Chapter 15

(R. Ad.; X.)

1See furtherIdealism;Metaphysics;Logic, &c., where Kant’s relation to subsequent thought is discussed.

KANURI,orBeriberi, an African tribe of mixed origin, the dominant race of Bornu. They are large-boned and coarse-featured, but contain nevertheless a distinct strain of Fula blood. Beriberi (or Berberi) is the name given them by the Hausa (seeBornu).

KAOLIN,a pure white clay, know also as china-clay, since it is an essential ingredient in the manufacture of china, or porcelain. The word kaolin, formerly written by some authors caulin, is said to be a corruption of the ChineseKau-ling, meaning “High Ridge,” the name of a hill east of King-te-chen, whence the earliest samples of the clay sent to Europe were obtained by the Père d’Entrecolles, a French Jesuit missionary in China in the early part of the 18th century. His specimens, examined in Paris by R. A. Réaumur, showed that true porcelain, the composition of which had not previously been known in Europe, contained two essential ingredients, which came to be known—though it now appears incorrectly—as kaolin and petuntse, corresponding respectively to our china-clay and china-stone. The kaolin confers plasticity on the paste and secures retention of form for the ware when exposed to the heat of the kiln, whilst the petuntse gives the translucency so characteristic of porcelain. Some of the earliest discoveries of kaolin in Europe were at Aue, near Schneeberg in Saxony, and at St Yrieix, near Limoges in France. In England it was discovered in Cornwall about the year 1750 by William Cookworthy, of Plymouth; and in 1768 he took out his patent for making porcelain from moorstone or growan (china-stone) and growan clay (kaolin), the latter imparting “whiteness and infusibility” to the china. These raw materials were found first at Tregonning Hill, near Breage, and afterwards at St Stephen’s in Brannel, near St Austell; and their discovery led to the manufacture of hard paste, or true porcelain, at Plymouth and subsequently at Bristol.

Kaolin is a hydrous aluminium silicate, having the formula H4Al2Si2O9, or Al2Si2O7·2H2O, but in common clay this silicate is largely mixed with impurities. Certain clays contain pearly white hexagonal scales, usually microscopic, referable to the monoclinic system, and having the chemical composition of kaolin. This crystalline substance was termed kaolinite by S. W. Johnson and J. M. Blake in 1867, and it is now regarded as the basis of pure clay. The kaolinite of Amlwch in Anglesey has been studied by Allan Dick. The origin of kaolin may be traced to the alteration of certain aluminous silicates like feldspar, scapolite, beryl and topaz; but all large deposits of china-clay are due to the decomposition of feldspar, generally in granite, but sometimes in gneiss, pitchstone, &c. The turbidity of many feldspars is the result of partial “kaolinization,” or alteration to kaolin. The china-clay rocks of Cornwall and Devon are granites in which the orthoclase has become kaolinized. These rocks are sometimes known as carclazite, a name proposed by J. H. Collins from a typical locality, the Carclaze mine, near St Austell. It has often been supposed that the alteration of the granite has been effected mainly by meteoric agencies, the carbonic acid having decomposed the alkaline silicate of the feldspar, whilst the aluminous silicate assumes a hydrated condition and forms kaolin. In many cases, however, it seems likely that the change has been effected by subterranean agencies, probably by heated vapours carrying fluorine and boron, since minerals containing these elements, like tourmaline, often occur in association with the china-clay. According to F. H. Butler the kaolinization of the west of England granite may have been effected by a solution of carbonic acid at a high temperature, acting from below.

The china-stone, or petuntse, is a granitic rock which still retains much of the unaltered feldspar, on which its fusibility depends. In order to prepare kaolin for the market, the china-clay rock is broken up, and the clay washed out by means of water. The liquid containing the clay in mechanical suspension is run into channels called “drags” where the coarser impurities subside, and whence it passes to another set of channels known as “micas,” where the finer materials settle down. Thus purified, the clay-water is led into a series of pits or tanks, in which the finely divided clay is slowly deposited; and, after acquiring sufficient consistency, it is transferred to the drying-house, or “dry,” heated by flues, where the moisture is expelled, and the kaolin obtained as a soft white earthy substance. The clay has extensive application in the arts, being used not only in ceramic manufacture but in paper-making, bleaching and various chemical industries.

Under the species “kaolinite” may be included several minerals which have received distinctive names, such as the Saxon mineral called from its pearly lustre nacrite, a name originally given by A. Brongniart to a nacreous mica; pholerite found chiefly in cracks of ironstone and named by J. Guillemin from the Greekφολίς, a scale; and lithomarge, the old GermanSteinmark, a compact clay-like body of white, yellow or red colour. Dr C. Hintze has pointed out that the word pholerite should properly be written pholidite (φολίς, φολίδος). Closely related to kaolinite is the mineral called halloysite, a name given to it by P. Berthier after his uncle Omalius d’Halloy, the Belgian geologist.

