Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/172

 160 K U K K U R &quot;overnors at Bayazid, Van, Betlfs, Amadieh, and Sulimanieh, in succession to the old hereditary Kurdish chiefs. With the tortuous policy, it is true, which is characteristic of the Osmdnli race, the Porte has not unfrequently of late years encouraged the develop ment of native strength in various parts of Kurdistan for a time and for certain special purposes ; but, when the position of the local magnate has anywhere become one of political danger, the central Government lias stepped in and without difficulty has re asserted its supreme authority. Jn 1834, for instance, the famous Reshid Mohammed Pasha chas tised the Kurds, who had everywhere broken loose from Siwas to Rowandiz, and adopted severe measures of repression, which are still remembered and dreaded. In 1843 again, Beder Khan Beg, who from his patrimonial government of Bohtan had extended his sway over the whole mountain range, and had sworn to exterminate the Nestorian Christians, was crushed immediately that the Porte put forth its strength against him ; but the most notable instance of sudden Kurdish aggrandizement and collapse has occurred during the year 1881. Sheikh Obeidullah, chief of the small tribe of Oramar, who resided in a village of the mountains south of Lake Van, had acquired great local influence, owing to the sanctity of his family, but more especially from his own ascetic habits and his personal character. He seems to have really entertained the idea at one time of establishing an independent Kurdish kingdom, con centrating under his own individual authority all the scattered remnants of his race both in Persia and in Turkey. At any rate, having collected a very considerable force of Kurds in the summer of 1880, he suddenly burst in upon the plains of Persia and ravaged Azerbijan to the south of Lake Urumieh, sweeping the country up to the walls of Maragha on one side of the lake and of Urumieh upon the other. Having been joined by the Zerzas, the Mikris, the Bilbass, and all the tribes of the Persian frontier, it is considered certain that he might have marched on and pillaged Tabriz had he taken full advantage of the panic which followed on the first in vasion ; but, he having faltered and thus given time for the arrival of Persian reinforcements, the movement, which was at one time most serious, collapsed, and he retired to the mountains. Now the Turkish Government had unquestionably in the first instance encouraged Sheikh Obeidnllah s increasing power and aspirations, not with a view of hostility to Persia, but in the hope that the establishment of a fanatical and great independent Kurdish prin cipality about Lake Van would paralyse any movement of the Armenian nation towards the recovery of its liberty. The Porte indeed in all probability still cherishes the idea of thus controlling the action of its Christian subjects, though it has been compelled by the pressure of the European powers, and tinder the threat of re prisals from Persia, to arrest Sheikh Obeidullah and keep him under surveillance at Constantinople, while measures have been taken to prevent any immediate renewal of disturbances on the frontier. The policy of the Persian Government towards its Kurdish sub jects has been not very dissimilar to the Turkish programme. Aware of the military efficiency of the tribes, the Persian crown as long ago as the time of Nadir Shah transferred a large colony of Shadillu and Zafferanlii Kurds to the Khorasan frontier, where, enjoying the rich lands of Bujmird and Kuchan, and strengthened by a line of fortresses, they have ever since been engaged in unceasing conflict with the Turkomans of the Attock, and from whence they afforded invaluable assistance, both in carriage and supplies, to the Russian columns in their late advance into the country of the Akhals. Persia has also raised several regiments of regular infantry from the Kurdish Shekaks of the north, as well as from the Gurans and Kallnirs of the south, while the shah has also placed Persian governors over the Kurdish districts south of Lake Urumieh, and has appointed princes of the blood to administer the more distant and unruly Kurdish provinces of Ardelan and Kir- manshahan. At present perhaps the only communities among whom a spirit of Kurdish nationality may be said to flourish free from the taint, be it for good or be it for bad, of foreign influence, are the Deyrsimlis of the upper Euphrates and the Hakkaris of central Kurdistan. (H. C. K.) KURGAN, a district town of western Siberia, in the government of Tobolsk, 352 miles south-south-west of the capital