[1] The judgment of the historian William Garrott Brown, himself a
Southerner, is worth quoting: "That violence was often used cannot be
denied. Negroes were often whipped, and so were carpet-baggers. The
incidents related in such stories as Tourgée's _A Fool's Errand_ all
have their counterparts in the testimony before congressional
committees and courts of law. In some cases, after repeated warnings,
men were dragged from their beds and slain by persons in disguise,
and the courts were unable to find or to convict the murderers.
Survivors of the orders affirm that such work was done in most cases
by persons not connected with them or acting under their authority.
It is impossible to prove or disprove their statements. When such
outrages were committed, not on worthless adventurers, who had no
station in the Northern communities from which they came, but on
cultivated persons who had gone South from genuinely philanthropic
motives--no matter how unwisely or tactlessly they went about their
work--the natural effect was to horrify and enrage the North."
KUKU KHOTO (Chinese _Kwei-hwa_), a city of the Chinese province of
Shan-si, situated to the north of the Great Wall, in 40° 50´ N. and 111°
45´ E., about 160 m. W. of Kalgan. It lies in the valley of a small
river which joins the Hwang-ho 50 m. to the south. There are two
distinct walled towns in Kuku Khoto, at an interval of a mile and a
half; the one is the seat of the civil governor and is surrounded by the
trading town, and the other is the seat of the military governor, and
stands in the open country. In the first or old town more especially
there are strong traces of western Asiatic influence; the houses are not
in the Chinese style, being built all round with brick or stone and
having flat roofs, while a large number of the people are still
Mahommedans and, there is little doubt, descended from western settlers.
The town at the same time is a great seat of Buddhism--the lamaseries
containing, it is said, no less than 20,000 persons devoted to a
religious life. As the southern terminus of the routes across the desert
of Gobi from Ulyasutai and the Tian Shan, Kuku Khoto is a great mart for
the exchange of flour, millet and manufactured goods for the raw
products of Mongolia. A Catholic and a Protestant mission are maintained
in the town. Lieut. Watts-Jones, R.E., was murdered at Kwei-hwa during
the Boxer outbreak in 1900.
Early notices of Kuku Khoto will be found in Gerbillon (1688-1698, in
Du Halde (vol. ii., Eng. ed.), and in Astley's _Collection_ (vol. iv.)
KULJA (Chinese, _Ili-ho_), a territory in north-west China; bounded,
according to the treaty of St Petersburg of 1881, on the W. by the
Semiryechensk province of Russian Turkestan, on the N. by the Boro-khoro
Mountains, and on the S. by the mountains Khan-tengri, Muz-art, Terskei,
Eshik-bashi and Narat. It comprises the valleys of the Tekez (middle and
lower portion), Kunghez, the Ili as far as the Russian frontier and its
tributary, the Kash, with the slopes of the mountains turned towards
these rivers. Its area occupies about 19,000 sq. m. (Grum-Grzimailo).
The valley of the Kash is about 160 m. long, and is cultivated in its
lower parts, while the Boro-khoro Mountains are snow-clad in their
eastern portion, and fall with very steep slopes to the valley. The
Avral Mountains, which separate the Kash from the Kunghez, are lower,
but rocky, naked and difficult of access. The valley of the Kunghez is
about 120 m. long; the river flows first in a gorge, then amidst
thickets of rushes, and very small portions of its valley are fit for
cultivation. The Narat Mountains in the south are also very wild, but
are covered with forests of deciduous trees (apple tree, apricot tree,
birch, poplar, &c.) and pine trees. The Tekez flows in the mountains,
and pierces narrow gorges. The mountains which separate it from the
Kunghez are also snow-clad, while those to the south of it reach 24,000
ft. of altitude in Khan-tengri, and are covered with snow and
glaciers--the only pass through them being the Muzart. Forests and
alpine meadows cover their northern slopes. Agriculture was formerly
developed on the Tekez, as is testified by old irrigation canals. The
Ili is formed by the junction of the Kunghez with the Tekez, and for 120
m. it flows through Kulja, its valley reaching a width of 50 m. at
Horgos-koljat. This valley is famed for its fertility, and is admirably
irrigated by canals, part of which, however, fell into decay after
55,000 of the inhabitants migrated to Russian territory in 1881. The
climate of this part of the valley is, of course, continental--frosts of
-22° F. and heats of 170° F. being experienced--but snow lasts only for
one and a half months, and the summer heat is tempered by the proximity
of the high mountains. Apricots, peaches, pears and some vines are
grown, as also some cotton-trees near the town of Kulja, where the
average yearly temperature is 48°.5 F. (January 15°, July 77°). Barley
is grown up to an altitude of 6500 ft.
The population may number about 125,000, of whom 75,000 are settled and
about 50,000 nomads (Grum-Grzimailo). The Taranchis from East Turkestan
represent about 40% of the population; about 40,000 of them left Kulja
when the Russian troops evacuated the territory, and the Chinese
government sent some 8000 families from different towns of Kashgaria to
take their place. There are, besides, about 20,000 Sibos and Solons,
3500 Kara-kidans, a few Dungans, and more than 10,000 Chinese. The
nomads are represented by about 18,000 Kalmucks, and the remainder by
Kirghiz. Agriculture is insufficient to satisfy the needs of the
population, and food is imported from Semiryechensk. Excellent beds of
coal are found in different places, especially about Kulja, but the
fairly rich copper ores and silver ores have ceased to be worked.
The chief towns are Suidun, capital of the province, and Kulja. The
latter (Old Kulja) is on the Ili river. It is one of the chief cities of
the region, owing to the importance of its bazaars, and is the seat of
the Russian consul and a telegraph station. The walled town is nearly
square, each side being about a mile in length; and the walls are not
only 30 ft. high but broad enough on the top to serve as a carriage
drive. Two broad streets cut the enclosed area into four nearly equal
sections. Since 1870 a Russian suburb has been laid out on a wide scale.
The houses of Kulja are almost all clay-built and flat-roofed, and
except in the special Chinese quarter in the eastern end of the town
only a few public buildings show the influence of Chinese architecture.
Of these the most noteworthy are the Taranchi and Dungan mosques, both
with turned-up roofs, and the latter with a pagoda-looking minaret. The
population is mainly Mahommedan, and there are only two Buddhist
pagodas. A small Chinese Roman Catholic church has maintained its
existence through all the vicissitudes of modern times. Paper and
vermicelli are manufactured with rude appliances in the town. The
outskirts are richly cultivated with wheat, barley, lucerne and poppies.
Schuyler estimated the population, which includes Taranchis, Dungans,
Sarts, Chinese, Kalmucks and Russians, at 10,000 in 1873; it has since
increased.
New Kulja, Manchu Kulja, or Ili, which lies lower down the valley on the
same side of the stream, has been a pile of ruins since the terrible
massacre of all its inhabitants by the insurgent Dungans in 1868. It was
previously the seat of the Chinese government for the province, with a
large penal establishment and strong garrison; its population was about
70,000.
_History._--Two centuries B.C. the region was occupied by the fair and
blue-eyed Ussuns, who were driven away in the 6th century of our era by
the northern Huns. Later the Kulja territory became a dependency of
Dzungaria. The Uighurs, and in the 12th century the Kara-Khitai, took
possession of it in turn. Jenghiz Khan conquered Kulja in the 13th
century, and the Mongol Khans resided in the valley of the Ili. It is
supposed (Grum-Grzimailo) that the Oirads conquered it at the end of the
16th or the beginning of the 17th century; they kept it till 1755, when
the Chinese annexed it. During the insurrection of 1864 the Dungans and
the Taranchis formed here the Taranchi sultanate, and this led to the
occupation of Kulja by the Russians in 1871. Ten years later the
territory was restored to China.