(F. W. R.*)

KAPUNDA,a municipal town of Light county, South Australia, 48 m. by rail N.N.E. of Adelaide. Pop. (1901), 1805. It is the centre of a large wheat-growing district. The celebrated copper mines discovered in 1843 were closed in 1879. There are quarries near the town, in which is found fine marble of every colour from dark blue to white. This marble was largely used in the Houses of Parliament at Adelaide.

KAPURTHALA,a native state of India, within the Punjab. Area, 652 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 314,341, showing an increase of 5% in the decade; estimated gross revenue, £178,000; tribute, £8700. The Kapurthala family is descended from Jassa Singh, a contemporary of Nadir Shah and Ahmad Shah, who by his intelligence and bravery made himself the leading Sikh of his day. At one time it held possessions on both sides of the Sutlej, and also in the Bari Doab. The cis-Sutlej estates and scattered tracts in the Bari Doab were forfeited owing to the hostility of the chief in the first Sikh war; but the latter were afterwards restored in recognition of the loyalty of Raja Randhir Singh during the mutiny of 1857, when he led a contingent to Oudh which did good service. He also received a grant of land in Oudh, 700 sq. m. in extent, yielding a gross rental of £89,000. In Oudh, however, he exercises no sovereign powers, occupying only the status of a large landholder, with the title of Raja-i-Rajagan. Raja Sir Jagatjit Singh, K.C.S.I., was born in 1872, succeeded his father in 1877, and attained his majority in 1890. During the Tirah expedition of 1897-98 the Kapurthala imperial service infantry took a prominent part. The territory is crossed by the railway from Jullundur to Amritsar. The state has a large export trade in wheat, sugar, tobacco and cotton. The hand-painted cloths and metal-work of Phagwara are well known. The town of Kapurthala is 11 miles from Jullundur; pop. (1901), 18,519.

KARACHI,orKurrachee, a seaport and district of British India, in the Sind province of Bombay. The city is situated at the extreme western end of the Indus delta, 500 m. by sea from Bombay and 820 m. by rail from Lahore, being the maritime terminus of the North-Western railway, and the main gateway for the trade of the Punjab and part of central Asia. It is also the capital of the province of Sind. Pop. (1881), 73,500; (1891), 105,199; (1901), 115,407. Before 1725 no town appears to have existed here; but about that time some little trade began to centre upon the convenient harbour, and the silting up of Shahbandar, the ancient port of Sind, shortly afterwards drove much of its former trade and population to the rising village. Under the Kalhora princes, the khan of Kalat obtained a grant of the town, but in 1795 it was captured by the Talpur Mirs, who built the fort at Manora, at the entrance to the harbour. They also made considerable efforts to increase the trade of the portand at the time of the British acquisition of the province the town and suburbs contained a population of 14,000. This was in 1843, from which time the importance of the place practically dates.

The harbour of Karachi has an extreme length and breadth of about 5 m. It is protected by the promontory of Manora Head; and the entrance is partially closed by rocks and by the peninsula (formerly an island) of Kiamari. On Manora Head, which is fortified, are the buildings of the port establishment, a cantonment, &c. Kiamari is the landing-place for passengers and goods, and has three piers and railway connexions. The harbour improvements were begun in 1854 with the building of the Napier Mole or causeway connecting Kiamari with the mainland. The entrance has a minimum depth of 25 ft.; and a large number of improvements and extensions have been carried out by the harbour board, which was created in 1880, and transformed in 1886 into the port trust.

The great extension of the canal colonies in the Punjab, entirely devoted to the cultivation of wheat, has immensely increased the export trade of Karachi. It now ranks as the third port of India, being surpassed only by Calcutta and Bombay. The principal articles of export, besides wheat, are oil-seeds, cotton, wool, hides and bones. The annual value of exports, including specie, amounts to about nine millions sterling. There are iron works and manufactures of cotton cloth, silk scarves and carpets. The fisheries and oyster beds are important.

Among the principal public buildings are government house, the Frere municipal hall, and the Napier barracks. The military cantonments, stretching north-east of the city, form the headquarters of a brigade in the 4th division of the southern army. An excellent water supply is provided by an underground aqueduct 18 m. in length. The chief educational institutions are the Dayaram Jethmal Arts College, with a law class; five high schools, of which two are for Europeans and one for Mahommedans; a convent school for girls; and an engineering class. The average rainfall for the year is about 5 in. The rainy months are July and August, but one or two heavy showers usually fall about Christmas. The end of May, beginning of June, and first fortnight in October are hot. November, December, January, February and March are delightfully cool and dry; the remaining months are damp with a constant cool sea breeze.

