Chapter 11

SeeProceedings of the Royal Society, vol. xxiv. (1876); R. Ellis in theAcademy(Dec. 4, 1875); J. P. Hicks,T. Hewitt Key(1893), where a full list of his works and contributions is given.

KEY(in O. Eng.caég; the ultimate origin of the word is unknown; it appears only in Old Frisiankeiof other Teutonic languages; until the end of the 17th century the pronunciation waskay, as in other words in O. Eng. ending inaég; cf.daég, day;claég, clay; theNew English Dictionarytakes the change to kee to be due to northern influence), an instrument of metal used for the opening and closing of a lock (seeLock). Until the 14th century bronze and not iron was most commonly used. The terminals of the stem of the keys were frequently decorated, the “bow” or loop taking the form sometimes of a trefoil, with figures inscribed within it; this decoration increased in the 16th century, the terminals being made in the shape of animals and other figures. Still more elaborate ceremonial keys were used by court officials; a series of chamberlains’ keys used during the 18th and 19th centuries in several courts in Europe is in the British Museum. The terminals are decorated with crowns, royal monograms and ciphers. The word “key” is by analogy applied to things regarded as means for the opening or closing of anything, for the making clear that which is hidden. Thus it is used of an interpretation as to the arrangement of the letters or words of a cipher, of a solution of mathematical or other problems, or of a translation of exercises or books, &c., from a foreign language. The term is also used figuratively of a place of commanding strategic position. Thus Gibraltar, the “Key of the Mediterranean,” was granted in 1462 by Henry IV. of Castile, the arms,gules, a castle proper, with key pendant to the gate,or; these arms form the badge of the 50th regiment of foot (now 2nd Batt. Essex Regiment) in the British army, in memory of the part which it took in the siege of 1782. The word is also frequently applied to many mechanical contrivances for unfastening or loosening a valve, nut, bolt, &c., such as a spanner or wrench, and to the instruments used in tuning a pianoforte or harp or in winding clocks or watches. A farther extension of the word is to appliances or devices which serve to lock or fasten together distinct parts of a structure, as the “key-stone” of an arch, the wedge or piece of wood, metal, &c., which fixes a joint, or a small metal instrument, shaped like a U, used to secure the bands in the process of sewing in bookbinding.

In musical instruments the term “key” is applied in certain wind instruments, particularly of the wood-wind type, to the levers which open and close valves in order to produce various notes, and in keyboard instruments, such as the organ or the pianoforte, to the exterior white or black parts of the levers which either open or shut the valves to admit the wind from the bellows to the pipes or to release the hammers against the strings (seeKeyboard). It is from this application of the word to these levers in musical instruments that the term is also used of the parts pressed by the finger in typewriters and in telegraphic instruments.

A key is the insignia of the office of chamberlain in a royal household (seeChamberlainandLord Chamberlain). The “power of the keys” (clavium potestas) in ecclesiastical usage represents the authority given by Christ to Peter by the words, “I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. xvi. 19). This is claimed by the Roman Church to have been transmitted to the popes as the successors of St Peter.

“Key” was formerly the common spelling of “quay,” a wharf, and is still found in America for “cay,” an island reef or sandbank off the coast of Florida (seeQuay).

The origin of the name Keys or House of Keys, the lower branch of the legislature, the court of Tynwald, of the Isle of Man, has been much discussed, but it is generally accepted that it is a particular application of the word “key” by English- and not Manx-speakingpeople. According to A. W. Moore,History of the Isle of Man, i. 160 sqq. (1900), in the Manx statutes and records the name of the house was in 1417Claves Manniae et Claves legis, Keys of Man and Keys of the Law; but the popular and also the documentary name till 1585 seems to have been “the 24,” in ManxKiare as feed. From 1585 to 1734 the name was in the statutes, &c., “the 24 Keys,” or simply “the Keys.” Moore suggests that the name was possibly originally due to an English “clerk of the rolls,” the members of the house being called in to “unlock or solve the difficulties of the law.” There is no evidence for the suggestion that Keys is an English corruption ofKiare-as, the first part ofKiare as feed. Another suggestion is that it is from a Scandinavian wordkeise, chosen.

