Chapter X: Part 10

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 As a centre of trade, it has superseded the old capital of Burhanpur.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.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] The village of Halfaya, a place of some importance before the
foundation of Khartum, is 4 m. to the N., on the eastern bank of the
Nile. From the 15th century up to 1821 it was the capital of a small
state, tributary to Sennar, regarded as a continuation of the
Christian kingdom of Aloa (see DONGOLA).

KHASI AND JAINTIA HILLS, a district of British India, in the Hills division of Eastern Bengal and Assam. It occupies the central plateau between the valleys of the Brahmaputra and the Surma. Area, 6027 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 202,250, showing an increase of 2% in the decade.

The district consists of a succession of steep ridges running east and west, with elevated table-lands between. On the southern side, towards Sylhet, the mountains rise precipitously from the valley of the Barak or Surma. The first plateau is about 4000 ft. above sea-level. Farther north is another plateau, on which is situated the station of Shillong, 4900 ft. above the sea; behind lies the Shillong range, of which the highest peak rises to 6450 ft. On the north side, towards Kamrup, are two similar plateaus of lower elevation. The general appearance of all these table-lands is that of undulating downs, covered with grass, but destitute of large timber. At 3000 ft. elevation the indigenous pine predominates over all other vegetation, and forms almost pure pine forests. The highest ridges are clothed with magnificent clumps of timber trees, which superstition has preserved from the axe of the wood-cutter. The characteristic trees in these sacred groves chiefly consist of oaks, chestnuts, magnolias, &c. Beneath the shade grow rare orchids, rhododendrons and wild cinnamon. The streams are merely mountain torrents; many of them pass through narrow gorges of wild beauty. From time immemorial, Lower Bengal has drawn its supply of lime from the Khasi Hills, and the quarries along their southern slope are inexhaustible. Coal of fair quality crops out at several places, and there are a few small coal-mines.

The Khasi Hills were conquered by the British in 1833. They are inhabited by a tribe of the same name, who still live in primitive communities under elective chiefs in political subordination to the British government. There are 25 of these chiefs called _Siems_, who exercise independent jurisdiction and pay no tribute. According to the census of 1901 the Khasis numbered 107,500. They are a peculiar race, speaking a language that belongs to the Mon-Anam family, following the rule of matriarchal succession, and erecting monolithic monuments over their dead. The Jaintia Hills used to form a petty Hindu principality which was annexed in 1835. The inhabitants, called Syntengs, a cognate tribe to the Khasis, were subjected to a moderate income tax, an innovation against which they rebelled in 1860 and 1862. The revolt was stamped out by the Khasi and Jaintia Expedition of 1862-63. The headquarters of the district were transferred in 1864 from Cherrapunji to Shillong, which was afterwards made the capital of the province of Assam. A good cart-road runs north from Cherrapunji through Shillong to Gauhati on the Brahmaputra; total length, 97 m. The district was the focus of the great earthquake of the 12th of June 1897, which not only destroyed every permanent building, but broke up the roads and caused many landslips. The loss of life was put at only 916, but hundreds died subsequently of a malignant fever. In 1901 the district had 17,321 Christians, chiefly converts of the Welsh Calvinistic Mission.

See _District Gazetteer_ (1906); Major P. R. T. Gurdon, _The Khasis_
(1907).

KHASKOY (also _Chaskoi_, _Haskoi_, _Khaskioi_, _Chaskovo_, _Haskovo_, and in Bulgarian _Khaskovo_), the capital of the department of Khaskoy in the eastern Rumelia, Bulgaria; 45 m. E.S.E. of Philippopolis. Pop. (1900), 14,928. The town has a station 7 m. N. on the Philippopolis-Adrianople section of the Belgrade-Constantinople railway. Carpets and woollen goods are manufactured, and in the surrounding country tobacco and silk are produced.

