Part 43

The population may number about 125,000, of whom 75,000 are settled and about 50,000 nomads (Grum-Grzimailo). The Taranchis from East Turkestan represent about 40% of the population; about 40,000 of them left Kulja when the Russian troops evacuated the territory, and the Chinese government sent some 8000 families from different towns of Kashgaria to take their place. There are, besides, about 20,000 Sibos and Solons, 3500 Kara-kidans, a few Dungans, and more than 10,000 Chinese. The nomads are represented by about 18,000 Kalmucks, and the remainder by Kirghiz. Agriculture is insufficient to satisfy the needs of the population, and food is imported from Semiryechensk. Excellent beds of coal are found in different places, especially about Kulja, but the fairly rich copper ores and silver ores have ceased to be worked.

The chief towns are Suidun, capital of the province, and Kulja. The latter (Old Kulja) is on the Ili river. It is one of the chief cities of the region, owing to the importance of its bazaars, and is the seat of the Russian consul and a telegraph station. The walled town is nearly square, each side being about a mile in length; and the walls are not only 30 ft. high but broad enough on the top to serve as a carriage drive. Two broad streets cut the enclosed area into four nearly equal sections. Since 1870 a Russian suburb has been laid out on a wide scale. The houses of Kulja are almost all clay-built and flat-roofed, and except in the special Chinese quarter in the eastern end of the town only a few public buildings show the influence of Chinese architecture. Of these the most noteworthy are the Taranchi and Dungan mosques, both with turned-up roofs, and the latter with a pagoda-looking minaret. The population is mainly Mahommedan, and there are only two Buddhist pagodas. A small Chinese Roman Catholic church has maintained its existence through all the vicissitudes of modern times. Paper and vermicelli are manufactured with rude appliances in the town. The outskirts are richly cultivated with wheat, barley, lucerne and poppies. Schuyler estimated the population, which includes Taranchis, Dungans, Sarts, Chinese, Kalmucks and Russians, at 10,000 in 1873; it has since increased.

New Kulja, Manchu Kulja, or Ili, which lies lower down the valley on the same side of the stream, has been a pile of ruins since the terrible massacre of all its inhabitants by the insurgent Dungans in 1868. It was previously the seat of the Chinese government for the province, with a large penal establishment and strong garrison; its population was about 70,000.

_History._--Two centuries B.C. the region was occupied by the fair and blue-eyed Ussuns, who were driven away in the 6th century of our era by the northern Huns. Later the Kulja territory became a dependency of Dzungaria. The Uighurs, and in the 12th century the Kara-Khitai, took possession of it in turn. Jenghiz Khan conquered Kulja in the 13th century, and the Mongol Khans resided in the valley of the Ili. It is supposed (Grum-Grzimailo) that the Oirads conquered it at the end of the 16th or the beginning of the 17th century; they kept it till 1755, when the Chinese annexed it. During the insurrection of 1864 the Dungans and the Taranchis formed here the Taranchi sultanate, and this led to the occupation of Kulja by the Russians in 1871. Ten years later the territory was restored to China.

KULM (CULM). (1) A town of Germany, in the province of West Prussia, 33 m. by rail N.W. of Thorn, on an elevation above the plain, and 1 m. E. of the Vistula. Pop. (1905), 11,665. It is surrounded by old walls, dating from the 13th century, and contains some interesting buildings, notably its churches, of which two are Roman Catholic and two Protestant, and its medieval town-hall. The cadet school, founded here in 1776 by Frederick the Great, was removed to Köslin in 1890. There are large oil mills, also iron foundries and machine shops, as well as an important trade in agricultural produce, including fruit and vegetables. Kulm gives name to the oldest bishopric in Prussia, although the bishop resides at Pelplin. It was presented about 1220 by Duke Conrad of Masovia to the bishop of Prussia. Frederick II. pledged it in 1226 to the Teutonic order, to whom it owes its early development. By the second peace of Thorn in 1466 it passed to Poland, and it was annexed to Prussia in 1772. It joined the Hanseatic League, and used to carry on very extensive manufactures of cloth.

(2) A village of Bohemia about 3 m. N.E. of Teplitz, at the foot of the Erzgebirge, celebrated as the scene of a battle in which the French were defeated by the Austrians, Prussians and Russians on the 29th and 30th of August 1813 (see NAPOLEONIC CAMPAIGNS).

