Part 24

Many curious customs still prevail among the Khevsurs, as for instance the imprisonment of the woman during childbirth in a lonely hut, round which the husband parades, firing off his musket at intervals. After delivery, food is surreptitiously brought the mother, who is kept in her prison a month, after which the hut is burnt. The boys are usually named after some wild animal, e.g. bear or wolf, while the girls' names are romantic, such as Daughter of the Sun, Sun of my Heart. Marriages are arranged by parents when the bride and bridegroom are still in long clothes. The chief ceremony is a forcible abduction of the girl. Divorce is very common, and some Khevsurs are polygamous. Formerly no Khevsur might die in a house, but was always carried out under the sun or stars. The Khevsurs like to call themselves Christians, but their religion is a mixture of Christianity, Mahommedanism and heathen rites. They keep the Sabbath of the Christian church, the Friday of the Moslems and the Saturday of the Jews. They worship sacred trees and offer sacrifices to the spirits of the earth and air. Their priests are a combination of medicine-men and divines.

See G. F. R. Radde, _Die Chevs'uren und ihr Land_ (Cassel, 1878); Ernest Chantre, _Recherches anthropologiques dans le Caucase_ (Lyons, 1885-1887).

KHILCHIPUR, a mediatized chiefship in Central India, under the Bhopal agency; area, 273 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 31,143; estimated revenue, £7000; tribute payable to Sindhia, £700. The residence of the chief, who is a Khichi Rajput of the Chauhan clan, is at Khilchipur (pop. 5121).

KHINGAN, two ranges of mountains in eastern Asia.

(1) GREAT KHINGAN is the eastern border ridge of the immense plateau which may be traced from the Himalaya to Bering Strait and from the Tian-shan Mountains to the Khingan Mountains. It is well known from 50° N. to Kalgan (41° N., 115° E.), where it is crossed by the highway from Urga to Peking. As a border ridge of the Mongolian plateau, it possesses very great orographical importance, in that it is an important climatic boundary, and constitutes the western limits of the Manchurian flora. The base of its western slope, which is very gentle, lies at altitudes of 3000 to 3500 ft. Its crest rises to 4800 to 6500 ft., but its eastern slope sinks very precipitately to the plains of Manchuria, which have only 1500 to 2000 ft. of altitude. On this stretch one or two subordinate ridges, parallel to the main range and separated from it by longitudinal valleys, fringe its eastern slope, thus marking two different terraces and giving to the whole system a width of from 80 to 100 m. Basalts, trachytes and other volcanic formations are found in the main range and on its south-eastern slopes. The range was in volcanic

## activity in 1720-1721.

South-west of Peking the Great Khingan is continued by the In-shan mountains, which exhibit similar features to those of the Great Khingan, and represent the same terraced escarpment of the Mongolian plateau. Moreover, it appears from the map of the Russian General Staff (surveys of Skassi, V. A. Obruchev, G. N. Potanin, &c.) that similar terrace-shaped escarpments--but considerably wider apart than in Manchuria--occur in the Shan-si province of China, along the southern border of the South Mongolian plateau. These escarpments are pierced by the Yellow River or Hwang-ho south of the Great Wall, between 38° and 39° N., and in all probability a border range homologous to the Great Khingan separates the upper tributaries of the Hwang-ho (namely the Tan-ho) from those of the Yang-tsze-kiang. But according to Obruchev the escarpments of the Wei-tsi-shan and Lu-huang-lin, by which southern Ordos drops towards the Wei-ho (tributary of the Hwang-ho), can hardly be taken as corresponding to the Kalgan escarpment. They fall with gentle slopes only towards the high plains on the south of them, while a steep descent towards the low plain seems to exist further south only, between 32° and 34°. Thus the southern continuations of the Great Khingan, south of 38° N., possibly consist of two separate escarpments. At its northern end the place where the Great Khingan is pierced by the Amur has not been ascertained by direct observation. Prince P. Kropotkin considers that the upper Amur emerges from the high plateau and its border-ridge, the Khingan, below Albazin and above Kumara.[1] If this view prevail--Petermann has adopted it for his map of Asia, and it has been upheld in all the Gotha publications--it would appear that the Great Khingan joins the Stanovoi ridge or Jukjur, in that portion of it which faces the west coast of the Sea of Okhotsk. At any rate the Khingan, separating the Mongolian plateau from the much lower plains of the Sungari and the Nonni, is one of the most important orographical dividing-lines in Asia.