KULM (CULM). (1) A town of Germany, in the province of West Prussia, 33
m. by rail N.W. of Thorn, on an elevation above the plain, and 1 m. E.
of the Vistula. Pop. (1905), 11,665. It is surrounded by old walls,
dating from the 13th century, and contains some interesting buildings,
notably its churches, of which two are Roman Catholic and two
Protestant, and its medieval town-hall. The cadet school, founded here
in 1776 by Frederick the Great, was removed to Köslin in 1890. There are
large oil mills, also iron foundries and machine shops, as well as an
important trade in agricultural produce, including fruit and vegetables.
Kulm gives name to the oldest bishopric in Prussia, although the bishop
resides at Pelplin. It was presented about 1220 by Duke Conrad of
Masovia to the bishop of Prussia. Frederick II. pledged it in 1226 to
the Teutonic order, to whom it owes its early development. By the second
peace of Thorn in 1466 it passed to Poland, and it was annexed to
Prussia in 1772. It joined the Hanseatic League, and used to carry on
very extensive manufactures of cloth.
(2) A village of Bohemia about 3 m. N.E. of Teplitz, at the foot of the
Erzgebirge, celebrated as the scene of a battle in which the French were
defeated by the Austrians, Prussians and Russians on the 29th and 30th
of August 1813 (see NAPOLEONIC CAMPAIGNS).
KULMBACH, or CULMBACH, a town of Germany, in the Bavarian province of
Upper Franconia, picturesquely situated on the Weisser Main, and the
Munich-Bamberg-Hof railway, 11 m. N.W. from Bayreuth. Pop. (1900), 9428.
It contains a Roman Catholic and three Protestant churches, a museum and
several schools. The town has several linen manufactories and a large
cotton spinnery, but is chiefly famed for its many extensive breweries,
which mainly produce a black beer, not unlike English porter, which is
largely exported. Connected with these are malting and bottling works.
On a rocky eminence, 1300 ft. in height, to the south-east of the town
stands the former fortress of Plassenburg, during the 14th and 15th
centuries the residence of the margraves of Bayreuth, called also
margraves of Brandenburg-Kulmbach. It was dismantled in 1807, and is now
used as a prison. Kulmbach and Plassenburg belonged to the dukes of
Meran, and then to the counts of Orlamunde, from whom they passed in the
14th century to the Hohenzollerns, burgraves of Nuremberg, and thus to
the margraves of Bayreuth.
See F. Stein, _Kulmbach und die Plassenburg in alter und neuer Zeit_
(Kulmbach, 1903); Huther, _Kulmbach und Umgebung_ (Kulmbach, 1886);
and C. Meyer, _Quellen zur Geschichte der Stadt Kulmbach_ (Munich,
1895).
KULMSEE, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of West Prussia, on
a lake, 14 m. by rail N. of Thorn and at the junction of railways to
Bromberg and Marienburg. Pop. (1900), 8987. It has a fine Roman Catholic
cathedral, which was built in the 13th, and restored in the 15th
century, and an Evangelical church. Until 1823 the town was the seat of
the bishops of Kulm.
KULP, a town of Russian Transcaucasia, in the government of Erivan, 60
m. W.S.W. from the town of Erivan and 2 m. S. of the Aras river. Pop.
(1897), 3074. Close by is the Kulp salt mountain, about 1000 ft. high,
consisting of beds of clay intermingled with thick deposits of rock
salt, which has been worked from time immemorial. Regular galleries are
cut in the transparent, horizontal salt layers, from which cubes of
about 70 lb. weight are extracted, to the amount of 27,500 tons every
year.
KULU, a subdivision of Kangra district, Punjab, British India, which
nominally includes the two Himalayan cantons or _waziris_ of Lahul and
Spiti. The _tahsil_ of Kulu has an area of 1054 sq. m., of which only 60
sq. m. are cultivated; pop. (1901), 68,954. The Sainj, which joins the
Beas at Largi, divides the tract into two portions, Kulu proper and
Soraj. Kulu proper, north of the Sainj, together with inner Soraj, forms
a great basin or depression in the midst of the Himalayan system, having
the narrow gorge of the Beas at Largi as the only outlet for its waters.
North and east the Bara Bangahal and mid-Himalayan ranges rise to a mean
elevation of 18,000 ft., while southward the Jalori and Dhaoladhar
ridges attain a height of 11,000 ft. The higher villages stand 9000 ft.
above the sea; and even the cultivated tracts have probably an average
elevation of 5000 ft. The houses consist of four-storeyed châlets in
little groups, huddled closely together on the ledges or slopes of the
valleys, picturesquely built with projecting eaves and carved wooden
verandas. The Beas, which, with its tributaries, drains the entire
basin, rises at the crest of the Rohtang pass, 13,326 ft. above the sea,
and has an average fall of 125 ft. per mile. Its course presents a
succession of magnificent scenery, including cataracts, gorges,
precipitous cliffs, and mountains clad with forests of deodar, towering
above the tiers of pine on the lower rocky ledges. It is crossed by
several suspension bridges. Great mineral wealth exists, but the
difficulty of transport and labour prevents its development. Hot springs
occur at three localities, much resorted to as places of pilgrimage. The
character of the hillmen resembles that of most other mountaineers in
its mixture of simplicity, independence and superstition. Tibetan
polyandry still prevails in Soraj, but has almost died out elsewhere.
The temples are dedicated rather to local deities than to the greater
gods of the Hindu pantheon. Kulu is an ancient Rajput principality,
which was conquered by Ranjit Singh about 1812. Its hereditary ruler,
with the title of rai, is now recognized by the British government as
_jagirdar_ of Rupi.
KUM, a small province in Persia, between Teheran on the N. and Kashan on
the S. It is divided into seven _buluk_ (districts): (1) Humeh, with
town; (2) Kumrud; (3) Vazkerud; (4) Kinar Rud Khaneh; (5) Kuhistan; (6)
Jasb; (7) Ardahal; has a population of 45,000 to 50,000, and pays a
yearly revenue of about £8000. The province produces much grain and a
fine quality of cotton with a very long staple.
KUM, the capital, in 34° 39´ N. and 50° 55´ E., on the Anarbar river,
which rises near Khunsar, has an elevation of 3100 ft. It owes much of
its importance to the fact that it contains the tomb of Imam Reza's
sister Fatmeh, who died there A.D. 816, and large numbers of pilgrims
visit the city during six or seven months of the year. The fixed
population is between 25,000 and 30,000. A carriage road 92 m. in
length, constructed in 1890-1893, connects the city with Teheran. It has
post and telegraph offices.
See _Eastern Persian Irak_, R. G. S. suppl. (London, 1896).
KUMAIT IBN ZAID (679-743), Arabian poet, was born in the reign of the
first Omayyad caliph and lived in the reigns of nine others. He was,
however, a strong supporter of the house of Hashim and an enemy of the
South Arabians. He was imprisoned by the caliph Hisham for his verse in
praise of the Hashimites, but escaped by the help of his wife and was
pardoned by the intercession of the caliph's son Maslama. Taking part in
a rebellion, he was killed by the troops of Khalid ul-Qasri.
His poems, the _Hashimiyyat_, have been edited by J. Horovitz (Leiden,
1904). An account of him is contained in the _Kitab ul-Aghani_, xv.
113-130. (G. W. T.)
KUMAON, or KUMAUN, an administrative division of British India, in the
United Provinces, with headquarters at Naini Tal. It consists of a large
Himalayan tract, together with two submontane strips called the Tarai
and the Bhabhar; area 13,725 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 1,207,030, showing an
increase of less than 2% in the decade. The submontane strips were up to
1850 an almost impenetrable forest, given up to wild animals; but since
then the numerous clearings have attracted a large population from the
hills, who cultivate the rich soil during the hot and cold seasons,
returning to the hills in the rains. The rest of Kumaon is a maze of
mountains, some of which are among the loftiest known. In a tract not
more than 140 m. in length and 40 m. in breadth there are over thirty
peaks rising to elevations exceeding 18,000 ft. (see HIMALAYA). The
rivers rise chiefly in the southern slope of the Tibetan watershed north
of the loftiest peaks, amongst which they make their way down valleys of
rapid declivity and extraordinary depth. The principal are the Sarda
(Kali), the Pindar and Kailganga, whose waters join the Alaknanda. The
valuable timber of the yet uncleared forest tracts is now under official
supervision. The chief trees are the chir, or three-leaved Himalayan
pine, the cypress, fir, alder, sal or iron-wood, and _saindan_.
