Chapter XX: Part 20

Though ignorant and unsophisticated the Kurd is not wanting in natural intelligence. In recent years educated Kurds have held high office under the sultan, including that of grand vizier, have assisted in translating the Bible into Turkish, and in editing a newspaper. The men are lithe, active and strong, but rarely of unusual stature. The women do not veil, and are allowed great freedom. The Kurds as a race are proud, faithful and hospitable, and have rude but strict feelings of honour. They are, however, much under the influence of dervishes, and when their fanaticism is aroused their habitual lawlessness is apt to degenerate into savage barbarity. They are not deficient in martial spirit, but have an innate dislike to the restraints of military service. The country is rich in traditions and legends, and in lyric and in epic poems, which have been handed down from earlier times and are recited in a weird melancholy tone.

_Antiquities._--Kurdistan abounds in antiquities of the most varied and interesting character. But it has been very little opened up to modern research. A series of rock-cut cuneiform inscriptions extend from Malatia on the west to Miandoab (in Persia) on the east, and from the banks of the Aras on the north to Rowanduz on the south, which record the glories of a Turanian dynasty, who ruled the country of Nairi during the 8th and 7th centuries, B.C., contemporaneously with the lower Assyrian empire. Intermingled with these are a few genuine Assyrian inscriptions of an earlier date; and in one instance, at Van, a later tablet of Xerxes brings the record down to the period of Grecian history. The most ancient monuments of this class, however, are to be found at Holwan and in the neighbourhood, where the sculptures and inscriptions belong probably to the Guti and Luli tribes, and date from the early Babylonian period.

In the northern Kurdish districts which represent the Arzanene, Intilene, Anzitene, Zabdicene, and Moxuene of the ancients, there are many interesting remains of Roman cities, e.g. at Arzen, Miyafarikin (anc. _Martyropolis_), Sisauronon, and the ruins of Dunisir near Dara, which Sachau identified with the Armenian capital of Tigranocerta. Of the Macedonian and Parthian periods there are remains both sculptured and inscribed at several points in Kurdistan; at Bisitun or Behistun (q.v.), in a cave at Amadia, at the Mithraic temple of Kereftu, on the rocks at Sir Pul-o-Zohab near the ruins of Holwan, and probably in some other localities, such as the Balik country between Lahijan and Koi-Sanjak; but the most interesting site in all Kurdistan, perhaps in all western Asia, is the ruined fire temple of Pai Kuli on the southern frontier of Suleimania. Among the débris of this temple, which is scattered over a bare hillside, are to be found above one hundred slabs, inscribed with Parthian and Pahlavi characters, the fragments of a wall which formerly supported the eastern face of the edifice, and bore a bilingual legend of great length, dating from the Sassanian period. There are also remarkable Sassanian remains in other parts of Kurdistan--at Salmus to the north, and at Kermanshah and Kasr-i-Shirin on the Turkish frontier to the south.

_Language._--The Kurdish language, Kermanji, is an old Persian patois,
intermixed to the north with Chaldaean words and to the south with a
certain Turanian element which may not improbably have come down from
Babylonian times. Several peculiar dialects are spoken in secluded
districts in the mountains, but the only varieties which, from their
extensive use, require to be specified are the Zaza and the Guran. The
Zaza is spoken throughout the western portion of the Dersim country,
and is said to be unintelligible to the Kermanji-speaking Kurds. It is
largely intermingled with Armenian, and may contain some trace of the
old Cappadocian, but is no doubt of the same Aryan stock as the
standard Kurdish. The Guran dialect again, which is spoken throughout
Ardelan and Kermanshah[3] chiefly differs from the northern Kurdish in
being entirely free from any Semitic intermixture. It is thus somewhat
nearer to the Persian than the Kermanji dialect, but is essentially
the same language. It is a mistake to suppose that there is no
Kurdish literature. Many of the popular Persian poets have been
translated into Kurdish, and there are also books relating to the
religious mysteries of the Ali-Illahis in the hands of the Dersimlis
to the north and of the Gurans of Kermanshah to the south. The New
Testament in Kurdish was printed at Constantinople in 1857. The Rev.
Samuel Rhea published a grammar and vocabulary of the Hakkari dialect
in 1872. In 1879 there appeared, under the auspices of the imperial
academy of St Petersburg a French-Kurdish dictionary compiled
originally by Mons. Jaba, many years Russian consul at Erzerum, but
completed by Ferdinand Justi by the help of a rich assortment of
Kurdish tales and ballads, collected by Socin and Prym in Assyria.

_Religion._--The great body of the nation, in Persia as well as in
Turkey, are Sunnis of the Shafi'ite sect, but in the recesses of the
Dersim to the north and of Zagros to the south there are large
half-pagan communities, who are called indifferently Ali-Illahi and
Kizjil-bash, and who hold tenets of some obscurity, but of
considerable interest. Outwardly professing to be Shi'ites or
"followers of Ali," they observe secret ceremonies and hold esoteric
doctrines which have probably descended to them from very early ages,
and of which the essential condition is that there must always be upon
the earth a visible manifestation of the Deity. While paying reverence
to the supposed incarnations of ancient days, to Moses, David, Christ,
Ali and his tutor Salman-ul-Farisi, and several of the Shi'ite imams
and saints, they have thus usually some recent local celebrity at
whose shrine they worship and make vows; and there is, moreover, in
every community of Ali-Illahis some living personage, not necessarily
ascetic, to whom, as representing the godhead, the superstitious
tribesmen pay almost idolatrous honours. Among the Gurans of the south
the shrine of Baba Yadgar, in a gorge of the hills above the old city
of Holwan, is thus regarded with a supreme veneration. Similar
institutions are also found in other parts of the mountains, which may
be compared with the tenets of the Druses and Nosairis in Syria and
the Ismailites in Persia.