KHATTAK, an important Pathan tribe in the North-West Frontier Province of India, inhabiting the south-eastern portion of the Peshawar district and the south-eastern and eastern portions of Kohat. They number 24,000, and have always been quiet and loyal subjects of the British government. They furnish many recruits to the Indian army, and make most excellent soldiers.

KHAZARS (known also as Chozars, as [Greek: Akatziroi] or [Greek: Chazaroi] in Byzantine writers, as Khazirs in Armenian and Khwalisses in Russian chronicles, and Ugri Bielii in Nestor), an ancient people who occupied a prominent place amongst the secondary powers of the Byzantine state-system. In the epic of Firdousi Khazar is the representative name for all the northern foes of Persia, and legendary invasions long before the Christian era are vaguely attributed to them. But the Khazars are an historic figure upon the borderland of Europe and Asia for at least 900 years (A.D. 190-1100). The epoch of their greatness is from A.D. 600 to 950. Their home was in the spurs of the Caucasus and along the shores of the Caspian--called by medieval Moslem geographers Bahr-al-Khazar ("sea of the Khazars"); their cities, all populous and civilized commercial centres, were Itil, the capital, upon the delta of the Volga, the "river of the Khazars," Semender (Tarkhu), the older capital, Khamlidje or Khalendsch, Belendscher, the outpost towards Armenia, and Sarkel on the Don. They were the Venetians of the Caspian and the Euxine, the organizers of the transit between the two basins, the universal carriers between East and West; and Itil was the meeting-place of the commerce of Persia, Byzantium, Armenia, Russia and the Bulgarians of the middle Volga. The tide of their dominion ebbed and flowed repeatedly, but the normal Khazari may be taken as the territory between the Caucasus, the Volga and the Don, with the outlying province of the Crimea, or Little Khazaria. The southern boundary never greatly altered; it did at times reach the Kur and the Aras, but on that side the Khazars were confronted by Byzantium and Persia, and were for the most part restrained within the passes of the Caucasus by the fortifications of Dariel. Amongst the nomadic Ugrians and agricultural Slavs of the north their frontier fluctuated widely, and in its zenith Khazaria extended from the Dnieper to Bolgari upon the middle Volga, and along the eastern shore of the Caspian to Astarabad.

_Ethnology._--The origin of the Khazars has been much disputed, and
they have been variously regarded as akin to the Georgians,
Finno-Ugrians and Turks. This last view is perhaps the most probable.
Their king Joseph, in answer to the inquiry of Hasdai Ibn Shaprut of
Cordova (c. 958), stated that his people sprang from Thogarmah,
grandson of Japhet, and the supposed ancestor of the other peoples of
the Caucasus. The Arab geographers who knew the Khazars best connect
them either with the Georgians (Ibn Athir) or with the Armenians
(Dimishqi, ed. Mehren, p. 263); whilst Ahmad ibn Fadlan, who passed
through Khazaria on a mission from the caliph Moqtadir (A.D. 921),
positively asserts that the Khazar tongue differed not only from the
Turkish, but from that of the bordering nations, which were Ugrian.

Nevertheless there are many points connected with the Khazars which
indicate a close connexion with Ugrian or Turkish peoples. The
official titles recorded by Ibn Fadlan are those in use amongst the
Tatar nations of that age, whether Huns, Bulgarians, Turks or Mongols.
The names of their cities can be explained only by reference to
Turkish or Ugrian dialects (Klaproth, _Mém. sur les Khazars_; Howorth,
_Khazars_). Some too amongst the medieval authorities (Ibn Hauqal and
Istakhri) note a resemblance between the speech in use amongst the
Khazars and the Bulgarians; and the modern Magyar--a Ugrian
language--can be traced back to a tribe which in the 9th century
formed part of the Khazar kingdom. These characteristics, however, are
accounted for by the fact that the Khazars were at one time subject to
the Huns (A.D. 448 et seq.), at another to the Turks (c. 580), which
would sufficiently explain the signs of Tatar influence in their
polity, and also by the testimony of all observers, Greeks, Arabs and
Russians, that there was a double strain within the Khazar nation.
There were _Khazars_ and _Kara_ (black) _Khazars_. The Khazars were
fair-skinned, black-haired and of a remarkable beauty and stature;
their women indeed were sought as wives equally at Byzantium and
Bagdad; while the Kara Khazars were ugly, short, and were reported by
the Arabs almost as dark as Indians. The latter were indubitably the
Ugrian nomads of the steppe, akin to the Tatar invaders of Europe, who
filled the armies and convoyed the caravans of the ruling caste. But
the Khazars proper were a civic commercial people, the founders of
cities, remarkable for somewhat elaborate political institutions, for
persistence and for good faith--all qualities foreign to the Hunnic
character.