KEYBOARD,orManual(Fr.clavier; Ger.Klaviatur; Ital.tastatura), a succession of keys for unlocking sound in stringed, wind or percussion musical instruments, together with the case or board on which they are arranged. The two principal types of keyboard instruments are the organ and the piano; their keyboards, although similarly constructed, differ widely in scope and capabilities. The keyboard of the organ, a purely mechanical contrivance, is the external means of communicating with the valves or pallets that open and close the entrances to the pipes. As its action is incapable of variation at the will of the performer, the keyboard of the organ remains without influence on the quality and intensity of the sound. The keyboard of the piano, on the contrary, besides its purely mechanical function, also forms a sympathetic vehicle of transmission for the performer’s rhythmical and emotional feeling, in consequence of the faithfulness with which it passes on the impulses communicated by the fingers. The keyboard proper does not, in instruments of the organ and piano types, contain the complete mechanical apparatus for directly unlocking the sound, but only that external part of it which is accessible to the performer.

The first instrument provided with a keyboard was the organ; we must therefore seek for the prototype of the modern keyboard in connexion with the primitive instrument which marks the transition between the mere syrinx provided with bellows, in which all the pipes sounded at once unless stopped by the fingers, and the first organ in which sound was elicited from a pipe only when unlocked by means of some mechanical contrivance. The earliest contrivance was the simple slider, unprovided with a key or touch-piece and working in a groove like the lid of a box, which was merely pushed in or drawn out to open or close the hole that formed the communication between the wind chest and the hole in the foot of the pipe. These sliders fulfilled in a simple manner the function of the modern keys, and preceded the groove and pallet system of the modern organ. We have no clear or trustworthy information concerning the primitive organ with sliders. Athanasius Kircher1gives a drawing of a small mouth-blown instrument under the name ofMagraketha(Mashroqitha’, Dan. iii. 5), and Ugolini2describes a similar one, but with a pair of bellows, as the magrēphah of the treatise‘Arākhīn.3By analogy with the evolution of the organ in central and western Europe from the 8th to the 15th century, of which we are able to study the various stages, we may conclude that in principle both drawings were probably fairly representative, even if nothing better than efforts of the imagination to illustrate a text.The invention of the keyboard with balanced keys has been placed by some writers as late as the 13th or 14th century, in spite of its having been described by both Hero of Alexandria and Vitruvius and mentioned by poets and writers. The misconception probably arose from the easy assumption that the organ was the product of Western skill and that the primitive instruments with sliders found in 11th century documents4represent the sum of the progress made in the evolution; in reality they were the result of a laborious effort to reconquer a lost art. The earliest trace of a balanced keyboard we possess is contained in Hero’s description of the hydraulic organ said to have been invented by Ctesibius of Alexandria in the 2nd centuryB.C.After describing the other parts (seeOrgan), Hero passes on to the sliders with perforations corresponding with the open feet of the speaking pipes which, when drawn forward, traverse and block the pipes. He describes the following contrivances: attached to the slider is a three-limbed, pivoted elbow-key, which, when depressed, pushes the slider inwards; in order to provide for its automatic return when the finger is lifted from the key, a slip of horn is attached by a gut string to each elbow-key. When the key is depressed and the slider pushed home, the gut string pulls the slip of horn and straightens it. As soon as the key is released, the piece of horn, regaining its natural bent by its own elasticity, pulls the slider out so that the perforation of the slider overlaps and the pipe is silenced.5The description of the keyboard by Vitruvius Pollio, a variant of that of Hero, is less accurate and less complete.6From evidence discussed in the articleOrgan, it is clear that the principle of a balanced keyboard was well understood both in the 2nd and in the 5th centuryA.D.After this all trace of this important development disappears, sliders of all kinds with and without handles doing duty for keys until the 12th or 13th century, when we find the small portative organs furnished with narrow keys which appear to be balanced; the single bellows were manipulated by one hand while the other fingered the keys. As this little instrument was mainly used to accompany the voice in simple chaunts, it needed few keys, at most nine or twelve. The pipes were flue-pipes. A similar little instrument, having tiny invisible pipes furnished with beating reeds and a pair of bellows (therefore requiring two performers) was known as the regal. There are representations of these medieval balanced keyboards with keys of various shapes, the most common being the rectangular with or without rounded corners and the T-shaped. Until the 14th century all the keys were in one row and of the same level, and although the B flat was used for modulation, it was merely placed between A and B natural in the sequence of notes. During the 14th century small square additional keys made their appearance, one or two to the octave, inserted between the others in the position of our black keys but not raised. An example of this keyboard is reproduced by J. F. Riaño7from a fresco in the Cistercian monastery of Nuestra Señora de Piedra in Aragon, dated 1390.So far the history of the keyboard is that of the organ. The only stringed instruments with keys before this date were theorganistrumand thehurdy-gurdy, in which little tongues of wood manipulated by handles or keys performed the function of the fingers in stopping the strings on the neck of the instruments, but they did not influence the development of the keyboard. The advent of the immediate precursors of the pianoforte was at hand. In theWunderbuch8(1440), preserved in the Grand Ducal Library at Weimar, are represented a number of musical instruments, all named. Among them are aclavichordiumand aclavicymbalumwith narrow additional keys let in between the wider ones, one to every group of two large keys. The same arrangement prevailed in aclavicymbalumfigured in an anonymous MS. attributed to the 14th century, preserved in the public library at Ghent9; from the lettering over the jacks and strings, of which there are but eight, it would seem as though the draughtsman had left the accidentals out of the scheme of notation. These are the earliest known representations of instruments with keyboards. The exact date at which our chromatic keyboard came into use has not been discovered, but it existed in the 15th century and may be studied in the picture of St Cecilia playing the organ on the Ghent altarpiece painted by the brothers Hubert and Jan van Eyck. Praetorius distinctly states that the large Halberstadt organ had the keyboard which he figures (plates xxiv. and xxv.) from the outset, and reproduces the inscription asserting that the organ was built in 1361 by the priest Nicolas Fabri and was renovated in 1495 by Gregorius Kleng. The keyboard of this organ has the arrangement of the present day with raised black notes; it is not improbable that Praetorius’s statement was correct, for Germany and the Netherlands led the van in organ-building during the middle ages.At the beginning of the 16th century, to facilitate the playing of contrapuntal music having a drone bass orpoint d’orgue, the arrangement of the pipes of organs and of the strings of spinets and harpsichords was altered, with the result that the lowest octave of the keyboard was made in what is known as short measure, or mi, ré, ut,i.e.a diatonic with B flat included, but grouped in the space of a sixth instead of appearing as a full octave. In order to carry out this device, the note below F was C, instead of E, the missing D and E and the B flat being substituted for the three sharps of F, G and A, and appearing as black notes, thus:—D E B♭C F G A B C,or if the lowest note appeared to be B, it sounded as G and the arrangement was as follows:—A BG C D E F G.This was the most common scheme for the short octave during the 16th and 17th centuries, although others are occasionally found. Praetorius also gives examples in which the black notes of the short octave were divided into two halves, or separate keys, the forwardhalf for the drone note, the back half for the chromatic semitone, thus:—This arrangement, which accomplishes its object without sacrifice, was to be found early in the 17th century in the organs of the monasteries of Riddageshausen and of Bayreuth in Vogtland.See A. J. Hipkins,History of the Pianoforte(London, 1896), and the older works of Girolamo Diruta (1597), Praetorius (1618), and Mersenne (1636).

