Part 21

KHABAROVSK (known as KHABAROVKA until 1895), a town of Asiatic Russia, capital of the Amur region and of the Maritime Province. Pop. (1897), 14,932. It was founded in 1858 and is situated on a high cliff on the right bank of the Amur, at its confluence with the Usuri, in 48° 28´ N. and 135° 6´ E. It is connected by rail with Vladivostok (480 m.), and is an important entrepôt for goods coming down the Usuri and its tributary the Sungacha, as well as a centre of trade, especially in sables. The town is built of wood, and has a large cathedral, a monument (1891) to Count Muraviev-Amurskiy, a cadet corps (new building 1904), a branch of the Russian Geographical Society, with museum, and a technical railway school.

KHAIRAGARH, a feudatory state in the Central Provinces, India. Area, 931 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 137,554, showing a decrease of 24% in the decade due to the effects of famine; estimated revenue, £20,000; tribute £4600. The chief, who is descended from the old Gond royal family, received the title of raja as an hereditary distinction in 1898. The state includes a fertile plain, yielding rice and cotton. Its prosperity has been promoted by the Bengal-Nagpur railway, which has a station at Dongargarh, the largest town (pop. 5856), connected by road with Khairagarh town, the residence of the raja.

KHAIREDDIN (_Khair-ed-Din_ = "Joy of Religion") (d. 1890), Turkish statesman, was of Circassian race, but nothing is known about his birth and parentage. In early boyhood he was in the hands of a Tunisian slave-dealer, by whom he was sold to Hamuda Pasha, then bey of Tunis, who gave him his freedom and a French education. When Khaireddin left school the bey made him steward of his estates, and from this position he rose to be minister of finance. When the prime minister, Mahmud ben Ayad, absconded to France with the treasure-chest of the beylic, Hamuda despatched Khaireddin to obtain the extradition of the fugitive. The mission failed; but the six years it occupied enabled Khaireddin to make himself widely known in France, to become acquainted with French political ideas and administrative methods, and, on his return to Tunisia, to render himself more than ever useful to his government. Hamuda died while Khaireddin was in France, but he was highly appreciated by the three beys--Ahmet (1837), Mohammed (1855), and Sadok (1859)--who in turn followed Hamuda, and to his influence was due the sequence of liberal measures which distinguished their successive reigns. Khaireddin also secured for the reigning family the confirmation from the sultan of Turkey of their right of succession to the beylic. But although Khaireddin's protracted residence in France had imbued him with liberal ideas, it had not made him a French partisan, and he strenuously opposed the French scheme of establishing a protectorate over Tunisia upon which France embarked in the early 'seventies. This rendered him obnoxious to Sadok's prime minister--an apostate Jew named Mustapha ben Ismael--who succeeded in completely undermining the bey's confidence in him. His position thus became untenable in Tunisia, and shortly after the accession of Abdul Hamid he acquainted the sultan with his desire to enter the Turkish service. In 1877 the sultan bade him come to Constantinople, and on his arrival gave him a seat on the Reform Commission then sitting at Tophane. Early in 1879 the sultan appointed him grand vizier, and shortly afterwards he prepared a scheme of constitutional government, but Abdul Hamid refused to have anything to do with it. Thereupon Khaireddin resigned office, on the 28th of July 1879. More than once the sultan offered him anew the grand vizierate, but Khaireddin persistently refused it, and thus incurred disfavour. He died on the 30th of January 1890, practically a prisoner in his own house.

KHAIRPUR, or KHYRPOOR, a native state of India, in the Sind province of Bombay. Area, 6050 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 199,313, showing an apparent increase of 55% in the decade; estimated revenue, £90,000. Like other parts of Sind, Khairpur consists of a great alluvial plain, very rich and fertile in the neighbourhood of the Indus and the irrigation canals, the remaining area being a continuous series of sand-hill ridges covered with a stunted brushwood, where cultivation is altogether impossible. A small ridge of limestone hills passes through the northern part of the state, being a continuation of a ridge known as the Ghar, running southwards from Rohri. The state is watered by five canals drawn off from the Indus, besides the Eastern Nara, a canal which follows an old bed of the Indus. In the desert tracts are pits of _natron_.

