[1] See _Musurgia_, bk. II., iv. § 3.
[2] _Thes. Antiq. Sacra._ (Venice, 1744-1769), xxxii. 477.
[3] II. 3 and fol. 10, 2. _'Arakhin_ ("Valuations") is a treatise in
the Babylonian Talmud. The word _Magrephah_ occurs in the _Mishna_,
the description of the instrument in the _gemara_.
[4] See the Cividale Prayer Book of St Elizabeth in Arthur Haseloff's
_Eine Sächs.-thüring. Malerschule_, pl. 26, No. 57, also Bible of St
Etienne Harding at Dijon (see ORGAN: _History_).
[5] See the original Greek with translation by Charles Maclean in
"The Principle of the Hydraulic Organ," _Intern. Musikges._ vi. 2,
219-220 (Leipzig 1905).
[6] See Clément Loret's account in _Revue archéologique_, pp. 76-102
(Paris, 1890).
[7] _Early Hist. of Spanish Music_ (London, 1807).
[8] Reproduced by Dr Alwin Schulz in _Deutsches Leben im XIV. u. XV.
Jhdt._, figs. 522 seq. (Vienna, 1892).
[9] "De diversis monocordis, pentacordis, etc., ex quibus diversa
formantur instrumenta musica," reproduced by Edm. van der Straeten in
_Hist. de la musique aux Pays-Bas_, i. 278.
KEYSTONE, the central voussoir of an arch (q.v.). The Etruscans and the
Romans emphasized its importance by decorating it with figures and
busts, and, in their triumphal arches, projected it forward and utilized
it as an additional support to the architrave above. Throughout the
Italian period it forms an important element in the design, and serves
to connect the arch with the horizontal mouldings running above it. In
Gothic architecture there is no keystone, but the junction of pointed
ribs at their summit is sometimes decorated with a boss to mask the
intersection.
KEY WEST (from the Spanish _Cayo Hueso_, "Bone Reef"), a city, port of
entry, and the county-seat of Monroe county, Florida, U.S.A., situated
on a small coral island (4½ m. long and about 1 m. wide) of the same
name, 60 m. S. W. of Cape Sable, the most southerly point of the
mainland. It is connected by lines of steamers with Miami and Port
Tampa, with Galveston, Texas, with Mobile, Alabama, with Philadelphia
and New York City, and with West Indian ports, and by regular schooner
lines with New York City, the Bahamas, British Honduras, &c. There is
now an extension of the Florida East Coast railway from Miami to Key
West (155 m.). Pop. (1880), 9890; (1890), 18,080; (1900), 17,114, of
whom 7266 were foreign-born and 5562 were negroes; (1910 census),
19,945. The island is notable for its tropical vegetation and climate.
The jasmine, almond, banana, cork and coco-nut palm are among the trees.
The oleander grows here to be a tree, and there is a banyan tree, said
to be the only one growing out of doors in the United States. There are
many species of plants in Key West not found elsewhere in North America.
The mean annual temperature is 76° F., and the mean of the hottest
months is 82.2° F.; that of the coldest months is 69° F.; thus the mean
range of temperature is only 13°. The precipitation is 35 in.; most of
the rain falls in the "rainy season" from May to November, and is
preserved in cisterns by the inhabitants as the only supply of drinking
water. The number of cloudy days per annum averages 60. The city
occupies the highest portion of the island. The harbour accommodates
vessels drawing 27 ft.; vessels of 27-30 ft. draft can enter by either
the "Main Ship" channel or the south-west channel; the south-east
channel admits vessels of 25 ft. draft or less; and four other channels
may be used by vessels of 15-19 ft. draft. The harbour is defended by
Fort Taylor, built on the island of Key West in 1846, and greatly
improved and modernized after the Spanish-American War of 1898. Among
the buildings are the United States custom house, the city hall, a
convent, and a public library.
In 1869 the insignificant population of Key West was greatly increased
by Cubans who left their native island after an attempt at revolution;
they engaged in the manufacture of tobacco, and Key West cigars were
soon widely known. Towards the close of the 19th century this industry
suffered from labour troubles, from the competition of Tampa, Florida,
and from the commercial improvement of Havana, Cuba; but soon after 1900
the tobacco business of Key West began to recover. Immigrants from the
Bahama Islands form another important element in the population. They
are known as "Conchs," and engage in sponge fishing. In 1905 the value
of factory products was $4,254,024 (an increase of 37.7% over the value
in 1900); the exports in 1907 were valued at $852,457; the imports were
valued at $994,472, the excess over the exports being due to the fact
that the food supply of the city is derived from other Florida ports and
from the West Indies.
According to tradition the native Indian tribes of Key West, after
being almost annihilated by the Caloosas, fled to Cuba. There are relics
of early European occupation of the island which suggest that it was
once the resort of pirates. The city was settled about 1822. The
Seminole War and the war of the United States with Mexico gave it some
military importance. In 1861 Confederate forces attempted to seize Fort
Taylor, but they were successfully resisted by General William H.
French.