_History._--With regard to the origin of the Kurds, it was formerly considered sufficient to describe them as the descendants of the Carduchi, who opposed the retreat of the Ten Thousand through the mountains, but modern research traces them far beyond the period of the Greeks. At the dawn of history the mountains overhanging Assyria were held by a people named _Gutu_, a title which signified "a warrior," and which was rendered in Assyrian by the synonym of _Gardu_ or _Kardu_, the precise term quoted by Strabo to explain the name of the Cardaces ([Greek: Kardakes]). These _Gutu_ were a Turanian tribe of such power as to be placed in the early cuneiform records on an equality with the other nations of western Asia, that is, with the Syrians and Hittites, the Susians, Elamites, and Akkadians of Babylonia; and during the whole period of the Assyrian empire they seem to have preserved a more or less independent political position. After the fall of Nineveh they coalesced with the Medes, and, in common with all the nations inhabiting the high plateaus of Asia Minor, Armenia and Persia, became gradually Aryanized, owing to the immigration at this period of history of tribes in overwhelming numbers which, from whatever quarter they may have sprung, belonged certainly to the Aryan family.

The _Gutu_ or Kurdu were reduced to subjection by Cyrus before he descended upon Babylon, and furnished a contingent of fighting men to his successors, being thus mentioned under the names of Saspirians and Alarodians in the muster roll of the army of Xerxes which was preserved by Herodotus.

In later times they passed successively under the sway of the Macedonians, the Parthians, and Sassanians, being especially befriended, if we may judge from tradition as well as from the remains still existing in the country, by the Arsacian monarchs, who were probably of a cognate race. Gotarzes indeed, whose name may perhaps be translated "chief of the _Gutu_," was traditionally believed to be the founder of the Gurans, the principal tribe of southern Kurdistan,[4] and his name and titles are still preserved in a Greek inscription at Behistun near the Kurdish capital of Kermanshah. Under the caliphs of Bagdad the Kurds were always giving trouble in one quarter or another. In A.D. 838, and again in 905, there were formidable insurrections in northern Kurdistan; the amir, Adod-addaula, was obliged to lead the forces of the caliphate against the southern Kurds, capturing the famous fortress of Sermaj, of which the ruins are to be seen at the present day near Behistun, and reducing the province of Shahrizor with its capital city now marked by the great mound of Yassin Teppeh. The most flourishing period of Kurdish power was probably during the 12th century of our era, when the great Saladin, who belonged to the Rawendi branch of the Hadabani tribe, founded the Ayyubite dynasty of Syria, and Kurdish chiefships were established, not only to the east and west of the Kurdistan mountains, but as far as Khorasan upon one side and Egypt and Yemen on the other. During the Mongol and Tatar domination of western Asia the Kurds in the mountains remained for the most part passive, yielding a reluctant obedience to the provincial governors of the plains.

When Sultan Selim I., after defeating Shah Ismail, 1514, annexed Armenia and Kurdistan, he entrusted the organization of the conquered territories to Idris, the historian, who was a Kurd of Bitlis. Idris found Kurdistan bristling with castles, held by hereditary tribal chiefs of Kurd, Arab, and Armenian descent, who were practically independent, and passed their time in tribal warfare or in raiding the agricultural population. He divided the territory into sanjaks or districts, and, making no attempt to interfere with the principle of heredity, installed the local chiefs as governors. He also resettled the rich pastoral country between Erzerum and Erivan, which had lain waste since the passage of Timur, with Kurds from the Hakkiari and Bohtan districts. The system of administration introduced by Idris remained unchanged until the close of the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-29. But the Kurds, owing to the remoteness of their country from the capital and the decline of Turkey, had greatly increased in influence and power, and had spread westwards over the country as far as Angora. After the war the Kurds attempted to free themselves from Turkish control, and in 1834 it became necessary to reduce them to subjection. This was done by Reshid Pasha. The principal towns were strongly garrisoned, and many of the Kurd beys were replaced by Turkish governors. A rising under Bedr Khan Bey in 1843 was firmly repressed, and after the Crimean War the Turks strengthened their hold on the country. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 was followed by the attempt of Sheikh Obaidullah, 1880-81, to found an independent Kurd principality under the protection of Turkey. The attempt, at first encouraged by the Porte, as a reply to the projected creation of an Armenian state under the suzerainty of Russia (see ARMENIA), collapsed after Obaidullah's raid into Persia, when various circumstances led the central government to reassert its supreme authority. Until the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-29 there had been little hostile feeling between the Kurds and the Armenians, and as late as 1877-1878 the mountaineers of both races had got on fairly well together. Both suffered from Turkey, both dreaded Russia. But the national movement amongst the Armenians, and its encouragement by Russia after the last war, gradually aroused race hatred and fanaticism. In 1891 the activity of the Armenian Committees induced the Porte to strengthen the position of the Kurds by raising a body of Kurdish irregular cavalry, which was well armed and called Hamidieh after the Sultan. The opportunities thus offered for plunder and the gratification of race hatred brought out the worst qualities of the Kurds. Minor disturbances constantly occurred, and were soon followed by the massacre of Armenians at Sasun and other places, 1894-96, in which the Kurds took an active part.

AUTHORITIES.--Rich, _Narrative of a Residence in Koordistan_ (1836);
Wagner, _Reise nach Persien und dem Lande der Kurden_ (Leipzig, 1852);
Consul Taylor in _R. G. S. Journal_ (1865); Millingen, _Wild Life
among the Koords_ (1870); Von Luschan, "Die Wandervolker Kleinasiens,"
in _V^n. d. G. für Anthropologie_ (Berlin, 1886); Clayton, "The
Mountains of Kurdistan," in _Alpine Journal_ (1887); Binder, _Au
Kurdistan_ (Paris, 1887); Naumann, _Vom Goldnen Horn zu den Quellen
des Euphrat_ (Munich, 1893); Murray, _Handbook to Asia Minor, &c._
(1895); Lerch, _Forschungen über die Kurden_ (St Petersburg, 1857-58);
Jaba, _Dict. Kurde-Français_ (St Petersburg, 1879); Justi, _Kurdische
Grammatik_ (1880); Prym and Socin, _Kurdische Sammlungen_ (1890);
Makas, _Kurdische Studien_ (1901); Earl Percy, _Highlands of Asiatic
Turkey_ (1901); Lynch, _Armenia_ (1901); A. V. Williams Jackson,
_Persia, Past and Present_ (1906). (C. W. W.; H. C. R.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See _Notices et Extraits des MSS._, xiii. 305. Of the tribes
enumerated in this work of the 14th century who still retain a
leading place among the Kurds, the following names may be quoted:
_Guranieh_ of Dartang, modern Gurans; _Zengeneh_, in Hamadan hills,
now in Kermanshah; _Hasnani_ of Kerkuk and Arbil, now in the Dersim
mountains, having originally come from Khorasan according to
tradition; _Sohrieh_ of Shekelabad and Tel-Haftun, modern Sohran,
from whom descend the Baban of Suleimanieh; _Zerzari_ of Hinjarin
mountains, modern Zerzas of Ushnu (cuneiform pillars of Kel-i-shin
and Sidek noticed by author); _Julamerkieh_, modern Julamerik, said
to be descended from the caliph Merwan-ibn-Hakam; _Hakkarieh_,
Hakkari inhabiting _Zuzan_ of Arab geography; _Bokhtieh_, modern
Bohtan. The _Rowadi_, to whom Saladin belonged, are probably modern
Rawendi, as they held the fortress of Arbil (Arbela). Some twenty
other names are mentioned, but the orthography is so doubtful that it
is useless to try to identify them.