See Semenov's _Geographical Dictionary_ (in Russian); D. V. Putiata, _Expedition to the Khingan in 1891_ (St Petersburg, 1893); Potanin, "Journey to the Khingan," in _Izvestia Russ. Geog. Soc._ (1901).

(2) The name LITTLE KHINGAN is applied indiscriminately to two distinct mountain ranges. The proper application of the term would be to reserve it for the typical range which the Amur pierces 40 m. below Ekaterino-Nikolsk (on the Amur), and which is also known as the Bureya mountains, and as Dusse-alin. This range, which may be traced from the Amur to the Sea of Okhotsk, seems to be cleft twice by the Sungari and to be continued under different local names in the same south-westerly direction to the peninsula of Liao-tung in Manchuria. The other range to which the name of Little Khingan is applied is that of the Ilkhuri-alin mountains (51° N., 122°-126° E.), which run in a north-westerly direction between the upper Nonni and the Amur, west of Blagovyeshchensk. (P. A. K.; J. T. Be.)

FOOTNOTE:

[1] See his sketch of the orography of East Siberia (French trans., with addenda, published by the _Institut Géographique_ of Brussels in 1902).

KHIVA, formerly an important kingdom of Asia, but now a much reduced khanate, dependent upon Russia, and confined to the delta of the Amu-darya (Oxus). Its frontier runs down the left bank of the Amu, from 40° 15´ N., and down its left branch to Lake Aral; then, for about 40 m. along the south coast of Lake Aral, and finally southwards, following the escarpment of the Ust-Urt plateau. From the Transcaspian territory of Russia Khiva is separated by a line running almost W.N.W.-E.S.E. under 40° 30´ N., from the Uzboi depression to the Amu-darya. The length of the khanate from north to south is 200 m., and its greatest width 300 m. The area of the Khiva oasis is 5210 sq. m. while the area of the steppes is estimated at 17,000 sq. m. The population of the former is estimated at 400,000, and that of the latter also at 400,000 (nomadic). The water of the Amu is brought by a number of irrigation canals to the oasis, the general declivity of the surface westwards facilitating the irrigation. Several old beds of the Amu intersect the territory. The water of the Amu and the very thin layer of ooze which it deposits render the oasis very fertile. Millet, rice, wheat, barley, oats, peas, flax, hemp, madder, and all sorts of vegetables and fruit (especially melons) are grown, as also the vine and cotton. The white-washed houses scattered amidst the elms and poplars, and surrounded by flourishing fields, produce the most agreeable contrast with the arid steppes. Livestock, especially sheep, camels, horses and cattle, is extensively bred by the nomads.

The population is composed of four divisions: Uzbegs (150,000 to 200,000), the dominating race among the settled inhabitants of the oasis, from whom the officials are recruited; Sarts and Tajiks, agriculturists and tradespeople of mixed race; Turkomans (c. 170,000), who live in the steppes, south and west of the oasis, and formerly plundered the settled inhabitants by their raids; and the Kara-kalpaks, or Black Bonnets, a Turki tribe some 50,000 in number. They live south of Lake Aral, and in the towns of Kungrad, Khodsheili and Kipchak form the prevailing element. They cultivate the soil, breed cattle, and their women make carpets. There are also about 10,000 Kirghiz, and when the Russians took Khiva in 1873 there were 29,300 Persian slaves, stolen by Turkoman raiders, and over 6500 liberated slaves, mostly Kizil-bashes. The former were set free and the slave trade abolished. Of domestic industries, the embroidering of cloth, silks and leather is worthy of notice. The trade of Khiva is considerable: cotton, wool, rough woollen cloth and silk cocoons are exported to Russia, and various animal products to Bokhara. Cottons, velveteen, hardware and pepper are imported from Russia, and silks, cotton, china and tea from Bokhara. Khivan merchants habitually attend the Orenburg and Nizhniy-Novgorod fairs.

_History._--The present khanate is only a meagre relic of the great kingdom which under the name of Chorasmia, Kharezm (Khwarizm) and Urgenj (Jurjaniya, Gurganj) held the keys of the mightiest river in Central Asia. Its possession has consequently been much disputed from early times, but the country has undergone great changes, geographical as well as political, which have lessened its importance. The Oxus (Amu-darya) has changed its outlet, and no longer forms a water-way to the Caspian and thence to Europe, while Khiva is entirely surrounded by territory either directly administered or protected by Russia.

