almost completely driven away by unregulated hunting. Near the south-eastern coast of Kunashiri stands a mountain called Rausunobori (3005 ft. high), round whose base sulphur bubbles up in large quantities, and hot springs as well as a hot stream are found. On the west coast of the same island is a boiling lake, called Ponto, which deposits on its bed and round its shores black sand, consisting almost entirely of pure sulphur. This island has several lofty peaks; Ponnobori-yama near the east coast, and Chachanobori and Rurindake in the north. Chachanobori (about 7382 ft.) is described by Messrs Chamberlain and Mason as “a cone within a cone, the inner and higher of the two being—so the natives say—surrounded by a lake.” The island has extensive forests of conifers with an undergrowth of ferns and flowering plants, and bears are numerous. The chief port of Kunashiri is Tomari, on the south coast. The island of Shikotan is remarkable for the growth of a species of bamboo (called Shikotan-chiku), having dark brown spots on the cane. Etorofu has a coast-line broken by deep bays, of which the principal are Naibo-wan, Rubetsu-wan and Bettobuwan on the northern shore and Shitokap-wan on the southern. It is covered almost completely with dense forest, and has a number of streams abounding with salmon. Shana, the chief port, is in Rubetsu Bay. This island, the principal of the group, is divided into four provinces for administrative purposes, namely, Etorofu, Furubetsu, Shana and Shibetoro. Its mountains are Atosha-nobori (4035 ft.) in Etorofu; Chiripnupari (5009 ft.) in Shana; and Mokoro-nobori (3930 ft.) and Atuiyadake (3932 ft.) in Shibetoro. Among the other islands three only call for notice on account of their altitudes, namely, Ketoi-jima, Rashua-jima and Matua-jima, which rise to heights of 3944, 3304 and 5240 ft. respectively.
Population.—Not much is known about the aborigines. By some authorities Ainu colonists are supposed to have been the first settlers, and to have arrived there via Yezo; by others, the earliest comers are believed to have been a hyperborean tribe travelling southwards by way of Kamchatka. The islands themselves have not been sufficiently explored to determine whether they furnish any ethnological evidences. The present population aggregates about 4400, or 0·7 per sq. m., of whom about 600 are Ainu (q.v.). There is little disposition to emigrate thither from Japan proper, the number of settlers being less than 100 annually.
History.—The Kurile Islands were discovered in 1634 by the Dutch navigator Martin de Vries. The three southern islands, Kunashiri, Etorofu, and Shikotan, are believed to have belonged to Japan from a remote date, but at the beginning of the 18th century the Russians, having conquered Kamchatka, found their way to the northern part of the Kuriles in pursuit of fur-bearing animals, with which the islands then abounded. Gradually these encroachments were pushed farther south, simultaneously with aggressions imperilling the Japanese settlements in the southern half of Sakhalin. Japan’s occupation was far from effective in either region, and in 1875 she was not unwilling to conclude a convention by which she agreed to withdraw altogether from Sakhalin provided that Russia withdrew from the Kuriles.
An officer of the Japanese navy, Lieut. Gunji, left Tokyo with about forty comrades in 1892, his intention being to form a settlement on Shumshiri, the most northerly of the Kurile Islands. They embarked in open boats, and for that reason, as well as because they were going to constitute themselves their country’s extreme outpost, the enterprise attracted public enthusiasm. After a long struggle the immigrants became fairly prosperous.
See Capt. H. J. Snow, Notes on the Kurile Islands (London, 1896).
KURISCHES HAFF, a lagoon of Germany, on the Baltic coast
of East Prussia, stretching from Labiau to Memel, a distance of
60 m., has an area of nearly 680 sq. m. It is mostly shallow and
only close to Memel attains a depth of 23 ft. It is thus unnavigable
except for small coasting and fishing boats, and sea-going
vessels proceed through the Memeler Tief (Memel Deep), which
connects the Baltic with Memel and has a depth of 19 ft. and a
breadth of 800 to 1900 ft. The Kurisches Haff is separated
from the Baltic by a long spit, or tongue of land, the so-called
Kurische Nehrung, 72 m. in length and with a breadth of 1 to 2
miles. The latter is fringed throughout its whole length by a
chain of dunes, which rise in places to a height of nearly 200 ft.
and threaten, unless checked, to be pressed farther inland and silt
up the whole Haff.