KHABAROVSK (known as KHABAROVKA until 1895), a town of Asiatic Russia,
capital of the Amur region and of the Maritime Province. Pop. (1897),
14,932. It was founded in 1858 and is situated on a high cliff on the
right bank of the Amur, at its confluence with the Usuri, in 48° 28´ N.
and 135° 6´ E. It is connected by rail with Vladivostok (480 m.), and is
an important entrepôt for goods coming down the Usuri and its tributary
the Sungacha, as well as a centre of trade, especially in sables. The
town is built of wood, and has a large cathedral, a monument (1891) to
Count Muraviev-Amurskiy, a cadet corps (new building 1904), a branch of
the Russian Geographical Society, with museum, and a technical railway
school.
KHAIRAGARH, a feudatory state in the Central Provinces, India. Area, 931
sq. m.; pop. (1901), 137,554, showing a decrease of 24% in the decade
due to the effects of famine; estimated revenue, £20,000; tribute £4600.
The chief, who is descended from the old Gond royal family, received the
title of raja as an hereditary distinction in 1898. The state includes a
fertile plain, yielding rice and cotton. Its prosperity has been
promoted by the Bengal-Nagpur railway, which has a station at
Dongargarh, the largest town (pop. 5856), connected by road with
Khairagarh town, the residence of the raja.
KHAIREDDIN (_Khair-ed-Din_ = "Joy of Religion") (d. 1890), Turkish
statesman, was of Circassian race, but nothing is known about his birth
and parentage. In early boyhood he was in the hands of a Tunisian
slave-dealer, by whom he was sold to Hamuda Pasha, then bey of Tunis,
who gave him his freedom and a French education. When Khaireddin left
school the bey made him steward of his estates, and from this position
he rose to be minister of finance. When the prime minister, Mahmud ben
Ayad, absconded to France with the treasure-chest of the beylic, Hamuda
despatched Khaireddin to obtain the extradition of the fugitive. The
mission failed; but the six years it occupied enabled Khaireddin to make
himself widely known in France, to become acquainted with French
political ideas and administrative methods, and, on his return to
Tunisia, to render himself more than ever useful to his government.
Hamuda died while Khaireddin was in France, but he was highly
appreciated by the three beys--Ahmet (1837), Mohammed (1855), and Sadok
(1859)--who in turn followed Hamuda, and to his influence was due the
sequence of liberal measures which distinguished their successive
reigns. Khaireddin also secured for the reigning family the confirmation
from the sultan of Turkey of their right of succession to the beylic.
But although Khaireddin's protracted residence in France had imbued him
with liberal ideas, it had not made him a French partisan, and he
strenuously opposed the French scheme of establishing a protectorate
over Tunisia upon which France embarked in the early 'seventies. This
rendered him obnoxious to Sadok's prime minister--an apostate Jew named
Mustapha ben Ismael--who succeeded in completely undermining the bey's
confidence in him. His position thus became untenable in Tunisia, and
shortly after the accession of Abdul Hamid he acquainted the sultan with
his desire to enter the Turkish service. In 1877 the sultan bade him
come to Constantinople, and on his arrival gave him a seat on the Reform
Commission then sitting at Tophane. Early in 1879 the sultan appointed
him grand vizier, and shortly afterwards he prepared a scheme of
constitutional government, but Abdul Hamid refused to have anything to
do with it. Thereupon Khaireddin resigned office, on the 28th of July
1879. More than once the sultan offered him anew the grand vizierate,
but Khaireddin persistently refused it, and thus incurred disfavour. He
died on the 30th of January 1890, practically a prisoner in his own
house.
KHAIRPUR, or KHYRPOOR, a native state of India, in the Sind province of
Bombay. Area, 6050 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 199,313, showing an apparent
increase of 55% in the decade; estimated revenue, £90,000. Like other
parts of Sind, Khairpur consists of a great alluvial plain, very rich
and fertile in the neighbourhood of the Indus and the irrigation canals,
the remaining area being a continuous series of sand-hill ridges covered
with a stunted brushwood, where cultivation is altogether impossible. A
small ridge of limestone hills passes through the northern part of the
state, being a continuation of a ridge known as the Ghar, running
southwards from Rohri. The state is watered by five canals drawn off
from the Indus, besides the Eastern Nara, a canal which follows an old
bed of the Indus. In the desert tracts are pits of _natron_.
KHAIRPUR town is situated on a canal 15 m. E. of the Indus, with a
railway station, 20 m. S. of Sukkur, on the Kotri-Rohri branch of the
North-Western railway, which here crosses a corner of the state. Pop.
(1901), 14,014. There are manufactures of cloth, carpets, goldsmiths'
work and arms, and an export trade in indigo, grain and oilseeds.
The chief, or mir, of Khairpur belongs to a Baluch family, known as
the Talpur, which rose on the fall of the Kalhora dynasty of Sind.
