Part 44

KUNDT, AUGUST ADOLPH EDUARD EBERHARD (1839-1894), German physicist, was born at Schwerin in Mecklenburg on the 18th of November 1839. He began his scientific studies at Leipzig, but afterwards went to Berlin. At first he devoted himself to astronomy, but coming under the influence of H. G. Magnus, he turned his attention to physics, and graduated in 1864 with a thesis on the depolarization of light. In 1867 he became _privatdozent_ in Berlin University, and in the following year was chosen professor of physics at the Zürich Polytechnic; then, after a year or two at Würzburg, he was called in 1872 to Strassburg, where he took a great part in the organization of the new university, and was largely concerned in the erection of the Physical Institute. Finally in 1888 he went to Berlin as successor to H. von Helmholtz in the chair of experimental physics and directorship of the Berlin Physical Institute. He died after a protracted illness at Israelsdorf, near Lübeck, on the 21st of May 1894. As an original worker Kundt was especially successful in the domains of sound and light. In the former he developed a valuable method for the investigation of aerial waves within pipes, based on the fact that a finely divided powder--lycopodium, for example--when dusted over the interior of a tube in which is established a vibrating column of air, tends to collect in heaps at the nodes, the distance between which can thus be ascertained. An extension of the method renders possible the determination of the velocity of sound in different gases. In light Kundt's name is widely known for his inquiries in anomalous dispersion, not only in liquids and vapours, but even in metals, which he obtained in very thin films by means of a laborious process of electrolytic deposition upon platinized glass. He also carried out many experiments in magneto-optics, and succeeded in showing, what Faraday had failed to detect, the rotation under the influence of magnetic force of the plane of polarization in certain gases and vapours.

KUNDUZ, a khanate and town of Afghan Turkestan. The khanate is bounded on the E. by Badakshan, on the W. by Tashkurghan, on the N. by the Oxus and on the S. by the Hindu Kush. It is inhabited mainly by Uzbegs. Very little is known about the town, which is the trade centre of a considerable district, including Kataghan, where the best horses in Afghanistan are bred.

KUNENE, formerly known also as Nourse, a river of South-West Africa, with a length of over 700 m., mainly within Portuguese territory, but in its lower course forming the boundary between Angola and German South-West Africa. The upper basin of the river lies on the inner versant of the high plateau region which runs southwards from Bihe parallel to the coast, forming in places ranges of mountains which give rise to many streams running south to swell the Kunene. The main stream rises in 12° 30´ S. and about 160 m. in a direct line from the sea at Benguella, runs generally from north to south through four degrees of latitude, but finally flows west to the sea through a break in the outer highlands. A little south of 16° S. it receives the Kulonga from the east, and in about 16° 50´ the Kakulovar from the west. The Kakulovar has its sources in the Serra da Chella and other ranges of the Humpata district behind Mossamedes, but, though the longest tributary of the Kunene, is but a small river in its lower course, which traverses the arid region comprised within the lower basin of the Kunene. Between the mouths of the Kulonga and Kakulovar the Kunene traverses a swampy plain, inundated during high water, and containing several small lakes at other parts of the year. From this swampy region divergent branches run S.E. They are mainly intermittent, but the Kwamatuo, which leaves the main stream in about 15° 8´ E., 17° 15´ S., flows into a large marsh or lake called Etosha, which occupies a depression in the inner table-land about 3400 ft. above sea-level. From the S.E. end of the Etosha lake streams issue in the direction of the Okavango, to which in times of great flood they contribute some water. From the existence of this divergent system it is conjectured that at one time the Kunene formed part of the Okavango, and thus of the Zambezi basin. (See NGAMI.)

On leaving the swampy region the Kunene turns decidedly to the west, and descends to the coast plain by a number of cataracts, of which the chief (in 17° 25´ S., 14° 20´ E.) has a fall of 330 ft. The river becomes smaller in volume as it passes through an almost desert region with little or no vegetation. The stream is sometimes shallow and fordable, at others confined to a narrow rocky channel. Near the sea the Kunene traverses a region of sand-hills, its mouth being completely blocked at low water. The river enters the Atlantic in 17° 18´ S., 11° 40´ E. There are indications that a former branch of the river once entered a bay to the south.