They have been identified with the [Greek: Akatziroi] (perhaps
Ak-Khazari, or White Khazars) who appear upon the lower Volga in the
Byzantine annals, and thence they have been deduced, though with less
convincing proof, either from the [Greek: Agathyrsoi] (Agathyrsi) or
the [Greek: Katiaroi] of Herodotus, iv. 104. There was throughout
historic times a close connexion which eventually amounted to
political identity between the Khazars and the Barsileens (the Passils
of Moses of Chorene) who occupied the delta of the Volga; and the
Barsileens can be traced through the pages of Ptolemy (_Geog._ v. 9),
of Pliny (iv. 26), of Strabo (vii. 306), and of Pomponius Mela (ii. c.
1, p. 119) to the so-called Royal Scyths, [Greek: Skythai basilêes],
who were known to the Greek colonies upon the Euxine, and whose
political superiority and commercial enterprise led to this rendering
of their name. Such points, however, need not here be further pursued
than to establish the presence of this white race around the Caspian
and the Euxine throughout historic times. They appear in European
history as White Huns (Ephthalites), White Ugrians (Sar-ogours), White
Bulgarians. Owing to climatic causes the tract they occupied was
slowly drying up. They were the outposts of civilization towards the
encroaching desert, and the Tatar nomadism that advanced with it. They
held in precarious subjection the hordes whom the conditions of the
climate and the soil made it impossible to supplant. They bore the
brunt of each of the great waves of Tatar conquests, and were
eventually overwhelmed.

_History._--Amidst this white race of the steppe the Khazars can be
first historically distinguished at the end of the 2nd century A.D.
They burst into Armenia with the Barsileens, A.D. 198. They were
repulsed and attacked in turn. The pressure of the nomads of the
steppe, the quest of plunder or revenge, these seem the only motives
of these early expeditions; but in the long struggle between the Roman
and Persian empires, of which Armenia was often the battlefield, and
eventually the prize, the attitude of the Khazars assumed political
importance. Armenia inclined to the civilization and ere long to the
Christianity of Rome, whilst her Arsacid princes maintained an
inveterate feud with the Sassanids of Persia. It became therefore the
policy of the Persian kings to call in the Khazars in every collision
with the empire (200-350). During the 4th century however, the growing
power of Persia culminated in the annexation of eastern Armenia. The
Khazars, endangered by so powerful a neighbour, passed from under
Persian influence into that remote alliance with Byzantium which
thenceforth characterized their policy, and they aided Julian in his
invasion of Persia (363). Simultaneously with the approach of Persia
to the Caucasus the terrible empire of the Huns sprang up among the
Ugrians of the northern steppes. The Khazars, straitened on every
side, remained passive till the danger culminated in the accession of
Attila (434). The emperor Theodosius sent envoys to bribe the Khazars
([Greek: Akatziroi]) to divert the Huns from the empire by an attack
upon their flank. But there was a Hunnic party amongst the Khazar
chiefs. The design was betrayed to Attila; and he extinguished the
independence of the nation in a moment. Khazaria became the apanage of
his eldest son, and the centre of government amongst the eastern
subjects of the Hun (448). Even the iron rule of Attila was preferable
to the time of anarchy that succeeded it. Upon his death (454) the
wild immigration which he had arrested revived. The Khazars and the
Sarogours (i.e. White Ogors, possibly the Barsileens of the Volga
delta) were swept along in a flood of mixed Tatar peoples which the
conquests of the Avars had set in motion. The Khazars and their
companions broke through the Persian defences of the Caucasus. They
appropriated the territory up to the Kur and the Aras, and roamed at
large through Iberia, Georgia and Armenia. The Persian king implored
the emperor Leo I. to help him defend Asia Minor at the Caucasus
(457), but Rome was herself too hard pressed, nor was it for fifty
years that the Khazars were driven back and the pass of Derbent
fortified against them (c. 507).

