46 KORAN connection with other portions of the Koran. For a proper understanding of the Koran a restoration to chronological order would be necessary, and this is apparently impossible. The Moslem traditions in regard to the time when Mohammed revealed a particular sura have to be admitted with great caution ; and besides being frequently contradictory among themselves, they throw but little light on the suras which were given out before Moham- med's flight to Medina. The difference of the position which the prophet held before and after this event could not fail to become ap- parent in the general character of his sayings. The suras of the earlier epoch may be recog- nized by their intense enthusiasm; they are generally short: Mohammed has visions of angels, of the day of retribution, and of God, and his animadversions on his enemies are replete with passion and anger. The later suras still contain some of the old fire, but their general tenor is calm and prosaic, and most of them seem to be little else than general army orders and portions of a civil and crim- inal code. A necessary consequence of the fragmentary composition of the Koran was fre- quent contradictions. Mohammedan divines have, however, surmounted the difficulties ari- sing from these. When there are two con- tradictory laws on one and the same subject, they explain the one as being munsulch, and the other as nasikh. They say that such com- mandments were given under different circum- stances, and that when one of the circumstan- ces was wanting the commandment relating thereto was void, or munsulch ; and that then "the commandment became in force, or nasilch, which was intended to meet the altered cir- cumstances. (For theological and sectarian in- terpretations of the text, see MOHAMMEDAN- ISM. For the dialect in which the Koran is written, and the native literature to which it has given rise, see AEABIO LANGUAGE AND LIT- EEATUEE.) It is common in the Orient to ascribe every ancient manuscript of the Koran to the time and even the hand of one of the first caliphs, and several libraries boast of pos- sessing the earliest copy written by Othman himself, while it is very doubtful whether he was personally engaged in the revision of the text. Thus it is said that there are manuscript Korans of the age of Othman and Ali at Con- stantinople, Damascus, and Cairo. It is be- lieved that some portions of it now preserved at Copenhagen date from the first century of the hegira. Printed editions have been pre- pared by Pagninus Brixiensis (Venice, 1509 or 1518, burnt by order of Clement VIII.); Hinkelmann (Hamburg, 1694), the oldest now known; Mollah Usman Isinael (St. Peters- burg, 1787), with valuable marginal notes; and G. Fliigel (Leipsic, 1834), revised by Red- slob (1837, 1842, and 1858). The following are editions of the original with versions: Muzih-i Koran, with a Hindustani interlinear version and notes, by Maulana Shah Abdel Ka- KORNER der, Calcutta, 1829-'32 ; with an English ver- sion, Serampore, 1833, and Persian commenta- ries, Calcutta, 1837. There are English trans- lations by Alexander Ross (London, 1649 ; new ed., 1871), G. Sale (2 vols., London, 1734), and Rodwell (London, 1861). The history of the Koran is given by Noldeke, Geschichte des Qordns (Gottingen, 1860), and by Sprenger in his valuable work, Das Leben und die Lehre des Mohammed (3 vols., Berlin, 1868). The es- says " On the Holy Koran," " On the Moham- medan Traditions," and "On the Mohamme- dan Theological Literature," by Syed Ahmed Khan Bahadoor (London, 1870), are interest- ing as the opinions of a learned Mussulman. KOKAT, a neutral territory of Asia, governed by an independent prince, on the boundaries of Siam and Cambodia; pop. about 60,000. The people are chiefly engaged in making sugar and in copper mining. The capital, of the same name, 138 m. N. E. of Bangkok, has about 7,000 inhabitants. It is on an elevated plateau, accessible only by ascending a thickly wooded steep, called Dorg Phaja Fai, " forest of the king of fire," on account of its gloomy aspect and foul atmosphere. KORDOFAN, a country of E. Africa, subject to the khedive of Egypt, lying between lat. 12 30' and 15 30' N., and Ion. 29 and 32 E., bounded N". by Nubia and S. by the Deir moun- tains, and separated by strips of mostly des- ert land from the White Nile on the E. and Darfoor on the W. ; pop. estimated at 400,000. The surface is in general level, but in the south- west and extreme north it is rather mountain- ous. There are no permanent rivers, but sev- eral small lakes exist in different parts of the country. The climate is very unhealthy in the rainy season, and in the dry intolerably hot ; hurricanes are frequent. The soil is naturally fertile. In the wet season the earth is covered with a luxuriant vegetation, but during the drought everything is burned up. The popu- lation consists of negroes, Arabs, and emigrants from Dongola. This country was for a long period tributary to the empire of Sennaar ; it was taken in the latter half of the 18th century by the king of Darfoor, and was conquered by Mehemet Ali about 1820, who was confirmed in the possession of it by a firman issued by the sultan, Feb. 13, 1841. Slavery was abolished there in 1857. Capital, Obeid, or El Obeid. KORNEGALLE, a town of Ceylon, 55 m. N. E. of Colombo, noted for its beautiful situation within the shade of a stupendous rock, for the remains of a city, once one of the capitals of Ceylon, and for an ancient temple where the footprint of Buddha is hollowed in the rock, in the same manner as on Adam's Peak, and to which pilgrims resort from the most distant part of the island. The place is sur- rounded by dense forests, and every cottage of the modern town has a garden. E.ORNER, Karl Theodor, a German poet, born in Dresden, Sept. 23, 1791, killed near Rosen- berg, Mecklenburg, Aug. 26, 1813. His father
