[1] From the enlistment of Kabyles speaking the Zouave dialect the
Zouave regiments of the French army came to be so called.
KACH GANDAVA, or KACHHI (Kach, Kej, Kiz), a low-lying flat region in
Baluchistan separating the Bugti hills from those of Kalat. It is
driven, like a wedge, into the frontier mountain system and extends for
150 m. from Jacobabad to Sibi, with nearly as great a breadth at its
base on the Sind frontier. Area, 5310 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 82,909. The
Mula pass, which connects it with the Kalat highlands, was once (when
the ancient city of Kandabel was the capital of Gandava) a much trodden
trade highway, and is still a practicable route though no longer a
popular one. The soil is fertile wherever it can be irrigated by the
floods brought down from the surrounding hills; but much of the central
portion is sandy waste. It is traversed by the North-Western railway.
The climate is unhealthy in summer, when pestilential hot winds are
sometimes destructive to life. The annual rainfall averages only 3 in.
Kachhi, though subject to the khan of Kalat, is administered under the
tribal system. There are no schools, dispensaries or gaols.
See _Baluchistan District Gazetteer_, vol. vi. (Bombay, 1907).
KACHIN HILLS, a mountainous tract in Upper Burma, inhabited by the
Kachin or Chingpaw, who are known on the Assam frontier as Singphos.
Owing to the great number of tribes, sub-tribes and clans of the
Kachins, the part of the Kachin hills which has been taken under
administration in the Myitkyina and Bhamo districts was divided into 40
Kachin hill tracts (recently reduced to five). Beyond these tracts there
are many Kachins in Katha, Mong Mit and the northern Shan States. The
country within the Kachin hill tracts is roughly estimated at 19,177 sq.
m., and consists of a series of ranges, for the most part running north
and south, and intersected by valleys, all leading towards the
Irrawaddy, which drains the country. There were 64,405 Kachins
enumerated at the census of 1901. Philological investigations show that
it is probable that the progenitors of the Kachins or Chingpaw were the
Indo-Chinese race who, before the beginnings of history, but after the
Mon-Annam wave had covered Indo-China, forsook their home in western
China to pour over the region where Tibet, Assam, Burma and China
converge, and that the Chingpaw are the residue left round the
headquarters of the Irrawaddy and the Chindwin after those branches,
destined to become the Tibetans, the Nagas, the Burmans and the Kuki
Chins, had gone westwards and southwards. In the middle of the 19th
century the southern limit of the Kachins was 200 m. farther north than
it is now. Since then the race has been drifting steadily southward and
eastward, a vast aggregate of small independent clans united by no
common government, but all obeying a common impulse to move outwards
from their original seats along the line of least resistance. Now the
Kachins are on both sides of the border of Upper Burma, and are a force
to be reckoned with by frontier administrators. According to the Kachin
Hill Tribes Regulation of 1895, administrative responsibility is
accepted by the British government on the left bank of the Irrawaddy for
the country south of the Nmaikha, and on the right bank for the country
south of a line drawn from the confluence of the Malikha and Nmaikha
through the northern limit of the Laban district and including the jade
mines. The tribes north of this line were told that if they abstained
from raiding to the south of it they would not be interfered with. South
of that line peace was to be enforced and a small tribute exacted, with
a minimum of interference in their private affairs. On the British side
of the border the chief objects have been the disarmament of the tribes
and the construction of frontier and internal roads. A light tribute is
exacted.
The Kachins have been the object of many police operations and two
regular expeditions: (1) Expedition of 1892-93. Bhamo was occupied by
the British on the 28th of December 1885, and almost immediately
trouble began. Constant punitive measures were carried on by the
military police; but in December 1892 a police column proceeding to
establish a post at Sima was heavily attacked, and simultaneously the
town of Myitkyina was raided by Kachins. A force of 1200 troops was
sent to put down the rising. The enemy received their final blow at
Palap, but not before three officers were killed, three wounded, and
102 sepoys and followers killed and wounded. (2) Expedition of
1895-96. The continued misconduct of the Sana Kachins from beyond the
administrative border rendered punitive measures necessary. They had
remained unpunished since the attack on Myitkyina in December 1892.