Limestone, sandstone, slate, gneiss and granite constitute the principal
geological formations. Mines of iron, copper, gypsum, lead and asbestos
exist; but they are not thoroughly worked. Except in the submontane
strips and deep valleys the climate is mild. The rainfall of the outer
Himalayan range, which is first struck by the monsoon, is double that of
the central hills, in the average proportion of 80 in. to 40. No winter
passes without snow on the higher ridges, and in some years it is
universal throughout the mountain tract. Frosts, especially in the
valleys, are often severe. Kumaon is occasionally visited by epidemic
cholera. Leprosy is most prevalent in the east of the district. Goitre
and cretinism afflict a small proportion of the inhabitants. The hill
fevers at times exhibit the rapid and malignant features of plague.
In 1891 the division was composed of the three districts of Kumaon,
Garhwal and the Tarai; but the two districts of Kumaon and the Tarai
were subsequently redistributed and renamed after their headquarters,
Naini Tal and Almora. Kumaon proper constituted an old Rajput
principality, which became extinct at the beginning of the 19th century.
The country was annexed after the Gurkha war of 1815, and was governed
for seventy years on the non-regulation system by three most successful
administrators--Mr Traill, Mr J. H. Batten and Sir Henry Ramsay.
KUMASI, or COOMASSIE, the capital of Ashanti, British West Africa, in 6°
34´ 50´´ N., 2° 12´ W., 168 m. by rail N. of Sekondi and 120 m. by road
N.N.W. of Cape Coast. Pop. (1906), 6280; including suburbs, over 12,000.
Kumasi is situated on a low rocky eminence, from which it extends across
a valley to the hill opposite. It lies in a clearing of the dense forest
which covers the greater part of Ashanti, and occupies an area about 1½
m. in length and over 3 m. in circumference. The land immediately around
the town, once marshy, has been drained. On the north-west is the small
river Dah, one of the headstreams of the Prah. The name Kum-asi, more
correctly Kum-ase (under the okum tree) was given to the town because of
the number of those trees in its streets. The most imposing building in
Kumasi is the fort, built in 1896. It is the residence of the chief
commissioner and is capable of holding a garrison of several hundred
men. There are also officers' quarters and cantonments outside the fort,
European and native hospitals, and stations of the Basel and Wesleyan
missions. The native houses are built with red clay in the style
universal throughout Ashanti. They are somewhat richly ornamented, and
those of the better class are enclosed in compounds within which are
several separate buildings. Near the railway station are the leading
mercantile houses. The principal Ashanti chiefs own large houses, built
in European style, and these are leased to strangers.
Before its destruction by the British in 1874 the city presented a
handsome appearance and bore many marks of a comparatively high state of
culture. The king's palace, built of red sandstone, had been modelled,
it is believed, on Dutch buildings at Elmina. It was blown up by Sir
Garnet (subsequently Viscount) Wolseley's forces on the 6th of February
1874, and but scanty vestiges of it remain. The town was only partially
rebuilt on the withdrawal of the British troops, and it is difficult
from the meagre accounts of early travellers to obtain an adequate idea
of the capital of the Ashanti kingdom when at the height of its
prosperity (middle of the 18th to middle of the 19th century). The
streets were numerous, broad and regular; the main avenue was 70 yds.
wide. A large market-place existed on the south-east, and behind it in a
grove of trees was the Spirit House. This was the place of execution. Of
its population before the British occupation there is no trustworthy
information. It appears not to have exceeded 20,000 in the first quarter
of the 19th century. This is owing partly to the fact that the
commercial capital of Ashanti, and the meeting-place of several caravan
routes from the north and east, was Kintampo, a town farther north. The
decline of Kumasi after 1874 was marked. A new royal palace was built,
but it was of clay, not brick, and within the limits of the former town
were wide stretches of grass-grown country. In 1896 the town again
suffered at the hands of the British, when several of the largest and
most ancient houses in the royal and priestly suburb of Bantama were
destroyed by fire. In the revolt of 1900 Kumasi was once more injured.
The railway from the coast, which passes through the Tarkwa and Obuassi
gold-fields, reached Kumasi in September 1903. Many merchants at the
Gold Coast ports thereupon opened branches in Kumasi. A marked revival
in trade followed, leading to the rapid expansion of the town. By 1906
Kumasi had supplanted the coast towns and had become the distributing
centre for the whole of Ashanti.
KUMISHAH, a district and town in the province of Isfahan, Persia. The
district, which has a length of 50 and a breadth of 16 m., and contains
about 40 villages, produces much grain. The town is situated on the high
road from Isfahan to Shiraz, 52 m. S. of the former. It was a
flourishing city several miles in circuit when it was destroyed by the
Afghans in 1722, but is now a decayed place, with crumbled walls and
mouldering towers and a population of barely 15,000. It has post and
telegraph offices. South of the city and extending to the village
Maksudbeggi, 16 m. away, is a level plain, which in 1835 (February 28)
was the scene of a battle in which the army (2000 men, 16 guns) of
Mahommed Shah, commanded by Sir H. Lindsay-Bethune, routed the much
superior combined forces (6000 men) of the shah's two rebellious uncles,
Firman-Firma and Shuja es Saltana.
KUMQUAT (_Citrus japonica_), a much-branched shrub from 8 to 12 ft.
high, the branches sometimes bearing small thorns, with dark green
glossy leaves and pure white orange-like flowers standing singly or
clustered in the leaf-axils. The bright orange-yellow fruit is round or
ellipsoidal, about 1 in. in diameter, with a thick minutely tuberculate
rind, the inner lining of which is sweet, and a watery acidulous pulp.
It has long been cultivated in China and Japan, and was introduced to
Europe in 1846 by Mr Fortune, collector for the London Horticultural
Society, and shortly after into North America. It is much hardier than
most plants of the orange tribe, and succeeds well when grafted on the
wild species, _Citrus trifoliata_. It is largely used by the Chinese as
a sweetmeat preserved in sugar.
KUMTA, or COOMPTA, a sea-coast town of British India, in the North
Kanara district of Bombay, 40 m. S. of Karwar. Pop. (1901), 10,818. It
has an open roadstead, with a considerable trade. Carving in sandal-wood
is a speciality. The commercial importance of Kumta has declined since
the opening of the Southern Mahratta railway system.
KUMYKS, a people of Turkish stock in Caucasia, occupying the Kumyk
plateau in north Daghestan and south Terek, and the lands bordering the
Caspian. It is supposed that Ptolemy knew them under the name of Kami
and Kamaks. Various explorers see in them descendants of the Khazars. A.
Vambéry supposes that they settled in their present quarters during the
flourishing period of the Khazar kingdom in the 8th century. It is
certain that some Kabardians also settled later. The Russians built
forts in their territory in 1559 and under Peter I. Having long been
more civilized than the surrounding Caucasian mountaineers, the Kumyks
have always enjoyed some respect among them. The upper terraces of the
Kumyk plateau, which the Kumyks occupy, leaving its lower parts to the
Nogai Tatars, are very fertile.
