Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/25

 K A T K A T 15 It is divided into one hundred aud eighty-eight separate ! states, large and small, of which thirteen pay no tribute, ! ninety-six are tributary to the British Government, and ] seventy to the gaekwar as the representative of the Mar- hattds, while of these three classes of states one hundred and thirty-two pay a tax called zortalabi to the nawdb of , Jund^arh. The states are arranged in seven classes : the chiefs of the first and second classes exercise plenary juris diction, both civil and criminal ; the judicial powers of the lesser chiefs are graded in a diminishing scale, the residuary j jurisdiction being vested in four British officers, each ; superintending a group of states. The political agent controls the whole. As a rule, no appeal lies from the | decision of a chief ; but on presumption of maladministra tion his proceedings may be called for and reviewed. During the past twenty years the states have established civil and criminal courts and written codes. Justice is administered by the political officers on the non-regulation system over 2058 square miles, or about one-tenth of the whole area. Outlawry, political and predatory, has been suppressed, and life and property are as safe as in British districts. A village police has been established, and muni- , cipal funds are voted by the states. In 1878 there were 488 schools, with 28,171 scholars; while at the Bdjkumar College, and three high schools many of the chiefs receive a liberal education during their minority. There is rail way communication with Wadhwdn, and an extension is in progress to Dhoraji and Bhaunagar, while a network of , good roads extend from Eajkot, the headquarters of the agency, over the greater part of the province. Kathidwar : is divided for administrative purposes into four prants or districts, Jhaldwar, Hdlldr, Sordth, andGohelwdr; but the ! old territorial prants are ten, viz., Jhaldwar in the north, containing about fifty states ; Machhukdntd ; Hallar, with j twenty-sixty states ; Okhamandal, belonging to Baroda ; Baradd or Jaitwdr, also known as Porbandar ; Sorath ; j Babridwdr; Kdthidwdr; Und-Sarviya; and Gohelwdr. The last-named comprises the Gogo district, belonging to the j Ahmedabdd collectorate ; Bhaunagar, probably the fore most state in Kdthidwdr ; and many others. Generally speaking, the surface of the country is undu lating, with low ranges running in very irregular directions ; with the exception of the Tdnghd and Manclliav hills, in the west of Jhaldwdr, and some unimportant hills in Hallar, the northern portion of the country is flat ; but in the south, from near Gogo, the Gir range runs nearly parallel with the coast, and at a distance of about 20 miles from it, along the north of Babridwdr and Sordth, to the neighbourhood of Girndr. Opposite this latter mountain is the solitary Osam hill, and then still farther west is the Baradd group, between Hdlldr and Baradd, running about 20 miles north and south from Gumti to Bdndwan. The Girndr clump of mountains is an important granitic mass, the highest peak of which rises to 3500 feet. The prin cipal river is the Bhddar, which rises in the Mdndhav hills, and flowing south-west falls into the sea at Navi-Bandar, in Baradd ; it is everywhere marked by highly cultivated lands adjoining its course of about 115 miles. Other rivers are the Aji, Machhu, aud Satninji the last re markable for wild and romantic scenery. Four of the old races, the Jditwas, Churdsamas, Solunkis, and Wdlds are now existing as proprietors of the soil who exercised sovereignty in the country prior to the immigration of the ! Jhalas, Jarejas, Purmars, Kathis, Gohels, Jdts, Moham medans, and Marhattas, between whom the country is ! now chiefly portioned out. The principal agricultural products consist of cotton, htjrd, and jodr, and in some parts sugar-cane, turmeric, and indigo. Horse and sheep breeding is carried on to a great extent these animals, together with food grains, raw cotton, and wool, forming the chief ex ports. The principal imports are cotton manufactures, metals, and sugar. Iron is found in many parts of Barada and Hallar. Many The last two, as also Verdwal, are thriving seaport towns. Kathiawar has many notable antiquities, comprising rock inscrip tions of Asoka, Buddhist caves, and fine Jain temples on the sacred hill of Girnar, and at Palitaua. KATIF, or EL KATIF, a town of Arabia, in the maritime region which skirts the northern part of the Persian Gulf on the low muddy shore of the northmost of the secondary bays that break the outline of the Bay of Bahrein, in 26 29 N. lat. and 50 E. long. Town and district are some times considered as part of El Hasa, sometimes as an independent province. The town lies embosomed amid luxuriant palm groves and gardens, but, according to Palgrave, is &quot;crowded, damp, and dirty.&quot; As the sea port of Nejd, it has a considerable trade. The principal building is the fortress or palace, a strong and spacious structure, whose erection is popularly assigned to Abu Sa id el Jannaby el Karmaty, the founder of the Karma- thians. Katif was the chief seat of the Karmathian power. About the middle of the 18th century we find it, along with El Hasa, in the hands of Ibn Muflik, whose influence was paramount throughout Nejd. In 1791 it was cap tured by Sa iid, the leader of the Wahhdby revolution. In 1871 it was attacked, and according to their own account subjugated, by the Turks from Baghdad. The population of the town and district is given as from 90,000 to 100,000. Katif is not far from the probable site of the ancient Gerrha, which was inhabited by Chaldean exiles from Babylon (Strabo, xvi. 766) ; in more modern times the population has been recruited from Persia. See Captain G. F. Sadlier, in Trans. Lit. Soc. Bombay, 1823 ; Pelly, in Journ. Roy. Gcogr. Soc., 1865; Palgrave, Central and Eastern Arabia, 1873 ; Zehme, Arabien nnd die Araber, Halle, 1875. KATSENA, KASSLNA, or KASHNA, a town of Central Africa, situated about 170 miles to the east of Sokoto, the capital of the state to which it now pays tribute. The walls have a circuit of between 13 and 14 English miles, but at the time of Earth s visit only the north-western quarter was inhabited, and he estimated the population at not more than 7000 or 8000. In the 17th and 18th centuries it appears to have been the largest town in the whole region, and its inhabitants cannot have numbered less than 100,000. The date of its foundation must be comparatively modern, for at the time of Leo Africanus there was no place of any considerable size in the province which bore the name now applied to the town. In the beginning of the present century it fell into the hands of the Fellatah, but only after a protracted and heroic defence. KATTOWITZ, chief town of a circle in the govern ment district of Oppeln and province of Silesia, Prussia, is situated on the Eawa, in a busy mining and manu facturing region near the Polish border. There are large iron-works, foundries, and machine shops in the town, and near it zinc and anthracite mines. The growth of Kat- towitz, like that of many villages in the same circle, has been very rapid, owing to the development of the mineral resources of the district. In 1815 it was a mere village, in 1865 it became a town, and in 1875 it had a population of 11,352. KATWA, or CtmvA, a town in Bardwdn district, Bengal, India, situated at the confluence of the Bhdgirathi and Ajdi rivers, 23 38 55&quot; N. lat., 88 10 40&quot; E. long. It is one of the principal seats of district trade, and the residence of many wealthy native merchants. Now a purely commer cial town, it was formerly regarded as the key to Murshidd- bdd. The old fort, of which scarcely a vestige now remains, is noted as the scene of the defeat of the Marhattds by All Vardi Khan. Population in 1872, 7963.