TheDistrict of Karachihas an area of 11,970 sq. m. Pop. (1901), 607,439, showing an increase of 6% in the decade. It consists of an immense tract of land stretching from the mouth of the Indus to the Baluch boundary. It differs in general appearance from the rest of Sind, having a rugged, mountainous region 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 unpicturesque alluvium. Besides the Indus and its mouths, the only river in the district is the Hab, forming the boundary between Sind and Baluchistan. The Manchhar lake in Sehwan sub-division forms the only considerable sheet of water in Sind. The hot springs at Pir Mangho are 6 m. N. of Karachi town. The principal crops are rice, millets, oil-seeds and wheat. In addition to Karachi, there are seaports at Sirgonda and Keti Bandar, which conduct a considerable coasting trade. Tatta was the old capital of Sind. Kotri is an important railway station on the Indus. The main line of the North-Western railway runs through the district. From Kotri downwards the line has been doubled to Karachi, and at Kotri a bridge has been constructed across the Indus opposite Hyderabad, to connect with the Rajputana railway system.

See A. F. Baillie,Kurrachee: Past, Present and Future(1890).

KARAGEORGE(in Servian,Karadyordye) (c.1766-1817), the leader of the Servians during their first revolution against the Turks (1804-13), and founder of the Servian dynasty Karageorgevich. His Christian name was George (Dyordye), but being not only of dark complexion but of gloomy, taciturn and easily excitable temper, he was nicknamed by the Servians “Tsrni Dyordye” and by the Turks “Karageorge,” both meaning “Black George,” the Turkish name becoming soon the generally adopted one. He was born in 1766 (according to some in 1768), the son of an extremely poor Servian peasant, Petroniye Petrovich. When quite a young man, he entered the service of a renowned Turkish brigand, Fazli-Bey by name, and accompanied his master on his adventurous expeditions. When twenty he married and started a small farm. But having killed a Turk, he left Servia for Syrmia, in Croatia-Slavonia, where the monks of the monastery Krushedol engaged him as one of their forest guards. He remained in the service of the monks nearly two years, then enlisted into an Austrian regiment, and as sergeant took part in the Austrian war against Turkey (1788-91). He deserted his regiment, returned to Servia, and settled in the village of Topola, living sometimes as a peaceful farmer and sometimes again as the leader of a small band of “hayduks”—men who attacked, robbed and in most cases killed the travelling Turks in revenge for the oppression of their country.

The circumstances in which the Servians rose against the janissaries of the pashalik of Belgrade are related in the article onServia. The leaders of the insurgents’ bands and other men of influence met about the middle of February 1804 at the village of Orashatz, and there elected Karageorge as the supreme leader (Vrhovni Vozd) of the nation. Under his command the Servians speedily cleared their country not only of the janissaries disloyal to the Sultan, but of all other Turks, who withdrew from the open country to the fortified places. Karageorge and his armed Servians demanded from the Sultan the privileges of self-government. The Porte, confronted by the chances of a war with Russia, decided in the autumn of 1806 to grant to the Servians a fairly large measure of autonomy. Unfortunately Karageorge was comparatively poor in political gifts and diplomatic tact. While thehattisherifgranting the rights demanded by the Servians was on the way to Servia, Karageorge attacked the Turks in Belgrade and Shabats, captured the towns first and then also the citadels, and allowed the Turkish population of Belgrade to be massacred. At the same time the Russian headquarters in Bucharest informed Karageorge that Russia was at war with Turkey and that the Tsar counted on the co-operation of the Servians. Karageorge and his Servians then definitely rejected all the concessions which the Porte had granted them, and joined Russia, hoping thereby to secure the complete independence of Servia. The co-operation of the Servians with the Russians was of no great importance, and probably disappointing to both parties. But as the principal theatre of war was far away from Servia on the lower Danube, Karageorge was able to give more attention to the internal organization of Servia. The national assembly proclaimed Karageorge the hereditary chief andgospodarof the Servians (Dec. 26, 1808), he on his part promising under oath to govern the country “through and by the national council” (senate).