KUNAR, a river and valley of Afghanistan, on the north-west frontier of
British India. The Kunar valley (Khoaspes in the classics) is the
southern section of that great river system which reaches from the Hindu
Kush to the Kabul river near Jalalabad, and which, under the names of
Yarkhun, Chitral, Kashkar, &c., is more extensive than the Kabul basin
itself. The lower reaches of the Kunar are wide and comparatively
shallow, the river meandering in a multitude of channels through a broad
and fairly open valley, well cultivated and fertile, with large
flourishing villages and a mixed population of Mohmand and other tribes
of Afghan origin. Here the hills to the eastward are comparatively low,
though they shut in the valley closely. Beyond them are the Bajour
uplands. To the west are the great mountains of Kafiristan, called
Kashmund, snow-capped, and running to 14,000 ft. of altitude. Amongst
them are many wild but beautiful valleys occupied by Kafirs, who are
rapidly submitting to Afghan rule. From 20 to 30 miles up the river on
its left bank, under the Bajour hills, are thick clusters of villages,
amongst which are the ancient towns of Kunar and Pashat. The chief
tributary from the Kafiristan hills is the Pechdara, which joins the
river close to Chagan Sarai. It is a fine, broad, swift-flowing stream,
with an excellent bridge over it (part of Abdur Rahman's military road
developments), and has been largely utilized for irrigation. The
Pechdara finds its sources in the Kafir hills, amongst forests of pine
and deodar and thick tangles of wild vine and ivy, wild figs,
pomegranates, olives and oaks, and dense masses of sweet-scented shrubs.
Above Chagan Sarai, as far as Arnawai, where the Afghan boundary crosses
the river, and above which the valley belongs to Chitral, the river
narrows to a swift mountain stream obstructed by boulders and hedged in
with steep cliffs and difficult "parris" or slopes of rocky hill-side.
Wild almond here sheds its blossoms into the stream, and in the dawn of
summer much of the floral beauty of Kashmir is to be found. At Asmar
there is a slight widening of the valley, and the opportunity for a
large Afghan military encampment, spreading to both sides of the river
and connected by a very creditable bridge built on the cantilever
system. There are no apparent relics of Buddhism in the Kunar, such as
are common about Jalalabad or Chitral, or throughout Swat and Dir. This
is probably due to the late occupation of the valley by Kafirs, who
spread eastwards into Bajour within comparatively recent historical
times, and who still adhere to their fastnesses in the Kashmund hills.
The Kunar valley route to Chitral and to Kafiristan is being developed
by Afghan engineering. It may possibly extend ultimately unto Badakshan,
in which case it will form the most direct connexion between the Oxus
and India, and become an important feature in the strategical geography
of Asia. (T. H. H.*)
KUNBIS, the great agricultural caste of Western India, corresponding to
the Kurmis in the north and the Kapus in the Telugu country. Ethnically
they cannot be distinguished from the Mahrattas, though the latter name
is sometimes confined to the class who claim higher rank as representing
the descendants of Sivaji's soldiers. In some districts of the Deccan
they form an actual majority of the population, which is not the case
with any other Indian caste. In 1901 the total number of both Kunbis and
Mahrattas in all India was returned at nearly 8¾ millions.
KUNDT, AUGUST ADOLPH EDUARD EBERHARD (1839-1894), German physicist, was
born at Schwerin in Mecklenburg on the 18th of November 1839. He began
his scientific studies at Leipzig, but afterwards went to Berlin. At
first he devoted himself to astronomy, but coming under the influence of
H. G. Magnus, he turned his attention to physics, and graduated in 1864
with a thesis on the depolarization of light. In 1867 he became
_privatdozent_ in Berlin University, and in the following year was
chosen professor of physics at the Zürich Polytechnic; then, after a
year or two at Würzburg, he was called in 1872 to Strassburg, where he
took a great part in the organization of the new university, and was
largely concerned in the erection of the Physical Institute. Finally in
1888 he went to Berlin as successor to H. von Helmholtz in the chair of
experimental physics and directorship of the Berlin Physical Institute.
He died after a protracted illness at Israelsdorf, near Lübeck, on the
21st of May 1894. As an original worker Kundt was especially successful
in the domains of sound and light. In the former he developed a valuable
method for the investigation of aerial waves within pipes, based on the
fact that a finely divided powder--lycopodium, for example--when dusted
over the interior of a tube in which is established a vibrating column
of air, tends to collect in heaps at the nodes, the distance between
which can thus be ascertained. An extension of the method renders
possible the determination of the velocity of sound in different gases.
In light Kundt's name is widely known for his inquiries in anomalous
dispersion, not only in liquids and vapours, but even in metals, which
he obtained in very thin films by means of a laborious process of
electrolytic deposition upon platinized glass. He also carried out many
experiments in magneto-optics, and succeeded in showing, what Faraday
had failed to detect, the rotation under the influence of magnetic force
of the plane of polarization in certain gases and vapours.
KUNDUZ, a khanate and town of Afghan Turkestan. The khanate is bounded
on the E. by Badakshan, on the W. by Tashkurghan, on the N. by the Oxus
and on the S. by the Hindu Kush. It is inhabited mainly by Uzbegs. Very
little is known about the town, which is the trade centre of a
considerable district, including Kataghan, where the best horses in
Afghanistan are bred.
KUNENE, formerly known also as Nourse, a river of South-West Africa,
with a length of over 700 m., mainly within Portuguese territory, but in
its lower course forming the boundary between Angola and German
South-West Africa. The upper basin of the river lies on the inner
versant of the high plateau region which runs southwards from Bihe
parallel to the coast, forming in places ranges of mountains which give
rise to many streams running south to swell the Kunene. The main stream
rises in 12° 30´ S. and about 160 m. in a direct line from the sea at
Benguella, runs generally from north to south through four degrees of
latitude, but finally flows west to the sea through a break in the outer
highlands. A little south of 16° S. it receives the Kulonga from the
east, and in about 16° 50´ the Kakulovar from the west. The Kakulovar
has its sources in the Serra da Chella and other ranges of the Humpata
district behind Mossamedes, but, though the longest tributary of the
Kunene, is but a small river in its lower course, which traverses the
arid region comprised within the lower basin of the Kunene. Between the
mouths of the Kulonga and Kakulovar the Kunene traverses a swampy plain,
inundated during high water, and containing several small lakes at other
parts of the year. From this swampy region divergent branches run S.E.
They are mainly intermittent, but the Kwamatuo, which leaves the main
stream in about 15° 8´ E., 17° 15´ S., flows into a large marsh or lake
called Etosha, which occupies a depression in the inner table-land about
3400 ft. above sea-level. From the S.E. end of the Etosha lake streams
issue in the direction of the Okavango, to which in times of great flood
they contribute some water. From the existence of this divergent system
it is conjectured that at one time the Kunene formed part of the
Okavango, and thus of the Zambezi basin. (See NGAMI.)
On leaving the swampy region the Kunene turns decidedly to the west, and
descends to the coast plain by a number of cataracts, of which the chief
(in 17° 25´ S., 14° 20´ E.) has a fall of 330 ft. The river becomes
smaller in volume as it passes through an almost desert region with
little or no vegetation. The stream is sometimes shallow and fordable,
at others confined to a narrow rocky channel. Near the sea the Kunene
traverses a region of sand-hills, its mouth being completely blocked at
low water. The river enters the Atlantic in 17° 18´ S., 11° 40´ E. There
are indications that a former branch of the river once entered a bay to
the south.
KUNERSDORF, a village of Prussia, 4 m. E. of Frankfurt-on-Oder, the
scene of a great battle, fought on the 12th of August 1759, between the
Prussian army commanded by Frederick the Great and the allied Russians
under Soltykov and Austrians under Loudon, in which Frederick was
defeated with enormous losses and his army temporarily ruined. (See
SEVEN YEARS' WAR.)
KUNGRAD, a trading town of Asiatic Russia, in the province of Syr-darya,
in the delta of the Amu-darya, 50 m. S. of Lake Aral; altitude 260 ft.
It is the centre of caravan routes leading to the Caspian Sea and the
Uralsk province.
KUNGUR, a town of eastern Russia, in the government of Perm, on the
highway to Siberia, 58 m. S.S.E. of the city of Perm. Pop. (1892),
12,400; (1897), 14,324. Tanneries and the manufacture of boots, gloves,
leather, overcoats, iron castings and machinery are the chief
industries. It has trade in boots, iron wares, cereals, tallow and
linseed exported, and in tea imported direct from China.