[2] The _Sheref-nama_, a history of the Kurds dating from the 16th
century, tells us that "towards the close of the reign of the
Jenghizians, a man named Baba Ardilan, a descendant of the governors
of Diarbekr, and related to the famous Ahmed-ibn-Merwan, after
remaining for some time among the Gurans, gained possession of the
country of Shahrizor" and the Ardelan family history, with the
gradual extension of their power over Persian Kurdistan, is then
traced down to the Saffavid period.

[3] The Guran are mentioned in the _Mesalik-el-Absar_ as the dominant
tribe in southern Kurdistan in the 14th century, occupying very much
the same seats as at present, from the Hamadan frontier to Shahrizor.
Their name probably signifies merely "the mountaineers," being
derived from _gur_ or _giri_, "a mountain," which is also found in
Zagros, i.e. _za-giri_, "beyond the mountain," or _Pusht-i-koh_, as
the name is translated in Persian. They are a fine, active and hardy
race, individually brave, and make excellent soldiers, though in
appearance very inferior to the tribal Kurds of the northern
districts. These latter indeed delight in gay colours, while the
Gurans dress in the most homely costume, wearing coarse blue cotton
vests, with felt caps and coats. In a great part of Kurdistan the
name Guran has become synonymous with an agricultural peasantry, as
opposed to the migratory shepherds.

[4] "The Kalhur tribe are traditionally descended from
Gudarz-ibn-Gio, whose son Roham was sent by Bahman Keiani to destroy
Jerusalem and bring the Jews into captivity. This Roham is the
individual usually called Bokht-i-nasser (Nebuchadrezzar) and he
ultimately succeeded to the throne. The neighbouring country has ever
since remained in the hands of his descendants, who are called
Gurans" (_Sheref-Nama_, Persian MS.). The same popular tradition
still exists in the country, and [Greek: GÔTARZÊO GEOPOTHROS] is
found on the rock at Behistun, showing that Gudarz-ibn-Gio was really
an historic personage. See _Journ. Roy. Geog. Soc._ ix. 114.

KURDISTAN, in the narrower sense, a province of Persia, situated in the hilly districts between Azerbaijan and Kermanshah, and extending to the Turkish frontier on the W., and bounded on the E. by Gerrus and Hamadan. In proportion to its size and population it pays a very small yearly revenue--only about £14,000--due to the fact that a great part of the population consists of wild and disorderly nomad Kurds. Some of these nomads pass their winters in Turkish territory, and have their summer pasture-grounds in the highlands of Kurdistan. This adds much to the difficulty of collecting taxation. The province is divided into sixteen districts, and its eastern part, in which the capital is situated, is known as Ardelan. The capital is Senendij, usually known as Sinna (not Sihna, or Sahna, as some writers have it), situated 60 m. N.W. of Hamadan, in 35° 15´ N., 47° 18´ E., at an elevation of 5300 ft. The city has a population of about 35,000 and manufactures great quantities of carpets and felts for the supply of the province and for export. Some of the carpets are very fine and expensive, rugs 2 yards by 1½ costing £15 to £20. Post and telegraph offices have been established since 1879.

KURGAN, a town (founded 1553) of West Siberia, in the government of Tobolsk, on the Siberian railway, 160 m. E. of Chelyabinsk, and on the left bank of the Tobol, in a wealthy agricultural district. Pop. (1897), 10,579. Owing to its position at the terminus of steam navigation up the river Tobol, it has become second only to Tyumen as a commercial centre. It has a public library and a botanic garden. There is a large trade in cattle with Petropavlovsk, and considerable export of grain, tallow, meat, hides, butter, game and fish, there being three large fairs in the year. In the vicinity are a great number of prehistoric kurgans or burial-mounds.

KURIA MURIA ISLANDS, a group of five islands in the Arabian Sea, close under the coast of Arabia, belonging to Britain and forming a dependency of Aden. They are lofty and rocky, and have a total area of 28 sq. m., that of the largest, Hallania, being 22 sq. m. They are identified with the ancient _Insulae Zenobii_, and were ceded by the sultan of Muscat to Britain in 1854 for the purposes of a cable station. They are inhabited by a few families of Arabs, who however speak a dialect differing considerably from the ordinary Arabic. The islands yield some guano.