Karageorge’s hasty and uncompromising temper and imperious habits, as well as his want of political tact, soon made him many enemies amongst the more prominent Servians (voyvodes and senators). His difficulties were considerably increased by the intrigues of the Russian political agent to Servia, Rodophinikin. A crisis came during the summer months of the year 1813. The treaty of peace, concluded by the Russians somewhat hurriedly in Bucharest in 1812, did not secure efficiently the safety of the Servians. The Turks demanded from Karageorge, as a preliminary condition for peace, that the Servians should lay down their arms, and Karageorge refused to comply. Thereupon the entire Turkish army which fought against the Russians on the Danube, being disengaged, invaded Servia. After a few inefficient attempts to stem the invasion, Karageorge gave up the struggle, and with most of the voyvodes and chiefs of the nation left the country, and crossed to Hungary as a refugee (Sept. 20, 1813). From Hungary he went to Russia and settled in Khotin (Bessarabia), enjoying a pension from the Tsar’s government. But in the summer of 1817 he suddenly andsecretly left Russia and reappeared quite alone in Servia in the neighbourhood of Semendria (Smederevo) on the Danube. The motives and the object of his return are not clear. Some believe that he was sent by the Hetaerists to raise up Servia to a new war with Turkey and thereby facilitate the rising of the Greek people. It is generally assumed, however, that, having heard that Servia, under the guidance of Milosh Obrenovich, had obtained a certain measure of self-government, he desired to put himself again at the head of the nation. This impression seems to have been that of Milosh himself, who at once reported to the Pasha of Belgrade the arrival of Karageorge. The pasha demanded that Karageorge, alive or dead, should be delivered to him immediately, and made Milosh personally responsible for the execution of that order. Karageorge’s removal could not unfortunately be separated from the personal interest of Milosh; already acknowledged as chief of the nation, Milosh did not like to be displaced by his old chief, who in a critical moment had left the country. Karageorge was killed (July 27, O.S., 1817) while he was asleep, and his head was sent to the pasha for transmission to Constantinople. It is impossible to exonerate Milosh Obrenovich from responsibility for the murder, which became the starting-point for a series of tragedies in the modern history of Servia.

Karageorge was one of the most remarkable Servians of the 19th century. No other man could have led the bands of undisciplined and badly-armed Servian peasants to such decisive victories against the Turks. Although he never assumed the title of prince, he practically was the first chief and master (gospodar) of the people of Servia. He succeeded, however, not because he was liked but because he was feared. His gloomy silence, his easily aroused anger, his habit of punishing without hesitation the slightest transgressions by death, spread terror among the people. He is believed to have killed his own father in a fit of anger when the old man refused to follow him in his flight to Hungary at the beginning of his career. In another fit of rage at the report that his brother Marinko had assaulted a girl, he ordered his men to seize his brother and to hang him there and then in his presence, and he forbade his mother to go into mourning for him. Even by his admirers he is admitted to have killed by his own hand no fewer than 125 men who provoked his anger. But in battles he is acknowledged to have been always admirable, displaying marvellous energy and valour, and giving proofs of a real military genius. The Servians consider him one of their greatest men. In grateful remembrance of his services to the national cause they elected his younger son, Alexander, in 1842, to be the reigning prince of Servia, and again in 1903 they chose his grandson, Peter Karageorgevich (son of Alexander) to be the king of Servia.

SeeServia; also Ranke,Die serbische Revolution; Stoyan Novakovich,Vaskzhs srpske drzhave(Belgrade, 1904); M. G. Milityevich,Karadyordye(Belgrade, 1904).

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KARA-HISSAR(“Black Castle”). (1)Afium Kara-Hissar(q.v.). (2)Ichje, orIscha Kara-Hissar(anc.Docimium), a small village about 14 m. N.E. of No. 1. Docimium was a Macedonian colony established on an older site. It was a self-governing municipality, striking its own coins, and stood on the Apamea-Synnada-Pessinus road, by which the celebrated marble called Synnadic, Docimian and Phrygian was conveyed to the coast. The quarries are 2½ m. from the village, and the marble was carried thence direct to Synnada (Chifut Kassaba). Some of the marble has the rich purple veins in which poets saw the blood of Atys.

See W. M. Ramsay,Hist. Geog. of Asia Minor(London, 1890); Murray,Hbk. to Asia Minor(1893).

KARA-HISSAR SHARKI[i.e.“eastern Kara-Hissar”], also called Shabin Kara-Hissar from the alum mines in its vicinity, the chief town of a sanjak of the same name in the Sivas vilayet of Asia Minor. Pop. about 12,000, two-thirds Mussulman. It is the RomanColonia, which gradually superseded Pompey’s foundation,Nicopolis, whose ruins lie at Purkh, about 12 m. W. (hence Kara-Hissar is called Nikopoli by the Armenians). In later Byzantine times it was an important frontier station, and did not pass into Ottoman hands till twelve years after the capture of Constantinople. The town, altitude 4860 ft., is built round the foot of a lofty rock, upon which stand the ruins of the Byzantine castle,Maurocastron, the Kara Hissar Daula of early Moslem chroniclers. It is connected with its port, Kerasund, and with Sivas, Erzingan and Erzerum, by carriage roads.

KARAISKAKIS, GEORGES(1782-1827), leader in the War of Greek Independence, was born at Agrapha in 1782. During the earlier stages of the war he served in the Morea, and had a somewhat discreditable share in the intrigues which divided the Greek leaders. But he showed a sense of the necessity for providing the country with a government, and was a steady supporter of Capo d’Istria. His most honourable services were performed in the middle and later stages of the war. He helped to raise the first siege of Missolonghi in 1823, and did his best to save the town in the second siege in 1826. In that year he commanded the patriot forces in Rumelia, and though he failed to co-operate effectually with other chiefs, or with the foreign sympathizers fighting for the Greeks, he gained some successes against the Turks which were very welcome amid the disasters of the time. He took a share in the unsuccessful attempts to raise the siege of Athens in 1827, and made an effort to prevent the disastrous massacre of the Turkish garrison of fort S Spiridion. He was shot in action on the 4th of May 1827. Finlay speaks of him as a capable partisan leader who had great influence over his men, and describes him as of “middle size, thin, dark-complexioned, with a bright expressive animal eye which indicated gipsy blood.”