KUNKEL (or KUNCKEL) VON LOWENSTJERN, JOHANN (1630-1703), German chemist,
was born in 1630 (or 1638), near Rendsburg, his father being alchemist
to the court of Holstein. He became chemist and apothecary to the dukes
of Lauenburg, and then to the elector of Saxony, Johann Georg II., who
put him in charge of the royal laboratory at Dresden. Intrigues
engineered against him caused him to resign this position in 1677, and
for a time he lectured on chemistry at Annaberg and Wittenberg. Invited
to Berlin by Frederick William, in 1679 he became director of the
laboratory and glass works of Brandenburg, and in 1688 Charles XI.
brought him to Stockholm, giving him the title of Baron von Lowenstjern
in 1693 and making him a member of the council of mines. He died on the
20th of March 1703 (others say 1702) at Dreissighufen, his country house
near Pernau. Kunkel shares with Boyle the honour of having discovered
the secret of the process by which Brand of Hamburg had prepared
phosphorus in 1669, and he found how to make artificial ruby (red glass)
by the incorporation of purple of Cassius. His work also included
observations on putrefaction and fermentation, which he spoke of as
sisters, on the nature of salts, and on the preparation of pure metals.
Though he lived in an atmosphere of alchemy, he derided the notion of
the alkahest or universal solvent, and denounced the deceptions of the
adepts who pretended to effect the transmutation of metals; but he
believed mercury to be a constituent of all metals and heavy minerals,
though he held there was no proof of the presence of "sulphur
comburens."
His chief works were _Oeffentliche Zuschrift von dem Phosphor Mirabil_
(1678); _Ars vitriaria experimentalis_ (1689) and _Laboratorium
chymicum_ (1716).
KUNLONG, the name of a district and ferry on the Salween, in the
northern Shan States of Burma. Both are insignificant, but the place has
gained notoriety from being the nominal terminus in British territory of
the railway across the northern Shan States to the borders of Yunnan,
with its present terminus at Lashio. In point of fact, however, this
terminus will be 7 m. below the ferry and outside of Kunlong circle. At
present Kunlong ferry is little used, and the village was burnt by
Kachins in 1893. It is served by dug-outs, three in number in 1899, and
capable of carrying about fifteen men on a trip. Formerly the trade was
very considerable, and the Burmese had a customs station on the island,
from which the place takes its name; but the rebellion in the great
state of Theinni, and the southward movement of the Kachins, as well as
the Mahommedan rebellion in Yunnan, diverted the caravans to the
northern route to Bhamo, which is still chiefly followed. The Wa, who
inhabit the hills immediately overlooking the Nam Ting valley, now make
the route dangerous for traders. The great majority of these Wa live in
unadministered British territory.
KUNZITE, a transparent lilac-coloured variety of spodumene, used as a
gem-stone. It was discovered in 1902 near Pala, in San Diego county,
California, not far from the locality which yields the fine specimens of
rubellite and lepidolite, well known to mineralogists. The mineral was
named by Dr C. Baskerville after Dr George F. Kunz, the gem expert of
New York, who first described it. Analysis by R. O. E. Davis showed it
to be a spodumene. Kunzite occurs in large crystals, some weighing as
much as 1000 grams each, and presents delicate hues from rosy lilac to
deep pink. It is strongly dichroic. Near the surface it may lose colour
by exposure. Kunzite becomes strongly phosphorescent under the Röntgen
rays, or by the action of radium or on exposure to ultra-violet rays.
(See SPODUMENE.)
KUOPIO, a province of Finland, which includes northern Karelia, bounded
on the N.W. and N. by Uleåborg, on the E. by Olonets, on the S.E. by
Viborg, on the S. by St Michel and on the W. by Vasa. Its area covers
16,500 sq. m., and the population (1900) was 313,951, of whom 312,875
were Finnish-speaking. The surface is hilly, reaching from 600 to 800
ft. of altitude in the north (Suomenselkä hills), and from 300 to 400
ft. in the south. It is built up of gneisso-granites, which are covered,
especially in the middle and east, with younger granites, and partly of
gneisses, quartzite, and talc schists and augitic rocks. The whole is
covered with glacial and later lacustrine deposits. The soil is of
moderate fertility, but often full of boulders. Large lakes cover 16% of
surface, marshes and peat bogs over 29% of the area, and forests occupy
2,672,240 hectares. Steamers ply along the lakes as far as Joensuu. The
climate is severe, the average temperature being for the year 36° F.,
for January 13° and for July 63°. Only 2.3% of the whole surface is
under cultivation. Rye, barley, oats and potatoes are the chief crops,
and in good years these meet the needs of the population. Dairy farming
and cattle breeding are of rapidly increasing importance. Nearly 38,800
tons of iron ore are extracted every year, and nearly 12,000 tons of pig
iron and 6420 tons of iron and steel are obtained in ten iron-works.
Engineering and chemical works, tanneries, saw-mills, paper-mills and
distilleries are the chief industrial establishments. The preparation of
carts, sledges and other wooden goods is an important domestic industry.
Timber, iron, butter, furs and game are exported. The chief towns of the
government are Kuopio (13,519), Joensuu (3954) and Iisalmi (1871).
KUOPIO, capital of the Finnish province of that name, situated on Lake
Kalla-vesi, 180 m. by rail from the Kuivola junction of the St
Petersburg-Helsingfors main line. Pop. (1904), 13,519. It is
picturesquely situated, is the seat of a bishop, and has a cathedral,
two lyceums and two gymnasia (both for boys and girls), a commercial and
several professional schools. There is an agricultural school at Leväis,
close by. Kuopio, in consequence of its steamer communication with
middle Finland and the sea (via Saima Canal), is a trading centre of
considerable importance.
KUPRILI, spelt also KÖPRILI, KOEPRULU, KEUPRULU, &c., the name of a
family of Turkish statesmen.
1. MAHOMMED KUPRILI (c. 1586-1661) was the grandson of an Albanian who
had settled at Kupri in Asia Minor. He began life as a scullion in the
imperial kitchen, became cook, then purse-bearer to Khosrev Pasha, and
so, by wit and favour, rose to be master of the horse, "pasha of two
tails," and governor of a series of important cities and sanjaks. In
1656 he was appointed governor of Tripoli; but before he had set out to
his new post he was nominated to the grand vizierate at the instance of
powerful friends. He accepted office only on condition of being allowed
a free hand. He signalized his accession to power by suppressing an
_émeute_ of orthodox Mussulman fanatics in Constantinople (Sept. 22),
and by putting to death certain favourites of the powerful Valide
Sultana, by whose corruption and intrigues the administration had been
confused. A little later (January 1657) he suppressed with ruthless
severity a rising of the spahis; a certain Sheik Salim, leader of the
fanatical mob of the capital, was drowned in the Bosporus; and the Greek
Patriarch, who had written to the voivode of Wallachia to announce the
approaching downfall of Islam, was hanged. This impartial severity was a
foretaste of Kuprili's rule, which was characterized throughout by a
vigour which belied the expectations based upon his advanced years, and
by a ruthlessness which in time grew to be almost blood-lust. His
justification was the new life which he breathed into the decaying bones
of the Ottoman empire.
Having cowed the disaffected elements in the state, he turned his
attention to foreign enemies. The victory of the Venetians off Chios
(May 2, 1657) was a severe blow to the Turkish sea-power, which Kuprili
set himself energetically to repair. A second battle, fought in the
Dardanelles (July 17-19), ended by a lucky shot blowing up the Venetian
flag-ship; the losses of the Ottoman fleet were repaired, and in the
middle of August Kuprili appeared off Tenedos, which was captured on the
31st and reincorporated permanently in the Turkish empire. Thus the
Ottoman prestige was restored at sea, while Kuprili's ruthless
enforcement of discipline in the army and suppression of revolts,
whether in Europe or Asia, restored it also on land. It was, however,
due to his haughty and violent temper that the traditional friendly
relations between Turkey and France were broken. The French ambassador,
de la Haye, had delayed bringing him the customary gifts, with the idea
that he would, like his predecessors, speedily give place to a new grand
vizier; Kuprili was bitterly offended, and, on pretext of an abuse of
the immunities of diplomatic correspondence, bastinadoed the
ambassador's son and cast him and the ambassador himself into prison. A
special envoy, sent by Louis XIV., to make inquiries and demand
reparation, was treated with studied insult; and the result was that
Mazarin abandoned the Turkish alliance and threw the power of France on
to the side of Venice, openly assisting the Venetians in the defence of
Crete.