KULMBACH, or CULMBACH, a town of Germany, in the Bavarian province of Upper Franconia, picturesquely situated on the Weisser Main, and the Munich-Bamberg-Hof railway, 11 m. N.W. from Bayreuth. Pop. (1900), 9428. It contains a Roman Catholic and three Protestant churches, a museum and several schools. The town has several linen manufactories and a large cotton spinnery, but is chiefly famed for its many extensive breweries, which mainly produce a black beer, not unlike English porter, which is largely exported. Connected with these are malting and bottling works. On a rocky eminence, 1300 ft. in height, to the south-east of the town stands the former fortress of Plassenburg, during the 14th and 15th centuries the residence of the margraves of Bayreuth, called also margraves of Brandenburg-Kulmbach. It was dismantled in 1807, and is now used as a prison. Kulmbach and Plassenburg belonged to the dukes of Meran, and then to the counts of Orlamunde, from whom they passed in the 14th century to the Hohenzollerns, burgraves of Nuremberg, and thus to the margraves of Bayreuth.

See F. Stein, _Kulmbach und die Plassenburg in alter und neuer Zeit_ (Kulmbach, 1903); Huther, _Kulmbach und Umgebung_ (Kulmbach, 1886); and C. Meyer, _Quellen zur Geschichte der Stadt Kulmbach_ (Munich, 1895).

KULMSEE, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of West Prussia, on a lake, 14 m. by rail N. of Thorn and at the junction of railways to Bromberg and Marienburg. Pop. (1900), 8987. It has a fine Roman Catholic cathedral, which was built in the 13th, and restored in the 15th century, and an Evangelical church. Until 1823 the town was the seat of the bishops of Kulm.

KULP, a town of Russian Transcaucasia, in the government of Erivan, 60 m. W.S.W. from the town of Erivan and 2 m. S. of the Aras river. Pop. (1897), 3074. Close by is the Kulp salt mountain, about 1000 ft. high, consisting of beds of clay intermingled with thick deposits of rock salt, which has been worked from time immemorial. Regular galleries are cut in the transparent, horizontal salt layers, from which cubes of about 70 lb. weight are extracted, to the amount of 27,500 tons every year.

KULU, a subdivision of Kangra district, Punjab, British India, which nominally includes the two Himalayan cantons or _waziris_ of Lahul and Spiti. The _tahsil_ of Kulu has an area of 1054 sq. m., of which only 60 sq. m. are cultivated; pop. (1901), 68,954. The Sainj, which joins the Beas at Largi, divides the tract into two portions, Kulu proper and Soraj. Kulu proper, north of the Sainj, together with inner Soraj, forms a great basin or depression in the midst of the Himalayan system, having the narrow gorge of the Beas at Largi as the only outlet for its waters. North and east the Bara Bangahal and mid-Himalayan ranges rise to a mean elevation of 18,000 ft., while southward the Jalori and Dhaoladhar ridges attain a height of 11,000 ft. The higher villages stand 9000 ft. above the sea; and even the cultivated tracts have probably an average elevation of 5000 ft. The houses consist of four-storeyed châlets in little groups, huddled closely together on the ledges or slopes of the valleys, picturesquely built with projecting eaves and carved wooden verandas. The Beas, which, with its tributaries, drains the entire basin, rises at the crest of the Rohtang pass, 13,326 ft. above the sea, and has an average fall of 125 ft. per mile. Its course presents a succession of magnificent scenery, including cataracts, gorges, precipitous cliffs, and mountains clad with forests of deodar, towering above the tiers of pine on the lower rocky ledges. It is crossed by several suspension bridges. Great mineral wealth exists, but the difficulty of transport and labour prevents its development. Hot springs occur at three localities, much resorted to as places of pilgrimage. The character of the hillmen resembles that of most other mountaineers in its mixture of simplicity, independence and superstition. Tibetan polyandry still prevails in Soraj, but has almost died out elsewhere. The temples are dedicated rather to local deities than to the greater gods of the Hindu pantheon. Kulu is an ancient Rajput principality, which was conquered by Ranjit Singh about 1812. Its hereditary ruler, with the title of rai, is now recognized by the British government as _jagirdar_ of Rupi.

