width 300
m. The area of the Khiva oasis is 5210 sq. m. while the area of the
steppes is estimated at 17,000 sq. m. The population of the former is
estimated at 400,000, and that of the latter also at 400,000 (nomadic).
The water of the Amu is brought by a number of irrigation canals to the
oasis, the general declivity of the surface westwards facilitating the
irrigation. Several old beds of the Amu intersect the territory. The
water of the Amu and the very thin layer of ooze which it deposits
render the oasis very fertile. Millet, rice, wheat, barley, oats, peas,
flax, hemp, madder, and all sorts of vegetables and fruit (especially
melons) are grown, as also the vine and cotton. The white-washed houses
scattered amidst the elms and poplars, and surrounded by flourishing
fields, produce the most agreeable contrast with the arid steppes.
Livestock, especially sheep, camels, horses and cattle, is extensively
bred by the nomads.
The population is composed of four divisions: Uzbegs (150,000 to
200,000), the dominating race among the settled inhabitants of the
oasis, from whom the officials are recruited; Sarts and Tajiks,
agriculturists and tradespeople of mixed race; Turkomans (c. 170,000),
who live in the steppes, south and west of the oasis, and formerly
plundered the settled inhabitants by their raids; and the Kara-kalpaks,
or Black Bonnets, a Turki tribe some 50,000 in number. They live south
of Lake Aral, and in the towns of Kungrad, Khodsheili and Kipchak form
the prevailing element. They cultivate the soil, breed cattle, and their
women make carpets. There are also about 10,000 Kirghiz, and when the
Russians took Khiva in 1873 there were 29,300 Persian slaves, stolen by
Turkoman raiders, and over 6500 liberated slaves, mostly Kizil-bashes.
The former were set free and the slave trade abolished. Of domestic
industries, the embroidering of cloth, silks and leather is worthy of
notice. The trade of Khiva is considerable: cotton, wool, rough woollen
cloth and silk cocoons are exported to Russia, and various animal
products to Bokhara. Cottons, velveteen, hardware and pepper are
imported from Russia, and silks, cotton, china and tea from Bokhara.
Khivan merchants habitually attend the Orenburg and Nizhniy-Novgorod
fairs.
_History._--The present khanate is only a meagre relic of the great
kingdom which under the name of Chorasmia, Kharezm (Khwarizm) and Urgenj
(Jurjaniya, Gurganj) held the keys of the mightiest river in Central
Asia. Its possession has consequently been much disputed from early
times, but the country has undergone great changes, geographical as well
as political, which have lessened its importance. The Oxus (Amu-darya)
has changed its outlet, and no longer forms a water-way to the Caspian
and thence to Europe, while Khiva is entirely surrounded by territory
either directly administered or protected by Russia.
Chorasmia is mentioned by Herodotus, it being then one of the Persian
provinces, over which Darius placed satraps, but nothing material of it
is known till it was seized by the Arabs in A.D. 680. When the power of
the caliphs declined the governor of the province probably became
independent; but the first king known to history is Mamun-ibn-Mahommed
in 995. Khwarizm fell under the power of Mahmud of Ghazni in 1017, and
subsequently under that of the Seljuk Turks. In 1097 the governor
Kutb-ud-din assumed the title of king, and one of his descendants,
'Ala-ud-din-Mahommed, conquered Persia, and was the greatest prince in
Central Asia when Jenghiz Khan appeared in 1219. Khiva was conquered
again by Timur in 1379; and finally fell under the rule of the Uzbegs in
1512, who are still the dominant race under the protection of the
Russians.
Russia established relations with Khiva in the 17th century. The
Cossacks of the Yaik during their raids across the Caspian learnt of the
existence of this rich territory and made more than one plundering
expedition to the chief town Urgenj. In 1717 Peter the Great, having
heard of the presence of auriferous sand in the bed of the Oxus,
desiring also to "open mercantile relations with India through Turan"
and to release from slavery some Russian subjects, sent a military force
to Khiva. When within 100 miles of the capital they encountered the
troops of the khan. The battle lasted three days, and ended in victory
for the Russian arms. The Khivans, however, induced the victors to break
up their army into small detachments and treacherously annihilated them
in detail. It was not until the third decade of the 19th century that
the attention of the Muscovite government was again directed to the
khanate. In 1839 a force under General Perovsky moved from Orenburg
across the Ust-Urt plateau to the Khivan frontiers, to occupy the
khanate, liberate the captives and open the way for trade. This
expedition likewise terminated in disaster. In 1847 the Russians founded
a fort at the mouth of the Jaxartes or Syr-darya. This advance deprived
the Khivans not only of territory, but of a large number of tax-paying
Kirghiz, and also gave the Russians a base for further operations. For
the next few years, however, the attention of the Russians was taken up
with Khokand, their operations on that side culminating in the capture
of Tashkent in 1865. Free in this quarter, they directed their thoughts
once more to Khiva. In 1869 Krasnovodsk on the east shore of the
Caspian was founded, and in 1871-1872 the country leading to Khiva from
different parts of Russian Turkestan was thoroughly explored and
surveyed. In 1873 an expedition to Khiva was carefully organized on a
large scale. The army of 10,000 men placed at the disposal of General
Kaufmann started from three different bases of operation--Krasnovodsk,
Orenburg and Tashkent. Khiva was occupied almost without opposition. All
the territory (35,700 sq. m. and 110,000 souls) on the right bank of the
Oxus was annexed to Russia, while a heavy war indemnity was imposed upon
the khanate. The Russians thereby so crippled the finances of the state
that the khan is in complete subjection to his more powerful neighbour.
(J. T. Be.; C. El.)
KHIVA, capital of the khanate of Khiva, in Western Asia, 25 m. W. of the
Amu-darya and 240 m. W.N.W. of Bokhara. Pop. about 10,000. It is
surrounded by a low earthen wall, and has a citadel, the residence of
the khan and the higher officials. There are a score of mosques, of
which the one containing the tomb of Polvan, the patron saint of Khiva,
is the best, and four large _madrasas_ (Mahommedan colleges). Large
gardens exist in the western part of the town. A small Russian quarter
has grown up. The inhabitants make carpets, silks and cottons.