See G. Finlay,History of the Greek Revolution(London, 1861).

KARAJICH, VUK STEFANOVICH(1787-1864), the father of modern Servian literature, was born on the 6th of November 1787 in the Servian village of Trshich, on the border between Bosnia and Servia. Having learnt to read and write in the old monastery Tronosha (near his native village), he was engaged as writer and reader of letters to the commander of the insurgents of his district at the beginning of the first Servian rising against the Turks in 1804. Mostly in the position of a scribe to different voyvodes, sometimes as school-teacher, he served his country during the first revolution (1804-1813), at the collapse of which he left Servia, but instead of following Karageorge and other voyvodes to Russia he went to Vienna. There he was introduced to the great Slavonic scholar Yerney Kopitar, who, having heard him recite some Servian national ballads, encouraged him to collect the poems and popular songs, write a grammar of the Servian language, and, if possible, a dictionary. This programme of literary work was adhered to by Karajich, who all his life acknowledged gratefully what he owed to his learned teacher.

In the second half of the 18th and in the beginning of the 19th century all Servian literary efforts were written in a language which was not the Servian vernacular, but an artificial language, of which the foundation was the Old Slavonic in use in the churches, but somewhat Russianized, and mixed with Servian words forced into Russian forms. That language, called by its writers “the Slavonic-Servian,” was neither Slavonic nor Servian. It was written in Old Cyrillic letters, many of which had no meaning in the Servian language, while there were several sounds in that language which had no corresponding signs or letters in the Old Slavonic alphabet. The Servian philosopher Dositey Obradovich (who at the end of the 18th century spent some time in London teaching Greek) was the first Servian author to proclaim the principle that the books for the Servian people ought to be written in the language of the people. But the great majority of his contemporaries were of opinion that the language of Servian literature ought to be evolved out of the dead Old Slavonic of the church books. The church naturally decidedly supported this view. Karajich was the great reformer who changed all this. Encouraged by Kopitar, he published in 1814 (2nd ed., 1815) in Vienna his first book,Mala Prostonarodna Slaveno-Serbska Pyesmaritsa(“A small collection of Slavonic-Servian songs of the common people”), containing ahundred lyric songs, sung by the peasant women of Servia, and six poems about heroes, or as the Servians call themYunachke pesme, which are generally recited by the blind bards or by peasants. From that time Karajich’s literary activity moved on two parallel lines: to give scientific justification and foundation to the adoption of the vernacular Servian as the literary language; and, by collecting and publishing national songs, folk-lore, proverbs, &c., to show the richness of the Servian people’s poetical and intellectual gifts, and the wealth and beauty of the Servian language. By his reform of the Servian alphabet and orthography, his Servian grammar and his Servian dictionary, he established the fact that the Servian language contains thirty distinct sounds, for six of which the Old Slavonic alphabet had no special letters. He introduced new letters for those special sounds, at the same time throwing out of the Old Slavonic alphabet eighteen letters for which the Servian language had no use. This reform was strenuously opposed by the church and many conservative authors, who went so far as to induce the Servian government to prohibit the printing of books in new letters, a prohibition removed in 1859. Karajich’s alphabet facilitated his reform of orthography, his principle being:write as you speak, and read as it is written! Hardly any other language in the civilized world has such a simple, logical, scientific spelling system and orthography as the Servian has in Karajich’s system. His first grammatical essay was published in Vienna in 1814,Pismenitsa Serbskoga yezika po govoru prostoga naroda(“The grammar of the Servian language as spoken by the common people”). An improved edition appeared in Vienna in 1818, together with his great workSrpski Ryechnik(Lexicon Serbico-Germanico-Latinum). This dictionary—containing 26,270 words—was full of important contributions to folk-lore, as Karajich never missed an opportunity to add to the meaning of the word the description of the national customs or popular beliefs connected with it. A new edition of his dictionary, containing 46,270 words, was published at Vienna in 1852. Meanwhile he gave himself earnestly to the work of collecting the “creations of the mind of the Servian common people.” He travelled through Servian countries (Servia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Montenegro, Dalmatia, Syrmia, Croatia), and the result was shown in a largely augmented edition of hisSrpske Narodne Pyesme, of which the first three volumes appeared at Leipzig in 1823 and 1824, the fourth volume appearing at Vienna in 1833.Popular Stories and Enigmaswas published in 1821, andServian National Proverbsin 1836. From 1826 to 1834 he was the editor of an annual, calledDanitsa(The Morning Star), which he filled with important contributions concerning the ethnography and modern history of the Servian people. In 1828 he published a historical monograph,Milosh Obrenovich, Prince of Servia; in 1837, in German,Montenegro and Montenegrins; in 1867,The Servian Governing Council of State. He supplied Leopold Ranke with the materials for hisHistory of the Servian Revolution. He also translated the New Testament into Servian, for the British and Foreign Bible Society (Vienna, 1847). Karajich died in Vienna on the 6th of February 1864; and his remains were transferred to Belgrade in 1897 with great solemnity and at the expense of the government of Servia.