Kuprili's restless energy continued to the last, exhibiting itself on
one side in wholesale executions, on the other in vast building
operations. By his orders castles were built at the mouth of the Don and
on the bank of the Dnieper, outworks against the ever-aggressive Tatars,
as well as on either shore of the Dardanelles. His last activity as a
statesman was to spur the sultan on to press the war against Hungary. He
died on the 31st of October 1661. The advice which, on his death-bed, he
is said to have given to the sultan is characteristic of his
Machiavellian statecraft. This was: never to pay attention to the advice
of women, to allow nobody to grow too rich, to keep his treasury well
filled, and himself and his troops constantly occupied. Had he so
desired, Kuprili might have taken advantage of the revolts of the
Janissaries to place himself on the throne; instead, he recommended the
sultan to appoint his son as his successor, and so founded a dynasty of
able statesmen who occupied the grand vizierate almost without
interruption for half a century.
2. FAZIL AHMED KUPRILI (1635-1676), son of the preceding, succeeded his
father as grand vizier in 1661 (this being the first instance of a son
succeeding his father in that office since the time of the Chenderélis).
He began life in the clerical career, which he left, at the age of
twenty-three, when he had attained the rank of _muderris_. Usually
humane and generous, he sought to relieve the people of the excessive
taxation and to secure them against unlawful exactions. Three years
after his accession to office Turkey suffered a crushing defeat at the
battle of St Gothard and was obliged to make peace with the Empire. But
Kuprili's influence with the sultan remained unshaken, and five years
later Crete fell to his arms (1669). The next war in which he was called
upon to take part was with Poland, in defence of the Cossacks, who had
appealed to Turkey for protection. At first successful, Kuprili was
defeated by the Poles under John Sobieski at Khotin and Lemberg; the
Turks, however, continued to hold their own, and finally in October 1676
consented to honourable terms of peace by the treaty of Zurawno (October
16, 1676), retaining Kaminiec, Podolia and the greater part of the
Ukraine. Three days later Ahmed Kuprili died. His military capacity was
far inferior to his administrative qualities. He was a liberal protector
of art and literature, and the kindliness of his disposition formed a
marked contrast to the cruelty of his father; but he was given to
intemperance, and the cause of his death was dropsy brought on by
alcoholic abuse.
3. ZADE MUSTAFA KUPRILI (1637-1691), surnamed Fazil, son of Mahommed
Kuprili, became grand vizier to Suleiman II. in 1689. Called to office
after disaster had driven Turkey's forces from Hungary and Poland and
her fleets from the Mediterranean, he began by ordering strict economy
and reform in the taxation; himself setting the example, which was
widely followed, of voluntary contributions for the army, which with the
navy he reorganized as quickly as he could. His wisdom is shown by the
prudent measures which he took by enacting the _Nizam-i-jedid_, or new
regulations for the improvement of the condition of the Christian rayas,
and for affording them security for life and property; a conciliatory
attitude which at once bore fruit in Greece, where the people abandoned
the Venetian cause and returned to their allegiance to the Porte. He met
his death at the battle of Salankamen in 1691, when the total defeat of
the Turks by the Austrians under Prince Louis of Baden led to their
expulsion from Hungary.
4. HUSSEIN KUPRILI (surnamed AMUJA-ZADE) was the son of Hassan, a
younger brother of Mahommed Kuprili. After occupying various important
posts he became grand vizier in 1697, and owing to his ability and
energy the Turks were able to drive the Austrians back over the Save,
and Turkish fleets were sent into the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.
The efforts of European diplomacy succeeded in inducing Austria and
Turkey to come to terms by the treaty of Carlowitz, whereby Turkey was
shorn of her chief conquests (1699). After this event Hussein Kuprili,
surnamed "the Wise," devoted himself to the suppression of the revolts
which had broken out in Arabia, Egypt and the Crimea, to the reduction
of the Janissaries, and to the institution of administrative and
financial reform. Unfortunately the intrigues against him drove him from
office in 1702, and soon afterwards he died.
5. NUMAN KUPRILI, son of Mustafa Fazil, became grand vizier in 1710. The
expectations formed of him were not fulfilled, as although he was
tolerant, wise and just like his father, he injudiciously sought to take
upon himself all the details of administration, a task which proved to
be beyond his powers. He failed to introduce order into the
administration and was dismissed from office in less than fourteen
months after his appointment.
6. ABDULLAH KUPRILI, a son of Mustafa Fazil Kuprili, was appointed
Kaimmakam or _locum tenens_ of the grand vizier in 1703. He commanded
the Persian expedition in 1723 and captured Tabriz in 1725, resigning
his office in 1726. In 1735 he again commanded against the Persians, but
fell at the disastrous battle of Bagaverd, thus emulating his father's
heroic death at Selankamen.
KURAKIN, BORIS IVANOVICH, PRINCE (1676-1727), Russian diplomatist, was
the brother-in-law of Peter the Great, their wives being sisters. He was
one of the earliest of Peter's pupils. In 1697 he was sent to Italy to
learn navigation. His long and honourable diplomatic career began in
1707, when he was sent to Rome to induce the pope not to recognize
Charles XII.'s candidate, Stanislaus Leszczynski, as king of Poland.
From 1708 to 1712 he represented Russia at London, Hanover, and the
Hague successively, and, in 1713, was the principal Russian
plenipotentiary at the peace congress of Utrecht. From 1716 to 1722 he
held the post of ambassador at Paris, and when, in 1724, Peter set forth
on his Persian campaign, Kurakin was appointed the supervisor of all the
Russian ambassadors accredited to the various European courts. "The
father of Russian diplomacy," as he has justly been called, was
remarkable throughout his career for infinite tact and insight, and a
wonderfully correct appreciation of men and events. He was most useful
to Russia perhaps when the Great Northern war (see SWEDEN, _History_)
was drawing to a close. Notably he prevented Great Britain from
declaring war against Peter's close ally, Denmark, at the crisis of the
struggle. Kurakin was one of the best-educated Russians of his day, and
his autobiography, carried down to 1709, is an historical document of
the first importance. He intended to write a history of his own times
with Peter the Great as the central figure, but got no further than the
summary, entitled _History of Tsar Peter Aleksievich and the People
Nearest to Him_ (1682-1694) (Rus.).
See _Archives of Prince A. Th. Kurakin_ (Rus.) (St Petersburg, 1890);
A. Brückner, _A Russian Tourist in Western Europe in the beginning of
the XVIIIth Century_ (Rus.) (St Petersburg, 1892). (R. N. B.)
KURBASH, or KOURBASH (from the Arabic _qurbash_, a whip; Turkish
_qirbach_; and French _courbache_), a whip or strap about a yard in
length, made of the hide of the hippopotamus or rhinoceros. It is an
instrument of punishment and torture used in various Mahommedan
countries, especially in the Turkish empire. "Government by kurbash"
denotes the oppression of a people by the constant abuse of the kurbash
to maintain authority, to collect taxes, or to pervert justice. The use
of the kurbash for such purposes, once common in Egypt, has been
abolished by the British authorities.
KURDISTAN, in its wider sense, the "country of the Kurds" (Koords),
including that part of Mount Taurus which buttresses the Armenian
table-land (see ARMENIA), and is intersected by the Batman Su, the
Bohtan Su, and other tributaries of the Tigris; and the wild mountain
district, watered by the Great and Little Zab, which marks the western
termination of the great Iranian plateau.