KHNOPFF, FERNAND EDMOND JEAN MARIE (1858- ), Belgian painter and
etcher, was born at the château de Grembergen (Termonde), on the 12th of
September 1858, and studied under X. Mellery. He developed a very
original talent, his work being characterized by great delicacy of
colour, tone and harmony, as subtle in spiritual and intellectual as in
its material qualities. "A Crisis" (1881) was followed by "Listening to
Schumann," "St Anthony" and "The Queen of Sheba" (1883), and then came
one of his best known works, "The Small Sphinx" (1884). His "Memories"
(1889) and "White, Black and Gold" (1901) are in the Brussels Museum;
"Portrait of Mlle R." (1889) in the Venice Museum; "A Stream at Fosset"
(1897) at Budapest Museum; "The Empress" (1899) in the collection of the
emperor of Austria, and "A Musician" in that of the king of the
Belgians. "I lock my Door upon Myself" (1891), which was exhibited at
the New Gallery, London, in 1902 and there attracted much attention, was
acquired by the Pinakothek at Munich. Other works are "Silence" (1890),
"The Idea of Justice" (1905) and "Isolde" (1906), together with a
polychrome bust "Sibyl" (1894) and an ivory mask (1897). In quiet
intensity of feeling Khnopff was influenced by Rossetti, and in
simplicity of line by Burne-Jones, but the poetry and the delicately
mystic and enigmatic note of his work are entirely individual. He did
good work also as an etcher and dry-pointist.
See L. Dumont-Wilden, _Fernand Khnopff_ (Brussels, 1907).
KHOI, a district and town in the province of Azerbaijan, Persia, towards
the extreme north-west frontier, between the Urmia Lake and the river
Aras. The district contains many flourishing villages, and consists of
an elevated plateau 60 m. by 10 to 15, highly cultivated by a skilful
system of drainage and irrigation, producing fertile meadows, gardens
and fields yielding rich crops of wheat and barley, cotton, rice and
many kinds of fruit. In the northern part and bounding on Maku lies the
plain of Chaldaran (Kalderan), where in August 1514 the Turks under
Sultan Selim I. fought the Persians under Shah Ismail and gained a great
victory.
The town of KHOI lies in 38° 37´ N., 45° 15´ E., 77 m. (90 by road) N.W.
of Tabriz, at an elevation of 3300 ft., on the great trade route between
Trebizond and Tabriz, and about 2 m. from the left bank of the Kotur
Chai (river from Kotur) which is crossed there by a seven-arched bridge
and is known lower down as the Kizil Chai, which flows into the Aras.
The walled part of the town is a quadrilateral with faces of about 1200
yds. in length and fortifications consisting of two lines of bastions,
ditches, &c., much out of repair. The population numbers about 35,000, a
third living inside the walls. The Armenian quarter, with about 500
families and an old church, is outside the walls. The city within the
walls forms one of the best laid out towns in Persia, cool streams and
lines of willows running along the broad and regular streets. There are
some good buildings, including the governor's residence, several
mosques, a large brick bazaar and a fine caravanserai. There is a large
transit trade, and considerable local traffic across the Turkish border.
The city surrendered to the Russians in 1827 without fighting and after
the treaty of peace (Turkman Chai, Feb. 1828) was held for some time by
a garrison of 3000 Russian troops as a guarantee for the payment of the
war indemnity. In September 1881 Khoi suffered much from a violent
earthquake. It has post and telegraph offices.
KHOJENT, or KHOJEND, a town of the province of Syr-darya, in Russian
Turkestan, on the left bank of the Syr-darya or Jaxartes, 144 m. by rail
S.S.E. from Tashkent, in 40° 17´ N. and 69° 30´ E., and on the direct
road from Bokhara to Khokand. Pop. (1900), 31,881. The Russian quarter
lies between the river and the native town. Near the river is the old
citadel, on the top of an artificial square mound, about 100 ft. high.
The banks of the river are so high as to make its water useless to the
town in the absence of pumping gear. Formerly the entire commerce
between the khanates of Bokhara and Khokand passed through this town,
but since the Russian occupation (1866) much of it has been diverted.
Silkworms are reared, and silk and cotton goods are manufactured. A
coarse ware is made in imitation of Chinese porcelain. The district
immediately around the town is taken up with cotton plantations, fruit
gardens and vineyards. The majority of the inhabitants are Tajiks.
Khojent has always been a bone of contention between Khokand and
Bokhara. When the amir of Bokhara assisted Khudayar Khan to regain his
throne in 1864, he kept possession of Khojent. In 1866 the town was
stormed by the Russians; and during their war with Khokand in 1875 it
played an important part.
KHOKAND, or KOKAN, a town of Asiatic Russia, in the province of
Ferghana, on the railway from Samarkand to Andijan, 85 m. by rail S.W.
of the latter, and 20 m. S. of the Syr-darya. Pop. (1900), 86,704.
Situated at an altitude of 1375 ft., it has a severe climate, the
average temperatures being--year, 56°; January, 22°; July, 65°. Yearly
rainfall, 3.6 in. It is the centre of a fertile irrigated oasis, and
consists of a citadel, enclosed by a wall nearly 12 m. in circuit, and
of suburbs containing luxuriant gardens. The town is modernized, has
broad streets and large squares, and a particularly handsome bazaar. The
former palace of the khans, which recalls by its architecture the
mosques of Samarkand, is the best building in the town. Khokand is one
of the most important centres of trade in Turkestan. Raw cotton and silk
are the principal exports, while manufactured goods are imported from
Russia. Coins bearing the inscription "Khokand the Charming," and known
as _khokands_, have or had a wide currency.
The khanate of Khokand was a powerful state which grew up in the 18th
century. Its early history is not well known, but the town was founded
in 1732 by Abd-ur-Rahim under the name of Iski-kurgan, or
Kali-i-Rahimbai. This must relate, however, to the fort only, because
Arab travellers of the 10th century mention Hovakend or Hokand, the
position of which has been identified with that of Khokand. Many other
populous and wealthy towns existed in this region at the time of the
Arab conquest of Ferghana. In 1758-1759 the Chinese conquered Dzungaria
and East Turkestan, and the begs or rulers of Ferghana recognized
Chinese suzerainty. In 1807 or 1808 Alim, son of Narbuta, brought all
the begs of Ferghana under his authority, and conquered Tashkent and
Chimkent. His attacks on the Bokharan fortress of Ura-tyube were however
unsuccessful, and the country rose against him. He was killed in 1817 by
the adherents of his brother Omar. Omar was a poet and patron of
learning, but continued to enlarge his kingdom, taking the sacred town
of Azret (Turkestan), and to protect Ferghana from the raids of the
nomad Kirghiz built fortresses on the Syr-darya, which became a basis
for raids of the Khokand people into Kirghiz land. This was the origin
of a conflict with Russia. Several petty wars were undertaken by the
Russians after 1847 to destroy the Khokand forts, and to secure
possession, first, of the Ili (and so of Dzungaria), and next of the
Syr-darya region, the result being that in 1866, after the occupation of
Ura-tyube and Jizakh, the khanate of Khokand was separated from Bokhara.
