K U R K U S 161
sheet of water in Sind. The hot springs at Pír Mangho are 6 or 7 miles north of Kurrachee town.
In 1872 the population was 420,722 (males 242,516, and females 184,206) – the Hindus numbering 73,304, and the Mohammedans 348,586. Eight towns had a population exceeding 2000: – Kurrachee, 56,753; Kotri, 7949; Sehwán, 4296; Bubak, 5703; Dadu, 3357; Tatta, 7951; Mírpur Batoro, 2846; and Keti-Bandar, 2199.
In Kurrachee subdivision cultivation exists only on a few isolated spots, and depends upon wells, springs, or natural rainfall. Here the chief crops are joár, bájra, barley, and sugar-cane. In Jerruck and Sháh-bandar, where numerous canals carry the waters of the Indus through the alluvial flats, rice forms the staple crop; but wheat, sugar-cane, millets, cotton, and tobacco are also grown. In the barren hills of Kohistán, agriculture is practically unknown; and the nomad population devotes itself almost entirely to grazing cattle in the southern plains. The district trade is centred in Kurrachee town, the staple exports consisting of cotton, wool, and grain. Extensive salt deposits of the purest description occur on the Sirganda creek, a branch of the Indus. Sea fisheries form an important industry. The pearl oyster is found at several places along the coast, but the pearls are of inferior size and quality. The Indus valley line of the Sind, Punjab, and Delhi Railway runs from Kurrachee to Kotri within the district a distance of 106 miles. The administration is conducted by a collector-magistrate, assisted by several deputies. The total imperial revenue in 1873-74 amounted to £139,079, exclusive of £52,222 derived from the canals. Education in 1873-74 was afforded by forty-nine schools, attended by 3167 pupils. Kurrachee town and neighbourhood, being open to the sea-breeze, are said to possess the healthiest climate in Sind. Fevers prevail at the setting in of the cold season, and in the hot weather external inflammations, ulcers, and skin diseases are very troublesome. Cholera occasionally appears in an epidemic form. The rainfall is slight and fluctuating, the average hardly exceeding 5 inches per annum.
KURRACHEE, or Karáchi, the chief town of Sind, India,
and a large seaport, situated at the extreme northern end
of the Indus delta, in 24 51 K lat. and 67 4 E. long.
The city is almost entirely a creation of British rule, its ex
tensive commerce, splendid harbour works, and numerous
nourishing institutions having all sprung up since the intro
duction of settled institutions; and the architecture of the
town is essentially modern and Anglo-Indian. Before 1725
no town whatever appears to have existed on its site; but
about that time some little trade began to centre upon the
convenient harbour, and the silting up of Sháhbandar, the
ancient port of Sind, shortly afterwards drove much of its
former trade and population to the rising village. Under
the Kalhora princes, the khán of Khelát obtained a grant of
the town, but in 1795 it was captured by the Talpur Mírs,
who built the fort at Manora, at the entrance to the harbour.
They also made considerable efforts to increase the trade
of the port, and at the time of the British acquisition of
the province the town and suburbs contained a population
of 14,000.
The census of 1872 returned the inhabitants of Kurrachee, including the cantonment, at 56,753, viz., Mohammedans, 29,156; Hindus, 23,404; Christians, 3397; and "others," 796. The municipal revenue of the town in 1874 amounted to £22,596, and the expenditure to £20,142. Trade has immensely developed of late years. In 1843-44 the total value of the trade was returned at £122,160, that of the exports being only £1010. In 1873-74 the value of the trade amounted to £3,507,684, viz., imports £1,481,765 and exports £2,025,919. Up to 1851 only one English sailing ship had entered Kurrachee harbour, steamers and large vessels having to anchor outside and discharge by lighters. In 1853 the construction of the Napier Mole or causeway, 3 miles long, connecting the town with Kiamári island, and the subsequent extensive harbour improvements carried out between 1869 and 1873, at a cost of £450,000, have enabled vessels of any size to enter the harbour. In 1847-48 the number of vessels which entered the harbour was 891, all native craft, of a total burthen of 30,509 tons. In 1873-74 the vessels visiting the harbour numbered 913, of a total burthen of 161,284 tons.