KURILES (Jap. _Chishima_, "thousand islands"), a chain of small islands belonging to Japan, stretching in a north-easterly direction from Nemuro Bay, on the extreme east of the island of Yezo, to Chishima-kaikyo (Kuriles Strait), which separates them from the southernmost point of Kamchatka. They extend from 44° 45´ to 50° 56´ N. and from 145° 25´ to 156° 32´ E. Their coasts measure 1496 m.; their area is 6159 sq. m.; their total number is 32, and the names of the eight principal islands, counting from the south, are Kunashiri, Shikotan, Etorofu (generally called Etorop, and known formerly to Europe as Staten Island), Urup, Simusir, Onnekotan, Paramoshiri (Paramusir) and Shumshiri. From Noshapzaki (Notsu-no-sake or Notsu Cape), the most easterly point of Nemuro province, to Tomari, the most westerly point in Kunashiri, the distance is 7(1/3) m., and the Kuriles Strait separating Shumshiri from Kamchatka is about the same width. The name "Kurile" is derived from the Russian _kurit_ (to smoke), in allusion to the active volcanic character of the group. The dense fogs that envelop these islands, and the violence of the currents in their vicinity, have greatly hindered exploration, so that little is known of their physiography. They lie entangled in a vast net of sea-weed; are the resort of innumerable birds, and used to be largely frequented by seals and sea-otters, which, however, have been almost completely driven away by unregulated hunting. Near the south-eastern coast of Kunashiri stands a mountain called Rausunobori (3005 ft. high), round whose base sulphur bubbles up in large quantities, and hot springs as well as a hot stream are found. On the west coast of the same island is a boiling lake, called Ponto, which deposits on its bed and round its shores black sand, consisting almost entirely of pure sulphur. This island has several lofty peaks; Ponnobori-yama near the east coast, and Chachanobori and Rurindake in the north. Chachanobori (about 7382 ft.) is described by Messrs Chamberlain and Mason as "a cone within a cone, the inner and higher of the two being--so the natives say--surrounded by a lake." The island has extensive forests of conifers with an undergrowth of ferns and flowering plants, and bears are numerous. The chief port of Kunashiri is Tomari, on the south coast. The island of Shikotan is remarkable for the growth of a species of bamboo (called Shikotan-chiku), having dark brown spots on the cane. Etorofu has a coast-line broken by deep bays, of which the principal are Naibo-wan, Rubetsu-wan and Bettobuwan on the northern shore and Shitokap-wan on the southern. It is covered almost completely with dense forest, and has a number of streams abounding with salmon. Shana, the chief port, is in Rubetsu Bay. This island, the principal of the group, is divided into four provinces for administrative purposes, namely, Etorofu, Furubetsu, Shana and Shibetoro. Its mountains are Atosha-nobori (4035 ft.) in Etorofu; Chiripnupari (5009 ft.) in Shana; and Mokoro-nobori (3930 ft.) and Atuiyadake (3932 ft.) in Shibetoro. Among the other islands three only call for notice on account of their altitudes, namely, Ketoi-jima, Rashua-jima and Matua-jima, which rise to heights of 3944, 3304 and 5240 ft. respectively.

_Population._--Not much is known about the aborigines. By some authorities Ainu colonists are supposed to have been the first settlers, and to have arrived there via Yezo; by others, the earliest comers are believed to have been a hyperborean tribe travelling southwards by way of Kamchatka. The islands themselves have not been sufficiently explored to determine whether they furnish any ethnological evidences. The present population aggregates about 4400, or 0.7 per sq. m., of whom about 600 are Ainu (q.v.). There is little disposition to emigrate thither from Japan proper, the number of settlers being less than 100 annually.

_History._--The Kurile Islands were discovered in 1634 by the Dutch navigator Martin de Vries. The three southern islands, Kunashiri, Etorofu, and Shikotan, are believed to have belonged to Japan from a remote date, but at the beginning of the 18th century the Russians, having conquered Kamchatka, found their way to the northern part of the Kuriles in pursuit of fur-bearing animals, with which the islands then abounded. Gradually these encroachments were pushed farther south, simultaneously with aggressions imperilling the Japanese settlements in the southern half of Sakhalin. Japan's occupation was far from effective in either region, and in 1875 she was not unwilling to conclude a convention by which she agreed to withdraw altogether from Sakhalin provided that Russia withdrew from the Kuriles.

An officer of the Japanese navy, Lieut. Gunji, left Tokyo with about forty comrades in 1892, his intention being to form a settlement on Shumshiri, the most northerly of the Kurile Islands. They embarked in open boats, and for that reason, as well as because they were going to constitute themselves their country's extreme outpost, the enterprise attracted public enthusiasm. After a long struggle the immigrants became fairly prosperous.

See Capt. H. J. Snow, _Notes on the Kurile Islands_ (London, 1896).

KURISCHES HAFF, a lagoon of Germany, on the Baltic coast of East Prussia, stretching from Labiau to Memel, a distance of 60 m., has an area of nearly 680 sq. m. It is mostly shallow and only close to Memel attains a depth of 23 ft. It is thus unnavigable except for small coasting and fishing boats, and sea-going vessels proceed through the Memeler Tief (Memel Deep), which connects the Baltic with Memel and has a depth of 19 ft. and a breadth of 800 to 1900 ft. The Kurisches Haff is separated from the Baltic by a long spit, or tongue of land, the so-called Kurische Nehrung, 72 m. in length and with a breadth of 1 to 2 miles. The latter is fringed throughout its whole length by a chain of dunes, which rise in places to a height of nearly 200 ft. and threaten, unless checked, to be pressed farther inland and silt up the whole Haff.

See Berendt, _Geologie des Kurischen Haffs_ (Königsberg, 1869);
Sommer, _Das Kurische Haff_ (Danzig, 1889); A. Bezzenberger, _Die
Kurische Nehrung und ihre Bewohner_ (Stuttgart, 1889); and Lindner,
_Die Preussische Wüste einst und jetzt, Bilder von der Kurischen
Nehrung_ (Osterwieck, 1898).

KURNOOL, or KARNUL, a town and district of British India, in the Madras presidency. The town is built on a rocky soil at the junction of the Hindri and Tungabhadra rivers 33 m. from a railway station. The old Hindu fort was levelled in 1865, with the exception of one of the gates, which was preserved as a specimen of ancient architecture. Cotton cloth and carpets are manufactured. Pop. (1901), 25,376, of whom half are Mussulmans.

The DISTRICT OF KURNOOL has an area of 7578 sq. m., pop. (1901), 872,055, showing an increase of 6% in the decade. Two long mountain ranges, the Nallamalais and the Yellamalais, extend in parallel lines, north and south, through its centre. The principal heights of the Nallamalai range are Biranikonda (3149 ft.), Gundlabrahmeswaram (3055 ft.), and Durugapukonda (3086 ft.). The Yellamalai is a low range, generally flat-topped with scarped sides; the highest point is about 2000 ft. Several low ridges run parallel to the Nallamalais, broken here and there by gorges, through which mountain streams take their course. Several of these gaps were dammed across under native rule, to form tanks for purposes of irrigation. The principal rivers are the Tungabhadra and Kistna, which bound the district on the north. When in flood, the Tungabhadra averages 900 yards broad and 15 ft. deep. The Kistna here flows chiefly through uninhabited jungles, sometimes in long smooth reaches, with intervening shingly rapids. The Bhavanasi rises on the Nallamalais, and falls into the Kistna at Sungameswaram, a place of pilgrimage. During the 18th century Kurnool formed the _jagir_ of a semi-independent Pathan Nawab, whose descendant was dispossessed by the British government for treason in 1838. The principal crops are millets, cotton, oil-seeds, and rice, with a little indigo and tobacco. Kurnool suffered very severely from the famine of 1876-1877, and to a slight extent in 1896-1897. It is the chief scene of the operations of the Madras Irrigation Company taken over by government in 1882. The canal, which starts from the Tungabhadra river near Kurnool town, was constructed at a total cost of two millions sterling, but has not been a financial success. A more successful work is the Cumbum tank, formed under native rule by damming a gorge of the Gundlakamma river. Apart from the weaving of coarse cotton cloth, the chief industrial establishments are cotton presses, indigo vats, and saltpetre refineries. The district is served by the Southern Mahratta railway.

