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 64: KURILE ISLANDS Sheikh Ahmedi is a celebrated poet of the 16th century, and his best production seems to be a love story entitled Nem-u-Zine. The names of Mollah Hezir, also called Neali Effendi, and of Ahmed Effendi, are those of the most learned Kurds of modern times. A grammar and vo- cabulary of the Kurdish language was prepared by Garzoni (Rome, 1787). Rodiger and Pott have written Kurdische Studien, in vols. iii. and iv. of the Zeitschrift des Morgenlandes ; the structure of the language has been described by Dorn and Schafy, Beitrage zur Kenntniss der iranischen Sprachen (St. Petersburg, 1866). In religion the majority of the people profess to be Mohammedans of the sect of Omar, but their creed is tinctured with remnants of the old Manichaean and Magian systems, and they have many superstitious practices not sanctioned by the Koran. About 100,000 are Nestorian Chris- tians, locally known as Kaldani. (See NESTO- RIANS.) These Christians inhabit the valley of the Tigris and the mountains which skirt it on the east. There is a church and priest in almost every one of their villages. KURILE ISLANDS, a chain of smali islands in the Pacific ocean, extending from the S. ex- tremity of Kamtchatka to Yezo, the northern- most of the Japanese islands. They lie be- tween lat. 42 and 51 K, and Ion. 145 and 157 E., are 26 in number, and reach over a space of more than 700 m. in length. They are divided into the Great Kuriles, which be- long to Japan, and the Little Kuriles, which are subject to Russia. The largest of the for- mer are Kunashir and Iturup ; of the latter, Sumshu, Poromushir, Onekotan, and since 1856 also Urup. The surface of these islands is very irregular. There are eight or ten vol- canoes, still for the most part in a state of ignition. The height of the northernmost of them, on the island of Alaid, known for its great eruptions in the years 1770 and 1793, is calculated at from 12,000 to 15,000 ft. The shores are in general rocky and precipitous, and, in consequence of the violent currents which prevail around them, very difficult of access. Several of the Kuriles are uninhabited, and several uninhabitable for want of water ; but many are fertile, well wooded, and pro- duce game and fish in abundance. The cli- mate is tempestuous, severe, and foggy. The vegetable productions are few and unimpor- tant. The principal animals are bears, wolves, foxes, sables, otters, seals, and fowl. The chief commerce is carried on with Russia, China, and Japan. The minerals are iron, sul- phur, and copper. The people, very few in number, are in general of low stature, dark complexion, and more hairy than the other races of E. Asia. Their habits are excessively filthy, but their disposition is honest and gentle. In manners and customs the northern islanders resemble the Kamtchatdales ; the southern, who are termed Ainos, to some ex- tent the Japanese. (See AINOS.) The islands were first discovered by the Russians in 1713 ; KURZ five of them were known in 1720, and the whole archipelago in 1778. KURRACHEE, or Karachi, a seaport town of Sinde, India, in the presidency of Bombay, capital of a district of the same name, 91 m. S. W. of Hydrabad ; pop. about 30,000. It is situated on a bay of its own name in the In- dian ocean, W. of the delta of the Indus, and near the frontier of Beloochistan. It is built on a plain between the sea and a range of mountains, and has a spacious harbor, ob- structed however by a bar which cannot be safely crossed by vessels drawing more than 16 ft. of water. A mole has been built by the British, and a road constructed from it to the town, which is about 3 m. distant. The point of Munorah, at the extremity of a promontory S. of the harbor, is fortified. As the only safe port in Sinde, Kurrachee is an important com- mercial centre, and it is the terminus of the Sinde railway, which connects it with Kotree, opposite Hydrabad on the Indus. A submarine telegraph gives it communication with Muscat and Alexandria. Kurrachee has warehouses, banks, and other requisites of a large trade, and maintains regular steam communication with several towns in India, Persia, Africa, and Eu- rope. The annual imports and exports are es- timated at $30,000,000. It exports camels, fish, hides, tallow, ghee, oil, oil seeds, bark, saltpe- tre, salt, indigo, cotton, and grain, and imports metals, hardware, cotton, silks, twist, and yarn, 'besides having an active transit trade with Cashmere, Afghanistan, Thibet, and Turkistan. It contains an English church and school. KURSK. I. A S. government of Russia, bor- dering on the governments of Orel, Voronezh, Kharkov, Poltava, and Tchernigov ; area, 18,- 890 sq. m. ; pop. in 1867, 1,866,859. The sur- face is in general undulating, the climate mild and dry, and the soil fertile. The principal rivers are the Seim, Vorskla, and Oskol. The most valuable minerals are iron, limestone, and nitre. The manufactures consist of coarse cloths, leather, soap, spirits, and earthenware. The most important cities are Kursk, Rylsk, Belgorod, Stary-Oskol, Mikhailovka, and Miro- polie. II. A city, capital of the government, on the Tuskar, a tributary of the Seim, 280 m. S. by W. of Moscow; pop. in 1867, 28,921. It is a large town, with narrow, ill-paved streets, numerous churches, and a magnificent edifice occupied by the government. It carries on a considerable trade with St. Petersburg and Moscow, and is the seat of the civil and mili- tary governors of the province, and of the arch- bishop of Kursk and Belgorod. KURZ, Heinrich, a German author, born in Paris, April 28, 1805, died in Aarau, Switzer- land, Feb. 24, 1873. He graduated at Leipsic, and after the revolution of 1830 became a jour- nalist at Munich, where he was imprisoned during two years for political offences. From 1834 to 1839 he was professor at St. Gall, Switzerland, and after losing this post on ac- count of being a Protestant and alien, he re-