K U M K U R 155
KUM, a walled city of Persia, in the province of Irak- Adjemi, in a hilly district at the western edge of the Great Salt Desert, 85 miles south of Teheran on the main route to Ispahan, and at the northern extremity of the lofty Kuru-Kuh range, which runs thence for over 600 miles south-east to the Bam highlands. It is a long, straggling, half-ruined place, with empty bazaars, and neglected streets full of holes and pitfalls. Yet it ranks second to Meshhed in sanctity, thanks to the famous shrine of Masuma Fatima, sister of the imám Riza, which also contains the remains of ten kings and four hundred and forty-four "saints," and whose gilded copper dome has been completed by the present shah. Like Kerbela, Kum is a favourite place of interment for the faithful, and is yearly visited by thousands of devout Shiah pilgrims. At one time it is said to have contained 100,000 inhabitants, and its former greatness is still attested by the surrounding ruins, of which Sir Thomas Herbert quaintly remarks that they "may gaine beliefe to the inhabitants, who say it was once comparable in pride and greatness to mightie Babylon." Even in that traveller's time it was still a flourishing place, with well-built houses "sweet and wel-furnished, her streets wide, her bazzar faire and her mosque of most honourable esteem." But the neighbourhood now presents the aspect of a vast necropolis, while not more than 4000 of its 20,000 houses are occupied. Cotton of good quality and the castor-oil plant are extensively cultivated in the district, which is watered by the Gonsir and u few other intermittent streams draining east to the great desert. Population estimated at 20,000.
KUMÁUN, a district in the North-Western Provinces of India, lying between 28° 55 and 30° 50 N. lat., and 78° 52 and 80° 56 E. long. It consists of two distinct tracts – the sub-Himalayan ranges, and the bhábhar or waterless forest, averaging from 10 to 15 miles in breadth, which stretches between the forests and the Tarái. See HIMALAYA, vol. xi. -p. 824. Of the entire area of the highlands, only 500 square miles are returned as cultivated and 100 square miles as cultivable. The southern or bhábhar portion was up to 1850 an almost impenetrable forest, given up to wild animals; but since then the nume rous clearings have attracted a large population from the hills, who cultivate the rich soil during the hot and cold seasons, returning to the hills in the rains. The rest of Kumáun is a maze of mountains, some of which are among the loftiest known. In fact, in a tract not more than 140 miles in length and 40 in breadth, there are over thirty peaks rising to elevations exceeding 18,000 feet (see vol. xi. p. 825). The rivers rise chiefly in the southern slope of the Tibetan watershed north of the loftiest peaks, amongst which they make their way down valleys of rapid declivity and extraordinary depth. The principal are the Káli or Gogra, and the Pindar and Káilganga, whose waters join the Alaknanda. The valuable timber of the yet uncleared forest tracts in Kumáun is now under official supervision. The chief trees are the chír or three-leaved Himalayan pine, the cypress, fir, alder, sál or iron-wood, and saindan. Limestone, sandstone, slate, gneiss, and granite constitute the principal geological formations of the district. Mines of iron, copper, gypsum, lead, asbestos, and coral exist; but they are not thoroughly worked.