See Berendt, Geologie des Kurischen Haffs (Königsberg, 1869); Sommer, Das Kurische Haff (Danzig, 1889); A. Bezzenberger, Die Kurische Nehrung und ihre Bewohner (Stuttgart, 1889); and Lindner, Die Preussische Wüste einst und jetzt, Bilder von der Kurischen Nehrung (Osterwieck, 1898).
KURNOOL, or Karnul, a town and district of British India,
in the Madras presidency. The town is built on a rocky soil at
the junction of the Hindri and Tungabhadra rivers 33 m. from a
railway station. The old Hindu fort was levelled in 1865, with
the exception of one of the gates, which was preserved as a
specimen of ancient architecture. Cotton cloth and carpets are
manufactured. Pop. (1901), 25,376, of whom half are Mussulmans.
The District of Kurnool has an area of 7578 sq. m., pop. (1901), 872,055, showing an increase of 6% in the decade. Two long mountain ranges, the Nallamalais and the Yellamalais, extend in parallel lines, north and south, through its centre. The principal heights of the Nallamalai range are Biranikonda (3149 ft.), Gundlabrahmeswaram (3055 ft.), and Durugapukonda (3086 ft.). The Yellamalai is a low range, generally flat-topped with scarped sides; the highest point is about 2000 ft. Several low ridges run parallel to the Nallamalais, broken here and there by gorges, through which mountain streams take their course. Several of these gaps were dammed across under native rule, to form tanks for purposes of irrigation. The principal rivers are the Tungabhadra and Kistna, which bound the district on the north. When in flood, the Tungabhadra averages 900 yards broad and 15 ft. deep. The Kistna here flows chiefly through uninhabited jungles, sometimes in long smooth reaches, with intervening shingly rapids. The Bhavanasi rises on the Nallamalais, and falls into the Kistna at Sungameswaram, a place of pilgrimage. During the 18th century Kurnool formed the jagir of a semi-independent Pathan Nawab, whose descendant was dispossessed by the British government for treason in 1838. The principal crops are millets, cotton, oil-seeds, and rice, with a little indigo and tobacco. Kurnool suffered very severely from the famine of 1876–1877, and to a slight extent in 1896–1897. It is the chief scene of the operations of the Madras Irrigation Company taken over by government in 1882. The canal, which starts from the Tungabhadra river near Kurnool town, was constructed at a total cost of two millions sterling, but has not been a financial success. A more successful work is the Cumbum tank, formed under native rule by damming a gorge of the Gundlakamma river. Apart from the weaving of coarse cotton cloth, the chief industrial establishments are cotton presses, indigo vats, and saltpetre refineries. The district is served by the Southern Mahratta railway.
KUROKI, ITEI, Count (1844– ), Japanese general, was
born in Satsuma. He distinguished himself in the Chino-Japanese
War of 1894–95. He commanded the I. Army in the
Russo-Japanese War (1904–5), when he won the opening
battle of the war at the Yalu river, and afterwards advanced
through the mountains and took part with the other armies in
the battles of Liao-Yang, Shaho and Mukden (see Russo-Japanese War).
He was created baron for his services in the
former war, and count for his services in the latter.
KUROPATKIN, ALEXEI NIKOLAIEVICH (1848– ), Russian
general, was born in 1848 and entered the army in 1864.
From 1872 to 1874 he studied at the Nicholas staff college, after
which he spent a short time with the French troops in Algiers.
In 1875 he was employed in diplomatic work in Kashgaria and
in 1876 he took part in military operations in Turkistan, Kokan
and Samerkand. In the war of 1877–78 against Turkey he earned
a great reputation as chief of staff to the younger Skobelev, and
after the war he wrote a detailed and critical history of the
operations which is still regarded as the classical work on the
subject and is available for other nations in the German translation
by Major Krahmer. After the war he served again on the
south-eastern borders in command of the Turkestan Rifle Brigade,