Two columns were sent up, one of 250 rifles from Myitkyina, the other
of 200 rifles from Mogaung, marching in December 1895. The resistance
was insignificant, and the operations were completely successful. A
strong force of military police is stationed at Myitkyina, with
several outposts in the Kachin hills, and the country is never wholly
free from crimes of violence committed by the Kachins.
KADUR, a district of Mysore state, in southern India, with an area of
2813 sq. m. Pop. (1901), 362,752, showing an increase of 9% in the
decade. The larger portion of the district consists of the Malnad or
hill country, which contains some of the wildest mountain scenery in
southern India. The western frontier is formed by the chain of the
Ghats, of which the highest peaks are the Kudremukh (6215 ft.) and the
Meniti Gudda (5451 ft.). The centre is occupied by the horse-shoe range
of the Baba Budans, containing the loftiest mountain in Mysore,
Mulaingiri (6317 ft.). The Maidan or plain country lying beneath the
amphitheatre formed by the Baba Budan hills is a most fertile region,
well watered, and with the famous "black cotton soil." The principal
rivers are the Tunga and Bhadra, which rise near each other in the
Ghats, and unite to form the Tungabhadra, a tributary of the Kistna. The
eastern region is watered by the Vedavati. At the point where this river
leaves the Baba Budan hills it is embanked to form two extensive tanks
which irrigate the lower valley. From all the rivers water is drawn off
into irrigation channels by means of anicuts or weirs. The chief natural
wealth of Kadur is in its forests, which contain inexhaustible supplies
of the finest timber, especially teak, and also furnish shelter for the
coffee plantations. Iron is found and smelted at the foot of the hills,
and corundum exists in certain localities. Wild beasts and game are
numerous, and fish are abundant.
The largest town is Tarikere (pop. 10,164); the headquarters are at
Chikmagalur (9515): The staple crop is rice, chiefly grown on the hill
slopes, where the natural rainfall is sufficient, or in the river
valley, where the fields can be irrigated. Coffee cultivation is said to
have been introduced by a Mahommedan saint, Baba Budan, more than two
centuries ago; but it first attracted European capital in 1840. The
district is served by the Southern Mahratta railway.
KAEMPFER, ENGELBRECHT (1651-1716), German traveller and physician, was
born on the 16th of November 1651 at Lemgo in Lippe-Detmold, Westphalia,
where his father was a pastor. He studied at Hameln, Luneburg, Hamburg,
Lubeck and Danzig, and after graduating Ph.D. at Cracow, spent four
years at Konigsberg in Prussia, studying medicine and natural science.
In 1681 he visited Upsala in Sweden, where he was offered inducements to
settle; but his desire for foreign travel led him to become secretary to
the embassy which Charles XI. sent through Russia to Persia in 1683. He
reached Persia by way of Moscow, Kazan and Astrakhan, landing at Nizabad
in Daghestan after a voyage in the Caspian; from Shemakha in Shirvan he
made an expedition to the Baku peninsula, being perhaps the first modern
scientist to visit these fields of "eternal fire." In 1684 he arrived in
Isfahan, then the Persian capital. When after a stay of more than a year
the Swedish embassy prepared to return, Kaempfer joined the fleet of the
Dutch East India Company in the Persian Gulf as chief surgeon, and in
spite of fever caught at Bander Abbasi he found opportunity to see
something of Arabia and of many of the western coast-lands of India. In
September 1689 he reached Batavia; spent the following winter in
studying Javanese natural history; and in May 1690 set out for Japan as
physician to the embassy sent yearly to that country by the Dutch. The
ship in which he sailed touched at Siam, whose capital he visited; and
in September 1690 he arrived at Nagasaki, the only Japanese port then
open to foreigners. Kaempfer stayed two years in Japan, during which he
twice visited Tokyo. His adroitness, insinuating manners and medical
skill overcame the habitual jealousy and reticence of the natives, and
enabled him to elicit much valuable information. In November 1692 he
left Japan for Java and Europe, and in October 1693 he landed at
Amsterdam. Receiving the degree of M.D. at Leiden, he settled down in
his native city, becoming also physician to the count of Lippe. He died
at Lemgo on the 2nd of November 1716.