About 1813, during the troubles in Kabul incidental to the
establishment of the Barakzai dynasty, the mirs were able to withhold
the tribute which up to that date had been somewhat irregularly paid
to the rulers of Afghanistan. In 1832 the individuality of the
Khairpur state was recognized by the British government in a treaty
under which the use of the river Indus and the roads of Sind were
secured. When the first Kabul expedition was decided on, the mir of
Khairpur, Ali Murad, cordially supported the British policy; and the
result was that, after the battles of Meeanee and Daba had put the
whole of Sind at the disposal of the British, Khairpur was the only
state allowed to retain its political existence under the protection
of the paramount power. The chief mir, Faiz Mahommed Khan, G.C.I.E.,
who was an enlightened ruler, died in 1909, shortly after returning
from a pilgrimage to the Shiite shrine of Kerbela.
KHAJRAHO, a village of Central India, in the state of Chhatarpur, famous
for its old temples; pop. (1901), 1242. It is believed to have been the
capital of the ancient kingdom of Jijhoti, corresponding with modern
Bundelkhand. The temples consist of three groups: Saiva, Vaishnav and
Jain, almost all built in the 10th and 11th centuries. They are covered
outside and inside with elaborate sculptures, and also bear valuable
inscriptions.
KHAKI (from Urdu _khak_, dust), originally a dust-coloured fabric, of
the character of canvas, drill or holland, used by the British and
native armies in India. It seems to have been first worn by the Guides,
a mixed regiment of frontier troops, in 1848, and to have spread to
other regiments during the following years. Some at any rate of the
British troops had uniforms of khaki during the Indian Mutiny (1857-58),
and thereafter drill or holland (generally called "khaki" whatever its
colour) became the almost universal dress of British and native troops
in Asia and Africa. During the South African War of 1899-1902, drill of
a sandy shade of brown was worn by all troops sent out from Great
Britain and the Colonies. Khaki drill, however, proved unsuitable
material for the cold weather in the uplands of South Africa, and after
a time the troops were supplied with dust-coloured serge uniforms. Since
1900 all drab and green-grey uniforms have been, unofficially at any
rate, designated khaki.
KHALIFA, THE. ABDULLAH ET TAAISHA (Seyyid Abdullah ibn Seyyid Mahommed)
(1846-1899), successor of the mahdi Mahommed Ahmed, born in 1846 in the
south-western portion of Darfur, was a member of the Taaisha section of
the Baggara or cattle-owning Arabs. His father, Mahommed et Taki, had
determined to emigrate to Mecca with his family; but the unsettled state
of the country long prevented him, and he died in Africa after advising
his eldest son, Abdullah, to take refuge with some religious sheikh on
the Nile, and to proceed to Mecca on a favourable opportunity. Abdullah,
who had already had much connexion with slave-hunters, and had fought
against the Egyptian conquest of Darfur, departed for the Nile valley
with this purpose; hearing on the way of the disputes of Mahommed Ahmed,
who had not yet claimed a sacred character, with the Egyptian officials,
he went to him in spite of great difficulties, and, according to his
own statement, at once recognized in him the mahdi ("guide") divinely
appointed to regenerate Islam in the latter days. His advice to Mahommed
to stir up revolt in Darfur and Kordofan being justified by the result,
he became his most trusted counsellor, and was soon declared principal
khalifa or vicegerent of the mahdi, all of whose acts were to be
regarded as the mahdi's own. The mahdi on his deathbed (1885) solemnly
named him his successor; and for thirteen years Abdullah ruled over what
had been the Egyptian Sudan. Khartum was deserted by his orders, and
Omdurman, at first intended as a temporary camp, was made his capital.
At length the progress of Sir Herbert (afterwards Lord) Kitchener's
expedition compelled him to give battle to the Anglo-Egyptian forces
near Omdurman, where on the 2nd of September 1898 his army, fighting
with desperate courage, was almost annihilated. The khalifa, who had not
left Omdurman since the death of the mahdi, fled to Kordofan with the
remnant of his host. On the 25th of November 1899 he gave battle to a
force under Colonel (afterwards General Sir) F. R. Wingate, and was
slain at Om Debreikat. He met death with great fortitude, refusing to
fly, and his principal amirs voluntarily perished with him.
The khalifa was a man of iron will and great energy, and possessed some
military skill. By nature tyrannical, he was impatient of all opposition
and appeared to delight in cruelty. It must be remembered, however, that
he had to meet the secret or open hostility of all the tribes of the
Nile valley and that his authority was dependent on his ability to
overawe his opponents. He maintained in public the divine character of
the power he inherited from the mahdi and inspired his followers to
perform prodigies of valour. Although he treated many of his European
captives with terrible severity he never had any of them executed. It is
said that their presence in Omdurman ministered to his vanity--one of
the most marked features of his character. In private life he showed
much affection for his family.
Personal sketches of the khalifa are given in Slatin Pasha's _Fire and
Sword in the Sudan_ (London, 1896), and in Father Ohrwalder's _Ten
Years in the Mahdi's Camp_ (London, 1892). See also Sir F. R.
Wingate's _Mahdiism and the Egyptian Sudan_ (London, 1891).