KUROKI, ITEI, COUNT (1844- ), Japanese general, was born in Satsuma. He distinguished himself in the Chino-Japanese War of 1894-95. He commanded the I. Army in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-5), when he won the opening battle of the war at the Yalu river, and afterwards advanced through the mountains and took part with the other armies in the battles of Liao-Yang, Shaho and Mukden (see RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR). He was created baron for his services in the former war, and count for his services in the latter.

KUROPATKIN, ALEXEI NIKOLAIEVICH (1848- ), Russian general, was born in 1848 and entered the army in 1864. From 1872 to 1874 he studied at the Nicholas staff college, after which he spent a short time with the French troops in Algiers. In 1875 he was employed in diplomatic work in Kashgaria and in 1876 he took part in military operations in Turkistan, Kokan and Samerkand. In the war of 1877-78 against Turkey he earned a great reputation as chief of staff to the younger Skobelev, and after the war he wrote a detailed and critical history of the operations which is still regarded as the classical work on the subject and is available for other nations in the German translation by Major Krahmer. After the war he served again on the south-eastern borders in command of the Turkestan Rifle Brigade, and in 1881 he won further fame by a march of 500 miles from Tashkent to Geok-Tepe, taking part in the storming of the latter place. In 1882 he was promoted major-general, at the early age of 34, and he henceforth was regarded by the army as the natural successor of Skobelev. In 1890 he was promoted lieutenant-general, and thirteen years later, having acquired in peace and war the reputation of being one of the foremost soldiers in Europe, he quitted the post of minister of war which he then held and took command of the Russian army then gathering in Manchuria for the contest with Japan. His ill-success in the great war of 1904-5, astonishing as it seemed at the time, was largely attributable to his subjection to the superior command of Admiral Alexeiev, the tsar's viceroy in the Far East, and to internal friction amongst the generals, though in his history of the war (Eng. trans., 1909) he frankly admitted his own mistakes and paid the highest tribute to the gallantry of the troops who had been committed to battle under conditions unfavourable to success. After the defeat of Mukden and the retirement of the whole army to Tieling he resigned the command to General Linievich, taking the latter officer's place at the head of one of the three armies in Manchuria. (See RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR.)

KURO SIWO, or KURO SHIO (literally blue salt), a stream current in the Pacific Ocean, easily distinguishable by the warm temperature and blue colour of its waters, flowing north-eastwards along the east coast of Japan, and separated from it by a strip of cold water. The current persists as a stream to about 40 N., between the meridians of 150° E. and 160° E., when it merges in the general easterly drift of the North Pacific. The Kuro Siwo is the analogue of the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic.

KURRAM, a river and district on the Kohat border of the North-West Frontier province of India. The Kurram river drains the southern flanks of the Safed Koh, enters the plains a few miles above Bannu, and joins the Indus near Isa-Khel after a course of more than 200 miles. The district has an area of 1278 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 54,257. It lies between the Miranzai Valley and the Afghan border, and is inhabited by the Turis, a tribe of Turki origin who are supposed to have subjugated the Bangash Pathans five hundred years ago. It is highly irrigated, well peopled, and crowded with small fortified villages, orchards and groves, to which a fine background is afforded by the dark pine forests and alpine snows of the Safed Koh. The beauty and climate of the valley attracted some of the Mogul emperors of Delhi, and the remains exist of a garden planted by Shah Jahan. Formerly the Kurram valley was under the government of Kabul, and every five or six years a military expedition was sent to collect the revenue, the soldiers living meanwhile at free quarters on the people. It was not until about 1848 that the Turis were brought directly under the control of Kabul, when a governor was appointed, who established himself in Kurram. The Turis, being Shiah Mahommedans, never liked the Afghan rule. During the second Afghan War, when Sir Frederick Roberts advanced by way of the Kurram valley and the Peiwar Kotal to Kabul, the Turis lent him every assistance in their power, and in consequence their independence was granted them in 1880. The administration of the Kurram valley was finally undertaken by the British government, at the request of the Turis themselves, in 1890. Technically it ranks, not as a British district, but as an agency or administered area. Two expeditions in the Kurram valley also require mention: (1) The Kurram expedition of 1856 under Brigadier Chamberlain. The Turis on the first annexation of the Kohat district by the British had given much trouble. They had repeatedly leagued with other tribes to harry the Miranzai valley, harbouring fugitives, encouraging resistance, and frequently attacking Bangash and Khattak villages in the Kohat district. Accordingly in 1856 a British force of 4896 troops traversed their country, and the tribe entered into engagements for future good conduct. (2) The Kohat-Kurram expedition of 1897 under Colonel W. Hill. During the frontier risings of 1897 the inhabitants of the Kurram valley, chiefly the Massozai section of the Orakzais, were infected by the general excitement, and attacked the British camp at Sadda and other posts. A force of 14,230 British troops traversed the country, and the tribesmen were severely punished. In Lord Curzon's reorganization of the frontier in 1900-1901, the British troops were withdrawn from the forts in the Kurram valley, and were replaced by the Kurram militia, reorganized in two battalions, and chiefly drawn from the Turi tribe.

KURSEONG, or KARSIANG, a sanatorium of northern India, in the Darjeeling district of Bengal, 20 m. S. of Darjeeling and 4860 ft. above sea-level; pop. (1901), 4469. It has a station on the mountain railway, and is a centre of the tea trade. It also contains boys' and girls' schools for Europeans and Eurasians.