_Population._--The total Kurd population probably exceeds two and a half
millions, namely, Turkish Kurds 1,650,000, Persian 800,000, Russian
50,000, but there are no trustworthy statistics. The great mass of the
population has its home in Kurdistan. But Kurds are scattered
irregularly over the country from the river Sakaria on the west to Lake
Urmia on the east, and from Kars on the north to Jebel Sinjar on the
south. There is also an isolated settlement in Khorasan. The tribes,
_ashiret_, into which the Kurds are divided, resemble in some respects
the Highland clans of Scotland. Very few of them number more than 10,000
souls, and the average is about 3000. The sedentary and pastoral Kurds,
_Yerli_, who live in villages in winter and encamp on their own
pasture-grounds in summer, form an increasing majority of the
population. The nomad Kurds, _Kocher_, who always dwell in tents, are
the wealthiest and most independent. They spend the summer on the
mountains and high plateaus, which they enter in May and leave in
October; and pass the winter on the banks of the Tigris and on the great
plain north of Jebel Sinjar, where they purchase right of pasturage
from the Shammar Arabs. Each tribe has its own pasture-grounds, and
trespass by other tribes is a fertile source of quarrel. During the
periodical migrations Moslem and Christian alike suffer from the
predatory instincts of the Kurd, and disturbances are frequent in the
districts traversed. In Turkey the sedentary Kurds pay taxes; but the
nomads only pay the sheep tax, which is collected as they cross the
Tigris on their way to their summer pastures.
_Character._--The Kurd delights in the bracing air and unrestricted
liberty of the mountains. He is rarely a muleteer or camel-man, and does
not take kindly to handicrafts. The Kurds generally bear a very
indifferent reputation, a worse reputation perhaps, than they really
deserve. Being aliens to the Turks in language and to the Persians in
religion, they are everywhere treated with mistrust, and live as it were
in a state of chronic warfare with the powers that be. Such a condition
is not of course favourable to the development of the better qualities
of human nature. The Kurds are thus wild and lawless; they are much
given to brigandage; they oppress and frequently maltreat the Christian
populations with whom they are brought in contact,--these populations
being the Armenians in Diarbekr, Erzerum and Van, the Jacobites and
Syrians in the Jebel-Tur, and the Nestorians and Chaldaeans in the
Hakkari country.
Perhaps the most distinguishing characteristic of the Kurdish chief is
pride of ancestry. This feeling is in many cases exaggerated, for in
reality the present tribal organization does not date from any great
antiquity. In the list indeed of eighteen principal tribes of the nation
which was drawn up by the Arabian historian Masudi, in the 10th century,
only two or three names are to be recognized at the present day. A
14th-century list, however, translated by Quatremère,[1] presents a
great number of identical names, and there seems no reason to doubt that
certain Kurdish families can trace their descent from the Omayyad
caliphs, while only in recent years the Baban chief of Suleimania,
representing the old Sohrans, and the Ardelan chief of Sinna,[2]
representing an elder branch of the Gurans, each claimed an ancestry of
at least five hundred years. There was up to a recent period no more
picturesque or interesting scene to be witnessed in the east than the
court of one of these great Kurdish chiefs, where, like another Saladin,
the bey ruled in patriarchal state, surrounded by an hereditary
nobility, regarded by his clansmen with reverence and affection, and
attended by a bodyguard of young Kurdish warriors, clad in chain armour,
with flaunting silken scarfs, and bearing javelin, lance and sword as in
the time of the crusades.
Though ignorant and unsophisticated the Kurd is not wanting in natural
intelligence. In recent years educated Kurds have held high office under
the sultan, including that of grand vizier, have assisted in translating
the Bible into Turkish, and in editing a newspaper. The men are lithe,
active and strong, but rarely of unusual stature. The women do not veil,
and are allowed great freedom. The Kurds as a race are proud, faithful
and hospitable, and have rude but strict feelings of honour. They are,
however, much under the influence of dervishes, and when their
fanaticism is aroused their habitual lawlessness is apt to degenerate
into savage barbarity. They are not deficient in martial spirit, but
have an innate dislike to the restraints of military service. The
country is rich in traditions and legends, and in lyric and in epic
poems, which have been handed down from earlier times and are recited in
a weird melancholy tone.
_Antiquities._--Kurdistan abounds in antiquities of the most varied and
interesting character. But it has been very little opened up to modern
research. A series of rock-cut cuneiform inscriptions extend from
Malatia on the west to Miandoab (in Persia) on the east, and from the
banks of the Aras on the north to Rowanduz on the south, which record
the glories of a Turanian dynasty, who ruled the country of Nairi during
the 8th and 7th centuries, B.C., contemporaneously with the lower
Assyrian empire. Intermingled with these are a few genuine Assyrian
inscriptions of an earlier date; and in one instance, at Van, a later
tablet of Xerxes brings the record down to the period of Grecian
history. The most ancient monuments of this class, however, are to be
found at Holwan and in the neighbourhood, where the sculptures and
inscriptions belong probably to the Guti and Luli tribes, and date from
the early Babylonian period.
In the northern Kurdish districts which represent the Arzanene,
Intilene, Anzitene, Zabdicene, and Moxuene of the ancients, there are
many interesting remains of Roman cities, e.g. at Arzen, Miyafarikin
(anc. _Martyropolis_), Sisauronon, and the ruins of Dunisir near Dara,
which Sachau identified with the Armenian capital of Tigranocerta. Of
the Macedonian and Parthian periods there are remains both sculptured
and inscribed at several points in Kurdistan; at Bisitun or Behistun
(q.v.), in a cave at Amadia, at the Mithraic temple of Kereftu, on the
rocks at Sir Pul-o-Zohab near the ruins of Holwan, and probably in some
other localities, such as the Balik country between Lahijan and
Koi-Sanjak; but the most interesting site in all Kurdistan, perhaps in
all western Asia, is the ruined fire temple of Pai Kuli on the southern
frontier of Suleimania. Among the débris of this temple, which is
scattered over a bare hillside, are to be found above one hundred slabs,
inscribed with Parthian and Pahlavi characters, the fragments of a wall
which formerly supported the eastern face of the edifice, and bore a
bilingual legend of great length, dating from the Sassanian period.
There are also remarkable Sassanian remains in other parts of
Kurdistan--at Salmus to the north, and at Kermanshah and Kasr-i-Shirin
on the Turkish frontier to the south.
_Language._--The Kurdish language, Kermanji, is an old Persian patois,
intermixed to the north with Chaldaean words and to the south with a
certain Turanian element which may not improbably have come down from
Babylonian times. Several peculiar dialects are spoken in secluded
districts in the mountains, but the only varieties which, from their
extensive use, require to be specified are the Zaza and the Guran. The
Zaza is spoken throughout the western portion of the Dersim country,
and is said to be unintelligible to the Kermanji-speaking Kurds. It is
largely intermingled with Armenian, and may contain some trace of the
old Cappadocian, but is no doubt of the same Aryan stock as the
standard Kurdish. The Guran dialect again, which is spoken throughout
Ardelan and Kermanshah[3] chiefly differs from the northern Kurdish in
being entirely free from any Semitic intermixture. It is thus somewhat
nearer to the Persian than the Kermanji dialect, but is essentially
the same language. It is a mistake to suppose that there is no
Kurdish literature. Many of the popular Persian poets have been
translated into Kurdish, and there are also books relating to the
religious mysteries of the Ali-Illahis in the hands of the Dersimlis
to the north and of the Gurans of Kermanshah to the south. The New
Testament in Kurdish was printed at Constantinople in 1857. The Rev.
Samuel Rhea published a grammar and vocabulary of the Hakkari dialect
in 1872. In 1879 there appeared, under the auspices of the imperial
academy of St Petersburg a French-Kurdish dictionary compiled
originally by Mons. Jaba, many years Russian consul at Erzerum, but
completed by Ferdinand Justi by the help of a rich assortment of
Kurdish tales and ballads, collected by Socin and Prym in Assyria.