KHALIL IBN AHMAD [ABU 'ABDURRAHMAN UL-KHALIL IBN AHMAD IBN 'AMR IBN
TAMIM] (718-791), Arabian philologist, was a native of Oman. He was
distinguished for having written the first Arabic dictionary and for
having first classified the Arabic metres and laid down their rules. He
was also a poet, and lived the ascetic life of a poor student. His
grammatical work was carried on by his pupil Sibawaihi. The dictionary
known as the _Kitab-ul-'Ain_ is ascribed, at least in its inception, to
Khalil. It was probably finished by one of his pupils and was not known
in Bagdad until 862. The words were not arranged in alphabetical order
but according to physiological principles, beginning with _'Ain_ and
ending with _Ya_. The work seems to have been in existence as late as
the 14th century, but is now only known from extracts in manuscript.
Various grammatical works are ascribed to Khalil, but their
authenticity seems doubtful; cf. C. Brockelmann, _Gesch. der
arabischen Literatur_, i. 100 (Weimar, 1898). (G. W. T.)
KHAMGAON, a town of India, in the Buldana district of Berar, 340 m. N.E.
of Bombay. Pop. (1901), 18,341. It is an important centre of the cotton
trade. The cotton market, the second in the province, was established
about 1820. Khamgaon was connected in 1870 with the Great Indian
Peninsula railway by a short branch line.
KHAMSEH, a small but important province of Persia, between Kazvin and
Tabriz. It consisted formerly of five districts, whence its name
Khamseh, "the five," but is now subdivided into seventeen districts. The
language of the inhabitants is Turkish. The province pays a revenue of
about £20,000 per annum, and its capital is Zenjan.
KHAMSIN (Arabic for "fifty"), a hot oppressive wind arising in the
Sahara. It blows in Egypt at intervals for about fifty days during
March, April and May, and fills the air with sand. In Guinea the wind
from the Sahara is known as harmattan (q.v.).
KHAMTIS, a tribe of the north-east frontier of India, dwelling in the
hills bordering the Lakhimpur district of Assam. They are of Shan
origin, and appear to have settled in their present abode in the middle
of the 18th century. In 1839 they raided the British outpost of Sadiya,
but they have since given no trouble. Their headquarters are in a valley
200 m. from Sadiya, which can be reached only over high passes and
through dense jungle. In 1901 the number of speakers of Khamti was
returned as only 1490, mostly in Burma.
KHAN (from the Turki, hence Persian and Arabic _Khan_), a title of
respect in Mahommedan countries. It is a contracted form of _khaqan_
(khakan), a word equivalent to sovereign or emperor, used among the
Mongol and Turki-nomad hordes. The title khan was assumed by Jenghis
when he became supreme ruler of the Mongols; his successors became known
in Europe as the Great Khans (sometimes as the Chams, &c.) of Tatary or
Cathay. Khan is still applied to semi-independent rulers, such as the
khans of Russian Turkestan, or the khan of Kalat in Baluchistan, and is
also used immediately after the name of rulers such as the sultan of
Turkey; the meaning of the term has also extended downwards, until in
Persia and Afghanistan it has become an affix to the name of any
Mahommedan gentleman, like Esquire, and in India it has become a part of
many Mahommedan names, especially when Pathan descent is claimed. The
title of Khan Bahadur is conferred by the British government on
Mahommedans and also on Parsis.
KHANDESH, EAST and WEST, two districts of British India, in the central
division of Bombay. They were formed in 1906 by the division of the old
single district of Khandesh. Their areas are respectively 4544 sq. m.
and 5497 sq. m., and the population on these areas in 1901 was 957,728
and 469,654. The headquarters of East Khandesh are at Jalgaon, and those
of West Khandesh at Dhulia.
The principal natural feature is the Tapti river, which flows through
both districts from east to west and divides each into two unequal
parts. Of these the larger lie towards the south, and are drained by the
rivers Girna, Bori and Panjhra. Northwards beyond the alluvial plain,
which contains some of the richest tracts in Khandesh, the land rises
towards the Satpura hills. In the centre and east the country is level,
save for some low ranges of barren hills, and has in general an arid,
unfertile appearance. Towards the north and west, the plain rises into a
difficult and rugged country, thickly wooded, and inhabited by wild
tribes of Bhils, who chiefly support themselves on the fruits of the
forests and by wood-cutting. The drainage of the district centres in the
Tapti, which receives thirteen principal tributaries in its course
through Khandesh. None of the rivers is navigable, and the Tapti flows
in too deep a bed to be useful for irrigation. The district on the
whole, however, is fairly well supplied with surface water. Khandesh is
not rich in minerals. A large area is under forest; but the jungles have
been denuded of most of their valuable timber. Wild beasts are numerous.
In 1901 the population of the old single district was 1,427,382, showing
an increase of less than 1% in the decade. Of the aboriginal tribes the
Bhils are the most important. They number 167,000, and formerly were a
wild and lawless robber tribe. Since the introduction of British rule,
the efforts made by kindly treatment, and by the offer of suitable
employment, to win the Bhils from their disorderly life have been most
successful. Many of them are now employed in police duties and as
village watchmen. The principal crops are millets, cotton, pulse, wheat
and oilseeds. There are many factories for ginning and pressing cotton,
and a cotton-mill at Jalgaon. The eastern district is traversed by the
Great Indian Peninsula railway, which branches at Bhusawal (an important
centre of trade) towards Jubbulpore and Nagpur. Both districts are
crossed by the Tapti Valley line from Surat. Khandesh suffered somewhat
from famine in 1896-1897, and more severely in 1899-1900.