During the forty-five years after the death of Omar (he died in 1822)
the khanate of Khokand was the seat of continuous wars between the
settled Sarts and the nomad Kipchaks, the two parties securing the upper
hand in turns, Khokand falling under the dominion or the suzerainty of
Bokhara, which supported Khudayar-khan, the representative of the
Kipchak party, in 1858-1866; while Alim-kul, the representative of the
Sarts, put himself at the head of the _gazawat_ (Holy War) proclaimed in
1860, and fought bravely against the Russians until killed at Tashkent
in 1865. In 1868 Khudayar-khan, having secured independence from
Bokhara, concluded a commercial treaty with the Russians, but was
compelled to flee in 1875, when a new Holy War against Russia was
proclaimed. It ended in the capture of the strong fort of Makhram, the
occupation of Khokand and Marghelan (1875), and the recognition of
Russian superiority by the amir of Bokhara, who conceded to Russia all
the territory north of the Naryn river. War, however, was renewed in the
following year. It ended, in February 1876, by the capture of Andijan
and Khokand and the annexation of the Khokand khanate to Russia. Out of
it was made the Russian province of Ferghana.
AUTHORITIES.--The following publications are all in Russian: Kuhn,
_Sketch of the Khanate of Khokand_ (1876); V. Nalivkin, _Short History
of Khokand_ (French trans., Paris, 1889); Niazi Mohammed, _Tarihi
Shahrohi_, or _History of the Rulers of Ferghana_, edited by Pantusov
(Kazañ, 1885); Makshéev, _Historical Sketch of Turkestan and the
Advance of the Russians_ (St Petersburg, 1890); N. Petrovskiy, _Old
Arabian Journals of Travel_ (Tashkent, 1894); _Russian Encyclopaedic
Dictionary_, vol. xv. (1895). (P. A. K.; J. T. Be.)
KHOLM (Polish _Chelm_), a town of Russian Poland, in the government of
Lublin, 45 m. by rail E.S.E. of the town of Lublin. Pop. (1897), 19,236.
It is a very old city and the see of a bishop, and has an archaeological
museum for church antiquities.
KHONDS, or KANDHS, an aboriginal tribe of India, inhabiting the
tributary states of Orissa and the Ganjam district of Madras. At the
census of 1901 they numbered 701,198. Their main divisions are into
Kutia or hill Khonds and plain-dwelling Khonds; the landowners are known
as Raj Khonds. Their religion is animistic, and their pantheon includes
eighty-four gods. They have given their name to the Khondmals, a
subdivision of Angul district in Orissa: area, 800 sq. m.; pop. (1901),
64,214. The Khond language, Kui, spoken in 1901 by more than half a
million persons, is much more closely related to Telugu than is Gondi.
The Khonds are a finer type than the Gonds. They are as tall as the
average Hindu and not much darker, while in features they are very
Aryan. They are undoubtedly a mixed Dravidian race, with much Aryan
blood.
The Khonds became notorious, on the British occupation of their district
about 1835, from the prevalence and cruelty of the human sacrifices they
practised. These "Meriah" sacrifices, as they were called, were intended
to further the fertilization of the earth. It was incumbent on the
Khonds to purchase their victims. Unless bought with a price they were
not deemed acceptable. They seldom sacrificed Khonds, though in hard
times Khonds were obliged to sell their children and they could then be
purchased as Meriahs. Persons of any race, age or sex, were acceptable
if purchased. Numbers were bought and kept and well treated; and Meriah
women were encouraged to become mothers. Ten or twelve days before the
sacrifice the victim's hair was cut off, and the villagers having
bathed, went with the priest to the sacred grove to forewarn the
goddess. The festival lasted three days, and the wildest orgies were
indulged in.
See Major Macpherson, _Religious Doctrines of the Khonds_; his account
of their religion in _Jour. R. Asiatic Soc._ xiii. 220-221 and his
_Report upon the Khonds of Ganjam and Cuttack_ (Calcutta, 1842); also
_District Gazetteer of Angul_ (Calcutta, 1908).
KHORASAN, or KHORASSAN (i.e. "land of the sun"), a geographical term
originally applied to the eastern of the four quarters (named from the
cardinal points) into which the ancient monarchy of the Sassanians was
divided. After the Arab conquest the name was retained both as the
designation of a definite province and in a looser sense. Under the new
Persian empire the expression has gradually become restricted to the
north-eastern portion of Persia which forms one of the five great
provinces of that country. The province is conterminous E. with
Afghanistan, N. with Russian Transcaspian territory, W. with Astarabad
and Shahrud-Bostam, and S. with Kerman and Yezd. It lies mainly within
29° 45´-38° 15´ N. and 56°-61° E., extending about 320 m. east and west
and 570 m. north and south, with a total area of about 150,000 sq. m.
The surface is mountainous. The ranges generally run in parallel ridges,
inclosing extensive valleys, with a normal direction from N.W. to S.E.
The whole of the north is occupied by an extensive highland system
composed of a part of the Elburz and its continuation extending to the
Paropamisus. This system, sometimes spoken of collectively as the Kuren
Dagh, or Kopet Dagh from its chief sections, forms in the east three
ranges, the Hazar Masjed, Binalud Kuh and Jagatai, enclosing the
Meshed-Kuchan valley and the Jovain plain. The former is watered by the
Kashaf-rud (Tortoise River), or river of Meshed, flowing east to the
Hari-rud, their junction forming the Tejen, which sweeps round the
Daman-i-Kuh, or northern skirt of the outer range, towards the Caspian
but loses itself in the desert long before reaching it. The Jovain plain
is watered by the Kali-i-mura, an unimportant river which flows south to
the Great Kavir or central depression. In the west the northern
highlands develop two branches: (1) the Kuren Dagh, stretching through
the Great and Little Balkans to the Caspian at Krasnovodsk Bay, (2) the
Ala Dagh, forming a continuation of the Binalud Kuh and joining the
mountains between Bujnurd and Astarabad, which form part of the Elburz
system. The Kuren Dagh and Ala Dagh enclose the valley of the Atrek
River, which flows west and south-west into the Caspian at Hassan Kuli
Bay. The western offshoots of the Ala Dagh in the north and the
mountains of Astarabad in the south enclose the valley of the Gurgan
River, which also flows westwards and parallel to the Atrek to the
south-eastern corner of the Caspian. The outer range has probably a mean
altitude of 8000 ft., the highest known summits being the Hazar Masjed
(10,500) and the Kara Dagh (9800). The central range seems to be higher,
culminating with the Shah-Jehan Kuh (11,000) and the Ala Dagh (11,500).
The southern ridges, although generally much lower, have the highest
point of the whole system in the Shah Kuh (13,000) between Shahrud and
Astarabad. South of this northern highland several parallel ridges run
diagonally across the province in a N.W.-S.E. direction as far as
Seistan.
Beyond the Atrek and other rivers watering the northern valleys a few
brackish and intermittent rivers lose themselves in the Great Kavir,
which occupies the central and western parts of the province. The true
character of the kavir, which forms the distinctive feature of east
Persia, has scarcely been determined, some regarding it as the bed of a
dried-up sea, others as developed by the saline streams draining to it
from the surrounding highlands. Collecting in the central depressions,
which have a mean elevation of scarcely more than 500 ft. above the
Caspian, the water of these streams is supposed to form saline deposits
with a thin hard crust, beneath which the moisture is retained for a
considerable time, thus producing those dangerous and slimy quagmires
which in winter are covered with brine, in summer with a treacherous
incrustation of salt. Dr Sven Hedin explored the central depressions in
1906.