Throughout the 6th century Khazaria was the mere highway for the wild
hordes to whom the Huns had opened the passage into Europe, and the
Khazars took refuge (like the Venetians from Attila) amongst the
seventy mouths of the Volga. The pressure of the Turks in Asia
precipitated the Avars upon the West. The conquering Turks followed in
their footsteps (560-580). They beat down all opposition, wrested even
Bosporus in the Crimea from the empire, and by the annihilation of the
Ephthalites completed the ruin of the White Race of the plains from
the Oxus to the Don. The empires of Turks and Avars, however, ran
swiftly their barbaric course, and the Khazars arose out of the chaos
to more than their ancient renown. They issued from the land of
Barsilia, and extended their rule over the Bulgarian hordes left
masterless by the Turks, compelling the more stubborn to migrate to
the Danube (641). The agricultural Slavs of the Dnieper and the Oka
were reduced to tribute, and before the end of the 7th century the
Khazars had annexed the Crimea, had won complete command of the Sea of
Azov, and, seizing upon the narrow neck which separates the Volga from
the Don, had organized the portage which has continued since an
important link in the traffic between Asia and Europe. The alliance
with Byzantium was revived. Simultaneously, and no doubt in concert,
with the Byzantine campaign against Persia (589), the Khazars had
reappeared in Armenia, though it was not till 625 that they appear as
Khazars in the Byzantine annals. They are then described as "Turks
from the East," a powerful nation which held the coasts of the Caspian
and the Euxine, and took tribute of the Viatitsh, the Severians and
the Polyane. The khakan, enticed by the promise of an imperial
princess, furnished Heraclius with 40,000 men for his Persian war, who
shared in the victory over Chosroes at Nineveh.

Meanwhile the Moslem empire had arisen. The Persian empire was struck
down (637), and the Moslems poured into Armenia. The khakan, who had
defied the summons sent him by the invaders, now aided the Byzantine
patrician in the defence of Armenia. The allies were defeated, and the
Moslems undertook the subjugation of Khazaria (651). Eighty years of
warfare followed, but in the end the Moslems prevailed. The khakan and
his chieftains were captured and compelled to embrace Islam (737), and
till the decay of the Mahommedan empire Khazaria with all the other
countries of the Caucasus paid an annual tribute of children and of
corn (737-861). Nevertheless, though overpowered in the end, the
Khazars had protected the plains of Europe from the Mahommedans, and
made the Caucasus the limit of their conquests.