KUNERSDORF, a village of Prussia, 4 m. E. of Frankfurt-on-Oder, the scene of a great battle, fought on the 12th of August 1759, between the Prussian army commanded by Frederick the Great and the allied Russians under Soltykov and Austrians under Loudon, in which Frederick was defeated with enormous losses and his army temporarily ruined. (See SEVEN YEARS' WAR.)

KUNGRAD, a trading town of Asiatic Russia, in the province of Syr-darya, in the delta of the Amu-darya, 50 m. S. of Lake Aral; altitude 260 ft. It is the centre of caravan routes leading to the Caspian Sea and the Uralsk province.

KUNGUR, a town of eastern Russia, in the government of Perm, on the highway to Siberia, 58 m. S.S.E. of the city of Perm. Pop. (1892), 12,400; (1897), 14,324. Tanneries and the manufacture of boots, gloves, leather, overcoats, iron castings and machinery are the chief industries. It has trade in boots, iron wares, cereals, tallow and linseed exported, and in tea imported direct from China.

KUNKEL (or KUNCKEL) VON LOWENSTJERN, JOHANN (1630-1703), German chemist, was born in 1630 (or 1638), near Rendsburg, his father being alchemist to the court of Holstein. He became chemist and apothecary to the dukes of Lauenburg, and then to the elector of Saxony, Johann Georg II., who put him in charge of the royal laboratory at Dresden. Intrigues engineered against him caused him to resign this position in 1677, and for a time he lectured on chemistry at Annaberg and Wittenberg. Invited to Berlin by Frederick William, in 1679 he became director of the laboratory and glass works of Brandenburg, and in 1688 Charles XI. brought him to Stockholm, giving him the title of Baron von Lowenstjern in 1693 and making him a member of the council of mines. He died on the 20th of March 1703 (others say 1702) at Dreissighufen, his country house near Pernau. Kunkel shares with Boyle the honour of having discovered the secret of the process by which Brand of Hamburg had prepared phosphorus in 1669, and he found how to make artificial ruby (red glass) by the incorporation of purple of Cassius. His work also included observations on putrefaction and fermentation, which he spoke of as sisters, on the nature of salts, and on the preparation of pure metals. Though he lived in an atmosphere of alchemy, he derided the notion of the alkahest or universal solvent, and denounced the deceptions of the adepts who pretended to effect the transmutation of metals; but he believed mercury to be a constituent of all metals and heavy minerals, though he held there was no proof of the presence of "sulphur comburens."

His chief works were _Oeffentliche Zuschrift von dem Phosphor Mirabil_ (1678); _Ars vitriaria experimentalis_ (1689) and _Laboratorium chymicum_ (1716).

KUNLONG, the name of a district and ferry on the Salween, in the northern Shan States of Burma. Both are insignificant, but the place has gained notoriety from being the nominal terminus in British territory of the railway across the northern Shan States to the borders of Yunnan, with its present terminus at Lashio. In point of fact, however, this terminus will be 7 m. below the ferry and outside of Kunlong circle. At present Kunlong ferry is little used, and the village was burnt by Kachins in 1893. It is served by dug-outs, three in number in 1899, and capable of carrying about fifteen men on a trip. Formerly the trade was very considerable, and the Burmese had a customs station on the island, from which the place takes its name; but the rebellion in the great state of Theinni, and the southward movement of the Kachins, as well as the Mahommedan rebellion in Yunnan, diverted the caravans to the northern route to Bhamo, which is still chiefly followed. The Wa, who inhabit the hills immediately overlooking the Nam Ting valley, now make the route dangerous for traders. The great majority of these Wa live in unadministered British territory.

KUNZITE, a transparent lilac-coloured variety of spodumene, used as a gem-stone. It was discovered in 1902 near Pala, in San Diego county, California, not far from the locality which yields the fine specimens of rubellite and lepidolite, well known to mineralogists. The mineral was named by Dr C. Baskerville after Dr George F. Kunz, the gem expert of New York, who first described it. Analysis by R. O. E. Davis showed it to be a spodumene. Kunzite occurs in large crystals, some weighing as much as 1000 grams each, and presents delicate hues from rosy lilac to deep pink. It is strongly dichroic. Near the surface it may lose colour by exposure. Kunzite becomes strongly phosphorescent under the Röntgen rays, or by the action of radium or on exposure to ultra-violet rays. (See SPODUMENE.)