Chorasmia is mentioned by Herodotus, it being then one of the Persian provinces, over which Darius placed satraps, but nothing material of it is known till it was seized by the Arabs in A.D. 680. When the power of the caliphs declined the governor of the province probably became independent; but the first king known to history is Mamun-ibn-Mahommed in 995. Khwarizm fell under the power of Mahmud of Ghazni in 1017, and subsequently under that of the Seljuk Turks. In 1097 the governor Kutb-ud-din assumed the title of king, and one of his descendants, 'Ala-ud-din-Mahommed, conquered Persia, and was the greatest prince in Central Asia when Jenghiz Khan appeared in 1219. Khiva was conquered again by Timur in 1379; and finally fell under the rule of the Uzbegs in 1512, who are still the dominant race under the protection of the Russians.

Russia established relations with Khiva in the 17th century. The Cossacks of the Yaik during their raids across the Caspian learnt of the existence of this rich territory and made more than one plundering expedition to the chief town Urgenj. In 1717 Peter the Great, having heard of the presence of auriferous sand in the bed of the Oxus, desiring also to "open mercantile relations with India through Turan" and to release from slavery some Russian subjects, sent a military force to Khiva. When within 100 miles of the capital they encountered the troops of the khan. The battle lasted three days, and ended in victory for the Russian arms. The Khivans, however, induced the victors to break up their army into small detachments and treacherously annihilated them in detail. It was not until the third decade of the 19th century that the attention of the Muscovite government was again directed to the khanate. In 1839 a force under General Perovsky moved from Orenburg across the Ust-Urt plateau to the Khivan frontiers, to occupy the khanate, liberate the captives and open the way for trade. This expedition likewise terminated in disaster. In 1847 the Russians founded a fort at the mouth of the Jaxartes or Syr-darya. This advance deprived the Khivans not only of territory, but of a large number of tax-paying Kirghiz, and also gave the Russians a base for further operations. For the next few years, however, the attention of the Russians was taken up with Khokand, their operations on that side culminating in the capture of Tashkent in 1865. Free in this quarter, they directed their thoughts once more to Khiva. In 1869 Krasnovodsk on the east shore of the Caspian was founded, and in 1871-1872 the country leading to Khiva from different parts of Russian Turkestan was thoroughly explored and surveyed. In 1873 an expedition to Khiva was carefully organized on a large scale. The army of 10,000 men placed at the disposal of General Kaufmann started from three different bases of operation--Krasnovodsk, Orenburg and Tashkent. Khiva was occupied almost without opposition. All the territory (35,700 sq. m. and 110,000 souls) on the right bank of the Oxus was annexed to Russia, while a heavy war indemnity was imposed upon the khanate. The Russians thereby so crippled the finances of the state that the khan is in complete subjection to his more powerful neighbour. (J. T. Be.; C. El.)

KHIVA, capital of the khanate of Khiva, in Western Asia, 25 m. W. of the Amu-darya and 240 m. W.N.W. of Bokhara. Pop. about 10,000. It is surrounded by a low earthen wall, and has a citadel, the residence of the khan and the higher officials. There are a score of mosques, of which the one containing the tomb of Polvan, the patron saint of Khiva, is the best, and four large _madrasas_ (Mahommedan colleges). Large gardens exist in the western part of the town. A small Russian quarter has grown up. The inhabitants make carpets, silks and cottons.

KHNOPFF, FERNAND EDMOND JEAN MARIE (1858- ), Belgian painter and etcher, was born at the château de Grembergen (Termonde), on the 12th of September 1858, and studied under X. Mellery. He developed a very original talent, his work being characterized by great delicacy of colour, tone and harmony, as subtle in spiritual and intellectual as in its material qualities. "A Crisis" (1881) was followed by "Listening to Schumann," "St Anthony" and "The Queen of Sheba" (1883), and then came one of his best known works, "The Small Sphinx" (1884). His "Memories" (1889) and "White, Black and Gold" (1901) are in the Brussels Museum; "Portrait of Mlle R." (1889) in the Venice Museum; "A Stream at Fosset" (1897) at Budapest Museum; "The Empress" (1899) in the collection of the emperor of Austria, and "A Musician" in that of the king of the Belgians. "I lock my Door upon Myself" (1891), which was exhibited at the New Gallery, London, in 1902 and there attracted much attention, was acquired by the Pinakothek at Munich. Other works are "Silence" (1890), "The Idea of Justice" (1905) and "Isolde" (1906), together with a polychrome bust "Sibyl" (1894) and an ivory mask (1897). In quiet intensity of feeling Khnopff was influenced by Rossetti, and in simplicity of line by Burne-Jones, but the poetry and the delicately mystic and enigmatic note of his work are entirely individual. He did good work also as an etcher and dry-pointist.