KHANDWA, a town of British India, in the Nimar district of the Central
Provinces, of which it is the headquarters, 353 m. N.E. of Bombay by
rail. Pop. (1901), 19,401. Khandwa is an ancient town, with Jain and
other temples. As a centre of trade, it has superseded the old capital
of Burhanpur. It is an important railway junction, where the Malwa line
from Indore meets the main line of the Great Indian Peninsula. There are
factories for ginning and pressing cotton, and raw cotton is exported.
KHANSA (Tumadir bint 'Amr, known as al-Khansa) (d. c. 645), Arabian
poetess of the tribe Sulaim, a branch of Qais, was born in the later
years of the 6th century and brought up in such wealth and luxury as the
desert could give. Refusing the offer of Duraid ibn us-Simma, a poet and
prince, she married Mirdas and had by him three sons. Afterwards she
married again. Before the time of Islam she lost her brothers Sakhr and
Moawiya in battle. Her elegies written on these brothers and on her
father made her the most famous poetess of her time. At the fair of
'Ukaz Nabigha Dhubyani is said to have placed A'sha first among the
poets then present and Khansa second above Hassan ibn Thabit. Khansa
with her tribe accepted Islam somewhat late, but persisted in wearing
the heathen sign of mourning, against the precepts of Islam. Her four
sons fought in the armies of Islam and were slain in the battle of
Kadisiya. Omar wrote her a letter congratulating her on their heroic end
and assigned her a pension. She died in her tent c. 645. Her daughter
'Amra also wrote poetry. Opinion was divided among later critics as to
whether Khansa or Laila (see ARABIC LITERATURE: § _Poetry_) was the
greater.
Her diwan has been edited by L. Cheikho (Beirut, 1895) and translated
into French by De Coppier (Beirut, 1889). Cf. T. Nöldeke's _Beiträge
zur Kenntniss der Poesie der alten Araber_ (Hanover, 1864). Stories of
her life are contained in the _Kitab ul-Aghani_, xiii. 136-147.
(G. W. T.)
KHAR, a small but very fertile province of Persia, known by the ancients
as Choara and Choarene; pop. about 10,000. The governor of the province
resides at Kishlak Khar, a large village situated 62 m. S.E. of Teheran,
or at Aradan, a village 10 m. farther E. The province has an abundant
water-supply from the Hableh-rud, and produces great quantities of
wheat, barley and rice. Of the £6000 which it pays to the state, more
than £4000 is paid in kind--wheat, barley, straw and rice.
KHARAGHODA, a village of British India, in the Ahmedabad district of
Bombay, situated on the Little Runn of Cutch, and the terminus of a
branch railway; pop. (1901), 2108. Here is the government factory of
salt, known as Baragra salt, producing nearly 2,000,000 cwt. a year,
most of which is exported to other provinces in Central and Northern
India.
KHARGA (WAH EL-KHARGA, the outer oasis), the largest of the Egyptian
oases, and hence frequently called the Great Oasis. It lies in the
Libyan desert between 24° and 26° N. and 30° and 31° E., the chief town,
also called Kharga, being 435 m. by rail S. by W. of Cairo. It is
reached by a narrow-gauge line (opened in 1908) from Kharga junction, a
station on the Nile valley line near Farshut. The oasis consists of a
depression in the desert some 1200 sq. m. in extent, and is about 100 m.
long N. to S. and from 12 to 50 broad E. to W. Formerly, and into
historic times, a lake occupied a considerable part of the depression,
and the thick deposits of clay and sand then laid down now form the bulk
of the cultivated lands of the oasis. It includes, however, a good deal
of desert land. The inhabitants numbered (1907 census) 8348. They are of
Berber stock. Administratively the oasis forms part of the mudiria of
Assiut. It is practically rainless, and there is not now a single
natural flowing spring. There are, however, numerous wells, water being
obtained freely from the porous sandstone which underlies a great part
of the Libyan desert. Some very ancient wells are 400 ft. deep. In
water-bearing sandstones near the surface there are underground
aqueducts dating from Roman times. The oasis contains many groves of
date palms, there being over 60,000 adult trees in 1907. The dom palm,
tamarisk, acacia and wild senna are also found. Rice, barley and wheat
are the chief cereals cultivated, and lucerne for fodder. Besides
agriculture the only industry is basket and mat making--from palm leaves
and fibre. Since 1906 extensive boring and land reclamation works have
been undertaken in the oasis.