KHAIRPUR town is situated on a canal 15 m. E. of the Indus, with a railway station, 20 m. S. of Sukkur, on the Kotri-Rohri branch of the North-Western railway, which here crosses a corner of the state. Pop. (1901), 14,014. There are manufactures of cloth, carpets, goldsmiths' work and arms, and an export trade in indigo, grain and oilseeds.

The chief, or mir, of Khairpur belongs to a Baluch family, known as the Talpur, which rose on the fall of the Kalhora dynasty of Sind. About 1813, during the troubles in Kabul incidental to the establishment of the Barakzai dynasty, the mirs were able to withhold the tribute which up to that date had been somewhat irregularly paid to the rulers of Afghanistan. In 1832 the individuality of the Khairpur state was recognized by the British government in a treaty under which the use of the river Indus and the roads of Sind were secured. When the first Kabul expedition was decided on, the mir of Khairpur, Ali Murad, cordially supported the British policy; and the result was that, after the battles of Meeanee and Daba had put the whole of Sind at the disposal of the British, Khairpur was the only state allowed to retain its political existence under the protection of the paramount power. The chief mir, Faiz Mahommed Khan, G.C.I.E., who was an enlightened ruler, died in 1909, shortly after returning from a pilgrimage to the Shiite shrine of Kerbela.

KHAJRAHO, a village of Central India, in the state of Chhatarpur, famous for its old temples; pop. (1901), 1242. It is believed to have been the capital of the ancient kingdom of Jijhoti, corresponding with modern Bundelkhand. The temples consist of three groups: Saiva, Vaishnav and Jain, almost all built in the 10th and 11th centuries. They are covered outside and inside with elaborate sculptures, and also bear valuable inscriptions.

KHAKI (from Urdu _khak_, dust), originally a dust-coloured fabric, of the character of canvas, drill or holland, used by the British and native armies in India. It seems to have been first worn by the Guides, a mixed regiment of frontier troops, in 1848, and to have spread to other regiments during the following years. Some at any rate of the British troops had uniforms of khaki during the Indian Mutiny (1857-58), and thereafter drill or holland (generally called "khaki" whatever its colour) became the almost universal dress of British and native troops in Asia and Africa. During the South African War of 1899-1902, drill of a sandy shade of brown was worn by all troops sent out from Great Britain and the Colonies. Khaki drill, however, proved unsuitable material for the cold weather in the uplands of South Africa, and after a time the troops were supplied with dust-coloured serge uniforms. Since 1900 all drab and green-grey uniforms have been, unofficially at any rate, designated khaki.

KHALIFA, THE. ABDULLAH ET TAAISHA (Seyyid Abdullah ibn Seyyid Mahommed) (1846-1899), successor of the mahdi Mahommed Ahmed, born in 1846 in the south-western portion of Darfur, was a member of the Taaisha section of the Baggara or cattle-owning Arabs. His father, Mahommed et Taki, had determined to emigrate to Mecca with his family; but the unsettled state of the country long prevented him, and he died in Africa after advising his eldest son, Abdullah, to take refuge with some religious sheikh on the Nile, and to proceed to Mecca on a favourable opportunity. Abdullah, who had already had much connexion with slave-hunters, and had fought against the Egyptian conquest of Darfur, departed for the Nile valley with this purpose; hearing on the way of the disputes of Mahommed Ahmed, who had not yet claimed a sacred character, with the Egyptian officials, he went to him in spite of great difficulties, and, according to his own statement, at once recognized in him the mahdi ("guide") divinely appointed to regenerate Islam in the latter days. His advice to Mahommed to stir up revolt in Darfur and Kordofan being justified by the result, he became his most trusted counsellor, and was soon declared principal khalifa or vicegerent of the mahdi, all of whose acts were to be regarded as the mahdi's own. The mahdi on his deathbed (1885) solemnly named him his successor; and for thirteen years Abdullah ruled over what had been the Egyptian Sudan. Khartum was deserted by his orders, and Omdurman, at first intended as a temporary camp, was made his capital. At length the progress of Sir Herbert (afterwards Lord) Kitchener's expedition compelled him to give battle to the Anglo-Egyptian forces near Omdurman, where on the 2nd of September 1898 his army, fighting with desperate courage, was almost annihilated. The khalifa, who had not left Omdurman since the death of the mahdi, fled to Kordofan with the remnant of his host. On the 25th of November 1899 he gave battle to a force under Colonel (afterwards General Sir) F. R. Wingate, and was slain at Om Debreikat. He met death with great fortitude, refusing to fly, and his principal amirs voluntarily perished with him.