The only work Kaempfer lived to publish was _Amoenitatum exoticarum
politico-physico-medicarum fasciculi_ V. (Lemgo, 1712), a selection
from his papers giving results of his invaluable observations in
Georgia, Persia and Japan. At his death the unpublished manuscripts
were purchased by Sir Hans Sloane, and conveyed to England. Among them
was a _History of Japan_, translated from the manuscript into English
by J. G. Scheuchzer and published at London, in 2 vols., in 1727. The
original German has never been published, the extant German version
being taken from the English. Besides Japanese history, this book
contains a description of the political, social and physical state of
the country in the 17th century. For upwards of a hundred years it
remained the chief source of information for the general reader, and
is still not wholly obsolete. A life of the author is prefixed to the
_History_.
KAFFA, a country of N.E. Africa, part of the Abyssinian empire. Kaffa
proper (formerly known also as Gomara) has an area of little more than
5000 sq. m., but the name is used in a general sense to include the
neighbouring territories of Gimirra, Jimma, Ennarea, &c. In this larger
acceptation Kaffa extends roughly from 6 deg. to 9 deg. N. and from 35
deg. to 37(1/2) deg. E. It forms the S.W. part of the great Abyssinian
plateau and consists of broken table-land deeply scored by mountain
torrents and densely wooded. The general elevation is about 8000 ft.,
while several peaks are over 10,000 ft. From the western slopes of the
plateau descend headstreams of the Sobat. The principal river however is
the Omo, the chief feeder of Lake Rudolf. Kaffa proper is believed to be
the native home of the coffee plant (whence the name), which grows in
profusion on the mountain sides. The principal town was Bonga, 7(1/2)
deg. N., 36 deg. 12' E., a great trading centre, but the Abyssinian
headquarters are at Anderacha, about 12 m. S.S.W. of Bonga. Jiren, the
capital of Jimma, 60 m. N.E. of Bonga, is a still more important town,
its weekly market being attended by some 20,000 persons.
A great variety of races inhabit these countries of southern Ethiopia.
The Kaficho (people of Kaffa proper) are said to be of the same stock as
the northern Abyssinians and to have been separated from the rest of the
country by the Mahommedan invasion of the 16th century. Thus Jimma,
immediately north of Kaffa proper, is peopled by Mahommedan Gallas. The
Kaficho, though much mixed with Galla blood, retained their Christianity
and a knowledge of Geez, the ecclesiastical tongue of Abyssinia. The
ordinary language of the Kaficho has no outward resemblance to modern
Abyssinian. Their speech was, however, stated by Dr C. T. Beke (c. 1850)
to be cognate with the Gonga tongue, spoken in a portion of Damot, on
the northern side of the Abai. Kaffa, after having been ruled by
independent sovereigns, who were also suzerains of the neighbouring
states, was about 1895 conquered by the Abyssinians. The first European
explorer of Kaffa was Antoine de'Abbadie, who visited it in 1843. Not
until the early years of the 20th century was the country accurately
mapped.
KAFFIR BREAD, in botany, the popular name for a species of
_Encephalartos_ (_E. caffra_), one of the cycads, a native of South
Africa, so called from the farinaceous food-stuff which is found at the
apex of the stem (Gr. [Greek: en], in, [Greek: kephale], head, and
[Greek: artos], bread). It is a tree reaching nearly 20 ft. in height,
with very stiff, spreading pinnate leaves 3 to 4 ft. long and recurving
at the tip. The species of _Encephalartos_, which are natives of
tropical and South Africa, form handsome greenhouse and conservatory
plants; some species are effectively used in subtropical gardening in
the summer months.
KAFFIRS (Arabic _Kafir_, an unbeliever), a name given by the Arabs to
the native races of the east coast of Africa. The term was current along
the east coast at the arrival of the Portuguese, and passed from them to
the Dutch and English, and to the natives themselves under the form of
_Kafula_. There are no general or collective national names for these
peoples, and the various tribal divisions are mostly designated by
historical or legendary chiefs, founders of dynasties or hereditary
chieftaincies. The term has no real ethnological value, for the Kaffirs
have no national unity. To-day it is used to describe that large family
of Bantu negroes inhabiting the greater part of the Cape, the whole of
Natal and Zululand, and the Portuguese dominions on the east coast south
of the Zambezi. The name is also loosely applied to any negro inhabitant
of South Africa. For example, the Bechuana of the Transvaal and Orange
Free State are usually called Kaffirs.