In the interval between the decline of the Mahommedan empire and the
rise of Russia the Khazars reached the zenith of their power. The
merchants of Byzantium, Armenia and Bagdad met in the markets of Itil
(whither since the raids of the Mahommedans the capital had been
transferred from Semender), and traded for the wax, furs, leather and
honey that came down the Volga. So important was this traffic held at
Constantinople that, when the portage to the Don was endangered by the
irruption of a fresh horde of Turks (the Petchenegs), the emperor
Theophilus himself despatched the materials and the workmen to build
for the Khazars a fortress impregnable to their forays (834). Famous
as the one stone structure is in that stoneless region, the post
became known far and wide amongst the hordes of the steppe as Sarkel
or the White Abode. Merchants from every nation found protection and
good faith in the Khazar cities. The Jews, expelled from
Constantinople, sought a home amongst them, developed the Khazar
trade, and contended with Mahommedans and Christians for the
theological allegiance of the Pagan people. The dynasty accepted
Judaism (c. 740), but there was equal tolerance for all, and each man
was held amenable to the authorized code and to the official judges of
his own faith. At the Byzantine court the khakan was held in high
honour. The emperor Justinian Rhinotmetus took refuge with him during
his exile and married his daughter (702). Justinian's rival Vardanes
in turn sought an asylum in Khazaria, and in Leo IV. (775) the
grandson of a Khazar sovereign ascended the Byzantine throne. Khazar
troops were amongst the bodyguard of the imperial court; they fought
for Leo VI. against Simeon of Bulgaria; and the khakan was honoured in
diplomatic intercourse with the seal of three solidi, which marked him
as a potentate of the first rank, above even the pope and the
Carolingian monarchs. Indeed his dominion became an object of
uneasiness to the jealous statecraft of Byzantium, and Constantine
Porphyrogenitus, writing for his son's instruction in the government,
carefully enumerates the Alans, the Petchenegs, the Uzes and the
Bulgarians as the forces he must rely on to restrain it.

It was, however, from a power that Constantine did not consider that
the overthrow of the Khazars came. The arrival of the Varangians
amidst the scattered Slavs (862) had united them into a nation. The
advance of the Petchenegs from the East gave the Russians their
opportunity. Before the onset of those fierce invaders the precarious
suzerainty of the khakan broke up. By calling in the Uzes, the Khazars
did indeed dislodge the Petchenegs from the position they had seized
in the heart of the kingdom between the Volga and the Don, but only to
drive them inwards to the Dnieper. The Hungarians, severed from their
kindred and their rulers, migrated to the Carpathians, whilst Oleg,
the Russ prince of Kiev, passed through the Slav tribes of the Dnieper
basin with the cry "Pay nothing to the Khazars" (884). The kingdom
dwindled rapidly to its ancient limits between the Caucasus, the Volga
and the Don, whilst the Russian traders of Novgorod and Kiev
supplanted the Khazars as the carriers between Constantinople and the
North. When Ibn Fadlan visited Khazaria forty years later, Itil was
even yet a great city, with baths and market-places and thirty
mosques. But there was no domestic product nor manufacture; the
kingdom depended solely upon the now precarious transit dues, and
administration was in the hands of a major domus also called khakan.
At the assault of Swiatoslav of Kiev the rotten fabric crumbled into
dust. His troops were equally at home on land and water. Sarkel, Itil
and Semender surrendered to him (965-969). He pushed his conquests to
the Caucasus, and established Russian colonies upon the Sea of Azov.
The principality of Tmutarakan, founded by his grandson Mstislav
(988), replaced the kingdom of Khazaria, the last trace of which was
extinguished by a joint expedition of Russians and Byzantines (1016).
The last of the khakans, George, Tzula, was taken prisoner. A remnant
of the nation took refuge in an island of the Caspian (Siahcouyé);
others retired to the Caucasus; part emigrated to the district of
Kasakhi in Georgia, and appear for the last time joining with Georgia
in her successful effort to throw off the yoke of the Seljuk Turks
(1089). But the name is thought to survive in Kadzaria, the Georgian
title for Mingrelia, and in Kadzaro, the Turkish word for the Lazis.
Till the 13th century the Crimea was known to European travellers as
Gazaria; the "ramparts of the Khazars" are still distinguished in the
Ukraine; and the record of their dominion survives in the names of
Kazarek, Kazaritshi, Kazarinovod, Kozar-owka, Kozari, and perhaps in
Kazan.