The surface of Khorasan thus consists mainly of highlands, saline,
swampy deserts and upland valleys, some fertile and well-watered. Of the
last, occurring mainly in the north, the chief are the longitudinal
valley stretching from near the Herat frontier through Meshed, Kuchan
and Shirvan to Bujnurd, the Derrehgez district, which lies on the
northern skirt of the outer range projecting into the Akhal Tekkeh
domain, now Russian territory, and the districts of Nishapur and
Sabzevar which lie south of the Binalud and Jagatai ranges. These
fertile tracts produce rice and other cereals, cotton, tobacco, opium
and fruits in profusion. Other products are manna, suffron, asafoetida
and other gums. The chief manufactures are swords, stoneware, carpets
and rugs, woollens, cottons, silks and sheepskin pelisses (_pustin_,
Afghan _poshtin_).
The administrative divisions of the province are: 1, Nishapur; 2,
Sabzevar; 3, Jovain; 4, Asfarain; 5, Bujnurd; 6, Kuchan; 7, Derrehgez;
8, Kelat; 9, Chinaran; 10, Meshed; 11, Jam; 12, Bakharz; 13, Radkan;
14, Serrakhs; 15, Sar-i-jam; 16, Bam and Safiabad; 17, Turbet i
Haidari; 18, Turshiz; 19, Khaf; 20, Tun and Tabbas; 21, Kain; 22,
Seistan.
The population consists of Iranians (Tajiks, Kurds, Baluchis),
Mongols, Tatars and Arabs, and is estimated at about a million. The
Persians proper have always represented the settled, industrial and
trading elements, and to them the Kurds and the Arabs have become
largely assimilated. Even many of the original Tatar, Mongol and other
nomad tribes (_ilat_), instead of leading their former roving and
unsettled life of the _sahara-nishin_ (dwellers in the desert), are
settled and peaceful _shahr-nishin_ (dwellers in towns). In religion
all except some Tatars and Mongols and the Baluchis have conformed to
the national Shiah faith. The revenues (cash and kind) of the province
amount to about £180,000 a year, but very little of this amount
reaches the Teheran treasury. The value of the exports and imports
from and into the whole province is a little under a million sterling
a year. The province produces about 10,000 tons of wool and a third of
this quantity, or rather more, valued at £70,000 to £80,000, is
exported via Russia to the markets of western Europe, notably to
Marseilles, Russia keeping only a small part. Other important articles
of export, all to Russia, are cotton, carpets, shawls and turquoises,
the last from the mines near Nishapur. (A. H.-S.)
KHORREMABAD, a town of Persia, capital of the province of Luristan, in
33° 32´ N., 48° 15´ E., and at an elevation of 4250 ft. Pop. about 6000.
It is situated 138 m. W.N.W. of Isfahan and 117 m. S.E. of Kermanshah,
on the right bank of the broad but shallow Khorremabad river, also
called Ab-i-istaneh, and, lower down, Kashgan Rud. On an isolated rock
between the town and the river stands a ruined castle, the Diz-i-siyah
(black castle), the residence of the governor of the district (then
called Samha) in the middle ages, and, with some modern additions, one
of them consisting of rooms on the summit, called Felek ul aflak (heaven
of heavens), the residence of the governors of Luristan in the beginning
of the 19th century. At the foot of the castle stands the modern
residence of the governor, built c. 1830, with several spacious courts
and gardens. On the left bank of the river opposite the town are the
ruins of the old city of Samha. There are a minaret 60 ft. high, parts
of a mosque, an aqueduct, a number of walls of other buildings and a
four-sided monolith, measuring 9½ ft. in height, by 3 ft. long and
2(1/3) broad, with an inscription partly illegible, commemorating
Mahmud, a grandson of the Seljuk king Malik Shah, and dated A.H. 517, or
519 (A.D. 1148-1150). There also remain ten arches of a bridge which led
over the river from Samha on to the road to Shapurkhast, a city situated
some distance west.
KHORSABAD, a Turkish village in the vilayet of Mosul, 12½ m. N.E. of
that town, and almost 20 m. N. of ancient Nineveh, on the left bank of
the little river Kosar. Here, in 1843, P. E. Botta, then French consul
at Mosul, discovered the remains of an Assyrian palace and town, at
which excavations were conducted by him and Flandin in 1843-1844, and
again by Victor Place in 1851-1855. The ruins proved to be those of the
town of Dur-Sharrukin, "Sargon's Castle," built by Sargon, king of
Assyria, as a royal residence. The town, in the shape of a rectangular
parallelogram, with the corners pointing approximately toward the
cardinal points of the compass, covered 741 acres of ground. On the
north-west side, half within and half without the circuit of the walls,
protruding into the plain like a great bastion, stood the royal palace,
on a terrace, 45 ft. in height, covering about 25 acres. The palace
proper was divided into three sections, built around three sides of a
large court on the south-east or city side, into which opened the great
outer gates, guarded by winged stone bulls, each section containing
suites of rooms built around several smaller inner courts. In the centre
was the _serai_, occupied by the king and his retinue, with an extension
towards the north, opening on a large inner court, containing the public
reception rooms, elaborately decorated with sculptures and historical
inscriptions, representing scenes of hunting, worship, feasts, battles,
and the like. The harem, with separate provisions for four wives,
occupied the south corner, the domestic quarters, including stables,
kitchen, bakery, wine cellar, &c., being at the east corner, to the
north-east of the great entrance court. In the west corner stood a
temple, with a stage-tower (_ziggurat_) adjoining. The walls of the
rooms, which stood only to the height of one storey, were from 9 to 25
ft. in thickness, of clay, faced with brick, in the reception rooms
wainscoted with stone slabs or tiles, elsewhere plastered, or, in the
harem, adorned with fresco paintings and arabesques. Here and there the
floors were formed of tiles or alabaster blocks, but in general they
were of stamped clay, on which were spread at the time of occupancy mats
and rugs. The exterior of the palace wall exhibited a system of groups
of half columns and stepped recesses, an ornament familiar in Babylonian
architecture. The palace and city were completed in 707 B.C., and in 706
Sargon took up his residence there. He died the following year, and
palace and city seem to have been abandoned shortly thereafter. Up to
1909 this was the only Assyrian palace which had ever been explored
systematically, in its entirety, and fortunately it was found on the
whole in an admirable state of preservation. An immense number of
statues and bas-reliefs, excavated by Botta, were transported to Paris,
and formed the first Assyrian museum opened to the world. The objects
excavated by Place, together with the objects found by Fresnel's
expedition in Babylonia and a part of the results of Rawlinson's
excavations at Nineveh, were unfortunately lost in the Tigris, on
transport from Bagdad to Basra. Flandin had, however, made careful
drawings and copies of all objects of importance from Khorsabad. The
whole material was published by the French government in two monumental
publications.