The Kaffirs are divisible into two great branches: the Ama-Zulu with the
Ama-Swazi and Ama-Tonga and the Kaffirs proper, represented by the
Ama-Xosa, the Tembu (q.v.) and the Pondo (q.v.). Hence the compound term
Zulu-Kaffir applied in a collective sense to all the Kaffir peoples.
Intermediate between these two branches were several broken tribes now
collectively known as Ama-Fengu, i.e. "wanderers" or "needy" people,
from _fenguza_, to seek service[1] (see FINGO).
The ramifications of the Kaffirs proper cannot be understood without
reference to the national genealogies, most of the tribal names, as
already stated, being those of real or reputed founders of dynasties.
Thus the term Ama-Xosa means simply the "people of Xosa," a somewhat
mythical chief supposed to have flourished about the year 1530. Ninth
in descent from his son Toguh was Palo, who died about 1780, leaving
two sons, Gcaleka and Rarabe (pronounced Kha-Kha-be), from whom came
the Ama-Gcaleka, Ama-Dhlambe (T'slambies) and the Ama-Ngquika (Gaika
or Sandili's people). The Pondo do not descend from Xosa, but probably
from an elder brother, while the Tembu, though apparently representing
a younger branch, are regarded by all the Kaffir tribes as the royal
race. Hence the Gcaleka chief, who is the head of all the Ama-Xosa
tribes, always takes his first or "great wife" from the Tembu royal
family, and her issue alone have any claim to the succession. The
subjoined genealogical tree will place Kaffir relations in a clearer
light:--
Zuide (1500?), reputed founder of the nation.
|
+--------------------+--------+---------------+
| | |
Tembu. Xosa (1530?). Mpondo.
| | |
Ama-Tembu Toguh. +---------+-----+
(Tambookies), | |
Tembuland Palo (ob. 1780?), Ama-Mponda, Ama-Mpondumisi
and Emigrant 10th in descent between river |
Tembuland. from Xosa. Umtata and Abelungu
| Natal. (dispersed?)
|
+--------------------+-------------+
| |
Gcaleka. Rarabe
| (Khakhabe).
Klanta. |
| +--------------+----------------+
Hinza. | | |
| Omlao. Mbalu. Ndhlambe
| | --- |
Kreli. Ngqika. Ama-Mbalus. Ama-Ndhlambes
----- | Ama-Gwali. or T'slambies,
Ama-Gcaleka Macomo Ama-Ntinde. between the
(Galeka), | Ama-Gqunukwebi. Keiskamma and
between the Tyali. Ama-Velelo. Great Kei
Bashee and | Ama-Baxa. rivers.
Umtata rivers. Sandili. Imi-Dange.
----- Imi-Dushane.
Ama-Ngqika
(Gaika),
Amatola highlands.
\___________________________________________/
|
Ama-Khakhabe.
\______________________________________________________________/
|
Ama-Xosa.
It will be seen that, as representing the elder branch, the Gcaleka
stand apart from the rest of Xosa's descendants, whom they group
collectively as Ama-Rarabe (Ama-Khakhabe), and whose genealogies,
except in the case of the Gaikas and T'slambies, are very confused.
The Ama-Xosa country lies mainly between the Keiskama and Umtata
rivers.
The Zulu call themselves Abantu ba-Kwa-Zulu, i.e. "people of Zulu's
land," or briefly Bakwa-Zulu, from a legendary chief Zulu, founder of
the royal dynasty. They were originally an obscure tribe occupying the
basin of the Umfolosi river, but rose suddenly to power under
Chaka,[2] who had been brought up among the neighbouring and powerful
Umtetwas, and who succeeded the chiefs of that tribe and of his own in
the beginning of the 19th century. But the true mother tribe seems to
have been the extinct Ama-Ntombela, whence the Ama-Tefulu, the
U'ndwande, U'mlelas, U'mtetwas and many others, all absorbed or
claiming to be true Zulus. But they are only so by political
subjection, and the gradual adoption of the Zulu dress, usages and
speech. Hence in most cases the term Zulu implies political rather
than blood relationship. This remark applies also to the followers of
Mosilikatze (properly Umsilikazi), who, after a fierce struggle with
the Bechuana, founded about 1820 a second Zulu state about the head
waters of the Orange river. In 1837 most of them were driven
northwards by the Boers and are now known as Matabele.