AUTHORITIES.--_Khazar_: The letter of King Joseph to R. Hasdai Ibn
Shaprut, first published by J. Akrish, _Kol Mebasser_ (Constantinople,
1577), and often reprinted in editions of Jehuda hal-Levy's _Kuzari_.
German translations by Zedner (Berlin, 1840) and Cassel, _Magyar.
Alterth._ (Berlin, 1848); French by Carmoly, _Rev. Or._ (1841). Cf.
Harkavy, _Russische Revue_, iv. 69; Graetz, _Geschichte_, v. 364, and
Carmoly, _Itinéraires de la Terre Sainte_ (Brussels, 1847).
_Armenian_: Moses of Chorene; cf. Saint-Martin, _Mémoires historiques
et géographiques sur l'Armènie_ (Paris, 1818). _Arabic_: The account
of Ibn Fadlan (921) is preserved by Yakut, ii. 436 seq. See also
Istakhry (ed. de Geoje, pp. 220 seq.), _Mas'udy_, ch. xvii. pp. 406
seq. of Sprenger's translation; _Ibn Haukal_ (ed. de Goeje, pp. 279
seq.) and the histories of Ibn el Athir and Tabary. Much of the Arabic
material has been collected and translated by Fraehn, "Veteres
Memoriae Chasarorum" in _Mém. de St Pét._ (1822); Dorn (from the
Persian Tabary), _Mém. de St Pét._ (1844); Dufrémery, _Journ. As._
(1849). See also D'Ohsson's imaginary _Voyage d'Abul Cassim_, based on
these sources. _Byzantine Historians_: The relative passages are
collected in Stritter's _Memoriae populorum_ (St Petersburg, 1778).
_Russian_: The _Chronicle_ ascribed to Nestor.

_Modern_: Klaproth, "Mém. sur les Khazars," in _Journ. As._ 1st
series, vol. iii.; id., _Tableaux hist. de l'Asie_ (Paris, 1823); id.,
_Tabl. hist. de Caucases_ (1827); memoirs on the Khazars by Harkavy
and by Howorth (_Congrès intern. des Orientalistes_, vol. ii.);
Latham, _Russian and Turk_, pp. 209-217; Vivien St Martin, _Études de
géog. ancienne_ (Paris, 1850); id., _Recherches sur les populations du
Caucase_ (1847); id., "Sur les Khazars," in _Nouvelles ann. des
voyages_ (1857); D'Ohsson, _Peuples du Caucase_ (Paris, 1828); S.
Krauss, "Zur Geschichte der Chazaren," in _Revue orientale pour les
études Ourals-altaïques_ (1900). (P. L. G.; C. El.)

KHEDIVE, a Persian word meaning prince or sovereign, granted as a title by the sultan of Turkey in 1867 to his viceroy in Egypt, Ismail, in place of that of "vali."

KHERI, a district of British India, in the Lucknow division of the United Provinces, which takes its name from a small town with a railway station 81 m. N.W. of Lucknow. The area of the district is 2963 sq. m., and its population in 1901 was 905,138. It consists of a series of fairly elevated plateaus, separated by rivers flowing from the north-west, each bordered by alluvial land. North of the river Ul, the country is considered very unhealthy. Through this tract, probably the bed of a lake, flow two rivers, the Kauriala and Chauka, changing their courses constantly, so that the surface is seamed with deserted river beds much below the level of the surrounding country. The vegetation is very dense, and the stagnant waters are the cause of endemic fevers. The people reside in the neighbourhood of the low ground, as the soil is more fertile and less expensive to cultivate than the forest-covered uplands. South of the Ul, the scene changes. Between every two rivers or tributaries stretches a plain, considerably less elevated than the tract to the north. There is very little slope in any of these plains for many miles, and marshes are formed, from which emerge the headwaters of many secondary streams, which in the rains become dangerous torrents, and frequently cause devastating floods. The general drainage of the country is from north-west to south-east. Several large lakes exist, some formed by the ancient channels of the northern rivers, being fine sheets of water, from 10 to 20 ft. deep and from 3 to 4 m. long; in places they are fringed with magnificent groves. The whole north of the district is covered with vast forests, of which a considerable portion are government reserves. _Sal_ occupies about two-thirds of the forest area. The district is traversed by a branch of the Oudh & Rohilkhand railway from Lucknow to Bareilly.