The name of the oasis appears in hieroglyphics as _Kenem_, and that of
its capital as _Hebi_ (the plough). In Pharaonic times it supported a
large population, but the numerous ruins are mostly of later date. The
principal ruin, a temple of Ammon, built under Darius, is of sandstone,
142 ft. long by 63 ft. broad and 30 ft. in height. South-east is another
temple, a square stone building with the name of Antoninus Pius over one
off the entrances. On the eastern escarpment of the oasis on the way to
Girga are the remains of a large Roman fort with twelve bastions. On the
road to Assiut is a fine Roman columbarium or dove-cote. Next to the
great temple the most interesting ruin in the oasis is, however, the
necropolis, a burial-place of the early Christians, placed on a hill 3
m. N. of the town of Kharga. There are some two hundred rectangular tomb
buildings in unburnt brick with ornamented fronts. In most of the tombs
is a chamber in which the mummy was placed, the Egyptian Christians at
first continuing this method of preserving the bodies of their dead. In
several of the tombs and in the chapel of the cemetery is painted the
Egyptian sign of life, which was confounded with the Christian cross.
The chapel is basilican; in it and in another building in the necropolis
are crude frescoes of biblical subjects.
Kharga town (pop. 1907 census, 5362) is picturesquely situated amid palm
groves. The houses are of sun-dried bricks, the streets narrow and
winding and for the most part roofed over, the roofs carrying upper
storeys. Some of the streets are cut through the solid rock. South of
the town are the villages of Genna, Guehda (with a temple dedicated to
Ammon, Mut and Khonsu), Bulak (pop. 1012), Dakakin, Beris (pop. 1564),
Dush (with remains of a fine temple bearing the names of Domitian and
Hadrian), &c.
Kharga is usually identified with the city of Oasis mentioned by
Herodotus as being seven days' journey from Thebes and called in Greek
the Island of the Blessed. The oasis was traversed by the army of
Cambyses when on its way to the oasis of Ammon (Siwa), the army
perishing in the desert before reaching its destination. During the
Roman period, as it had also been in Pharaonic times, Kharga was used as
a place of banishment, the most notable exile being Nestorius, sent
thither after his condemnation by the council of Ephesus. Later it
became a halting-place for the caravans of slaves brought from Darfur to
Egypt.
About 100 m. W. of Kharga is the oasis of Dakhla, the inner or receding
oasis, so named in contrast to Kharga as being farther from the Nile.
Dakhla has a population (1907) of 18,368. Its chief town, El Kasr, has
3602 inhabitants. The principal ruin, of Roman origin and now called
Deir el Hagar (the stone convent), is of considerable size. The Theban
triad were the chief deities worshipped here. Some 120 m. N.W. of Dakhla
is the oasis of Farafra, population about 1000, said to be the first of
the oases conquered by the Moslems from the Christians. It is noted for
the fine quality of its olives. The Baharia, or Little Oasis (pop. about
6000), lies 80 m. N.N.E. of Farafra. Many of its inhabitants, who are of
Berber race, are Senussites. Baharia is about 250 m. E.S.E. of the oasis
of Siwa (see EGYPT: _The Oases_; and SIWA).
See H. Brugsch, _Reise nach dem grossen Oase el-Khargeh in der
Libyschen Wüste_ (Leipzig, 1878); H. J. L. Beadnell, _An Egyptian
Oasis_ (London, 1909); Murray's _Handbook for Egypt_, 11th ed.
(London, 1907); _Geological and Topographical Report on Kharga Oasis_
(1899), on _Farafra Oasis_ (1899), on _Dakhla Oasis_ (1900), on
_Baharia Oasis_ (1903), all issued by the Public Works Department,
Cairo. (F. R. C.)
KHARKOV, a government of Little Russia, surrounded by those of Kursk,
Poltava, Ekaterinoslav, territory of the Don Cossacks, and Voronezh, and
belonging partly to the basin of the Don and partly to that of the
Dnieper. The area is 21,035 sq. m. In general the government is a
table-land, with an elevation of 300 to 450 ft., traversed by deep-cut
river valleys. The soil is for the most part of high fertility, about
57% of the surface being arable land and 24% natural pasture; and though
the winter is rather severe, the summer heat is sufficient for the
ripening of grapes and melons in the open air. The bulk of the
population is engaged in agricultural pursuits and the breeding of
sheep, cattle and horses, though various manufacturing industries have
developed rapidly, more especially since the middle of the 19th century.
Horses are bred for the army, and the yield of wool is of special
importance. The ordinary cereals, maize, buckwheat, millet, hemp, flax,
tobacco, poppies, potatoes and beetroot are all grown, and bee-keeping
and silkworm-rearing are of considerable importance. Sixty-three per
cent. of the land is owned by the peasants, 25% by the nobility, 6% by
owners of other classes, and 6% by the crown and public institutions.
Beetroot sugar factories, cotton-mills, distilleries, flour-mills,
tobacco factories, brickworks, breweries, woollen factories, iron-works,
pottery-kilns and tanneries are the leading industrial establishments.