See L. Dumont-Wilden, _Fernand Khnopff_ (Brussels, 1907).

KHOI, a district and town in the province of Azerbaijan, Persia, towards the extreme north-west frontier, between the Urmia Lake and the river Aras. The district contains many flourishing villages, and consists of an elevated plateau 60 m. by 10 to 15, highly cultivated by a skilful system of drainage and irrigation, producing fertile meadows, gardens and fields yielding rich crops of wheat and barley, cotton, rice and many kinds of fruit. In the northern part and bounding on Maku lies the plain of Chaldaran (Kalderan), where in August 1514 the Turks under Sultan Selim I. fought the Persians under Shah Ismail and gained a great victory.

The town of KHOI lies in 38° 37´ N., 45° 15´ E., 77 m. (90 by road) N.W. of Tabriz, at an elevation of 3300 ft., on the great trade route between Trebizond and Tabriz, and about 2 m. from the left bank of the Kotur Chai (river from Kotur) which is crossed there by a seven-arched bridge and is known lower down as the Kizil Chai, which flows into the Aras. The walled part of the town is a quadrilateral with faces of about 1200 yds. in length and fortifications consisting of two lines of bastions, ditches, &c., much out of repair. The population numbers about 35,000, a third living inside the walls. The Armenian quarter, with about 500 families and an old church, is outside the walls. The city within the walls forms one of the best laid out towns in Persia, cool streams and lines of willows running along the broad and regular streets. There are some good buildings, including the governor's residence, several mosques, a large brick bazaar and a fine caravanserai. There is a large transit trade, and considerable local traffic across the Turkish border. The city surrendered to the Russians in 1827 without fighting and after the treaty of peace (Turkman Chai, Feb. 1828) was held for some time by a garrison of 3000 Russian troops as a guarantee for the payment of the war indemnity. In September 1881 Khoi suffered much from a violent earthquake. It has post and telegraph offices.

KHOJENT, or KHOJEND, a town of the province of Syr-darya, in Russian Turkestan, on the left bank of the Syr-darya or Jaxartes, 144 m. by rail S.S.E. from Tashkent, in 40° 17´ N. and 69° 30´ E., and on the direct road from Bokhara to Khokand. Pop. (1900), 31,881. The Russian quarter lies between the river and the native town. Near the river is the old citadel, on the top of an artificial square mound, about 100 ft. high. The banks of the river are so high as to make its water useless to the town in the absence of pumping gear. Formerly the entire commerce between the khanates of Bokhara and Khokand passed through this town, but since the Russian occupation (1866) much of it has been diverted. Silkworms are reared, and silk and cotton goods are manufactured. A coarse ware is made in imitation of Chinese porcelain. The district immediately around the town is taken up with cotton plantations, fruit gardens and vineyards. The majority of the inhabitants are Tajiks.

Khojent has always been a bone of contention between Khokand and Bokhara. When the amir of Bokhara assisted Khudayar Khan to regain his throne in 1864, he kept possession of Khojent. In 1866 the town was stormed by the Russians; and during their war with Khokand in 1875 it played an important part.

KHOKAND, or KOKAN, a town of Asiatic Russia, in the province of Ferghana, on the railway from Samarkand to Andijan, 85 m. by rail S.W. of the latter, and 20 m. S. of the Syr-darya. Pop. (1900), 86,704. Situated at an altitude of 1375 ft., it has a severe climate, the average temperatures being--year, 56°; January, 22°; July, 65°. Yearly rainfall, 3.6 in. It is the centre of a fertile irrigated oasis, and consists of a citadel, enclosed by a wall nearly 12 m. in circuit, and of suburbs containing luxuriant gardens. The town is modernized, has broad streets and large squares, and a particularly handsome bazaar. The former palace of the khans, which recalls by its architecture the mosques of Samarkand, is the best building in the town. Khokand is one of the most important centres of trade in Turkestan. Raw cotton and silk are the principal exports, while manufactured goods are imported from Russia. Coins bearing the inscription "Khokand the Charming," and known as _khokands_, have or had a wide currency.