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KARA-KALPAKS(“Black Caps”), a Mongolo-Tatar people, originally dominant along the east coast of the Aral Sea, where they still number some thousands. They thus form geographically the transition between the northern Kirghiz and the southern Turkomans. Once a powerful nation, they are scattered for the most part in Astrakhan, Perm, Orenburg, in the Caucasian province of Kuban, and in Tobolsk, Siberia, numbering in all about 50,000. These emigrants have crossed much with the alien populations among whom they have settled; but the pure type on the Aral Sea are a tall powerful people, with broad flat faces, large eyes, short noses and heavy chins. Their women are the most beautiful in Turkestan. The name of “Black Caps” is given them in allusion to their high sheepskin hats. They are a peaceful agricultural folk, who have suffered much from their fierce nomad neighbours.

KARAKORUM(Turkish, “black stone débris”), the name of two cities in Mongolia. One of these, according to G. Potanin, was the capital of the Uighur kingdom in the 8th century, and the other was in the 13th century a capital of the steppe monarchy of Mongolia. The same name seems also to have been applied to the Khangai range at the headwaters of the Orkhon. (1) The UighurKarakorum, also named Mubalik (“bad town”), was situated on the left bank of the Orkhon, in the Talal-khain-dala steppe, to the south-east of Ughei-nor. It was deserted after the fall of the Uighur kingdom, and in the 10th century Abaki, the founder of the Khitan kingdom, planted on its ruins a stone bearing a description of his victories. (2) The Mongolian KARAKORUM was founded at the birth of the Mongolian monarchy established by Jenghiz Khan. A palace for the khan was built in it by Chinese architects in 1234, and its walls were erected in 1235. Plano Carpini visited it in 1246, Rubruquis in 1253, and Marco Polo in 1275. Later, the fourth Mongolian king, Kublai, left Karakorum, in order to reside at Kai-pin-fu, near Peking. When the khan Arik-bog declared himself and Karakorum independent of Kublai-Khan, the latter besieged Karakorum, took it by famine, and probably laid it waste so thoroughly that the town was afterwards forgotten.

The exact sites of the two Mongolian capitals were only established in 1889-1891. Sir H. Yule (The Book of Marco Polo, 1871) was the first to distinguish two cities of this name. The Russian traveller Paderin in 1871 visited the Uighur capital (seeTurks), named now by the Mongols Kara Balghasun (“black city”) or Khara-kherem (“black wall”), of which only the wall and a tower are in existence, while the streets and ruins outside the wall are seen at a distance of 1¾ m. Paderin’s belief that this was the old Mongol capital has been shown to be incorrect. As to the Mongolian Karakorum, it is identified by several authorities with a site on which towards the close of the 16th century the Buddhist monastery of Erdeni Tsu was built. This monastery lies about 25 m. south by east of the Uighur capital. North and north-east of the monastery are ruins of ancient buildings. Professor D. Pozdnéev, who visited Erdeni Tsu for a second time in 1892, stated that the earthen wall surrounding the monastery might well be part of the wall of the old city. The proper position of the two Karakorums was determined by the expedition of N. Yadrintsev in 1889, and the two expeditions of the Helsingfors Ugro-Finnish society (1890) and the Russian academy of science, under Dr W. Radlov (1891), which were sent out to study Yadrintsev’s discovery.

SeeWorks(Trudy)of the Orkhon Expedition(St Petersburg, 1892); Yule’sMarco Polo, edition revised by Henri Cordier (of Paris), vol. i. ch. xlvi. (London, 1903). Cordier confines the use of Karakorum to the Mongol capital; Pozdnéev,Mongolia and the Mongols, vol. i. (St Petersburg, 1896); C. W. Campbell, “Journeys in Mongolia,”Geog. Journ.vol. xx. (1903), with map. Campbell’s report was printed as a parliamentary paper (China No. 1, 1904).