KURSK, a government of middle Russia, bounded N. by the government of Orel, E. by that of Voronezh, S. by Kharkov and W. by Chernigov. Area, 17,932 sq. m. It belongs to the central plateau of middle Russia, of which it mostly occupies the southern slope, the highest parts being in Orel and Kaluga, to the north of Kursk. Its surface is 700 to 1100 ft. high, deeply trenched by ravines, and consequently assumes a hilly aspect when viewed from the river valleys. Cretaceous and Eocene rocks prevail, and chalk, iron-stone, potters' clay and phosphates are among the economic minerals. No fewer than four hundred streams are counted within its borders, but none of them is of any service as waterways. A layer of fertile loess covers the whole surface, and Kursk belongs almost entirely to the black-earth region. The flora is distinct from that of the governments to the north, not only on account of the black-earth flora which enters into its composition, but also of the plants of south-western Russia which belong to it, a characteristic which is accentuated in the southern portion of the government. The climate is milder than that of middle Russia generally, and winds from the south-east and the south-west prevail in winter. The average temperatures are--for the year 42° F., for January 14° F. and for July 67° F. The very interesting magnetic phenomenon, known as the Byelgorod anomaly, covering an oval area 20 m. long and 12 m. wide, has been studied near the town of this name. The population, 1,893,597 in 1862, was 2,391,091 in 1897, of whom 1,208,488 were women and 199,676 lived in towns. The estimated pop. in 1906 was 2,797,000. It is thoroughly Russian (76% Great Russians and 24% Little Russians), and 94% are peasants who own over 59% of the land, and live mostly in large villages. Owing to the rapid increase of the peasantry and the small size of the allotments given at the emancipation of the serfs in 1861, emigration, chiefly to Siberia, is on the increase, while 80,000 to 100,000 men leave home every summer to work in the neighbouring governments. Three-quarters of the available land is under crops, chiefly rye, other crops being wheat, oats, barley, buckwheat, millet, potatoes, sugar-beets, hemp, flax, sunflowers and fruits. Grain is exported in considerable quantities. Bees are commonly kept, as also are large numbers of livestock. Factories (steam flour-mills, sugar-factories, distilleries, wool-washing, tobacco factories) give occupation to about 23,000 workers. Domestic and petty trades are on the increase in the villages, and new ones are being introduced, the chief products being boots, ikons (sacred images) and shrines, toys, caps, vehicles, baskets, and pottery. About 17 m. from the chief town is held the Korennaya fair, formerly the greatest in South Russia, and still with an annual trade valued at £900,000. The Kursk district contains more than sixty old town sites; and barrows or burial mounds (_kurgans_) are extremely abundant. Notwithstanding the active efforts of the local councils (_zemstvos_), less than 10% of the population read and write. The government is crossed from north to south and from west to south by two main lines of railway. The trade in grain, hemp, hemp-seed oil, sheepskins, hides, tallow, felt goods, wax, honey and leather goods is very brisk. There are fifteen districts, the chief towns of which, with their populations in 1897, are Kursk (q.v.) Byelgorod (21,850), Dmitriev (7315), Fatezh (4959), Graivoron (7669), Korocha (14,405), Lgov (5376), Novyi Oskol (2762), Oboyañ (11872), Putivl (8965), Rylsk (11,415), Staryi Oskol (16,662), Shchigry (3329), Suja (12,856) and Tim (7380). There are more than twenty villages which have from 5000 to 12,000 inhabitants each. (P. A K.; J. T. Be.)

KURSK, a town of Russia, capital of the government of the same name, at the junction of the railways from Moscow, Kiev and Kharkov, 330 m. S.S.W. from Moscow. Pop. (1897), 52,896. It is built on two hills (750 ft.), the slopes of which are planted with orchards. The environs all round are well wooded and the woods are famous for their nightingales. Among the public buildings the more noticeable are a monastery with an image of the Virgin, greatly venerated since 1295; the Orthodox Greek cathedral (18th century); and the episcopal palace, Kursk being a bishopric of the national church. It is essentially a provincial town, and is revered as the birthplace of Theodosius, one of the most venerated of Russian saints. It has a public garden, and has become the seat of several societies (medical, musical, educational and for sport). Its factories include steam flour-mills, distilleries, tobacco-works, hemp-crushing mills, tanneries, soap-works and iron-works. It has a great yearly fair (_Korennaya_), and an active trade in cereals, linen, leather, fruit, horses, cattle, hides, sheepskins, furs, down, bristles, wax, tallow and manufactured goods.

Kursk was in existence in 1032. It was completely destroyed by the Mongols in 1240. The defence of the town against an incursion of the Turkish Polovtsi (or Comans or Cumani) is celebrated in _The Triumph of Igor_, an epic which forms one of the most valuable relics of early Russian literature. From 1586 to the close of the 18th century the citadel was a place of considerable strength; the remains are now comparatively few.

KURTZ, JOHANN HEINRICH (1809-1890), German Lutheran theologian, was born at Montjoie near Aix la Chapelle on the 13th of December 1809, and was educated at Halle and Bonn. Abandoning the idea of a commercial career, he gave himself to the study of theology and became religious instructor at the gymnasium of Mitau in 1835, and ordinary professor of theology (church history, 1850; exegesis, 1859) at Dorpat. He resigned his chair in 1870 and went to live at Marburg, where he died on the 26th of April 1890. Kurtz was a prolific writer, and many of his books, especially the _Lehrbuch der heiligen Geschichte_ (1843), became very popular. In the field of biblical criticism he wrote a _Geschichte des Alten Bundes_ (1848-1855), _Zur Theologie der Psalmen_ (1865) and _Erklärung des Briefs an die Hebräer_ (1869). His chief work was done in church history, among his productions being _Lehrbuch der Kirchengeschichte für Studierende_ (1849), _Abriss der Kirchengeschichte_ (1852) and _Handbuch der allgemeinen Kirchengeschichte_ (1853-1856). Several of his books have been translated into English.