KHERSON, a government of south Russia, on the N. coast of the Black Sea, bounded W. by the governments of Bessarabia and Podolia, N. by Kiev and Poltava, S. by Ekaterinoslav and Taurida. The area is 27,497 sq. m. The aspect of the country, especially in the south, is that of an open steppe, and almost the whole government is destitute of forest. The Dniester marks the western and the Dnieper the south-eastern boundary; the Bug, the Ingul and several minor streams drain the intermediate territory. Along the shore stretch extensive lagoons. Iron, kaolin and salt are the principal minerals. Nearly 45% of the land is owned by the peasants, 31% by the nobility, 12% by other classes, and 12% by the crown, municipalities and public institutions. The peasants rent 1,730,000 acres more from the landlords. Agriculture is well developed and 9,000,000 acres (51.1%) are under crops. Agricultural machinery is extensively used. The vine is widely grown, and yields 1,220,000 gallons of wine annually. Some tobacco is grown and manufactured. Besides the ordinary cereals, maize, hemp, flax, tobacco and mustard are commonly grown; the fruit trees in general cultivation include the cherry, plum, peach, apricot and mulberry; and gardening receives considerable attention. Agriculture has been greatly improved by some seventy German colonies. Cattle-breeding, horse-breeding and sheep-farming are pursued on a large scale. Some sheep farmers own 30,000 or 40,000 merinos each. Fishing is an important occupation. There are manufactures of wool, hemp and leather; also iron-works, machinery and especially agricultural machinery works, sugar factories, steam flour-mills and chemical works. The ports of Kherson, Ochakov, Nikolayev, and especially Odessa, are among the principal outlets of Russian commerce; Berislav, Alexandriya Elisavetgrad, Voznesenask, Olviopol and Tiraspol play an important part in the inland traffic. In 1871 the total population was 1,661,892, and in 1897 2,744,040, of whom 1,332,175 were women and 785,094 lived in towns. The estimated pop. in 1906 was 3,257,600. Besides Great and Little Russians, it comprises Rumanians, Greeks, Germans (123,453), Bulgarians, Bohemians, Swedes, and Jews (30% of the total), and some Gypsies. About 84% belong to the Orthodox Greek Church; there are also numerous Stundists. The government is divided into six districts, the chief towns of which are: Kherson (q.v.), Alexandriya (14,002 in 1897), Ananiev (16,713), Elisavetgrad (66,182 in 1900), Odessa (449,673 in 1900), and Tiraspol (29,323 in 1900). This region was long subject to the sway of the Tatar khans of the Crimea, and owes its rapid growth to the colonizing activity of Catherine II., who between 1778 and 1792 founded the cities of Kherson, Odessa and Nikolayev. Down to 1803 this government was called Nikolayev.

KHERSON, a town of south Russia, capital of the above government, on a hill above the right bank of the Dnieper, about 19 m. from its mouth. Founded by the courtier Potemkin in 1778 as a naval station and seaport, it had become by 1786 a place of 10,000 inhabitants, and, although its progress was checked by the rise of Odessa and the removal (in 1794) of the naval establishments to Nikolayev, it had in 1900 a population of 73,185. The Dnieper at this point breaks into several arms, forming islands overgrown with reeds and bushes; and vessels of burden must anchor at Stanislavskoe-selo, a good way down the stream. Of the traffic on the river the largest share is due to the timber, wool, cereals, cattle and hides trade; wool-dressing, soap-boiling, tallow-melting, brewing, flour-milling and the manufacture of tobacco are the chief industries. Kherson is a substantially built and regular town. The cathedral is the burial-place of Potemkin, and near Kherson lie the remains of John Howard, the English philanthropist, who died here in 1790. The fortifications have fallen into decay. The name Kherson was given to the town from the supposition that the site was formerly that of Chersonesus Heracleotica, the Greek city founded by the Dorians of Heraclea.

