Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/77

 K H I K H O Ages very considerable, has in the present day declined to insignificant proportions. At the epoch when Arab trade flourished, and in the time of Jenghiz Khan, Kharezm possessed important trade routes. Along these routes were dug deep stone-lined wells, and they were moreover dotted at intervals with caravanserais ; so that, in the words of a historian of the 14th century, the traveller from Khiva to the Crimea need make no provision for his journey, for all that was needful could be procured from caravanserais on the way. In this latter half of the 19th century the trade is unimportant, and even the ruins of the caravanserais and wells are to be detected with difficulty. The merchants of New Urgentch, it is true, take their wares as far as the great Russian fair of Nijni-Novgorod on the west, to Bok hara on the east, and to Persia on the south, but the cara vans are small and money is scarce. The chief articles of trade are horned cattle, camels, horses, sheep, cereals, khalats, silk and cotton cloth, clothing, gunpowder, arms, agricultural implements, two-wheeled carts, saddlery, har ness, boats, wood, pytash, salt, &c. These wares are some times bartered, sometimes sold for money. Dried fish is also an article of export for the Bokhara market. The cotton is of excellent quality, and the silk of Khazarasp is renowned in Central Asia. Of manufactures there are none in the true sense of the word. The Khivans weave in their hand-looms cotton and silk cloth sufficient to satisfy their home necessities. In handicraft they are specially clever as armourers, smiths, and founders. The fuel used is saksaul. Currency. The money of the country is the gold tilla, the silver tenghe, and the copper pul. The tilla is worth 28 to 35 tenghe, or from sixteen shillings to a pound, ac cording to the exchange ; while the tenghe, value about sevenpence, is equivalent to about 35 to 50 puls. Russian, Persian, and Bokharian money are also in circulation. KHIVA, a fortified city, capital of the khanate of the same name, situated between two canals derived from the Oxus, arid in the midst of green fields, orchards, and high poplars. It lies in 41 22 30&quot; N. lat. and 60 25 E. long., about 400 miles east of Krasnovodsk on the Caspian, 350 miles north of Meshhecl in Persia, and 700 miles north-north-west of Kandahar. The city is girt with two mud walls. The inner wall, which surrounds the main town, is built on a low eminence, and forms a tolerably regular parallelogram with four towers at the angles. This wall is about 24 feet high, and has a perimeter of some 2500 yards. Three gates lead into the inner town. The outer wall, 10 feet high, was built in 1842 to enclose a former suburb, and has an irregular perimeter of 7200 yards. Twelve gates pierce this outer wall. In the main or inner town are two palaces of mean appearance, seven teen mosques, twenty-two educational seminaries, a cara vanserai, a covered bazaar of some one hundred and twenty shops, and two hundred and sixty other shops distributed over the place. The principal mosques are those erected in honour of the saints Pol van Ata and Seid Bai. (F. c. H. c.) KHOI, a town and district in the province of Azerbijan, Persia, towards the extreme north-west frontier, between Lake Urumiyah and the river Aras. The town lies in 38 37 N. lat, 45 15 E. long., 77 miles north-west of Tabriz on the great trade route between the Euxine and Persia, and on the Kotura, a tributary of the Aras, crossed here by a seven-arched bridge. The fortifications, which are in a ruinous state, consist of an outer line of bastions, redans, glacis, ditch and covered way, and an inner high wall flanked with towers, the intervening space being occupied with gardens and mud hovels. But the central part forms one of the best laid out towns in Persia, cool streams and lines of willows running along its broad regular streets. Here are a few good buildings, including the governor s palace, several mosques, a large brick bazaar second only to those of Shiraz, and a fine caravanserai. There is a large transit trade, and considerable local traffic across the Turkish border. Ophthalmia is very prevalent, about 10 per cent, of the inhabitants suffering from inflammation of the eyes. The chief manufactures are copper wares and worsted socks. Here the Turks under Selim I. gained a great victory over the Persians in 1514, but with such heavy losses to themselves that the battle was long after known as the &quot;day of doom.&quot; In Septem ber 1881 Khoi was visited by a series of violent earth quakes, the seismic waves running north-west and south east in the direction of the main mountain ranges. The population numbers about 30,000, including many Ar menians, who occupy a separate quarter. The district consists of an elevated plateau GO miles by 10 to 15, highly cultivated by a skilful system of drainage and irrigation, producing a series of fertile oases laid out in meadows, gardens, and tillage, and yielding rich crops of wheat and barley, besides apples, pears, cherries, walnuts, chestnuts, and unrivalled mulberries. KHOJEND, or HODJENT, chief town of the Khojend and Jizak district in the province of Sir Daria, in Russian Turkestan, is situated on the left bank of the Sir Daria or Jaxartes, 96 miles south-east from Tashkend, and on the direct road from Bokhara to Khokand. The Russian quarter lies between the river and the native town. Near the river is the old citadel, built on the top of an artificial square mound, about 100 feet high, which Mr Schuylcr suspected to be a mere hollow wooden framework, only j half filled in with earth. The bazaar of Khojend is very wooden bridge over the Jaxartes, whose banks at this point are so high as to make the river useless to the town in the absence of pumping gear ; so that when the little stream Khoja Bakargan dries up in summer, there is much suffering from want of water. The great heat intensifies the distress. There is now no very great trade in Khojend. Formerly the entire commerce between the khanates of Bokhara and Khokand passed through it, but since the Russian occupation much of that has been diverted. Silk worms are reared, and silk goods are manufactured in the town. A coarse sort of ware is made in imitation of the Chinese porcelain. Lignite is carried to Tashkend from the neighbourhood of Khojend. The surrounding district is tolerably well cultivated ; immediately about the town the ground is taken up with cotton plantations and vine yards. The majority of the inhabitants are Tajiks. They are sociable and pleasure-loving, and the whole air of the town is agreeable. The population for 1873 is put down by Mr Schuyler at 30,000. Khojend has always been a bone of contention between Khokand and Bokhara ; and, although belonging from very ancient times to the former, it has often been seized by the latter. When the ameer of Bokhara assisted Khudayer Khan to regain his throne in 1864, he kept possession of Khojend. In 1806 it was stormed by the Russians ; and during the war with Khokand in 1875 it played an important part. KHOKAND, a city of Turkestan, was, previous to the Russian conquest, the capital of an independent khan, but, owing mainly to the fact that those who reside in it are subject to goitre, it has not been made the administrative j centre of the Russian province (FERGHANA, q. v.). The town is situated on the skirts of the Kashgar Devan ridge, which separates Kashgar from Ferghana, and it is traversed by . three mountain gullies which send their scanty waters to I the Jaxartes. Dating only from the reign of Saur Khan, j about the early part of the 18th century, Khokand has within the 10 miles circuit of its mud walls a greater amount of space to spare than is to be found in any other city of Central Asia ; some of the market-places are of XIV. 9
 * large in proportion to the size of the town. There is a