Early notices of Kuku Khoto will be found in Gerbillon (1688–1698), in Du Halde (vol. ii., English edition), and in Astley’s Collection (vol. iv.). Recent travellers who have visited it are Elias (Journ. Roy. Geog. Soc., 1873) and Peftsoff.
KULDJA, the name of two towns in the valley of the Ili in Central Asia, situated about 25 miles apart.
I. Old Kuldja, the present capital of the Kuldja territory, restored to China by Russia in 1881, otherwise known as Tartar Kulja, Nin Yuan, or Kuren, lies about 14 mile to the north of the river, in 43° 58′ N. lat. and 81° 25′ E. long. The walled town is nearly square, each side being about a mile in length; and the walls are not only 30 feet high but broad enough on the top to serve as a carriage drive. Two broad streets cut the enclosed area into four nearly equal sections. Since 1870 a Russian suburb has been laid out on a wide scale. The houses of Kuldja are almost all clay-built and flat-roofed, and except in the special Chinese quarter in the eastern end of the town it is only a few public buildings that show the influence of Chinese architecture. Of these the most noteworthy are the Tarantchi and Dungan mosques, both with turned up roofs, and the latter with a pagoda-looking minaret. The population is mainly Mohammedan, and there are only two Buddhist pagodas. A small Chinese Roman Catholic church has maintained its existence through all the vicissitudes of modern times. Paper and vermicelli are manufactured with rude appliances in the town. The outskirts are richly cultivated with wheat, barley, lucerne, and poppies. Schuyler estimated the population, which includes Tarantchis, Dungans, Sarts, Chinese, Calmucks, and Russians, at 10,000 in 1873; it has since increased.
II. New Kuldja, Manchu Kuldja, or Ila, which lies lower down the valley on the same side of the stream, has been a pile of ruins whitened with bleaching bones since the terrible massacre of all its inhabitants by the insurgent Dungans in 1868. It was previously the seat of the Chinese Government for the province, with a large penal establishment and strong garrison; its population was about 70,000.
See Schuyler, Turkistan, London, 1876; Dilke in Proc. Roy. Geog. Soc., 1874; Ujfalvy in Tour du Monde, 1879; E. D. Morgan in Proc. Roy. Geog. Soc., 1881; and Ili, vol. xii. p. 702.
KULLU, a valley and subdivision of Kángrá district, Punjab, India, situated between 31° 20′ and 32° 26′ N. lat., and 76° 58′ and 77° 50′ E. long. It is bounded on the N. by the central Himálayan range, on the S. by the Sutlej river, on the S.W. by the Dháoladar or Outer Himálaya, Bias river, and the states of Suket and Mandi, and on the W. by Bára Bangahal hills. The Sainj, which joins the Bias at Lárgi, divides the tract into two portions, Kullu Proper and Sioráj. Kullu Proper, north of the Sainj, together with Inner Seoráj, forms a great basin or depression in the midst of the Himálayan systems, having the narrow gorge of the Bias at Sárgi as the only outlet for its waters. North and east the Bára Bangahál and Mid-Himálayan ranges rise to a mean elevation of 18,000 feet, while southward the Jalori and Dháoladhar ridges attain a height of 11,000 feet. The greater portion of Kullu must thus ever remain an utter wilderness. The higher villages stand 9000 feet above the sea; and even the cultivated tracts have probably an average elevation of 5000 feet. The houses consist of four-storied châlets in little groups, huddled closely together on the ledges or slopes of the valleys, picturesquely built with projecting eaves and carved wooden verandahs. The Bias, which, with its tributaries, drains the entire basin, rises at the crest of the Rohtang Pass, 13,326 feet above the sea, and has an average fall of 125 feet per mile. Its course presents a succession of magnificent scenery, including cataracts, gorges, precipitous cliffs, and mountains clad with forests of deodar, towering above the tiers of pine on the lower rocky ledges. Great mineral wealth exists, but the difficulty of transport and labour will probably always prevent its proper development. Hot springs occur at three localities, much resorted to as places of pilgrimage.
The census of 1872 disclosed a population of 90,313, spread over an area of 1926 square miles—Hindus numbering 90,206; Mohammedans, 100; and Christians, 7. The character of the hillmen resembles that of most other mountaineers in its mixture of simplicity, independence, and superstition. Tibetan polyandry still prevails in Seoráj, but has almost died out elsewhere. The temples are dedicated rather to local deities than to the greater gods of the Hindu pantheon. Out of a total of 799,834 acres, only 32,884 are returned as actually under cultivation. The staple spring crops include wheat, barley, poppy, tobacco, and oil-seeds; the autumn crops are maize, rice, pulses, and millets. Tea cultivation has recently been introduced into the valley. Rice, wheat, opium, tobacco, tea, and honey are exported. Manufactures are almost unknown. The climate is not healthy. Intermittent fevers and bowel complaints are endemic, while epidemics of virulent contagious fever and cholera break out from time to time. Goitre and cretinism also occur. The average annual rainfall ranges from 45 to 50 inches. The mean temperature in August is 78° Fahr., in November 55°.
KULM (in Polish, Chelmo), chief town of a circle in the government district of Marienwerder, Prussia, is situated on the high banks of the Vistula, about 24 miles north-west of Thorn. It is regularly built, and contains an old-fashioned town-house, a gymnasium, a high school, and a cadets’ institution founded in 1775 by Frederick II. It carries on trade in grain and has some shipping. The population in 1875 was 9628.
Kulm gives name to the oldest bishopric in Prussia, although the bishop resides at Pelplin. It was taken about 1220 by Duke Conrad of Masovia. Frederick II. pledged it in 1226 to the Teutonic Order, from whom it passed by the second peace of Thorn in 1466 to Poland; and it was annexed to Prussia in 1772. It joined the Hanseatic League, and used to carry on very extensive manufactures of cloth. The battle of Kulm, won August 30, 1813, over the French by the Prussians and Russians, took place at the village of Kulm in Bohemia, about 3 miles north-east of Teplitz.
KULMBACH, or Culmbach, a town in the administrative district of Upper Franconia, Bavaria, is picturesquely situated on the White Main, and on the Bamberg-Hof line of the Bavarian State Railway, about 11 miles north-west from Baireuth, in 50° 6′ N. lat., 11° 28′ E. long. The town has several linen manufactories and a large cotton spinnery, but is chiefly famed for its many extensive breweries, the latest returns showing an annual production of 4,115,637 gallons of beer, of which 3,719,478 gallons were exported. On an eminence near the town stands the former fortress of Plassenburg, which during the 15th and 16th centuries was the residence of the margraves of Brandenburg-Kulmbach. It was dismantled in 1807, and is now used as a prison. The population in November 1881 was officially estimated at 6000.