KUM, a small province in Persia, between Teheran on the N. and Kashan on the S. It is divided into seven _buluk_ (districts): (1) Humeh, with town; (2) Kumrud; (3) Vazkerud; (4) Kinar Rud Khaneh; (5) Kuhistan; (6) Jasb; (7) Ardahal; has a population of 45,000 to 50,000, and pays a yearly revenue of about £8000. The province produces much grain and a fine quality of cotton with a very long staple.

KUM, the capital, in 34° 39´ N. and 50° 55´ E., on the Anarbar river, which rises near Khunsar, has an elevation of 3100 ft. It owes much of its importance to the fact that it contains the tomb of Imam Reza's sister Fatmeh, who died there A.D. 816, and large numbers of pilgrims visit the city during six or seven months of the year. The fixed population is between 25,000 and 30,000. A carriage road 92 m. in length, constructed in 1890-1893, connects the city with Teheran. It has post and telegraph offices.

See _Eastern Persian Irak_, R. G. S. suppl. (London, 1896).

KUMAIT IBN ZAID (679-743), Arabian poet, was born in the reign of the first Omayyad caliph and lived in the reigns of nine others. He was, however, a strong supporter of the house of Hashim and an enemy of the South Arabians. He was imprisoned by the caliph Hisham for his verse in praise of the Hashimites, but escaped by the help of his wife and was pardoned by the intercession of the caliph's son Maslama. Taking part in a rebellion, he was killed by the troops of Khalid ul-Qasri.

His poems, the _Hashimiyyat_, have been edited by J. Horovitz (Leiden, 1904). An account of him is contained in the _Kitab ul-Aghani_, xv. 113-130. (G. W. T.)

KUMAON, or KUMAUN, an administrative division of British India, in the United Provinces, with headquarters at Naini Tal. It consists of a large Himalayan tract, together with two submontane strips called the Tarai and the Bhabhar; area 13,725 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 1,207,030, showing an increase of less than 2% in the decade. The submontane strips were up to 1850 an almost impenetrable forest, given up to wild animals; but since then the numerous clearings have attracted a large population from the hills, who cultivate the rich soil during the hot and cold seasons, returning to the hills in the rains. The rest of Kumaon is a maze of mountains, some of which are among the loftiest known. In a tract not more than 140 m. in length and 40 m. in breadth there are over thirty peaks rising to elevations exceeding 18,000 ft. (see HIMALAYA). The rivers rise chiefly in the southern slope of the Tibetan watershed north of the loftiest peaks, amongst which they make their way down valleys of rapid declivity and extraordinary depth. The principal are the Sarda (Kali), the Pindar and Kailganga, whose waters join the Alaknanda. The valuable timber of the yet uncleared forest tracts is now under official supervision. The chief trees are the chir, or three-leaved Himalayan pine, the cypress, fir, alder, sal or iron-wood, and _saindan_. Limestone, sandstone, slate, gneiss and granite constitute the principal geological formations. Mines of iron, copper, gypsum, lead and asbestos exist; but they are not thoroughly worked. Except in the submontane strips and deep valleys the climate is mild. The rainfall of the outer Himalayan range, which is first struck by the monsoon, is double that of the central hills, in the average proportion of 80 in. to 40. No winter passes without snow on the higher ridges, and in some years it is universal throughout the mountain tract. Frosts, especially in the valleys, are often severe. Kumaon is occasionally visited by epidemic cholera. Leprosy is most prevalent in the east of the district. Goitre and cretinism afflict a small proportion of the inhabitants. The hill fevers at times exhibit the rapid and malignant features of plague.

In 1891 the division was composed of the three districts of Kumaon, Garhwal and the Tarai; but the two districts of Kumaon and the Tarai were subsequently redistributed and renamed after their headquarters, Naini Tal and Almora. Kumaon proper constituted an old Rajput principality, which became extinct at the beginning of the 19th century. The country was annexed after the Gurkha war of 1815, and was governed for seventy years on the non-regulation system by three most successful administrators--Mr Traill, Mr J. H. Batten and Sir Henry Ramsay.