The census of 1872 disclosed a population of 433,314, of whom 425,963 were returned as Hindus and 5569 as Mohammedans. The Kumáunis are a tolerably fair, good-looking race, active, cheerful, honest, and industrious. Polyandry is unknown, but polygamy is frequent. The 4606 villages of the district are scattered about the hillsides, the houses being built of stone laid in mud, and roofed with slates, or with planks or thatch. The only native town is Almora. There are large bazaars at the European stations of Naini Tal and Ranikhet. The area available for cultivation is small; but wherever possible the hill sides have been terraced. The soil except in some of the valleys is poor and stony, and requires much manure. On the better kinds of land rice, wheat, and tobacco are grown on the others wheat, barley, mustard, vetches, flax, Indian corn, millets, pulses sugar-cane, cotton, oil-seeds, &c . The staple food of the peasantry is mandua (Eleurine corocana). Potatoes are becoming common. Fruit is very plentyful, and the oranges are of excellent quality. The tea plantations form now an important and valuable feature in the district, but are almost entirely in the hands of European owners. In 1876-77 the gardens covered an area of 2222 acres yielding 261,000 lb of tea The only other manufacture is the weaving of coarse woolen clothing. The imports from Titet include beasts of burden, salt, coarse cloths, and Chinese silk. The exports to Tibet are grain, cotton goods, broadcloth, quilts, hard ware tobacco, sugar, spices, dyes, tea, and timber. To the plains of India Kumáun sends grain, clarified butter, tea, ginger turmeric red pepper drugs, spices, bark, honey, wax, a little iron and copper timber, and wild jungle produce. The roads in the hills are for the most part only bridle-paths, more or less well laid out, but all now well bridged. Except in the bhábhar and deep valleys, the climate is mild, the rainfall of the outer Himalayan range, which is first struck by the monsoon, is double that of the central hills, in the average proportion of 80 inches to 40. No winter passes without snow on the higher ridges, and in some years it is universal throughout the mountain tract. Frosts, especially in the valleys, are often severe. Kumáun is occasionally visited by epidemic cholera. Leprosy is most prevalent in the east of the district. Goitre and cretinism afflict a small proportion of the inhabitants. The hill fevers at times exhibit the rapid and malignant features of plague. The mahámari pestilence, which was formerly confined to Garhwál, has of late years extended its ravages to Kumáun.
KUMPTA, or Coomptah, a town and port in North
Kánara district, Bombay, India, 14° 26 N. lat., 74° 27 E.
long., with a population in 1872 of 10,932. It is the chief
commercial town in the district. The average annual value
of its trade, which consists chiefly of cotton, spices, and
grain, the first coming from Dhárwár district and the rest
from the upland country of Kánara, is returned for the five
years ending 1873-74 at £481,811 of import and £868,049
of export.
KUNCH, a town in the North-Western Provinces of India, in 25° 59 N. lat. and 79° 12 E. Ions., with a popu lation in 1872 of 14,448 (11,956 Hindus and 2492 Moham medans). It has markets for cotton and wheat, for molasses, rice, and tobacco, and for salt. The bazaar ways are narrow, tortuous, unmade, undrained, with poor-looking and often ruinous shops; both trade and population are declining.
KUNGUR, a district town of Russia, in the government of Perm, 58 miles south-south-east of the capital of the government, on the Sylva, a tributary of the Tchusovaya. Formerly a blockhouse erected to protect the Russian settlements against the Tartars, it has acquired commercial importance by manufacturing of boots, which are exported in great quantities to the mines of the Ural mountains and to the furthest gold-washings of western and eastern Siberia; more than 1500 men are engaged in this trade. There are also several tallow-melting houses, candle, soap, and glue works, tanneries, and a yard where steamers are made for the navigation of the Kama and its tributaries. The leather of Kungur, which is renowned for its quality, is sold in the eastern provinces of Russia, and reaches Orenburg and Irbit, whilst the tallow is sent to St Peters burg. The wharf on the Sylva is one of the most im portant in the basin of the Kama. Population, 10,800.
KURDISTAN, or Kúrdistán,[1] is a convenient geographical designation for the lands inhabited by the Kurds, but the name is not used in the country in this general sense, nor indeed would it be technically correct, for in a very small portion only of the region in question is the population exclusively Kurdish.
Geography. – The furthest point to which the Kurds extend north-westward is the junction of the two arms of the Euphrates near Kharpút, in about 39° N. lat. and 39° E. long., while their south-eastern limit may be defined
- ↑ With reference to the u sound in this group of words it is to be observed that Kurd is always to be pronounced like the English gourd, not as in curds and whey.