The origin of the Zulu-Kaffir race has given rise to much controversy.
It is obvious that they are not the aborigines of their present domain,
whence in comparatively recent times--since the beginning of the 16th
century--they have displaced the Hottentots and Bushmen of fundamentally
distinct stock. They themselves are conscious of their foreign origin.
Yet they are closely allied in speech (see BANTU LANGUAGES) and physique
to the surrounding Basuto, Bechuana and other members of the great South
African Negroid family. Hence their appearance in the south-east corner
of the continent is sufficiently explained by the gradual onward
movement of the populations pressing southward on the Hottentot and
Bushman domain. The specific differences in speech and appearance by
which they are distinguished from the other branches of the family must
in the same way be explained by the altered conditions of their new
habitat. Hence it is that the farther they have penetrated southwards
the farther have they become differentiated from the pure Negro type.
Thus the light and clear brown complexion prevalent amongst the
southern Tembu becomes gradually darker as we proceed northwards,
passing at last to the blue-black and sepia of the Ama-Swazi and Tekeza.
Even many of the mixed Fingo tribes are of a polished ebony colour, like
that of the Jolofs and other Senegambian negroes. The Kaffir hair is
uniformly of a woolly texture. The head is dolichocephalic, but it is
also high or long vertically,[3] and it is in this feature of
hypsistenocephaly (height and length combined) that the Kaffir presents
the most striking contrast with the pure Negro. But, the nose being
generally rather broad[4] and the lips thick, the Kaffir face, though
somewhat oval, is never regular in the European sense, the deviations
being normally in the direction of the Negro, with which race the
peculiar odour of the skin again connects the Kaffirs. In stature they
rank next to the Patagonians, Polynesians and West Africans, averaging
from 5 ft. 9 in. to 5 ft. 11 in., and even 6 ft.[5] They are slim,
well-proportioned and muscular. Owing to the hard life they lead, the
women are generally inferior in appearance to the men, except amongst
the Zulu, and especially the Tembu. Hence in the matrimonial market,
while the Ama-Xosa girl realizes no more than ten or twelve head of
cattle, the Tembu belle fetches as many as forty, and if especially fine
even eighty.
The more warlike tribes were usually arrayed in leopard or ox skins,
of late years generally replaced by European blankets, with feather
head-dresses, coral and metal ornaments, bead armlets and necklaces.
The Makua and a few others practise tattooing, and the Ama-Xosa are
fond of painting or smearing their bodies with red ochre. Their arms
consist chiefly of ox-hide shields 4 to 6 ft. long, the kerrie or
club, and the assegai, of which there are two kinds, one long, with
9-in. narrow blade, for throwing, the other short, with broad blade 12
to 18 in. long, for stabbing. The dwellings are simple conical huts
grouped in kraals or villages. Although cattle form their chief
wealth, and hunting and stock-breeding their main pursuits, many have
turned to husbandry. The Zulu raise regular crops of "mealies"
(maize), and the Pondo cultivate a species of millet, tobacco, water
melons, yams and other vegetables. Milk (never taken fresh), millet
and maize form the staples of food, and meat is seldom eaten except in
time of war.
A young Kaffir attains man's estate socially, not at puberty, but upon
his marriage. Polygyny is the rule and each wife is regarded as adding
dignity to the household. Marriage is by purchase, the price being
paid in cattle. Upon the husband's death family life is continued
under the headship of the eldest son of the house, the widows by
virtue of levirate becoming the property of the uncle or nearest
males, not sons. A son inherits and honourably liquidates, if he can,
his father's debts.