KUOPIO, a province of Finland, which includes northern Karelia, bounded on the N.W. and N. by Uleåborg, on the E. by Olonets, on the S.E. by Viborg, on the S. by St Michel and on the W. by Vasa. Its area covers 16,500 sq. m., and the population (1900) was 313,951, of whom 312,875 were Finnish-speaking. The surface is hilly, reaching from 600 to 800 ft. of altitude in the north (Suomenselkä hills), and from 300 to 400 ft. in the south. It is built up of gneisso-granites, which are covered, especially in the middle and east, with younger granites, and partly of gneisses, quartzite, and talc schists and augitic rocks. The whole is covered with glacial and later lacustrine deposits. The soil is of moderate fertility, but often full of boulders. Large lakes cover 16% of surface, marshes and peat bogs over 29% of the area, and forests occupy 2,672,240 hectares. Steamers ply along the lakes as far as Joensuu. The climate is severe, the average temperature being for the year 36° F., for January 13° and for July 63°. Only 2.3% of the whole surface is under cultivation. Rye, barley, oats and potatoes are the chief crops, and in good years these meet the needs of the population. Dairy farming and cattle breeding are of rapidly increasing importance. Nearly 38,800 tons of iron ore are extracted every year, and nearly 12,000 tons of pig iron and 6420 tons of iron and steel are obtained in ten iron-works. Engineering and chemical works, tanneries, saw-mills, paper-mills and distilleries are the chief industrial establishments. The preparation of carts, sledges and other wooden goods is an important domestic industry. Timber, iron, butter, furs and game are exported. The chief towns of the government are Kuopio (13,519), Joensuu (3954) and Iisalmi (1871).

KUOPIO, capital of the Finnish province of that name, situated on Lake Kalla-vesi, 180 m. by rail from the Kuivola junction of the St Petersburg-Helsingfors main line. Pop. (1904), 13,519. It is picturesquely situated, is the seat of a bishop, and has a cathedral, two lyceums and two gymnasia (both for boys and girls), a commercial and several professional schools. There is an agricultural school at Leväis, close by. Kuopio, in consequence of its steamer communication with middle Finland and the sea (via Saima Canal), is a trading centre of considerable importance.

KUPRILI, spelt also KÖPRILI, KOEPRULU, KEUPRULU, &c., the name of a family of Turkish statesmen.

1. MAHOMMED KUPRILI (c. 1586-1661) was the grandson of an Albanian who had settled at Kupri in Asia Minor. He began life as a scullion in the imperial kitchen, became cook, then purse-bearer to Khosrev Pasha, and so, by wit and favour, rose to be master of the horse, "pasha of two tails," and governor of a series of important cities and sanjaks. In 1656 he was appointed governor of Tripoli; but before he had set out to his new post he was nominated to the grand vizierate at the instance of powerful friends. He accepted office only on condition of being allowed a free hand. He signalized his accession to power by suppressing an _émeute_ of orthodox Mussulman fanatics in Constantinople (Sept. 22), and by putting to death certain favourites of the powerful Valide Sultana, by whose corruption and intrigues the administration had been confused. A little later (January 1657) he suppressed with ruthless severity a rising of the spahis; a certain Sheik Salim, leader of the fanatical mob of the capital, was drowned in the Bosporus; and the Greek Patriarch, who had written to the voivode of Wallachia to announce the approaching downfall of Islam, was hanged. This impartial severity was a foretaste of Kuprili's rule, which was characterized throughout by a vigour which belied the expectations based upon his advanced years, and by a ruthlessness which in time grew to be almost blood-lust. His justification was the new life which he breathed into the decaying bones of the Ottoman empire.