See P. E. Botta and E. Flandin, _Monument de Ninive_ (Paris,
1849-1850; 5 vols. 400 plates); Victor Place, _Ninïve et l'Assyrie,
avec des essais de restauration par F. Thomas_ (Paris, 1866-1869; 3
vols.). (J. P. Pe.)
KHOTAN (locally ILCHI), a town and oasis of East Turkestan, on the
Khotan-darya, between the N. foot of the Kuen-lun and the edge of the
Takla-makan desert, nearly 200 m. by caravan road S.E. from Yarkand.
Pop., about 5000. The town consists of a labyrinth of narrow, winding,
dirty streets, with poor, square, flat-roofed houses, half a dozen
_madrasas_ (Mahommedan colleges), a score of mosques, and some _masars_
(tombs of Mahommedan saints). Dotted about the town are open squares,
with tanks or ponds overhung by trees. For centuries Khotan was famous
for jade or nephrite, a semi-precious stone greatly esteemed by the
Chinese for making small fancy boxes, bottles and cups, mouthpieces for
pipes, bracelets, &c. The stone is still exported to China. Other local
products are carpets (silk and felt), silk goods, hides, grapes, rice
and other cereals, fruits, tobacco, opium and cotton. There is an active
trade in these goods and in wool with India, West Turkestan and China.
The oasis contains two small towns, Kara-kash and Yurun-kash, and over
300 villages, its total population being about 150,000.
Khotan, known in Sanskrit as Kustana and in Chinese as Yu-than, Yu-tien,
Kiu-sa-tan-na, and Khio-tan, is mentioned in Chinese chronicles in the
2nd century B.C. In A.D. 73 it was conquered by the Chinese, and ever
since has been generally dependent upon the Chinese empire. During the
early centuries of the Christian era, and long before that, it was an
important and flourishing place, the capital of a kingdom to which the
Chinese sent embassies, and famous for its glass-wares, copper tankards
and textiles. About the year A.D. 400 it was a city of some
magnificence, and the seat of a flourishing cult of Buddha, with temples
rich in paintings and ornaments of the precious metals; but from the 5th
century it seems to have declined. In the 8th century it was conquered,
after a struggle of 25 years, by the Arab chieftain Kotaiba ibn Moslim,
from West Turkestan, who imposed Islam upon the people. In 1220 Khotan
was destroyed by the Mongols under Jenghiz Khan. Marco Polo, who passed
through the town in 1274, says that "Everything is to be had there [at
Cotan, i.e. Khotan] in plenty, including abundance of cotton, with
flax, hemp, wheat, wine, and the like. The people have vineyards and
gardens and estates. They live by commerce and manufactures, and are no
soldiers."[1] The place suffered severely during the Dungan revolt
against China in 1864-1875, and again a few years later when Yakub Beg
of Kashgar made himself master of East Turkestan.
The KHOTAN-DARYA rises in the Kuen-lun Mountains in two headstreams, the
Kara-kash and the Yurun-kash, which unite towards the middle of the
desert, some 90 m. N. of the town of Khotan. The conjoint stream then
flows 180 m. northwards across the desert of Takla-makan, though it
carries water only in the early summer, and empties itself into the
Tarim a few miles below the confluence of the Ak-su with the
Yarkand-darya (Tarim). In crossing the desert it falls 1250 ft. in a
distance of 270 m. Its total length is about 300 m. and the area it
drains probably nearly 40,000 sq. m.
See J. P. A. Rémusat, _Histoire de la ville de Khotan_ (Paris, 1820);
and Sven Hedin, _Through Asia_ (Eng. trans., London, 1898), chs. lx.
and lxii., and _Scientific Results of a Journey in Central Asia_,
1899-1902, vol. ii. (Stockholm, 1906). (J. T. Be.)
FOOTNOTE:
[1] Sir H. Yule, _The Book of Ser Marco Polo_, bk. i. ch. xxxvi. (3rd
ed., London, 1903).
KHOTIN, or KHOTEEN (variously written Khochim, Choczim, and Chocim), a
fortified town of South Russia, in the government of Bessarabia, in 48°
30´ N. and 26° 30´ E., on the right bank of the Dniester, near the
Austrian (Galician) frontier, and opposite Podolian Kamenets. Pop.
(1897), 18,126. It possesses a few manufactures (leather, candles, beer,
shoes, bricks), and carries on a considerable trade, but has always been
of importance mainly as a military post, defending one of the most
frequented passages of the Dniester. In the middle ages it was the seat
of a Genoese colony; and it has been in Polish, Turkish and Austrian
possession. The chief events in its annals are the defeat of the Turks
in 1621 by Ladislaus IV., of Poland, in 1673 by John Sobieski, of
Poland, and in 1739 by the Russians under Münnich; the defeat of the
Russians by the Turks in 1768; the capture by the Russians in 1769, and
by the Austrians in 1788; and the occupation by the Russians in 1806. It
finally passed to Russia with Bessarabia in 1812 by the peace of
Bucharest.
KHULNA, a town and district of British India, in the Presidency division
of Bengal. The town stands on the river Bhairab, and is the terminus of
the Bengal Central railway, 109 m. E. of Calcutta. Pop. (1901), 10,426.
It is the most important centre of river-borne trade in the delta.
The DISTRICT OF KHULNA lies in the middle of the delta of the Ganges,
including a portion of the Sundarbans or seaward fringe of swamps. It
was formed out of Jessore in 1882. Area (excluding the Sundarbans), 2077
sq. m. Besides the Sundarbans, the north-east part of the district is
swampy; the north-west is more elevated and drier, while the central
part, though low-lying, is cultivated. The whole is alluvial. In 1901
the population was 1,253,043, showing an increase of 6% in the decade.
Rice is the principal crop; mustard, jute and tobacco are also grown,
and the fisheries are important. Sugar is manufactured from the date
palm. The district is entered by the Bengal Central railway, but by far
the greater part of the traffic is carried by water.
See _District Gazetteer_ (Calcutta, 1908).
KHUNSAR, a town of Persia, sometimes belonging to the province of
Isfahan, at others to Irak, 96 m. N.W. of Isfahan, in 33° 9´ N., 50° 23´
E., at an elevation of 7600 ft. Pop., about 10,000. It is picturesquely
situated on both sides of a narrow valley through which the Khunsar
River, a stream about 12 ft. wide, flows in a north-east direction to
Kuom. The town and its fine gardens and orchards straggle some 6 m.
along the valley with a mean breadth of scarcely half a mile. There is a
great profusion of fruit, the apples yielding a kind of cider which,
however, does not keep longer than a month. The climate is cool in
summer and cold in winter. There are five caravanserais, three mosques
and a post office.
