Part 46

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.

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.