The khalifa was a man of iron will and great energy, and possessed some military skill. By nature tyrannical, he was impatient of all opposition and appeared to delight in cruelty. It must be remembered, however, that he had to meet the secret or open hostility of all the tribes of the Nile valley and that his authority was dependent on his ability to overawe his opponents. He maintained in public the divine character of the power he inherited from the mahdi and inspired his followers to perform prodigies of valour. Although he treated many of his European captives with terrible severity he never had any of them executed. It is said that their presence in Omdurman ministered to his vanity--one of the most marked features of his character. In private life he showed much affection for his family.

Personal sketches of the khalifa are given in Slatin Pasha's _Fire and Sword in the Sudan_ (London, 1896), and in Father Ohrwalder's _Ten Years in the Mahdi's Camp_ (London, 1892). See also Sir F. R. Wingate's _Mahdiism and the Egyptian Sudan_ (London, 1891).

KHALIL IBN AHMAD [ABU 'ABDURRAHMAN UL-KHALIL IBN AHMAD IBN 'AMR IBN TAMIM] (718-791), Arabian philologist, was a native of Oman. He was distinguished for having written the first Arabic dictionary and for having first classified the Arabic metres and laid down their rules. He was also a poet, and lived the ascetic life of a poor student. His grammatical work was carried on by his pupil Sibawaihi. The dictionary known as the _Kitab-ul-'Ain_ is ascribed, at least in its inception, to Khalil. It was probably finished by one of his pupils and was not known in Bagdad until 862. The words were not arranged in alphabetical order but according to physiological principles, beginning with _'Ain_ and ending with _Ya_. The work seems to have been in existence as late as the 14th century, but is now only known from extracts in manuscript.

Various grammatical works are ascribed to Khalil, but their authenticity seems doubtful; cf. C. Brockelmann, _Gesch. der arabischen Literatur_, i. 100 (Weimar, 1898). (G. W. T.)

KHAMGAON, a town of India, in the Buldana district of Berar, 340 m. N.E. of Bombay. Pop. (1901), 18,341. It is an important centre of the cotton trade. The cotton market, the second in the province, was established about 1820. Khamgaon was connected in 1870 with the Great Indian Peninsula railway by a short branch line.

KHAMSEH, a small but important province of Persia, between Kazvin and Tabriz. It consisted formerly of five districts, whence its name Khamseh, "the five," but is now subdivided into seventeen districts. The language of the inhabitants is Turkish. The province pays a revenue of about £20,000 per annum, and its capital is Zenjan.

KHAMSIN (Arabic for "fifty"), a hot oppressive wind arising in the Sahara. It blows in Egypt at intervals for about fifty days during March, April and May, and fills the air with sand. In Guinea the wind from the Sahara is known as harmattan (q.v.).

KHAMTIS, a tribe of the north-east frontier of India, dwelling in the hills bordering the Lakhimpur district of Assam. They are of Shan origin, and appear to have settled in their present abode in the middle of the 18th century. In 1839 they raided the British outpost of Sadiya, but they have since given no trouble. Their headquarters are in a valley 200 m. from Sadiya, which can be reached only over high passes and through dense jungle. In 1901 the number of speakers of Khamti was returned as only 1490, mostly in Burma.

KHAN (from the Turki, hence Persian and Arabic _Khan_), a title of respect in Mahommedan countries. It is a contracted form of _khaqan_ (khakan), a word equivalent to sovereign or emperor, used among the Mongol and Turki-nomad hordes. The title khan was assumed by Jenghis when he became supreme ruler of the Mongols; his successors became known in Europe as the Great Khans (sometimes as the Chams, &c.) of Tatary or Cathay. Khan is still applied to semi-independent rulers, such as the khans of Russian Turkestan, or the khan of Kalat in Baluchistan, and is also used immediately after the name of rulers such as the sultan of Turkey; the meaning of the term has also extended downwards, until in Persia and Afghanistan it has become an affix to the name of any Mahommedan gentleman, like Esquire, and in India it has become a part of many Mahommedan names, especially when Pathan descent is claimed. The title of Khan Bahadur is conferred by the British government on Mahommedans and also on Parsis.