Having cowed the disaffected elements in the state, he turned his attention to foreign enemies. The victory of the Venetians off Chios (May 2, 1657) was a severe blow to the Turkish sea-power, which Kuprili set himself energetically to repair. A second battle, fought in the Dardanelles (July 17-19), ended by a lucky shot blowing up the Venetian flag-ship; the losses of the Ottoman fleet were repaired, and in the middle of August Kuprili appeared off Tenedos, which was captured on the 31st and reincorporated permanently in the Turkish empire. Thus the Ottoman prestige was restored at sea, while Kuprili's ruthless enforcement of discipline in the army and suppression of revolts, whether in Europe or Asia, restored it also on land. It was, however, due to his haughty and violent temper that the traditional friendly relations between Turkey and France were broken. The French ambassador, de la Haye, had delayed bringing him the customary gifts, with the idea that he would, like his predecessors, speedily give place to a new grand vizier; Kuprili was bitterly offended, and, on pretext of an abuse of the immunities of diplomatic correspondence, bastinadoed the ambassador's son and cast him and the ambassador himself into prison. A special envoy, sent by Louis XIV., to make inquiries and demand reparation, was treated with studied insult; and the result was that Mazarin abandoned the Turkish alliance and threw the power of France on to the side of Venice, openly assisting the Venetians in the defence of Crete.

Kuprili's restless energy continued to the last, exhibiting itself on one side in wholesale executions, on the other in vast building operations. By his orders castles were built at the mouth of the Don and on the bank of the Dnieper, outworks against the ever-aggressive Tatars, as well as on either shore of the Dardanelles. His last activity as a statesman was to spur the sultan on to press the war against Hungary. He died on the 31st of October 1661. The advice which, on his death-bed, he is said to have given to the sultan is characteristic of his Machiavellian statecraft. This was: never to pay attention to the advice of women, to allow nobody to grow too rich, to keep his treasury well filled, and himself and his troops constantly occupied. Had he so desired, Kuprili might have taken advantage of the revolts of the Janissaries to place himself on the throne; instead, he recommended the sultan to appoint his son as his successor, and so founded a dynasty of able statesmen who occupied the grand vizierate almost without interruption for half a century.

2. FAZIL AHMED KUPRILI (1635-1676), son of the preceding, succeeded his father as grand vizier in 1661 (this being the first instance of a son succeeding his father in that office since the time of the Chenderélis). He began life in the clerical career, which he left, at the age of twenty-three, when he had attained the rank of _muderris_. Usually humane and generous, he sought to relieve the people of the excessive taxation and to secure them against unlawful exactions. Three years after his accession to office Turkey suffered a crushing defeat at the battle of St Gothard and was obliged to make peace with the Empire. But Kuprili's influence with the sultan remained unshaken, and five years later Crete fell to his arms (1669). The next war in which he was called upon to take part was with Poland, in defence of the Cossacks, who had appealed to Turkey for protection. At first successful, Kuprili was defeated by the Poles under John Sobieski at Khotin and Lemberg; the Turks, however, continued to hold their own, and finally in October 1676 consented to honourable terms of peace by the treaty of Zurawno (October 16, 1676), retaining Kaminiec, Podolia and the greater part of the Ukraine. Three days later Ahmed Kuprili died. His military capacity was far inferior to his administrative qualities. He was a liberal protector of art and literature, and the kindliness of his disposition formed a marked contrast to the cruelty of his father; but he was given to intemperance, and the cause of his death was dropsy brought on by alcoholic abuse.

3. ZADE MUSTAFA KUPRILI (1637-1691), surnamed Fazil, son of Mahommed Kuprili, became grand vizier to Suleiman II. in 1689. Called to office after disaster had driven Turkey's forces from Hungary and Poland and her fleets from the Mediterranean, he began by ordering strict economy and reform in the taxation; himself setting the example, which was widely followed, of voluntary contributions for the army, which with the navy he reorganized as quickly as he could. His wisdom is shown by the prudent measures which he took by enacting the _Nizam-i-jedid_, or new regulations for the improvement of the condition of the Christian rayas, and for affording them security for life and property; a conciliatory attitude which at once bore fruit in Greece, where the people abandoned the Venetian cause and returned to their allegiance to the Porte. He met his death at the battle of Salankamen in 1691, when the total defeat of the Turks by the Austrians under Prince Louis of Baden led to their expulsion from Hungary.