KHURJA, a town of British India, in the Bulandshahr district of the
United Provinces, 27 m. N.W. of Aligarh, near the main line of the East
Indian railway. Pop. (1901), 29,277. It is an important centre of trade
in grain, indigo, sugar and _ghi_, and has cotton gins and presses and a
manufacture of pottery. Jain traders form a large and wealthy class; and
the principal building in the town is a modern Jain temple, a fine domed
structure richly carved and ornamented in gold and colours.
KHYBER PASS, the most important of the passes which lead from
Afghanistan into India. It is a narrow defile winding between cliffs of
shale and limestone 600 to 1000 ft. high, stretching up to more lofty
mountains behind. No other pass in the world has possessed such
strategic importance or retains so many historic associations as this
gateway to the plains of India. It has probably seen Persian and Greek,
Seljuk, Tatar, Mongol and Durani conquerors, with the hosts of Alexander
the Great, Mahmud of Ghazni, Jenghiz Khan, Timur, Baber, Nadir Shah,
Ahmed Shah, and numerous other warrior chiefs pass and repass through
its rocky defiles during a period of 2000 years. The mountain barrier
which separates the Peshawar plains from the Afghan highlands differs in
many respects from the mountain barrier which intervenes between the
Indus plains and the plateau farther south. To the south this barrier
consists of a series of flexures folded parallel to the river, through
which the plateau drainage breaks down in transverse lines forming
gorges and clefts as it cuts through successive ridges. West of Peshawar
the strike of the mountain systems is roughly from west to east, and
this formation is maintained with more or less regularity as far south
as the Tochi River and Waziristan. Almost immediately west of Peshawar,
and stretching along the same parallel of latitude from the meridian of
Kabul to within ten miles of the Peshawar cantonment, is the great
central range of the Safed Koh, which forms throughout its long,
straight line of rugged peaks the southern wall, or water-divide, of the
Kabul River basin. About the meridian of 71 E. it forks, sending off to
the north-east what is locally known as a spur to the Kabul River, but
which is geographically only part of that stupendous water-divide which
hedges in the Kunar and Chitral valleys, and, under the name of the
Shandur Range, unites with the Hindu Kush near the head of the
Taghdumbash Pamir. The Kabul River breaks through this northern spur of
the Safed Koh; and in breaking through it is forced to the northward in
a curved channel or trough, deeply sunk in the mountains between
terrific cliffs and precipices, where its narrow waterway affords no
foothold to man or beast for many miles. To reach the Kabul River within
Afghan territory it is necessary to pass over this water-divide; and the
Khyber stream, flowing down from the pass at Landi Kotal to a point in
the plains opposite Jamrud, 9 m. W. of Peshawar, affords the
opportunity.
Pursuing the main road from Peshawar to Kabul, the fort of Jamrud, which
commands the British end of the Khyber Pass, lies some 11 m. W. of
Peshawar. The road leads through a barren stony plain, cut up by
water-courses and infested by all the worst cut-throats in the Peshawar
district. Some three miles beyond Jamrud the road enters the mountains
at an opening called Shadi Bagiar, and here the Khyber proper begins.
The highway runs for a short distance through the bed of a ravine, and
then joins the road made by Colonel Mackeson in 1839-1842, until it
ascends on the left-hand side to a plateau called Shagai. From here can
be seen the fort of Ali Masjid, which commands the centre of the pass,
and which has been the scene of more than one famous siege. Still going
westward the road turns to the right, and by an easy zigzag descends to
the river of Ali Masjid, and runs along its bank. The new road along
this cliff was made by the British during the Second Afghan War
(1879-80), and here is the narrowest part of the Khyber, not more than
15 ft. broad, with the Rhotas hill on the right fully 2000 ft. overhead.
Some three miles farther on the valley widens, and on either side lie
the hamlets and some sixty towers of the Zakka Khel Afridis. Then comes
the Loargi Shinwari plateau, some seven miles in length and three in its
widest part, ending at Landi Kotal, where is another British fort, which
closes this end of the Khyber and overlooks the plains of Afghanistan.
After leaving Landi Kotal the great Kabul highway passes between low
hills, until it debouches on the Kabul River and leads to Dakka. The
whole of the Khyber Pass from end to end lies within the country of the
Afridis, and is now recognized as under British control. From Shadi
Bagiar on the east to Landi Kotal on the west is about 20 m. in a
straight line.
The Khyber has been adopted by the British as the main road to Kabul,
but its difficulties (before they were overcome by British engineers)
were such that it was never so regarded by former rulers of India. The
old road to India left the Kabul River near its junction with the Kunar,
and crossed the great divide between the Kunar valley and Bajour; then
it turned southwards to the plains. During the first Afghan War the
Khyber was the scene of many skirmishes with the Afridis and some
disasters to the British troops. In July 1839 Colonel Wade captured the
fortress of Ali Masjid. In 1842, when Jalalabad was blockaded, Colonel
Moseley was sent to occupy the same fort, but was compelled to evacuate
it after a few days owing to scarcity of provisions. In April of the
same year it was reoccupied by General Pollock in his advance to Kabul.
It was at Ali Masjid that Sir Neville Chamberlain's friendly mission to
the amir Shere Ali was stopped in 1878, thus causing the second Afghan
War; and on the outbreak of that war Ali Masjid was captured by Sir
Samuel Browne. The treaty which closed the war in May 1879 left the
Khyber tribes under British control. From that time the pass was
protected by jezailchis drawn from the Afridi tribe, who were paid a
subsidy by the British government. For 18 years, from 1879 onward,
Colonel R. Warburton controlled the Khyber, and for the greater part of
that time secured its safety; but his term of office came to an end
synchronously with the wave of fanaticism which swept along the
north-west border of India during 1897. The Afridis were persuaded by
their mullahs to attack the pass, which they themselves had guaranteed.
The British government were warned of the intended movement, but only
withdrew the British officers belonging to the Khyber Rifles, and left
the pass to its fate. The Khyber Rifles, deserted by their officers,
made a half-hearted resistance to their fellow-tribesmen, and the pass
fell into the hands of the Afridis, and remained in their possession for
some months. This was the chief cause of the Tirah Expedition of 1897.
The Khyber Rifles were afterwards strengthened, and divided into two
battalions commanded by four British officers.
