Part 47

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.

KUTTALAM, or COURTALLUM, a sanatorium of southern India, in the Tinnevelly district of Madras; pop. (1901), 1197. Though situated only 450 ft. above sea-level, it possesses the climate of a much higher elevation, owing to the breezes that reach it through a gap in the Ghats. It has long been a favourite resort for European visitors, the season lasting from July to September; and it has recently been made more accessible by the opening of the railway from Tinnevelly into Travancore. The scenery is most picturesque, including a famous waterfall.

KUTTENBERG (Czech, _Kutná Hora_), a town of Bohemia, Austria, 45 m. E. by S. of Prague. Pop. (1900), 14,799, mostly Czech. Amongst its buildings are the Gothic five-naved church of St Barbara, begun in 1368, the Gothic church of St Jacob (14th century) and the Late Gothic Trinity church (end of 15th century). The Wälscher Hof, formerly a royal residence and mint, was built at the end of the 13th century, and the Gothic Steinerne Haus, which since 1849 serves as town-hall, contains one of the richest archives in Bohemia. The industry includes sugar-refining, brewing, the manufacture of cotton and woollen stuffs, leather goods and agricultural implements.

The town of Kuttenberg owes its origin to the silver mines, the existence of which can be traced back to the first part of the 13th century. The city developed with great rapidity, and at the outbreak of the Hussite troubles, early in the 14th century, was next to Prague the most important in Bohemia, having become the favourite residence of several of the Bohemian kings. It was here that, on the 18th of January 1410, Wenceslaus IV. signed the famous decree of Kuttenberg, by which the Bohemian nation was given three votes in the elections to the faculty of Prague University as against one for the three other "nations." In the autumn of the same year Kuttenberg was the scene of horrible atrocities. The fierce mining population of the town was mainly German, and fanatically Catholic, in contrast with Prague, which was Czech and utraquist. By way of reprisals for the Hussite outrages in Prague, the miners of Kuttenberg seized on any Hussites they could find, and burned, beheaded or threw them alive into the shafts of disused mines. In this way 1600 people are said to have perished, including the magistrates and clergy of the town of Kaurim, which the Kuttenbergers had taken. In 1420 the emperor Sigismund made the city the base for his unsuccessful attack on the Taborites; Kuttenberg was taken by Zizka, and after a temporary reconciliation of the warring parties was burned by the imperial troops in 1422, to prevent its falling again into the hands of the Taborites. Zizka none the less took the place, and under Bohemian auspices it awoke to a new period of prosperity. In 1541 the richest mine was hopelessly flooded; in the insurrection of Bohemia against Ferdinand I. the city lost all its privileges; repeated visitations of the plague and the horrors of the Thirty Years' War completed its ruin. Half-hearted attempts after the peace to repair the ruined mines failed; the town became impoverished, and in 1770 was devastated by fire. The mines were abandoned at the end of the 18th century; one mine was again opened by the government in 1874, but the work was discontinued in 1903.

KUTUSOV [GOLENISHCHEV-KUTUZOV], MIKHAIL LARIONOVICH, PRINCE OF SMOLENSK (1745-1813), Russian field marshal, was born on the 16th of September 1745 at St Petersburg, and entered the Russian army in 1759 or 1760. He saw active service in Poland, 1764-69, and against the Turks, 1770-74; lost an eye in action in the latter year; and after that travelled for some years in central and western Europe. In 1784 he became major-general, in 1787 governor-general of the Crimea; and under Suvorov, whose constant companion he became, he won considerable distinction in the Turkish War of 1788-91, at the taking of Ochakov, Odessa, Benda and Ismail, and the battles of Rimnik and Mashin. He was now (1791) a lieutenant-general, and successively occupied the positions of ambassador at Constantinople, governor-general of Finland, commandant of the corps of cadets at St Petersburg, ambassador at Berlin, and governor-general of St Petersburg. In 1805 he commanded the Russian corps which opposed Napoleon's advance on Vienna (see NAPOLEONIC CAMPAIGNS), and won the hard-fought action of Dürrenstein on the 18th-19th of November.

On the eve of Austerlitz (q.v.) he tried to prevent the Allied generals from fighting a battle, and when he was overruled took so little interest in the event that he fell asleep during the reading of the orders. He was, however, present at the battle itself, and was wounded. From 1806 to 1811 Kutusov was governor-general of Lithuania and Kiev, and in 1811, being then commander-in-chief in the war against the Turks, he was made a prince. Shortly after this he was called by the unanimous voice of the army and the people to command the army that was retreating before Napoleon's advance. He gave battle at Borodino (q.v.), and was defeated, but not decisively, and after retreating to the south-west of Moscow, he forced Napoleon to begin the celebrated retreat. The old general's cautious pursuit evoked much criticism, but at any rate he allowed only a remnant of the Grand Army to regain Prussian soil. He was now field marshal and prince of Smolensk--this title having been given him for a victory over part of the French army at that place in November 1812. Early in the following year he carried the war into Germany, took command of the allied Russians and Prussians, and prepared to raise all central Europe in arms against Napoleon's domination, but before the opening of the campaign he fell ill and died on the 25th of March 1813 at Bunzlau. Memorials have been erected to him at that place and at St Petersburg.