KHANDESH, EAST and WEST, two districts of British India, in the central division of Bombay. They were formed in 1906 by the division of the old single district of Khandesh. Their areas are respectively 4544 sq. m. and 5497 sq. m., and the population on these areas in 1901 was 957,728 and 469,654. The headquarters of East Khandesh are at Jalgaon, and those of West Khandesh at Dhulia.

The principal natural feature is the Tapti river, which flows through both districts from east to west and divides each into two unequal parts. Of these the larger lie towards the south, and are drained by the rivers Girna, Bori and Panjhra. Northwards beyond the alluvial plain, which contains some of the richest tracts in Khandesh, the land rises towards the Satpura hills. In the centre and east the country is level, save for some low ranges of barren hills, and has in general an arid, unfertile appearance. Towards the north and west, the plain rises into a difficult and rugged country, thickly wooded, and inhabited by wild tribes of Bhils, who chiefly support themselves on the fruits of the forests and by wood-cutting. The drainage of the district centres in the Tapti, which receives thirteen principal tributaries in its course through Khandesh. None of the rivers is navigable, and the Tapti flows in too deep a bed to be useful for irrigation. The district on the whole, however, is fairly well supplied with surface water. Khandesh is not rich in minerals. A large area is under forest; but the jungles have been denuded of most of their valuable timber. Wild beasts are numerous. In 1901 the population of the old single district was 1,427,382, showing an increase of less than 1% in the decade. Of the aboriginal tribes the Bhils are the most important. They number 167,000, and formerly were a wild and lawless robber tribe. Since the introduction of British rule, the efforts made by kindly treatment, and by the offer of suitable employment, to win the Bhils from their disorderly life have been most successful. Many of them are now employed in police duties and as village watchmen. The principal crops are millets, cotton, pulse, wheat and oilseeds. There are many factories for ginning and pressing cotton, and a cotton-mill at Jalgaon. The eastern district is traversed by the Great Indian Peninsula railway, which branches at Bhusawal (an important centre of trade) towards Jubbulpore and Nagpur. Both districts are crossed by the Tapti Valley line from Surat. Khandesh suffered somewhat from famine in 1896-1897, and more severely in 1899-1900.

KHANDWA, a town of British India, in the Nimar district of the Central Provinces, of which it is the headquarters, 353 m. N.E. of Bombay by rail. Pop. (1901), 19,401. Khandwa is an ancient town, with Jain and other temples. As a centre of trade, it has superseded the old capital of Burhanpur. It is an important railway junction, where the Malwa line from Indore meets the main line of the Great Indian Peninsula. There are factories for ginning and pressing cotton, and raw cotton is exported.

KHANSA (Tumadir bint 'Amr, known as al-Khansa) (d. c. 645), Arabian poetess of the tribe Sulaim, a branch of Qais, was born in the later years of the 6th century and brought up in such wealth and luxury as the desert could give. Refusing the offer of Duraid ibn us-Simma, a poet and prince, she married Mirdas and had by him three sons. Afterwards she married again. Before the time of Islam she lost her brothers Sakhr and Moawiya in battle. Her elegies written on these brothers and on her father made her the most famous poetess of her time. At the fair of 'Ukaz Nabigha Dhubyani is said to have placed A'sha first among the poets then present and Khansa second above Hassan ibn Thabit. Khansa with her tribe accepted Islam somewhat late, but persisted in wearing the heathen sign of mourning, against the precepts of Islam. Her four sons fought in the armies of Islam and were slain in the battle of Kadisiya. Omar wrote her a letter congratulating her on their heroic end and assigned her a pension. She died in her tent c. 645. Her daughter 'Amra also wrote poetry. Opinion was divided among later critics as to whether Khansa or Laila (see ARABIC LITERATURE: § _Poetry_) was the greater.