See _Eighteen Years in the Khyber_, by Sir Robert Warburton (1900);
_Indian Borderland_, by Sir T. Holdich (1901). (T. H. H.*)
KIAKHTA, a town of Siberia, one of the chief centres of trade between
Russia and China, on the Kiakhta, an affluent of the Selenga, and on an
elevated plain surrounded by mountains, in the Russian government of
Transbaikalia, 320 m. S.W. of Chita, the capital, and close to the
Chinese frontier, in 50° 20´ N., 106° 40´ E. Besides the lower town or
Kiakhta proper, the municipal jurisdiction comprises the fortified upper
town of Troitskosavsk, about 2 m. N., and the settlement of Ust-Kiakhta,
10 m. farther distant. The lower town stands directly opposite to the
Chinese emporium of Maimachin, is surrounded by walls, and consists
principally of one broad street and a large exchange courtyard. From
1689 to 1727 the trade of Kiakhta was a government monopoly, but in the
latter year it was thrown open to private merchants, and continued to
improve until 1860, when the right of commercial intercourse was
extended along the whole Russian-Chinese frontier. The annual December
fairs for which Kiakhta was formerly famous, and also the regular
traffic passing through the town, have considerably fallen off since
that date. The Russians exchange here leather, sheepskins, furs, horns,
woollen cloths, coarse linens and cattle for teas (in value 95% of the
entire imports), porcelain, rhubarb, manufactured silks, nankeens and
other Chinese produce. The population, including Ust-Kiakhta (5000) and
Troitskosavsk (9213 in 1897), is nearly 20,000.
KIANG-SI, an eastern province of China, bounded N. by Hu-peh and
Ngan-hui, S. by Kwang-tung, E. by Fu-kien, and W. by Hu-nan. It has an
area of 72,176 sq. m., and a population returned at 22,000,000. It is
divided into fourteen prefectures. The provincial capital is Nan-ch'ang
Fu, on the Kan Kiang, about 35 m. from the Po-yang Lake. The whole
province is traversed in a south-westerly and north-easterly direction
by the Nan-shan ranges. The largest river is the Kan Kiang, which rises
in the mountains in the south of the province and flows north-east to
the Po-yang Lake. It was over the Meiling Pass and down this river that,
in old days, embassies landing at Canton proceeded to Peking. During the
summer time it has water of sufficient depth for steamers of light draft
as far as Nan-ch'ang, and it is navigable by native craft for a
considerable distance beyond that city. Another river of note is the
Chang Kiang, which has its source in the province of Ngan-hui and flows
into the Po-yang Lake, connecting in its course the Wu-yuen district,
whence come the celebrated "Moyune" green teas, and the city of
King-te-chên, celebrated for its pottery, with Jao-chow Fu on the lake.
The black "Kaisow" teas are brought from the Ho-kow district, where they
are grown, down the river Kin to Juy-hung on the lake, and the Siu-ho
connects by a navigable stream I-ning Chow, in the neighbourhood of
which city the best black teas of this part of China are produced, with
Wu-ching, the principal mart of trade on the lake. The principal
products of the province are tea, China ware, grass-cloth, hemp, paper,
tobacco and tallow. Kiu-kiang, the treaty port of the province, opened
to foreign trade in 1861, is on the Yangtsze-kiang, a short distance
above the junction of the Po-yang Lake with that river.
KIANG-SU, a maritime province of China, bounded N. by Shantung, S. by
Cheh-kiang, W. by Ngan-hui, and E. by the sea. It has an area of 45,000
sq. m., and a population estimated at 21,000,000. Kiang-su forms part of
the great plain of northern China. There are no mountains within its
limits, and few hills. It is watered as no other province in China is
watered. The Grand Canal runs through it from south to north; the
Yangtsze-kiang crosses its southern portion from west to east; it
possesses several lakes, of which the T'ai-hu is the most noteworthy,
and numberless streams connect the canal with the sea. Its coast is
studded with low islands and sandbanks, the results of the deposits
brought down by the Hwang-ho. Kiang-su is rich in places of interest.
Nanking, "the Southern Capital," was the seat of the Chinese court until
the beginning of the 15th century, and it was the headquarters of the
T'ai-p'ing rebels from 1853, when they took the city by assault, to
1864, when its garrison yielded to Colonel Gordon's army. Hang-chow Fu
and Su-chow Fu, situated on the T'ai-hu, are reckoned the most beautiful
cities in China. "Above there is Paradise, below are Su and Hang," says
a Chinese proverb. Shang-hai is the chief port in the province. In 1909
it was connected by railway (270 m. long) via Su-Chow and Chin-kiang
with Nanking. Tea and silk are the principal articles of commerce
produced in Kiang-su, and next in importance are cotton, sugar and
medicines. The silk manufactured in the looms of Su-chow is famous all
over the empire. In the mountains near Nanking, coal, plumbago, iron ore
and marble are found. Shang-hai, Chin-kiang, Nanking and Su-chow are the
treaty ports of the province.
KIAOCHOW BAY, a large inlet on the south side of the promontory of
Shantung, in China. It was seized in November 1897 by the German fleet,
nominally to secure reparation for the murder of two German missionaries
in the province of Shantung. In the negotiations which followed, it was
arranged that the bay and the land on both sides of the entrance within
certain defined lines should be leased to Germany for 99 years. During
the continuance of the lease Germany exercises all the rights of
territorial sovereignty, including the right to erect fortifications.
The area leased is about 117 sq. m., and over a further area, comprising
a zone of some 32 m., measured from any point on the shore of the bay,
the Chinese government may not issue any ordinances without the consent
of Germany. The native population in the ceded area is about 60,000. The
German government in 1899 declared Kiaochow a free port. By arrangement
with the Chinese government a branch of the Imperial maritime customs
has been established there for the collection of duties upon goods
coming from or going to the interior, in accordance with the general
treaty tariff. Trade centres at Ts'ingtao, a town within the bay. The
country in the neighbourhood is mountainous and bare, but the lowlands
are well cultivated. Ts'ingtao is connected by railway with Chinan Fu,
the capital of the province; a continuation of the same line provides
for a junction with the main Lu-Han (Peking-Hankow) railway. The value
of the trade of the port during 1904 was £2,712,145 (£1,808,113 imports
and £904,032 exports).
KICKAPOO ("he moves about"), the name of a tribe of North American
Indians of Algonquian stock. When first met by the French they were in
central Wisconsin. They subsequently removed to the Ohio valley. They
fought on the English side in the War of Independence and that of 1812.
In 1852 a large band went to Texas and Mexico and gave much trouble to
the settlers; but in 1873 the bulk of the tribe was settled on its
present reservation in Oklahoma. They number some 800, of whom about a
third are still in Mexico.
KIDD, JOHN (1775-1851), English physician, chemist and geologist, born
at Westminster on the 10th of September 1775, was the son of a naval
officer, Captain John Kidd. He was educated at Bury St Edmunds and
Westminster, and afterwards at Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated
B.A. in 1797 (M.D. in 1804). He also studied at Guy's Hospital, London
(1797-1801), where he was a pupil of Sir Astley Cooper. He became reader
in chemistry at Oxford in 1801, and in 1803 was elected the first
Aldrichian professor of chemistry. He then voluntarily gave courses of
lectures on mineralogy and geology: these were delivered in the dark
chambers under the Ashmolean Museum, and there J. J. and W. D.