KARA-KUL,the name of two lakes (“Great” and “Little “) of Russian Turkestan, in the province of Ferghana, and on the Pamir plateau. Great Kara-kul, 12 m. long and 10 m. wide (formerly much larger), is under 39° N., to the south of the Trans-Alai range, and lies at an altitude of 13,200 ft.; it is surrounded by high mountains, and is reached from the north over the Kyzyl-art pass (14,015 ft.). A peninsula projecting from the south shore and an island off the north shore divide it into two basins, a smaller eastern one which is shallow, 42 to 63 ft., and a larger western one, which has depths of 726 to 756 ft. It has no drainage outlet. Little Kara-kul lies in the north-east Pamir, or Sarikol, north-west of the Mustagh-ata peak (25,850 ft.), at an altitude of 12,700 ft. It varies in depth from 79 ft. in the south to 50 to 70 ft. in the middle, and 1000 ft. or more in the north. It is a moraine lake; and a stream of the same name flows through it, but is named Ghez in its farther course towards Kashgar in East Turkestan.

KARA-KUM(“Black Sands”), a flat desert in Russian Central Asia. It extends to nearly 110,000 sq. m., and is bounded on the N.W. by the Ust-urt plateau, between the Sea of Aral and the Caspian Sea, on the N.E. by the Amu-darya, on the S. by the Turkoman oases, and on the W. it nearly reaches the CaspianSea. Only part of this surface is covered with sand. There are broad expanses (takyrs) of clay soil upon which water accumulates in the spring; in the summer these are muddy, but later quite dry, and merely a few Solanaceae and bushes grow on them. There is alsoshor, similar to the above but encrusted with salt and gypsum, and relieved only by Solanaceae along their borders. The remainder is occupied with sand, which, according to V. Mainov, assumes five different forms. (1)Barkhans, chiefly in the east, which are mounds of loose sand, 15 to 35 ft. high, hoof-shaped, having their gently sloping convex sides turned towards the prevailing winds, and a concave side, 30° to 40° steep, on the opposite slope. They are disposed in groups or chains, and the winds drive them at an average rate of 20 ft. annually towards the south and south-east. Some grass (Stipa pennata) and bushes ofsaksaul(Haloxylon ammodendron) and other steppe bushes (e.g.Calligonium,HalimodendronandAtraphaxis) grow on them. (2) Mounds of sand, of about the same size, but irregular in shape and of a slightly firmer consistence, mostly bearing the same bushes, and alsoArtemisiaandTamarix; they are chiefly met with in the east and south. (3) A sandy desert, slightly undulating, and covered in spring with grass and flowers (e.g.tulips,Rheum, various Umbelliferae), which are soon burned by the sun; they cover very large spaces in the south-east. (4) Sands disposed in waves from 50 to 70 ft., and occasionally up to 100 ft. high, at a distance of from 200 to 400 ft. from each other; they cover the central portion, and their vegetation is practically the same as in the preceding division. (5) Dunes on the shores of the Caspian, composed of moving sands, 35 to 80 ft. high and devoid of vegetation.

A typical feature of the Kara-kum is the number of “old river beds,” which may have been either channels of tributaries of the Amu and other rivers or depressions which contained elongated salt lakes. Water is only found in wells, 10 to 20 m. apart—sometimes as much as 100 m.—which are dug in the takyrs and give saline water, occasionally unfit to drink, and in pools of rain-water retained in the lower parts of the takyrs. The population of the Kara-kum, consisting of nomad Kirghiz and Turkomans, is very small. The region in the north of the province of Syr-darya, between Lake Aral and Lake Chalkarteniz, is also called Kara-kum.

(P. A. K.; J. T. Be.)

KARAMAN(anc.Laranda, a name still used by the Christian inhabitants), a town in the Konia vilayet of Asia Minor, situated in the plain north of Mount Taurus. Pop. 8000. It has few industries and little trade, but the medieval walls, well preserved castle and mosques are interesting, and the old Seljukmedresse, or college, is a beautiful building. Karaman is connected with Konia by railway, having a station on the first section of the Bagdad railway. Little is known of its ancient history except that it was destroyed by Perdiccas about 322B.C., and afterwards became a seat of Isaurian pirates. It was occupied by Frederick Barbarossa in 1190; in 1466 it was captured by Mahommed II., and in 1486 by Bayezid II.

KARAMANIA,formerly an independent inland province in the south of Asia Minor, named after Karaman, the son of an Armenian convert to Islam, who married a daughter of Ala ed-Din Kaikobad, the Seljuk sultan of Rum, and was granted Laranda in fief, and made governor of Selefke, 1223-1245. The name Karaman is, however, Turkoman and that of a powerful tribe, settled apparently near Laranda. The Armenian convert must have been adopted into this. On the collapse of the Seljuk empire, Karaman’s grandson, Mahmud, 1279-1319, founded a state, which included Pamphylia, Lycaonia and large parts of Cilicia, Cappadocia and Phrygia. Its capital, Laranda, superseded Konia. This state was frequently at war with the kings of Lesser Armenia, the Lusignan princes of Cyprus and the knights of Rhodes. It was also engaged in a long struggle for supremacy with the Osmanli Turks, which only ended in 1472, when it was definitely annexed by Mahommed II. The Osmanlis divided Karamania into Kharij north, and Ichili south, of the Taurus, and restored Konia to its metropolitan position. The name Karamania is now often given by geographers to Ichili only; but so far as it has had any exact significance in modern times, it has stood for the whole province of Konia. Before the present provincial division was made (1864), Karamania was the eyalet of which Konia was the capital, and it did not extend to the sea, the whole littoral from Adalia eastward being under the pasha of Adana. Nevertheless, in Levantine popular usage at the present day, “Karamania” signifies the coast from Adalia to Messina.