4. HUSSEIN KUPRILI (surnamed AMUJA-ZADE) was the son of Hassan, a younger brother of Mahommed Kuprili. After occupying various important posts he became grand vizier in 1697, and owing to his ability and energy the Turks were able to drive the Austrians back over the Save, and Turkish fleets were sent into the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. The efforts of European diplomacy succeeded in inducing Austria and Turkey to come to terms by the treaty of Carlowitz, whereby Turkey was shorn of her chief conquests (1699). After this event Hussein Kuprili, surnamed "the Wise," devoted himself to the suppression of the revolts which had broken out in Arabia, Egypt and the Crimea, to the reduction of the Janissaries, and to the institution of administrative and financial reform. Unfortunately the intrigues against him drove him from office in 1702, and soon afterwards he died.

5. NUMAN KUPRILI, son of Mustafa Fazil, became grand vizier in 1710. The expectations formed of him were not fulfilled, as although he was tolerant, wise and just like his father, he injudiciously sought to take upon himself all the details of administration, a task which proved to be beyond his powers. He failed to introduce order into the administration and was dismissed from office in less than fourteen months after his appointment.

6. ABDULLAH KUPRILI, a son of Mustafa Fazil Kuprili, was appointed Kaimmakam or _locum tenens_ of the grand vizier in 1703. He commanded the Persian expedition in 1723 and captured Tabriz in 1725, resigning his office in 1726. In 1735 he again commanded against the Persians, but fell at the disastrous battle of Bagaverd, thus emulating his father's heroic death at Selankamen.

KURAKIN, BORIS IVANOVICH, PRINCE (1676-1727), Russian diplomatist, was the brother-in-law of Peter the Great, their wives being sisters. He was one of the earliest of Peter's pupils. In 1697 he was sent to Italy to learn navigation. His long and honourable diplomatic career began in 1707, when he was sent to Rome to induce the pope not to recognize Charles XII.'s candidate, Stanislaus Leszczynski, as king of Poland. From 1708 to 1712 he represented Russia at London, Hanover, and the Hague successively, and, in 1713, was the principal Russian plenipotentiary at the peace congress of Utrecht. From 1716 to 1722 he held the post of ambassador at Paris, and when, in 1724, Peter set forth on his Persian campaign, Kurakin was appointed the supervisor of all the Russian ambassadors accredited to the various European courts. "The father of Russian diplomacy," as he has justly been called, was remarkable throughout his career for infinite tact and insight, and a wonderfully correct appreciation of men and events. He was most useful to Russia perhaps when the Great Northern war (see SWEDEN, _History_) was drawing to a close. Notably he prevented Great Britain from declaring war against Peter's close ally, Denmark, at the crisis of the struggle. Kurakin was one of the best-educated Russians of his day, and his autobiography, carried down to 1709, is an historical document of the first importance. He intended to write a history of his own times with Peter the Great as the central figure, but got no further than the summary, entitled _History of Tsar Peter Aleksievich and the People Nearest to Him_ (1682-1694) (Rus.).

See _Archives of Prince A. Th. Kurakin_ (Rus.) (St Petersburg, 1890); A. Brückner, _A Russian Tourist in Western Europe in the beginning of the XVIIIth Century_ (Rus.) (St Petersburg, 1892). (R. N. B.)

KURBASH, or KOURBASH (from the Arabic _qurbash_, a whip; Turkish _qirbach_; and French _courbache_), a whip or strap about a yard in length, made of the hide of the hippopotamus or rhinoceros. It is an instrument of punishment and torture used in various Mahommedan countries, especially in the Turkish empire. "Government by kurbash" denotes the oppression of a people by the constant abuse of the kurbash to maintain authority, to collect taxes, or to pervert justice. The use of the kurbash for such purposes, once common in Egypt, has been abolished by the British authorities.

KURDISTAN, in its wider sense, the "country of the Kurds" (Koords), including that part of Mount Taurus which buttresses the Armenian table-land (see ARMENIA), and is intersected by the Batman Su, the Bohtan Su, and other tributaries of the Tigris; and the wild mountain district, watered by the Great and Little Zab, which marks the western termination of the great Iranian plateau.