KURUMAN, a town in the Bechuanaland division of Cape Colony, 120 m. N.W. of Kimberley and 85 m. S.W. of Vryburg. It is a station of the London Missionary Society, founded in 1818, and from 1821 to 1870 was the scene of the labours of Robert Moffat (q.v.) who here translated the Bible into the Bechuana tongue. In the middle period of the 19th century Kuruman was the rendezvous of all travellers going north or south. Of these the best known is David Livingstone. The trunk railway line passing considerably to the east of the town, Kuruman is no longer a place of much importance. It is pleasantly situated on the upper course of the Kuruman river, being beautified by gardens and orchards, and presents a striking contrast to the desert conditions of the surrounding country. Its name is that of the son and heir of Mosilikatze, the founder of the Matabele nation. Kuruman disappeared during his father's lifetime and the succession passed to Lobengula (see RHODESIA: _History_). In November 1899 the town was besieged by a Boer force. The garrison, less than a hundred strong, held out for six weeks against over 1000 of the enemy, but was forced to surrender on the 1st of January 1900. In June following it was reoccupied by the British.

KURUMBAS and KURUBAS, aboriginal tribes of southern India, by some thought to be of distinct races. There are two types of Kurumbas, those who live on the Nilgiri plateau, speak the Kurumba dialect and are mere savages; and those who live in the plains, speak Kanarese and are civilized. The former are a small people, with wild matted hair and scanty beard, sickly-looking, pot-bellied, large-mouthed, with projecting jaws, prominent teeth and thick lips. Their villages are called _mottas_, groups of four or five huts, built in mountain glens or forests. At the 1901 census the numbers were returned at 4083.

See James W. Breeks, _An Account of Primitive Tribes of the Nilgiris_
(1873); Dr John Shortt, _Hill Ranges of Southern India_, pt. i. 47-53;
Rev. F. Metz, _Tribes Inhabiting the Neilgherry Hills_ (Mangalore,
1864).

KURUNEGALA, the chief town in the north-western province of Ceylon. Pop. of the town, 6483; of the district, 249,429. It was the residence of the kings of Ceylon from A.D. 1319 to 1347, and is romantically situated under the shade of Adagalla (the rock of the Tusked Elephant), which is 600 ft. high. It was in 1902 the terminus of the Northern railway (59 m. from Colombo), which has since been extended 200 m. farther, to the northernmost coast of the Jaffna Peninsula. Kurunegala is the centre of rice, coco-nut, tea, coffee and cocoa cultivation.

KURUNTWAD, or KURANDVAD, a native state of India, in the Deccan division of Bombay, forming part of the Southern Mahratta jagirs. Originally created in 1772 by a grant from the peshwa, the state was divided in 1811 into two parts, one of which, called Shedbal, lapsed to the British government in 1857. In 1855 Kuruntwad was further divided between a senior and a junior branch. The territory of both is widely scattered among other native states and British districts. Area of the senior branch, 185 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 42,474; revenue, £13,000. Area of junior branch, 114 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 34,003; revenue, £9000. The joint tribute is £640. The chiefs are Brahmans by caste, of the Patwardhan family. The town of Kuruntwad, in which both branches have their residence, is on the right bank of the Panchganga river near its junction with the Kistna. Pop. (1901), 10,451.

KURZ, HERMANN (1813-1873), German poet and novelist, was born at Reutlingen on the 30th of November 1813. Having studied at the theological seminary at Maulbronn and at the university of Tübingen, he was for a time assistant pastor at Ehningen. He then entered upon a literary career, and in 1863 was appointed university librarian at Tübingen, where he died on the 10th of October 1873. Kurz is less known to fame by his poems, _Gedichte_ (1836) and _Dichtungen_ (1839), than by his historical novels, _Schillers Heimatjahre_ (1843, 3rd ed., 1899) and _Der Sonnenwirt_ (1854, 2nd ed., 1862), and his excellent translations from English, Italian and Spanish. He also published a successful modern German version of Gottfried von Strassburg's _Tristan und Isolde_ (1844). His collected works were published in ten volumes (Stuttgart, 1874), also in twelve volumes (Leipzig, 1904).

His daughter, ISOLDE KURZ, born on the 21st of December 1853 at Stuttgart, takes a high place among contemporary lyric poets in Germany with her _Gedichte_ (Stuttgart, 1888, 3rd ed. 1898) and _Neue Gedichte_ (1903). Her short stories, _Florentiner Novellen_ (1890, 2nd ed. 1893), _Phantasien und Märchen_ (1890), _Italienische Erzählungen_ (1895) and _Von Dazumal_ (1900) are distinguished by a fine sense of form and clear-cut style.

KUSAN ("lake" or "inland bay"), a small group of North American Indian tribes, formerly living on the Coos river and the coast of Oregon. They call themselves Anasitch, and other names given them have been Ka-us or KWO-KWOOS, Kowes and Cook-koo-oose. They appear to be in no way related to their neighbours. The few survivors, mostly of mixed blood, are on the Siletz reservation, Oregon.

KUSHALGARH, a village in the Kohat district of the North-West Frontier province of India. It is only notable as the point at which the Indus is bridged to permit of the extension of the strategic frontier railway from Rawalpindi to the Miranzai and Kurram valleys.

KUSHK, a river of Afghanistan, which also gives its name to the chief town in the Afghan province of Badghis, and to a military post on the border of Russian Turkestan. The river Kushk, during a portion of its course, forms the boundary between Afghan and Russian territory; but the town is some 20 m. from the border. Kushk, or Kushkinski Post, is now a fourth-class Russian fortress, on a Russian branch railway from Merv, the terminus of which is 12 m. to the south, at Chahil Dukteran. It is served by both the Transcaspian and the Orenburg-Tashkent railways. The terminus is only 66 m. from Herat, and in the event of war would become an important base for a Russian advance. Some confusion has arisen through the popular application of the name of Kushk to this terminus, though it is situated neither at the Russian post nor at the old town. (T. H. H.*)

KUSTANAISK, a town of Asiatic Russia, in the province of Turgai, on the Tobol river, 410 m. E.N.E. of Orenburg, in a very fertile part of the steppes. Pop. (1897), 14,065. The first buildings were erected in 1871, and it has since grown with American-like rapidity. The immigrants from Russia built a large village, which became the centre of the district administration in 1884, and a town in 1893, under the name of Nicolaevsk, changed later into Kustanaisk. It is an educational centre, and a cathedral has been built. There are tanneries, tallow works, potteries, and a fair for cattle, while its trade makes it a rival to Orenburg and Troitsk.

KÜSTENLAND (coast-land or littoral), a common name for the three crown-lands of Austria, Görz and Gradisca, Istria and Trieste. Their combined area is 3084 sq. m., and their population in 1900 was 755,183. They are united for certain administrative purposes under the governor of Trieste, the legal and financial authorities of which also exercise jurisdiction over the entire littoral.