(D. G. H.)

KARAMNASA,a river of northern India, tributary to the Ganges on its right bank, forming the boundary between Bengal and the United Provinces. The name means “destroyer of religious merit,” which is explained by more than one legend. To this day all high-caste Hindus have to be carried over without being defiled by the touch of its waters.

KARA MUSTAFA(d. 1683), Turkish vizier, surnamed “Merzifunli,” was a son of Uruj Bey, a notable Sipahi of Merzifun (Marsovan), and brother-in-law to Ahmed Kuprili, whom he succeeded as grand vizier in 1676, after having for some years held the office of Kaimmakam orlocum tenens. His greed and ostentation were equalled by his incapacity, and he behaved with characteristic insolence to the foreign ambassadors, from whom he extorted large bribes. After conducting a campaign in Poland which terminated unfortunately, he gave a ready response to the appeal for aid made by the Hungarians under Imre Thököly (q.v.) when they rose against Austria, his hope being to form out of the Habsburg dominions a Mussulman empire of the West, of which he should be the sultan. The plan was foiled in part by his own lack of military skill, but chiefly through the heroic resistance of Vienna and its timely relief by John Sobieski, king of Poland. Kara Mustafa paid for his defeat with his life; he was beheaded at Belgrade in 1683 and his head was brought to the sultan on a silver dish.

AnotherKara Mustafa Pasha(d. 1643), who figures in Turkish history, was by birth a Hungarian, who was enrolled in the Janissaries, rose to be Kapudan Pasha under Murad IV., and after the capture of Bagdad was made grand vizier. He was severe, but just and impartial, and strove to effect necessary reforms by reducing the numbers of the Janissaries, improving the coinage, and checking the state expenditure. But the discontent of the Janissaries led to his dismissal and death in 1643.

KARAMZIN, NIKOLAI MIKHAILOVICH(1765-1826), Russian historian, critic, novelist and poet, was born at the village of Mikhailovka, in the government of Orenburg, and not at Simbirsk as many of his English and German biographers incorrectly state, on the 1st of December (old style) 1765. His father was an officer in the Russian army, of Tatar extraction. He was sent to Moscow to study under Professor Schaden, whence he afterwards removed to St Petersburg, where he made the acquaintance of Dmitriev, a Russian poet of some merit, and occupied himself with translating essays by foreign writers into his native language. After residing some time at St Petersburg, he went to Simbirsk, where he lived in retirement till induced to revisit Moscow. There, finding himself in the midst of the society of learned men, he again betook himself to literary work. In 1789 he resolved to travel, and visited Germany, France, Switzerland and England. On his return he published hisLetters of a Russian Traveller, which met with great success. These letters were first printed in theMoscow Journal, which he edited, but were afterwards collected and issued in six volumes (1797-1801). In the same periodical Karamzin also published translations of some of the tales of Marmontel, and some original stories, among which may be mentionedPoor LizaandNatalia the Boyar’s Daughter. In 1794 and 1795 Karamzin abandoned his literary journal, and published a miscellany in two volumes, entitledAglaia, in which appeared, among other things, “The Island of Bornholm” and “Ilia Mourometz,” a story based upon the adventures of the well-known hero of many a Russian legend. In 1797-1799 he issued another miscellany or poetical almanac,The Aonides, in conjunction with Derzhávin and Dmitriev. In 1798 he compiledThe Pantheon, a collection of pieces from the works of the most celebrated authors ancient and modern, translated into Russian. Many of his lighter productions were subsequently printed by him in a volume entitledMy Trifles. In 1802 and 1803 Karamzinedited the journal theEuropean Messenger. It was not until after the publication of this work that he realized where his strength lay, and commenced hisHistory of the Russian Empire. In order to accomplish the task, he secluded himself for two years; and, on the cause of his retirement becoming known to the emperor Alexander, Karamzin was invited to Tver, where he read to the emperor the first eight volumes of his history. In 1816 he removed to St Petersburg, where he spent the happiest days of his life, enjoying the favour of Alexander, and submitting to him the sheets of his great work, which the emperor read over with him in the gardens of the palace of Tzarskoë Selo. He did not, however, live to carry his work further than the eleventh volume, terminating it at the accession of Michael Romanov in 1613. He died on the 22nd of May (old style) 1826, in the Taurida palace. A monument was erected to his memory at Simbirsk in 1845.

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