Conybeare, W. Buckland, C. G. B. Daubeny and others gained their first
lessons in geology. Kidd was a popular and instructive lecturer, and
through his efforts the geological chair, first held by Buckland, was
established. In 1818 he became a F.R.C.P.; in 1822 regius professor of
medicine in succession to Sir Christopher Pegge; and in 1834 he was
appointed keeper of the Radcliffe Library. He delivered the Harveian
oration before the Royal College of Physicians in 1834. He died at
Oxford on the 7th of September 1851.
PUBLICATIONS.--_Outlines of Mineralogy_ (2 vols., 1809); _A Geological
Essay on the Imperfect Evidence in Support of a Theory of the Earth_
(1815); _On the Adaptation of External Nature to the Physical
Condition of Man_, 1833 (Bridgewater Treatise).
KIDD, THOMAS (1770-1850), English classical scholar and schoolmaster,
was born in Yorkshire. He was educated at Giggleswick School and Trinity
College, Cambridge. He held numerous scholastic and clerical
appointments, the last being the rectory of Croxton, near Cambridge,
where he died on the 27th of August 1850. Kidd was an intimate friend of
Porson and Charles Burney the younger. He contributed largely to
periodicals, chiefly on classical subjects, but his reputation mainly
rests upon his editions of the works of other scholars: _Opuscula
Ruhnkeniana_ (1807), the minor works of the great Dutch scholar David
Ruhnken; _Miscellanea Critica_ of Richard Dawes (2nd ed., 1827); _Tracts
and Miscellaneous Criticisms_ of Richard Porson (1815). He also
published an edition of the works of Horace (1817) based upon Bentley's
recension.
KIDD, WILLIAM [CAPTAIN KIDD] (c. 1645-1701), privateer and pirate, was
born, perhaps, in Greenock, Scotland, but his origin is quite obscure.
He told Paul Lorraine, the ordinary of Newgate, that he was "about 56"
at the time of his condemnation for piracy in 1701. In 1691 an award
from the council of New York of £150 was given him for his services
during the disturbances in the colony after the revolution of 1688. He
was commissioned later to chase a hostile privateer off the coast, is
described as an owner of ships, and is known to have served with credit
against the French in the West Indies. In 1695 he came to London with a
sloop of his own to trade. Colonel R. Livingston (1654-1724), a
well-known New York landowner, recommended him to the newly appointed
colonial governor Lord Bellomont, as a fit man to command a vessel to
cruise against the pirates in the Eastern seas (see PIRATE).
Accordingly the "Adventure Galley," a vessel of 30 guns and 275 tons,
was privately fitted out, and the command given to Captain Kidd, who
received the king's commission to arrest and bring to trial all pirates,
and a commission of reprisals against the French. Kidd sailed from
Plymouth in May 1696 for New York, where he filled up his crew, and in
1697 reached Madagascar, the pirates' principal rendezvous. He made no
effort whatever to hunt them down. On the contrary he associated himself
with a notorious pirate named Culliford. The fact would seem to be that
Kidd meant only to capture French ships. When he found none he captured
native trading vessels, under pretence that they were provided with
French passes and were fair prize, and he plundered on the coast of
Malabar. During 1698-1699 complaints reached the British government as
to the character of his proceedings. Lord Bellomont was instructed to
apprehend him if he should return to America. Kidd deserted the
"Adventure" in Madagascar, and sailed for America in one of his prizes,
the "Quedah Merchant," which he also left in the West Indies. He reached
New England in a small sloop with several of his crew and wrote to
Bellomont, professing his ability to justify himself and sending the
governor booty. He was arrested in July 1699, was sent to England and
tried, first for the murder of one of his crew, and then with others for
piracy. He was found guilty on both charges, and hanged at Execution
Dock, London, on the 23rd of May 1701. The evidence against him was that
of two members of his crew, the surgeon and a sailor who turned king's
evidence, but no other witnesses could be got in such circumstances, as
the judge told him when he protested. "Captain Kidd's Treasure" has been
sought by various expeditions and about £14,000 was recovered from
Kidd's ship and from Gardiner's Island (off the E. end of Long Island);
but its magnitude was palpably exaggerated. He left a wife and child at
New York. The so-called ballad about him is a poor imitation of the
authentic chant of Admiral Benbow.
Much has been written about Kidd, less because of the intrinsic
interest of his career than because the agreement made with him by
Bellomont was the subject of violent political controversy. The best
popular account is in _An Historical Sketch of Robin Hood and Captain
Kidd_ by W. W. Campbell (New York, 1853), in which the essential
documents are quoted. But see PIRATE.
KIDDERMINSTER, a market town and municipal and parliamentary borough of
Worcestershire, England, 135½ m. N.W. by W. from London and 15 m. N. of
Worcester by the Great Western railway, on the river Stour and the
Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal. Pop. (1901), 24,692. The parish
church of All Saints, well placed above the river, is a fine Early
English and Decorated building, with Perpendicular additions. Of other
buildings the principal are the town hall (1876), the corporation
buildings, and the school of science and art and free library. There is
a free grammar school founded in 1637. A public recreation ground,
Brinton Park, was opened in 1887. Richard Baxter, who was elected by the
townsfolk as their minister in 1641, was instrumental in saving the town
from a reputation of ignorance and depravity caused by the laxity of
their clergy. He is commemorated by a statue, as is Sir Rowland Hill,
the introducer of penny postage, who was born here in 1795.
Kidderminster is chiefly celebrated for its carpets. The permanency of
colour by which they are distinguished is attributed to the properties
of the water of the Stour, which is impregnated with iron and fuller's
earth. Worsted spinning and dyeing are also carried on, and there are
iron foundries, tinplate works, breweries, malthouses, &c. The
parliamentary borough returns one member. The town is governed by a
mayor, 6 aldermen and 18 councillors. Area, 1214 acres.
In 736 lands upon the river Stour, called Stour in Usmere, which have
been identified with the site of Kidderminster (_Chideminstre_), were
given to Earl Cyneberght by King Æthelbald to found a monastery. If this
monastery was ever built, it was afterwards annexed to the church of
Worcester, and the lands on the Stour formed part of the gift of
Coenwulf, king of the Mercians, to Deneberht, bishop of Worcester, but
were exchanged with the same king in 816 for other property. At the
Domesday Survey, Kidderminster was still in the hands of the king and
remained a royal manor until Henry II. granted it to Manser Biset. The
poet Edmund Waller was one of the 17th century lords of the manor. The
town was possibly a borough in 1187 when the men paid £4 to an aid. As a
royal possession it appears to have enjoyed various privileges in the
12th century, among them the right of choosing a bailiff to collect the
toll and render it to the king, and to elect six burgesses and send them
to the view of frankpledge twice a year. The first charter of
incorporation, granted in 1636, appointed a bailiff and 12 capital
burgesses forming a common council. The town was governed under this
charter until the Municipal Reform Act of 1835. Kidderminster sent two
members to the parliament of 1295, but was not again represented until
the privilege of sending one member was conferred by the Reform Act of
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