KUMASI, or COOMASSIE, the capital of Ashanti, British West Africa, in 6° 34´ 50´´ N., 2° 12´ W., 168 m. by rail N. of Sekondi and 120 m. by road N.N.W. of Cape Coast. Pop. (1906), 6280; including suburbs, over 12,000. Kumasi is situated on a low rocky eminence, from which it extends across a valley to the hill opposite. It lies in a clearing of the dense forest which covers the greater part of Ashanti, and occupies an area about 1½ m. in length and over 3 m. in circumference. The land immediately around the town, once marshy, has been drained. On the north-west is the small river Dah, one of the headstreams of the Prah. The name Kum-asi, more correctly Kum-ase (under the okum tree) was given to the town because of the number of those trees in its streets. The most imposing building in Kumasi is the fort, built in 1896. It is the residence of the chief commissioner and is capable of holding a garrison of several hundred men. There are also officers' quarters and cantonments outside the fort, European and native hospitals, and stations of the Basel and Wesleyan missions. The native houses are built with red clay in the style universal throughout Ashanti. They are somewhat richly ornamented, and those of the better class are enclosed in compounds within which are several separate buildings. Near the railway station are the leading mercantile houses. The principal Ashanti chiefs own large houses, built in European style, and these are leased to strangers.

Before its destruction by the British in 1874 the city presented a handsome appearance and bore many marks of a comparatively high state of culture. The king's palace, built of red sandstone, had been modelled, it is believed, on Dutch buildings at Elmina. It was blown up by Sir Garnet (subsequently Viscount) Wolseley's forces on the 6th of February 1874, and but scanty vestiges of it remain. The town was only partially rebuilt on the withdrawal of the British troops, and it is difficult from the meagre accounts of early travellers to obtain an adequate idea of the capital of the Ashanti kingdom when at the height of its prosperity (middle of the 18th to middle of the 19th century). The streets were numerous, broad and regular; the main avenue was 70 yds. wide. A large market-place existed on the south-east, and behind it in a grove of trees was the Spirit House. This was the place of execution. Of its population before the British occupation there is no trustworthy information. It appears not to have exceeded 20,000 in the first quarter of the 19th century. This is owing partly to the fact that the commercial capital of Ashanti, and the meeting-place of several caravan routes from the north and east, was Kintampo, a town farther north. The decline of Kumasi after 1874 was marked. A new royal palace was built, but it was of clay, not brick, and within the limits of the former town were wide stretches of grass-grown country. In 1896 the town again suffered at the hands of the British, when several of the largest and most ancient houses in the royal and priestly suburb of Bantama were destroyed by fire. In the revolt of 1900 Kumasi was once more injured. The railway from the coast, which passes through the Tarkwa and Obuassi gold-fields, reached Kumasi in September 1903. Many merchants at the Gold Coast ports thereupon opened branches in Kumasi. A marked revival in trade followed, leading to the rapid expansion of the town. By 1906 Kumasi had supplanted the coast towns and had become the distributing centre for the whole of Ashanti.

KUMISHAH, a district and town in the province of Isfahan, Persia. The district, which has a length of 50 and a breadth of 16 m., and contains about 40 villages, produces much grain. The town is situated on the high road from Isfahan to Shiraz, 52 m. S. of the former. It was a flourishing city several miles in circuit when it was destroyed by the Afghans in 1722, but is now a decayed place, with crumbled walls and mouldering towers and a population of barely 15,000. It has post and telegraph offices. South of the city and extending to the village Maksudbeggi, 16 m. away, is a level plain, which in 1835 (February 28) was the scene of a battle in which the army (2000 men, 16 guns) of Mahommed Shah, commanded by Sir H. Lindsay-Bethune, routed the much superior combined forces (6000 men) of the shah's two rebellious uncles, Firman-Firma and Shuja es Saltana.

KUMQUAT (_Citrus japonica_), a much-branched shrub from 8 to 12 ft. high, the branches sometimes bearing small thorns, with dark green glossy leaves and pure white orange-like flowers standing singly or clustered in the leaf-axils. The bright orange-yellow fruit is round or ellipsoidal, about 1 in. in diameter, with a thick minutely tuberculate rind, the inner lining of which is sweet, and a watery acidulous pulp. It has long been cultivated in China and Japan, and was introduced to Europe in 1846 by Mr Fortune, collector for the London Horticultural Society, and shortly after into North America. It is much hardier than most plants of the orange tribe, and succeeds well when grafted on the wild species, _Citrus trifoliata_. It is largely used by the Chinese as a sweetmeat preserved in sugar.