Mentally the Kaffirs are superior to the Negro. In their social and
political relations they display great tact and intelligence; they are
remarkably brave, warlike and hospitable, and were honest and truthful
until through contact with the whites they became suspicious,
revengeful and thievish, besides acquiring most European vices. Of
religion as ordinarily understood they have very little, and have
certainly never developed any mythologies or dogmatic systems. It is
more than doubtful whether they had originally formed any notion of a
Supreme Being. Some conception, however, of a future state is implied
by a strongly developed worship of ancestry, and by a belief in
spirits and ghosts to whom sacrifices are made. There are no idols or
priests, but belief in witchcraft formerly gave the "witch-doctor" or
medicine-man overwhelming power.[6] Circumcision and polygyny are
universal; the former is sometimes attributed to Mahommedan
influences, but has really prevailed almost everywhere in East Africa
from the remotest time.
Dearer than anything else to the Kaffir are his cattle; and many
ceremonial observances in connexion with them were once the rule.
Formerly ox-racing was a common sport, the oxen running, riderless,
over a ten-mile course. The owner of a champion racing ox was a
popular hero, and these racers were valued at hundreds of head of
cattle. Cattle are the currency of the Kaffirs in their wild state.
Ten to twenty head are the price of a wife. When a girl marries, her
father (if well off) presents her with a cow from his herd. This
animal is called _ubulungu_ or "doer of good" and is regarded as
sacred. It must never be killed nor may its descendants, as long as it
lives. A hair of its tail is tied round the neck of each child
immediately after birth. In large kraals there is the "dancing-ox,"
usually of red colour. Its horns are trained to peculiar shapes by
early mutilations. It figures in many ceremonies when it is paid a
kind of knee-worship.
The Kaffirs have three, not four, seasons: "Green Heads," "Kindness"
and "Cutting"; the first and last referring to the crops, the second
to the "warm weather." Women and children only eat after the men are
satisfied. A light beer made from sorghum is the national drink.
Of the few industries the chief are copper and iron smelting,
practised by the Tembu, Zulu and Swazi, who manufacture weapons,
spoons and agricultural implements both for their own use and for
trade. The Swazi display some taste in wood-carving, and others
prepare a peculiar water-tight vessel of grass. Characteristic of this
race is their neglect of the art of navigation. Not the smallest boats
are ever made for crossing the rivers, much less for venturing on the
sea, except by the Makazana of Delagoa Bay and by the Zambezi people,
who have canoes and flat-bottomed boats made of planks.
The Kaffir race had a distinct and apparently very old political
system, which may be described as a patriarchal monarchy limited by a
powerful aristocracy. Under British rule the tribal independence of
the Kaffirs has disappeared. Varying degrees of autonomy have been
granted, but the supreme powers of the chiefs have gone, the Swazi
being in 1904 the last to be brought to order. In the Transkeian
Territories tribal organization exists, but it is modified by special
legislation and the natives are under the control of special
magistrates. To a considerable extent in Natal and throughout Zululand
the Kaffirs are placed in reserves, where tribal organization is kept
up under European supervision. In Basutoland the tribal organization
is very strong, and the power of chiefs is upheld by the imperial
government, which exercises general supervision.
See Gustav Fritsch, _Die Eingeborenen Sudafrikas_, with atlas, 30
plates and 120 typical heads (Breslau, 1872); W. H. I. Bleek,
_Comparative Grammar of the South African Languages_ (London and Cape
Town, pt. i., 1862; pt. ii., 1869); Theo. Hahn, _Grundzuge einer
Grammatik des Herero_ (Berlin, 1857); Dr Colenso, _Grammar of the
Zulu-Kafir Language_ (1855); Girard de Rialle, _Les Peuples de
l'Afrique et de l'Amerique_ (Paris, 1880); G. W. Stow, _The Native
Races of South Africa_ (London, 1905); G. McC. Theal, _History and
Ethnography of South Africa, 1505 to 1795_ (3 vols., London,
1907-1910) and _History of South Africa since 1795_ (5 vols., London,
1908), specially valuable for the political history of the Kaffirs;
Caesar C. Henkel, _The Native or Transkeian Territories_ (Hamburg,
1903); _The Natives of South Africa_ (1901), and its sequel, _The
South African Natives_ (1908); Dudley Kidd, _The Essential Kafir_
(1904) and _Kafir Socialism_. The last four books deal with the many
social and economic questions raised by the contact of the Kaffir
races with Europeans.