_Religion._--The great body of the nation, in Persia as well as in
Turkey, are Sunnis of the Shafi'ite sect, but in the recesses of the
Dersim to the north and of Zagros to the south there are large
half-pagan communities, who are called indifferently Ali-Illahi and
Kizjil-bash, and who hold tenets of some obscurity, but of
considerable interest. Outwardly professing to be Shi'ites or
"followers of Ali," they observe secret ceremonies and hold esoteric
doctrines which have probably descended to them from very early ages,
and of which the essential condition is that there must always be upon
the earth a visible manifestation of the Deity. While paying reverence
to the supposed incarnations of ancient days, to Moses, David, Christ,
Ali and his tutor Salman-ul-Farisi, and several of the Shi'ite imams
and saints, they have thus usually some recent local celebrity at
whose shrine they worship and make vows; and there is, moreover, in
every community of Ali-Illahis some living personage, not necessarily
ascetic, to whom, as representing the godhead, the superstitious
tribesmen pay almost idolatrous honours. Among the Gurans of the south
the shrine of Baba Yadgar, in a gorge of the hills above the old city
of Holwan, is thus regarded with a supreme veneration. Similar
institutions are also found in other parts of the mountains, which may
be compared with the tenets of the Druses and Nosairis in Syria and
the Ismailites in Persia.
_History._--With regard to the origin of the Kurds, it was formerly
considered sufficient to describe them as the descendants of the
Carduchi, who opposed the retreat of the Ten Thousand through the
mountains, but modern research traces them far beyond the period of the
Greeks. At the dawn of history the mountains overhanging Assyria were
held by a people named _Gutu_, a title which signified "a warrior," and
which was rendered in Assyrian by the synonym of _Gardu_ or _Kardu_, the
precise term quoted by Strabo to explain the name of the Cardaces
([Greek: Kardakes]). These _Gutu_ were a Turanian tribe of such power as
to be placed in the early cuneiform records on an equality with the
other nations of western Asia, that is, with the Syrians and Hittites,
the Susians, Elamites, and Akkadians of Babylonia; and during the whole
period of the Assyrian empire they seem to have preserved a more or less
independent political position. After the fall of Nineveh they coalesced
with the Medes, and, in common with all the nations inhabiting the high
plateaus of Asia Minor, Armenia and Persia, became gradually Aryanized,
owing to the immigration at this period of history of tribes in
overwhelming numbers which, from whatever quarter they may have sprung,
belonged certainly to the Aryan family.
The _Gutu_ or Kurdu were reduced to subjection by Cyrus before he
descended upon Babylon, and furnished a contingent of fighting men to
his successors, being thus mentioned under the names of Saspirians and
Alarodians in the muster roll of the army of Xerxes which was preserved
by Herodotus.
In later times they passed successively under the sway of the
Macedonians, the Parthians, and Sassanians, being especially befriended,
if we may judge from tradition as well as from the remains still
existing in the country, by the Arsacian monarchs, who were probably of
a cognate race. Gotarzes indeed, whose name may perhaps be translated
"chief of the _Gutu_," was traditionally believed to be the founder of
the Gurans, the principal tribe of southern Kurdistan,[4] and his name
and titles are still preserved in a Greek inscription at Behistun near
the Kurdish capital of Kermanshah. Under the caliphs of Bagdad the Kurds
were always giving trouble in one quarter or another. In A.D. 838, and
again in 905, there were formidable insurrections in northern Kurdistan;
the amir, Adod-addaula, was obliged to lead the forces of the caliphate
against the southern Kurds, capturing the famous fortress of Sermaj, of
which the ruins are to be seen at the present day near Behistun, and
reducing the province of Shahrizor with its capital city now marked by
the great mound of Yassin Teppeh. The most flourishing period of Kurdish
power was probably during the 12th century of our era, when the great
Saladin, who belonged to the Rawendi branch of the Hadabani tribe,
founded the Ayyubite dynasty of Syria, and Kurdish chiefships were
established, not only to the east and west of the Kurdistan mountains,
but as far as Khorasan upon one side and Egypt and Yemen on the other.
During the Mongol and Tatar domination of western Asia the Kurds in the
mountains remained for the most part passive, yielding a reluctant
obedience to the provincial governors of the plains.
When Sultan Selim I., after defeating Shah Ismail, 1514, annexed Armenia
and Kurdistan, he entrusted the organization of the conquered
territories to Idris, the historian, who was a Kurd of Bitlis. Idris
found Kurdistan bristling with castles, held by hereditary tribal chiefs
of Kurd, Arab, and Armenian descent, who were practically independent,
and passed their time in tribal warfare or in raiding the agricultural
population. He divided the territory into sanjaks or districts, and,
making no attempt to interfere with the principle of heredity, installed
the local chiefs as governors. He also resettled the rich pastoral
country between Erzerum and Erivan, which had lain waste since the
passage of Timur, with Kurds from the Hakkiari and Bohtan districts. The
system of administration introduced by Idris remained unchanged until
the close of the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-29. But the Kurds, owing to
the remoteness of their country from the capital and the decline of
Turkey, had greatly increased in influence and power, and had spread
westwards over the country as far as Angora. After the war the Kurds
attempted to free themselves from Turkish control, and in 1834 it became
necessary to reduce them to subjection. This was done by Reshid Pasha.
The principal towns were strongly garrisoned, and many of the Kurd beys
were replaced by Turkish governors. A rising under Bedr Khan Bey in 1843
was firmly repressed, and after the Crimean War the Turks strengthened
their hold on the country. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 was followed
by the attempt of Sheikh Obaidullah, 1880-81, to found an independent
Kurd principality under the protection of Turkey. The attempt, at first
encouraged by the Porte, as a reply to the projected creation of an
Armenian state under the suzerainty of Russia (see ARMENIA), collapsed
after Obaidullah's raid into Persia, when various circumstances led the
central government to reassert its supreme authority. Until the
Russo-Turkish War of 1828-29 there had been little hostile feeling
between the Kurds and the Armenians, and as late as 1877-1878 the
mountaineers of both races had got on fairly well together. Both
suffered from Turkey, both dreaded Russia. But the national movement
amongst the Armenians, and its encouragement by Russia after the last
war, gradually aroused race hatred and fanaticism. In 1891 the activity
of the Armenian Committees induced the Porte to strengthen the position
of the Kurds by raising a body of Kurdish irregular cavalry, which was
well armed and called Hamidieh after the Sultan. The opportunities thus
offered for plunder and the gratification of race hatred brought out the
worst qualities of the Kurds. Minor disturbances constantly occurred,
and were soon followed by the massacre of Armenians at Sasun and other
places, 1894-96, in which the Kurds took an active part.
AUTHORITIES.--Rich, _Narrative of a Residence in Koordistan_ (1836);
Wagner, _Reise nach Persien und dem Lande der Kurden_ (Leipzig, 1852);
Consul Taylor in _R. G. S. Journal_ (1865); Millingen, _Wild Life
among the Koords_ (1870); Von Luschan, "Die Wandervolker Kleinasiens,"
in _V^n. d. G. für Anthropologie_ (Berlin, 1886); Clayton, "The
Mountains of Kurdistan," in _Alpine Journal_ (1887); Binder, _Au
Kurdistan_ (Paris, 1887); Naumann, _Vom Goldnen Horn zu den Quellen
des Euphrat_ (Munich, 1893); Murray, _Handbook to Asia Minor, &c._
(1895); Lerch, _Forschungen über die Kurden_ (St Petersburg, 1857-58);
Jaba, _Dict. Kurde-Français_ (St Petersburg, 1879); Justi, _Kurdische
Grammatik_ (1880); Prym and Socin, _Kurdische Sammlungen_ (1890);
Makas, _Kurdische Studien_ (1901); Earl Percy, _Highlands of Asiatic
Turkey_ (1901); Lynch, _Armenia_ (1901); A. V. Williams Jackson,
_Persia, Past and Present_ (1906). (C. W. W.; H. C. R.)