Her diwan has been edited by L. Cheikho (Beirut, 1895) and translated into French by De Coppier (Beirut, 1889). Cf. T. Nöldeke's _Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Poesie der alten Araber_ (Hanover, 1864). Stories of her life are contained in the _Kitab ul-Aghani_, xiii. 136-147. (G. W. T.)

KHAR, a small but very fertile province of Persia, known by the ancients as Choara and Choarene; pop. about 10,000. The governor of the province resides at Kishlak Khar, a large village situated 62 m. S.E. of Teheran, or at Aradan, a village 10 m. farther E. The province has an abundant water-supply from the Hableh-rud, and produces great quantities of wheat, barley and rice. Of the £6000 which it pays to the state, more than £4000 is paid in kind--wheat, barley, straw and rice.

KHARAGHODA, a village of British India, in the Ahmedabad district of Bombay, situated on the Little Runn of Cutch, and the terminus of a branch railway; pop. (1901), 2108. Here is the government factory of salt, known as Baragra salt, producing nearly 2,000,000 cwt. a year, most of which is exported to other provinces in Central and Northern India.

KHARGA (WAH EL-KHARGA, the outer oasis), the largest of the Egyptian oases, and hence frequently called the Great Oasis. It lies in the Libyan desert between 24° and 26° N. and 30° and 31° E., the chief town, also called Kharga, being 435 m. by rail S. by W. of Cairo. It is reached by a narrow-gauge line (opened in 1908) from Kharga junction, a station on the Nile valley line near Farshut. The oasis consists of a depression in the desert some 1200 sq. m. in extent, and is about 100 m. long N. to S. and from 12 to 50 broad E. to W. Formerly, and into historic times, a lake occupied a considerable part of the depression, and the thick deposits of clay and sand then laid down now form the bulk of the cultivated lands of the oasis. It includes, however, a good deal of desert land. The inhabitants numbered (1907 census) 8348. They are of Berber stock. Administratively the oasis forms part of the mudiria of Assiut. It is practically rainless, and there is not now a single natural flowing spring. There are, however, numerous wells, water being obtained freely from the porous sandstone which underlies a great part of the Libyan desert. Some very ancient wells are 400 ft. deep. In water-bearing sandstones near the surface there are underground aqueducts dating from Roman times. The oasis contains many groves of date palms, there being over 60,000 adult trees in 1907. The dom palm, tamarisk, acacia and wild senna are also found. Rice, barley and wheat are the chief cereals cultivated, and lucerne for fodder. Besides agriculture the only industry is basket and mat making--from palm leaves and fibre. Since 1906 extensive boring and land reclamation works have been undertaken in the oasis.

The name of the oasis appears in hieroglyphics as _Kenem_, and that of its capital as _Hebi_ (the plough). In Pharaonic times it supported a large population, but the numerous ruins are mostly of later date. The principal ruin, a temple of Ammon, built under Darius, is of sandstone, 142 ft. long by 63 ft. broad and 30 ft. in height. South-east is another temple, a square stone building with the name of Antoninus Pius over one off the entrances. On the eastern escarpment of the oasis on the way to Girga are the remains of a large Roman fort with twelve bastions. On the road to Assiut is a fine Roman columbarium or dove-cote. Next to the great temple the most interesting ruin in the oasis is, however, the necropolis, a burial-place of the early Christians, placed on a hill 3 m. N. of the town of Kharga. There are some two hundred rectangular tomb buildings in unburnt brick with ornamented fronts. In most of the tombs is a chamber in which the mummy was placed, the Egyptian Christians at first continuing this method of preserving the bodies of their dead. In several of the tombs and in the chapel of the cemetery is painted the Egyptian sign of life, which was confounded with the Christian cross. The chapel is basilican; in it and in another building in the necropolis are crude frescoes of biblical subjects.

Kharga town (pop. 1907 census, 5362) is picturesquely situated amid palm groves. The houses are of sun-dried bricks, the streets narrow and winding and for the most part roofed over, the roofs carrying upper storeys. Some of the streets are cut through the solid rock. South of the town are the villages of Genna, Guehda (with a temple dedicated to Ammon, Mut and Khonsu), Bulak (pop. 1012), Dakakin, Beris (pop. 1564), Dush (with remains of a fine temple bearing the names of Domitian and Hadrian), &c.