Gardening is actively prosecuted. Salt is extracted at Slavyansk. The
mass of the people are Little Russians, but there are also Great
Russians, Kalmucks, Germans, Jews and Gypsies. In 1867 the total
population was 1,681,486, and in 1897 2,507,277, of whom 1,242,892 were
women and 367,602 lived in towns. The estimated population in 1906 was
2,983,900. The government is divided into eleven districts. The chief
town is Kharkov (q.v.). The other district towns, with their populations
in 1897, are Akhtyrka (25,965 in 1900), Bogodukhov (11,928), Izyum
(12,959), Kupyansk (7256), Lebedin (16,684), Starobyelsk (13,128), Sumy
(28,519 in 1900), Valki (8842), Volchansk (11,322), and Zmiyev (4652).
KHARKOV, a town of southern Russia, capital of the above government, in
56° 37´ N. and 25° 5´ E., in the valley of the Donets, 152 m. by rail
S.S.E. of Kursk. Oak forests bound it on two sides. Pop. (1867), 59,968;
(1900), 197,405. Kharkov is an archiepiscopal see of the Orthodox Greek
Church, and the headquarters of the X. army corps. The four annual fairs
are among the busiest in Russia, more especially the Kreshchenskaya or
Epiphany fair, which is opened on the 6th (19th) of January, and the
Pokrovsky fair in the autumn. The turnover at the former is estimated at
£3,000,000 to £4,000,000. Thousands of horses are bought and sold. At
the Trinity (Troitsa) fair in June an extensive business (£800,000) is
done in wool. A great variety of manufactured goods are produced in the
town--linen, felt, beetroot sugar, tobacco, brandy, soap, candles,
cast-iron. Kharkov is an educational centre for the higher and middle
classes. Besides a flourishing university, instituted in 1805, and
attended by from 1600 to 1700 students, it possesses a technological
institute (400 students), a railway engineering school, an observatory,
a veterinary college, a botanical garden, a theological seminary, and a
commercial school. The university building was formerly a royal palace.
The library contains 170,000 volumes; and the zoological collections are
especially rich in the birds and fishes of southern Russia. Public
gardens occupy the site of the ancient military works; and the
government has a model farm in the neighbourhood. Of the Orthodox
churches one has the rank of cathedral (1781). Among the public
institutions are a people's palace (1903) and an industrial museum.
The foundation of Kharkov is assigned to 1650, but there is
archaeological evidence of a much earlier occupation of the district,
if not of the site. The Cossacks of Kharkov remained faithful to the
tsar during the rebellions of the latter part of the 17th century; in
return they received numerous privileges, and continued to be a strong
advance-guard of the Russian power, till the final subjugation of all
the southern region. With other military settlements Kharkov was
placed on a new footing in 1765; and at the same time it became the
administrative centre of the Ukraine.
KHARPUT, the most important town in the Kharput (or Mamuret el-Aziz)
vilayet of Asia Minor, situated at an altitude of 4350 ft., a few miles
south of the Murad Su or Eastern Euphrates, and almost as near the
source of the Tigris, on the Samsun-Sivas-Diarbekr road. Pop. about
20,000. The town is built on a hill terrace about 1000 ft. above a
well-watered plain of exceptional fertility which lies to the south and
supports a large population. Kharput probably stands on or near the site
of _Carcathiocerta_ in Sophene, reached by Corbulo in A.D. 65. The early
Moslem geographers knew it as Hisn Ziyad, but the Armenian name was
Khartabirt or Kharbirt, whence Kharput. Cedrenus (11th century) writes
[Greek: Charpote]. There is a story that in 1122 Joscelin (Jocelyn) of
Courtenay, and Baldwin II., king of Jerusalem, both prisoners of the
Amir Balak in its castle, were murdered by being cast from its cliffs
after an attempted rescue. The story is told by William of Tyre, who
calls the place Quart Piert or Pierre, but it is a mere romance. Kharput
is an important station of the American missionaries, who have built a
college, a theological seminary, and boys' and girls' schools. In
November 1895 Kurds looted and burned the Armenian villages on the
plain; and in the same month Kharput was attacked and the American
schools were burned down. A large number of the Gregorian and Protestant
Armenian clergy and people were massacred, and churches, monasteries and
houses were looted. The vilayet Kharput was founded in 1888, being the
result of a provincial rearrangement, designed to ensure better control
over the disturbed districts of Kurdistan. It has much mineral wealth, a
healthy climate and a fertile soil. The seat of government is Mezere, on
the plain 3 m. S. of Kharput. (D. G. H.)
KHARSAWAN, a feudatory state of India, within the Chota Nagpur division
of Bengal; area 153 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 36,540; estimated revenue
£2600. Since the opening of the main line of the Bengal-Nagpur railway
through the state trade has been stimulated, and it is believed that
both iron and copper can be worked profitably.
KHARTUM, the capital of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, on the left bank of
the Blue Nile immediately above its junction with the White Nile in 15°
36´ N., 32° 32´ E., and 1252 ft. above the sea. It is 432 m. by rail
S.W. of Port Sudan, on the Red Sea, and 1345 m. S. of Cairo by rail and
steamer. Pop. (1907) with suburbs, but excluding Omdurman, 69,349.