Mikhailovsky-Danilevski's life of Kutusov (St Petersburg, 1850) was translated into French by A. Fizelier (Paris, 1850).

KUWET (KUWEIT, KOWEIT), a port in Arabia at the north-western angle of the Persian Gulf in 29° 20' N. and 48° E., about 80 m. due S. of Basra and 60 m. S.W. of the mouth of the Shat el Arab. The name Kuwet is the diminutive form of Kut, a common term in Irak for a walled village; it is also shown in some maps as Grane or Grain, a corruption of Kuren, the diminutive of Karn, a horn. It lies on the south side of a bay 20 m. long and 5 m. wide, the mouth of which is protected by two islands, forming a fine natural harbour, with good anchorage in from 4 to 9 fathoms of water. The town has 15,000 inhabitants and is clean and well built; the country around being practically desert, it depends entirely on the sea and its trade, and its sailors have a high reputation as the most skilful and trustworthy on the Persian Gulf; while its position as the nearest port to Upper Nejd gives it great importance as the port of entry for rice, piece goods, &c., and of export for horses, sheep, wool and other products of the interior. Kuwet was recommended in 1850 by General F. R. Chesney as the terminus of his proposed Euphrates Valley railway, and since 1898, when the extension of the Anatolian railway to Bagdad and the Gulf has been under discussion, attention has again been directed to it. An alternative site for the terminus has been suggested in Um Khasa, at the head of the Khor `Abdallah, where a branch of the Shat el Arab formerly entered the sea; it lies some 20 m. N.E. of Kuwet and separated from it by the island of Bubian, which has for some time been in Turkish occupation. An attempt by Turkey to occupy Kuwet in 1898 was met by a formal protest from Great Britain against any infringement of the _status quo_, and in 1899 Sheikh Mubarak of Kuwet placed his interests under British protection.

The total trade passing through Kuwet in 1904-1905 was valued at £160,000. The imports include arms and ammunition, piece goods, rice, coffee, sugar, &c.; and the exports, horses, pearls, dates, wool, &c. The steamers of the British India Steamship Company call fortnightly. (R. A. W.)

KUZNETSK, two towns of Russia. (1) A town in the government of Saratov, 74 m. by rail east of Penza. It has grown rapidly since the development of the railway system in the Volga basin. It has manufactures of agricultural machinery and hardware, in a number of small factories and workshops, besides tanneries, rope-works, boot and shoe making in houses, and there is considerable trade in sheepskins, grain, salt and wooden goods exported to the treeless regions of south-east Russia. Pop. (1897), 21,740. (2) A town in West Siberia, in the government of Tomsk, 150 m. E.N.E. of Barnaul, on the Upper Tom river, at the head of navigation. It has trade in grain, cattle, furs, cedarwood, nuts, wax, honey and tallow, and is the centre of a coal-mining district. Pop. (1897), 3141.

KVASS, or KWASS (a Russian word for "leaven"), one of the national alcoholic drinks of Russia, and popular also in eastern Europe. It is made, by a simultaneous acid and alcoholic fermentation, of wheat, rye, barley and buckwheat meal or of rye-bread, with the addition of sugar or fruit. It has been a universal drink in Russia since the 16th century. Though in the large towns it is made commercially, elsewhere it is frequently an article of domestic production. Kvass is of very low alcoholic content (0.7 to 2.2%). There are, beside the ordinary kind, superior forms of the drink, such as apple or raspberry kvass.

KWAKIUTL, a tribe of North-American Indians of Wakashan stock. They number about 2000. Formerly the term was used of the one tribe in the north-east of Vancouver, but now it is the collective name for a group of Wakashan peoples. The Kwakiutl Indians are remarkable for their conservatism in all matters and specially their adherence to the custom of Potlatch, which it is sometimes suggested originated with them. Tribal government is in the hands of secret societies. There are three social ranks, hereditary chiefs, middle and third estates, most of the latter being slaves or their descendants. Entry to the societies is forbidden the latter, and can only be obtained by the former after torture and fasting. The _hamatsa_ or cannibal society is only open to those who have been members of a lower society for eight years.