KURSK, a government of European Eussia conterminous with those of Tchernigoff, Orel, Voronezh, Poltava, and Kharkoff, and estimated to have an area of 17,417 square miles. The surface is irregular and even hilly, but the highest point (near the town of Tim) does not exceed 1016 feet of absolute elevation. Cretaceous and Eocene rocks prevail, and chalk, iron-stone, mill-stones, potter's clay, and tripoli are among the economic minerals. The rich black earth of the government makes it one of the best agricultural districts of the country. No fewer than four hundred streams are counted within its borders, but none of them are of any service as waterways. To the Dnieper system belong the Seim, the Vorskla, the Psel, and the Tuskor; to the Don the Northern Donets and its tributaries. Besides oats, which form the staple crop, wheat, rye, potatoes, and buck wheat are largely grown. Beeswax is sent in considerable quantities to Moscow. Horse, cattle, and sheep breeding is on the decline. The manufacturing industries – wool dressing, distillation, tanning, linen weaving – are gaining ground. Wool-spinning and the making of woollen sashes are so generally carried on by the peasant women as to be matter of commercial importance.
The government is divided into fifteen districts – Kursk, Byelgorod, Graivoron, Dmitrieff, Korotcha, Lgoff, Novuii Oskol, Oboyan, Putivl, Ruilsk, Staruii Oskol, Sudzha, Tim, Phatezh, Shtchigrui. The places with more than 5000 inhabitants are Kursk, Borisovka (30,000), Sudzha (with suburbs, 18,000), Byelgorod (16,097), Miropole (10,754), Kholka Mikhaielovka (10,000), Ruilsk (9445), Staruii Oskol (7091), Putivl (7046), Oboyan (6322), Korotoha, and Phatezh. The population of the government was 1,954,807 in 1870, chiefly Great Russians, but considerably modified by the Little Russian element. About 17 miles from the chief town, in a thickly-peopled district, is the site of the Korennaya fair, formerly the greatest of those in South Russia, and still with an annual trade valued at £900,000. It takes its name from an image of the virgin found at the root (koren) of a tree, and yearly carried in solemn procession from Kursk to the spot of its discovery. The Kursk district contains more than sixty old town sites; and barrows (kurgans) are extremely abundant. Of the latter many have been destroyed to furnish manure for the soil, but not a few have been examined by such investigators as Professor Zamokvasoff (see the publications of the Statistical Committee of Kursk).
KURSK, the chief town of the above government, is situated 333 miles south of Moscow, at the confluence of the Kur with the Tuskor, and forms the meeting place of the railways from Moscow, Kieff, and Kharkoff. The inhabitants number more than 30,000, or including the suburbs 45,000. Orchards and nursery gardens are among their chief means of subsistence, and gardeners from Kursk are numerous in the neighbouring governments. The leather works are the most extensive of the industrial establishments. Though many of the public buildings of the town are constructed on a large scale, it is enough to mention the cathedral of the Resurrection, dating from 1733, the cathedral of St Sergius (1762), and the Bogoroditskii monastery.
Kursk was already in existence in 1032. The defence of the town from an incursion of the Polovtsi is celebrated in The Triumph of Igor, an epic which forms one of the most valuable relics of early Russian literature. Down to the close of the 18th century the citadel, defended by the two rivers and a ditch, was a place of considerable strength; the remains are now comparatively few. The rank of government town was bestowed on Kursk in 1779.
KUSTENDJE, or Küstendjie, a seaport of Roumania on the coast of the Black Sea, 140 miles east of Bucharest, the terminus of the railway from Tchernavoda on the Danube, and the principal outlet for the produce of the Dobrudja. The harbour is well defended from the north winds, but those from the south, south-east, and south-west prove sometimes highly dangerous. Of the exports (valued at £217,828 in 1880) the chief are cereals, wool, skins, and cattle. Since the incorporation of the Dobrudja with Roumania in 1878 Kustendje gives its name to a province.