The city, laid out on a plan drawn up by Lord Kitchener in 1898, has a
picturesque aspect with its numerous handsome stone and brick buildings
surrounded by gardens and its groves of palms and other trees. The river
esplanade, 2 m. long, contains the chief buildings. Parallel with it is
Khedive Avenue, of equal length. The rest of the city is in squares, the
streets forming the design of the union jack. In the centre of the
esplanade is the governor-general's palace, occupying the site of the
palace destroyed by the Mahdists in 1885. It is a three-storeyed
building with arcaded verandas and a fine staircase leading to a loggia
on the first floor. Here a tablet indicates the spot in the old palace
where General Gordon fell. In the gardens, which cover six acres, is a
colossal stone "lamb" brought from the ruins of Soba, an ancient
Christian city on the Blue Nile. The "lamb" is in reality a ram of
Ammon, and has an inscription in Ethiopian hieroglyphs. In front of the
southern façade, which looks on to Khedive Avenue, is a bronze statue of
General Gordon seated on a camel, a copy of the statue by Onslow Ford at
Chatham, England. Government offices and private villas are on either
side of the palace, and beyond, on the east, are the Sudan Club, the
military hospital, and the Gordon Memorial College. The college, the
chief educational centre in the Sudan, is a large, many-windowed
building with accommodation for several hundred scholars and research
laboratories and an economic museum. At the western end of the esplanade
are the zoological gardens, the chief hotel, the Coptic church and the
Mudiria House (residence of the governor of Khartum). Running south from
Khedive Avenue at the spot where the Gordon statue stands, is Victoria
Avenue, leading to Abbas Square, in the centre of which is the great
mosque with two minarets. On the north-east side of the square are the
public markets. The Anglican church, dedicated to All Saints, the
principal banks and business houses, are in Khedive Avenue. There are
Maronite and Greek churches, an Austrian Roman Catholic mission, a large
and well-equipped civil hospital and a museum for Sudan archaeology.
Outside the city are a number of model villages (each of the principal
tribes of the Sudan having its own settlement) in which the dwellings
are built after the tribal fashion. Adjacent are the parade ground and
racecourse and the golf-links. A line of fortifications extends south of
the city from the Blue to the White Nile. The buildings are used as
barracks. Barracks for British troops occupy the end of the line facing
the Blue Nile.
On the right (northern) bank of the Blue Nile is the suburb of Khartum
North, formerly called Halfaya,[1] where is the principal railway
station. It is joined to the city by a bridge (completed 1910)
containing a roadway and the railway, Khartum itself being served by
steam trams and rickshaws. The steamers for the White and the Blue Nile
start from the quay along the esplanade. West of the zoological gardens
is the point of junction of the Blue and White Niles and here is a ferry
across to Omdurman (q.v.) on the west bank of the White Nile a mile or
two below Khartum. In the river immediately below Khartum is Tuti
Island, on which is an old fort and an Arab village.
From its geographical position Khartum is admirably adapted as a
commercial and political centre. It is the great entrepôt for the trade
of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. By the Nile waterways there is easy
transport from the southern and western equatorial provinces and from
Sennar and other eastern districts. Through Omdurman come the exports of
Kordofan and Darfur, while by the Red Sea railway there is ready access
to the markets of the world. The only important manufacture is the
making of bricks.
The population is heterogeneous. The official class is composed chiefly
of British and Egyptians; the traders are mostly Greeks, Syrians and
Copts, while nearly all the tribes of the Sudan are represented in the
negro and Arab inhabitants.
At the time of the occupation of the Sudan by the Egyptians a small
fishing village existed on the site of the present city. In 1822 the
Egyptians established a permanent camp here and out of this grew the
city, which in 1830 was chosen as the capital of the Sudanese
possessions of Egypt. It got its name from the resemblance of the
promontory at the confluence of the two Niles to an elephant's trunk,
the meaning of _khartum_ in the dialect of Arabic spoken in the
locality. The city rapidly acquired importance as the Sudan was opened
up by travellers and traders, becoming, besides the seat of much
legitimate commerce, a great slave mart. It was chosen as the
headquarters of Protestant and Roman Catholic missions, and had a
population of 50,000 or more. Despite its size it contained few
buildings of any architectural merit; the most important were the
palace of the governor-general and the church of the Austrian mission.
The history of the city is intimately bound up with that of the Sudan
generally, but it may be recalled here that in 1884, at the time of
the Mahdist rising, General Gordon was sent to Khartum to arrange for
the evacuation by the Egyptians of the Sudan. At Khartum he was
besieged by the Mahdists, whose headquarters were at Omdurman. Khartum
was captured and Gordon killed on the 26th of January 1885, two days
before the arrival off the town of a small British relief force, which
withdrew on seeing the city in the hands of the enemy. Nearly every
building in Khartum was destroyed by the Mahdists and the city
abandoned in favour of Omdurman, which place remained the headquarters
of the mahdi's successor, the khalifa Abdullah, till September 1898,
when it was taken by the Anglo-Egyptian forces under General
(afterwards Lord) Kitchener, and the seat of government again
transferred to Khartum. It speedily arose from its ruins, being
rebuilt on a much finer scale than the original city. In 1899 the
railway from Wadi Haifa was completed to Khartum, and in 1906 through
communication by rail was established with the Red Sea.