KHEVENHÜLLER, LUDWIG ANDREAS (1683-1744), Austrian field-marshal, Count of Aschelberg-Frankenburg, came of a noble family, which, originally Franconian, settled in Carinthia in the 11th century. He first saw active service under Prince Eugène in the War of the Spanish Succession, and by 1716 had risen to the command of Prince Eugène's own regiment of dragoons. He distinguished himself greatly at the battles of Peterwardein and Belgrade, and became in 1723 major-general of cavalry (_General-Wachtmeister_), in 1726 proprietary colonel of a regiment and in 1733 lieutenant field marshal. In 1734 the War of the Polish Succession brought him into the field again. He was present at the battle of Parma (June 29), where Count Mercy, the Austrian commander, was killed, and after Mercy's death he held the chief command of the army in Italy till Field Marshal Königsegg's arrival. Under Königsegg he again distinguished himself at the battle of Guastalla (September 19). He was once more in command during the operations which followed the battle, and his skilful generalship won for him the grade of general of cavalry. He continued in military and diplomatic employment in Italy to the close of the war. In 1737 he was made field marshal, Prince Eugène recommending him to his sovereign as the best general in the service. His chief exploit in the Turkish War, which soon followed his promotion, was at Radojevatz (September 28, 1737), where he cut his way through a greatly superior Turkish army. It was in the Austrian Succession War that his most brilliant work was done. As commander-in-chief of the army on the Danube he not only drove out the French and Bavarian invaders of Austria in a few days of rapid marching and sharp engagements (January, 1742), but overran southern Bavaria, captured Munich, and forced a large French corps in Linz to surrender. Later in the summer of 1742, owing to the inadequate forces at his disposal, he had to evacuate his conquests, but in the following campaign, though now subordinated to Prince Charles of Lorraine, Khevenhüller reconquered southern Bavaria, and forced the emperor in June to conclude the unfavourable convention of Nieder-Schönfeld. He disapproved the advance beyond the Rhine which followed these successes, and the event justified his fears, for the Austrians had to fall back from the Rhine through Franconia and the Breisgau, Khevenhüller himself conducting the retreat with admirable skill. On his return to Vienna, Maria Theresa decorated the field marshal with the order of the Golden Fleece. He died suddenly at Vienna on the 26th of January 1744.

He was the author of various instructional works for officers and
soldiers (_Des G. F. M. Grafen v. Khevenhüller Observationspunkte für
sein Dragoner-regiment_ (1734 and 1748) and a _règlement_ for the
infantry (1737), and of an important work on war in general, _Kurzer
Begriff aller militärischen Operationen_ (Vienna, 1756; French
version, _Maximes de guerre_, Paris, 1771).

KHEVSURS, a people of the Caucasus, kinsfolk of the Georgians. They live in scattered groups in East Georgia to the north and north-west of Mount Borbalo. Their name is Georgian and means "People of the Valleys." For the most part nomadic, they are still in a semi-barbarous state. They have not the beauty of the Georgian race. They are gaunt and thin to almost a ghastly extent, their generally repulsive aspect being accentuated by their large hands and feet and their ferocious expression. In complexion and colour of hair and eyes they vary greatly. They are very muscular and capable of bearing extraordinary fatigue. They are fond of fighting, and still wear armour of the true medieval type. This panoply is worn when the law of vendetta, which is sacred among them as among most Caucasian peoples, compels them to seek or avoid their enemy. They carry a spiked gauntlet, the terrible marks of which are borne by a large proportion of the Khevsur faces.