The khanate of Khokand was a powerful state which grew up in the 18th century. Its early history is not well known, but the town was founded in 1732 by Abd-ur-Rahim under the name of Iski-kurgan, or Kali-i-Rahimbai. This must relate, however, to the fort only, because Arab travellers of the 10th century mention Hovakend or Hokand, the position of which has been identified with that of Khokand. Many other populous and wealthy towns existed in this region at the time of the Arab conquest of Ferghana. In 1758-1759 the Chinese conquered Dzungaria and East Turkestan, and the begs or rulers of Ferghana recognized Chinese suzerainty. In 1807 or 1808 Alim, son of Narbuta, brought all the begs of Ferghana under his authority, and conquered Tashkent and Chimkent. His attacks on the Bokharan fortress of Ura-tyube were however unsuccessful, and the country rose against him. He was killed in 1817 by the adherents of his brother Omar. Omar was a poet and patron of learning, but continued to enlarge his kingdom, taking the sacred town of Azret (Turkestan), and to protect Ferghana from the raids of the nomad Kirghiz built fortresses on the Syr-darya, which became a basis for raids of the Khokand people into Kirghiz land. This was the origin of a conflict with Russia. Several petty wars were undertaken by the Russians after 1847 to destroy the Khokand forts, and to secure possession, first, of the Ili (and so of Dzungaria), and next of the Syr-darya region, the result being that in 1866, after the occupation of Ura-tyube and Jizakh, the khanate of Khokand was separated from Bokhara. During the forty-five years after the death of Omar (he died in 1822) the khanate of Khokand was the seat of continuous wars between the settled Sarts and the nomad Kipchaks, the two parties securing the upper hand in turns, Khokand falling under the dominion or the suzerainty of Bokhara, which supported Khudayar-khan, the representative of the Kipchak party, in 1858-1866; while Alim-kul, the representative of the Sarts, put himself at the head of the _gazawat_ (Holy War) proclaimed in 1860, and fought bravely against the Russians until killed at Tashkent in 1865. In 1868 Khudayar-khan, having secured independence from Bokhara, concluded a commercial treaty with the Russians, but was compelled to flee in 1875, when a new Holy War against Russia was proclaimed. It ended in the capture of the strong fort of Makhram, the occupation of Khokand and Marghelan (1875), and the recognition of Russian superiority by the amir of Bokhara, who conceded to Russia all the territory north of the Naryn river. War, however, was renewed in the following year. It ended, in February 1876, by the capture of Andijan and Khokand and the annexation of the Khokand khanate to Russia. Out of it was made the Russian province of Ferghana.

AUTHORITIES.--The following publications are all in Russian: Kuhn, _Sketch of the Khanate of Khokand_ (1876); V. Nalivkin, _Short History of Khokand_ (French trans., Paris, 1889); Niazi Mohammed, _Tarihi Shahrohi_, or _History of the Rulers of Ferghana_, edited by Pantusov (Kazañ, 1885); Makshéev, _Historical Sketch of Turkestan and the Advance of the Russians_ (St Petersburg, 1890); N. Petrovskiy, _Old Arabian Journals of Travel_ (Tashkent, 1894); _Russian Encyclopaedic Dictionary_, vol. xv. (1895). (P. A. K.; J. T. Be.)

KHOLM (Polish _Chelm_), a town of Russian Poland, in the government of Lublin, 45 m. by rail E.S.E. of the town of Lublin. Pop. (1897), 19,236. It is a very old city and the see of a bishop, and has an archaeological museum for church antiquities.

KHONDS, or KANDHS, an aboriginal tribe of India, inhabiting the tributary states of Orissa and the Ganjam district of Madras. At the census of 1901 they numbered 701,198. Their main divisions are into Kutia or hill Khonds and plain-dwelling Khonds; the landowners are known as Raj Khonds. Their religion is animistic, and their pantheon includes eighty-four gods. They have given their name to the Khondmals, a subdivision of Angul district in Orissa: area, 800 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 64,214. The Khond language, Kui, spoken in 1901 by more than half a million persons, is much more closely related to Telugu than is Gondi. The Khonds are a finer type than the Gonds. They are as tall as the average Hindu and not much darker, while in features they are very Aryan. They are undoubtedly a mixed Dravidian race, with much Aryan blood.