KUTAIAH, KUTAYA, or KIUTAHIA, the chief town of a sanjak in the vilayet of Brusa (Khudavendikiar), Asia Minor, is situated on the Pursaksu, an affluent of the Sakaria (anc. _Sangarius_). The town lies at an important point of the great road across Asia Minor from Constantinople to Aleppo, and is connected by a branch line with the main line from Eski-shehr to Afium Kara-Hissar, of the Anatolian railway. It has a busy trade; pop. estimated at 22,000. Kutaiah has been identified with the ancient Cotiaeum.

See V. Cuinet, _Turquie d'Asie_, vol. iv. (Paris, 1894).

KUTAIS, a government of Russian Transcaucasia, situated between the Caucasus range on the N. and the Black Sea on the W., the government of Tiflis on the E. and the province of Kars on the S. Area, 14,313 sq. m. The government includes the districts of Guria, Mingrelia, Imeretia, Abkhasia and Svanetia, and consists of four distinct parts: (1) the lowlands, drained by the Rion, and continued N.W. along the shore of the Black Sea; (2) the southern slopes of the main Caucasus range; (3) the western slopes of the Suram mountains, which separate Kutais from Tiflis; and (4) the slopes of the Armenian highlands, as well as a portion of the highlands themselves, drained by the Chorokh and its tributary, the Ajaris-tskhali, which formerly constituted the Batum province. Generally speaking, the government is mountainous in the north and south. Many secondary ridges and spurs shoot off the main range, forming high, narrow valleys (see CAUCASUS). The district of Batum and Artvin in the S.W., which in 1903 were in part separated for administration as the semi-military district of Batum, are filled up by spurs of the Pontic range, 9000 to 11,240 ft. high, the Arzyan ridge separating them from the plateau of Kars. Deep gorges, through which tributaries of the Chorokh force their passage to the main river, intersect these highlands, forming most picturesque gorges. The lowlands occupy over 2400 sq. m. They are mostly barren in the littoral region, but extremely fertile higher up the Rion.

The climate is very moist and warm. The winters are often without frost at all in the lowlands, while the lowest temperatures observed are 18° F. at Batum and 9° at Poti. The mountains condense the moisture brought by the west winds, and the yearly amount of rain varies from 50 to 120 in. The chief rivers are the Rion, which enters the Black Sea at Poti; the Chorokh, which enters the same sea at Batum; and the Ingur, the Kodor and the Bzyb, also flowing into the Black Sea in Abkhasia. The vegetation is extremely rich, its character suggesting the sub-tropic regions of Japan (see CAUCASIA). The population belongs almost entirely to the Kartvelian or Georgian group, and is distributed as follows: Imeretians, 41.2%; Mingrelians and Lazes, 22.5%; Gurians, 7.3%; Ajars, 5.8%; Svanetians, 1.3%; of other nationalities there are 6% of Abkhasians, 2.6% of Turks, 2.3% of Armenians, besides Russians, Jews, Greeks, Persians, Kurds, Ossetes and Germans. By religion 87% of the population are Greek Orthodox and only 10% Mussulmans. The total population was 933,773 in 1897, of whom 508,468 were women and 77,702 lived in towns. The estimated population in 1906 was 924,800. The land is excessively subdivided, and, owing to excellent cultivation, fetches very high prices. The chief crops are maize, wheat, barley, beans, rye, hemp, potatoes and tobacco. Maize, wine and timber are largely exported. Some cotton-trees have been planted. The vine, olive, mulberry and all sorts of fruit trees are cultivated, as also many exotic plants (eucalyptus, cork-oak, camellia, and even tea). Manganese ore is the chief mineral, and is extracted for export to the extent of 160,000 to 180,000 tons annually, besides coal, lead and silver ores, copper, naphtha, some gold, lithographic stone and marble. Factories are still in infancy, but silk is spun. A railway runs from the Caspian Sea, via Tiflis and the Suram tunnel, to Kutais, and thence to Poti and Batum, and from Kutais to the Tkvibuli coal and manganese mines. The export of both local produce and goods shipped by rail from other ports of Transcaucasia is considerable, Batum and Poti being the two chief ports of Caucasia. Kutais is divided into seven districts, of which the chief towns, with their populations in 1897, are Kutais, capital of the province (q.v.); Lailashi (834), chief town of Lechgum, of which Svanetia makes a separate administrative unit; Ozurgeti (4694); Oni, chief town of Racha; Senaki (101); Kvirili, of Sharopan district; Zugdidi; and two semi-military districts--Batum (28,512) with Artvin (7000) and Sukhum-kaleh (7809). (P. A. K.--J. T. Be.)

KUTAIS, a town of Russian Caucasia, capital of the government of the same name, 60 m. by rail E. of Poti and 5 m. from the Rion station of the railway between Poti and Tiflis. Pop. (1897), 32,492. It is one of the oldest towns of Caucasia, having been the ancient capital (Aea or Kutaea) of Colchis, and later the capital of Imeretia (from 792); Procopius mentions it under the name of Kotatision. Persians, Mongols, Turks and Russians have again and again destroyed the town and its fortress. In 1810 it became Russian. It is situated on both banks of the Rion river, which is spanned by three bridges. Its most remarkable building is the ruined cathedral, erected in the 11th century by the Bagratids, the ruling dynasty of Georgia, and destroyed by the Turks in 1692; it is the most important representative extant of Georgian architecture. The fort, mentioned by Procopius, is now a heap of ruins, destroyed by the Russians in 1770. The inhabitants make hats and silks, and trade in agricultural produce and wine. On the right bank of the Rion is a government model garden, with a model farm.

KUT-EL-AMARA, a small town in Turkish Asia, on the east bank of the Tigris (32° 29´ 19´´ N., 44° 45´ 37´´ E.) at the point where the Shatt-el-Haï leaves that stream. It is a coaling station of the steamers plying between Basra and Bagdad, and an important Turkish post for the control of the lower Tigris.

KUTENAI (Kutonaga), a group of North-American Indian tribes forming the distinct stock of Kitunahan. Their former range was British Columbia, along the Kootenay lake and river. They were always friendly to the whites and noted for their honesty. In 1904 there were some 550 in British Columbia; and in 1908 there were 606 on the Flathead Agency, Montana.