of the province, on the left bank of the Tobol river. It has its name from a lofty tumulus (kuryaii), close by which a wooden fort was erected in the 17th century. It is situated in a wide steppe, covered with numerous lakes, the inhabitants of which are active in agriculture, cattle- breeding, and cattle grazing, cattle being purchased in the Kirghiz steppe. It is now the chief centre of the region for trade in cattle, tallow, skins, and salt. Population, 6500. KURILE ISLANDS, a chain of islands to the north east of Asia, extending for about 795 miles from the southern extremity of the peninsula of Kamchatka to the northern extremity of Yezo, arid forming the boundary between the Sea of Okhotsk and the outer ocean. Till 1875 the Little or Northern Kuriles belonged to Russia, and the Great or Southern Kuriles to Japan, but by the treaty of that date they were all recognized as Japanese. The principal islands, beginning at the north, are Shumshu (226 square miles), Paramushir (1135), Onekotan (244), Kharimkotan, Si Musir (161), Matua, Urup (563), Iturup (2656), and Kunashir. Like the peninsula of Kamchatka, the whole chain is of volcanic origin, and several of the islands Yekarma, Musir, Raikoke, Matua, Iturup are still centres of volcanic activity. Mr Milne, who cruised among the islands in 1878, counted fifty-two well-defined volcanic peaks, and at least seventeen are known to give off steam. The peak of the island of Alaid, estimated to have an altitude of at least 12,000 feet, had two great eruptions in 1770 and 1793. None of the other eminences exceed 5000 feet in height. As the slopes are for the most part exceedingly regular, the production of the vol canoes must be assigned to a comparatively recent period; and the absence of stratification seems to indicate a con tinuity of action. The forces at work must have been enormous if, as appears probable, the chain was built up from the bed of the sea. To the east of the islands the &quot;Challenger&quot; expedition found a depth of 27,930 feet. The flora of the Kuriles is poor, especially towards the north; in the southern islands it is similar to that of Yezo. In Kunashir, Urup, and Iturup there are well-wooded por tions. Sea-otters, wolves, and foxes are among the wild animals hunted for their skins. Many of the islands are altogether uninhabited, and none have more than the scantiest population. In 1868-70 Knipping estimated the total at from 200 to 300 persons, and since the treaty of 1875 a large number have removed to Saghalien and other parts of Russian territory. Ethnographically the people of the Kuriles are in the main identical with the Ainos of Yezo, those of the northern islands showing the influence of intercourse with Kamchatka. They are quiet, timorous, and well-behaved, do not practise polygamy, and carefully avoid intermarriage between blood relations. The poorer people burn their dead, the wealthier embalm them. Once a year in autumn they hold a great feast. Of a supreme deity they have some indistinct idea, but they sacrifice to the sun, the moon, and the sea, and worship the bear. The Kurile Islands were discovered in 1634 by the Dutch navi gator De Vrees. The Russians first learned about them from Japanese traders who visited Kamchatka in 1711 ; in the following year two Cossacks, Antsuiphoroff and Kozuirevskii, crossed over to Shumshu ; and in 1766-67 a voyage was made among the islands to collect a fur tax. In 1795 a factory of the Russian American Company was established on Urup. Captain Golovnin was taken prisoner by the Japanese on Kunashir in 1811. See Krasheninikoff, Kamtchatka, Gloucester. 17fi4; the Voyages of Krusenstern and Lnpercuse ; and Milne s paper in Geol. May., 1880. KURRACHEE, or KARACHI, a district in Sind, India, lying between 23 34 and 26 57 N. lat., and between 66 41 30&quot; and 68 49 E. long., bounded on the N. by Shikarpur, on the E. by the Indus river and Hyderabad district, on the S. by the sea, and on the W. by Baluchistan. The area is 14,091 square miles; and the population in 1872 was 426,722. The district consists of an immense tract of land stretching from the mouth of the Indus to the Baluchi boundary. It differs in general appearance from the rest of Sind, having a rugged, mountainous tract along its western border. The country gradually slopes away to the south-east, till in the extreme south the Indus delta presents a broad expanse of low, flat, and unpic- turesque alluvium. Besides the Indus and its mouths, the only river in the district is the Habb, forming the boundary between Sind and Baluchistdn. The Manchhar Lake in Sehwan subdivision forms the only considerable