KUMTA, or COOMPTA, a sea-coast town of British India, in the North Kanara district of Bombay, 40 m. S. of Karwar. Pop. (1901), 10,818. It has an open roadstead, with a considerable trade. Carving in sandal-wood is a speciality. The commercial importance of Kumta has declined since the opening of the Southern Mahratta railway system.

KUMYKS, a people of Turkish stock in Caucasia, occupying the Kumyk plateau in north Daghestan and south Terek, and the lands bordering the Caspian. It is supposed that Ptolemy knew them under the name of Kami and Kamaks. Various explorers see in them descendants of the Khazars. A. Vambéry supposes that they settled in their present quarters during the flourishing period of the Khazar kingdom in the 8th century. It is certain that some Kabardians also settled later. The Russians built forts in their territory in 1559 and under Peter I. Having long been more civilized than the surrounding Caucasian mountaineers, the Kumyks have always enjoyed some respect among them. The upper terraces of the Kumyk plateau, which the Kumyks occupy, leaving its lower parts to the Nogai Tatars, are very fertile.

KUNAR, a river and valley of Afghanistan, on the north-west frontier of British India. The Kunar valley (Khoaspes in the classics) is the southern section of that great river system which reaches from the Hindu Kush to the Kabul river near Jalalabad, and which, under the names of Yarkhun, Chitral, Kashkar, &c., is more extensive than the Kabul basin itself. The lower reaches of the Kunar are wide and comparatively shallow, the river meandering in a multitude of channels through a broad and fairly open valley, well cultivated and fertile, with large flourishing villages and a mixed population of Mohmand and other tribes of Afghan origin. Here the hills to the eastward are comparatively low, though they shut in the valley closely. Beyond them are the Bajour uplands. To the west are the great mountains of Kafiristan, called Kashmund, snow-capped, and running to 14,000 ft. of altitude. Amongst them are many wild but beautiful valleys occupied by Kafirs, who are rapidly submitting to Afghan rule. From 20 to 30 miles up the river on its left bank, under the Bajour hills, are thick clusters of villages, amongst which are the ancient towns of Kunar and Pashat. The chief tributary from the Kafiristan hills is the Pechdara, which joins the river close to Chagan Sarai. It is a fine, broad, swift-flowing stream, with an excellent bridge over it (part of Abdur Rahman's military road developments), and has been largely utilized for irrigation. The Pechdara finds its sources in the Kafir hills, amongst forests of pine and deodar and thick tangles of wild vine and ivy, wild figs, pomegranates, olives and oaks, and dense masses of sweet-scented shrubs. Above Chagan Sarai, as far as Arnawai, where the Afghan boundary crosses the river, and above which the valley belongs to Chitral, the river narrows to a swift mountain stream obstructed by boulders and hedged in with steep cliffs and difficult "parris" or slopes of rocky hill-side. Wild almond here sheds its blossoms into the stream, and in the dawn of summer much of the floral beauty of Kashmir is to be found. At Asmar there is a slight widening of the valley, and the opportunity for a large Afghan military encampment, spreading to both sides of the river and connected by a very creditable bridge built on the cantilever system. There are no apparent relics of Buddhism in the Kunar, such as are common about Jalalabad or Chitral, or throughout Swat and Dir. This is probably due to the late occupation of the valley by Kafirs, who spread eastwards into Bajour within comparatively recent historical times, and who still adhere to their fastnesses in the Kashmund hills. The Kunar valley route to Chitral and to Kafiristan is being developed by Afghan engineering. It may possibly extend ultimately unto Badakshan, in which case it will form the most direct connexion between the Oxus and India, and become an important feature in the strategical geography of Asia. (T. H. H.*)

KUNBIS, the great agricultural caste of Western India, corresponding to the Kurmis in the north and the Kapus in the Telugu country. Ethnically they cannot be distinguished from the Mahrattas, though the latter name is sometimes confined to the class who claim higher rank as representing the descendants of Sivaji's soldiers. In some districts of the Deccan they form an actual majority of the population, which is not the case with any other Indian caste. In 1901 the total number of both Kunbis and Mahrattas in all India was returned at nearly 8¾ millions.