The invention of the keyboard with balanced keys has been placed by some writers as late as the 13th or 14th century, in spite of its having been described by both Hero of Alexandria and Vitruvius and mentioned by poets and writers. The misconception probably arose from the easy assumption that the organ was the product of Western skill and that the primitive instruments with sliders found in 11th century documents4represent the sum of the progress made in the evolution; in reality they were the result of a laborious effort to reconquer a lost art. The earliest trace of a balanced keyboard we possess is contained in Hero’s description of the hydraulic organ said to have been invented by Ctesibius of Alexandria in the 2nd centuryB.C.After describing the other parts (seeOrgan), Hero passes on to the sliders with perforations corresponding with the open feet of the speaking pipes which, when drawn forward, traverse and block the pipes. He describes the following contrivances: attached to the slider is a three-limbed, pivoted elbow-key, which, when depressed, pushes the slider inwards; in order to provide for its automatic return when the finger is lifted from the key, a slip of horn is attached by a gut string to each elbow-key. When the key is depressed and the slider pushed home, the gut string pulls the slip of horn and straightens it. As soon as the key is released, the piece of horn, regaining its natural bent by its own elasticity, pulls the slider out so that the perforation of the slider overlaps and the pipe is silenced.5The description of the keyboard by Vitruvius Pollio, a variant of that of Hero, is less accurate and less complete.6From evidence discussed in the articleOrgan, it is clear that the principle of a balanced keyboard was well understood both in the 2nd and in the 5th centuryA.D.After this all trace of this important development disappears, sliders of all kinds with and without handles doing duty for keys until the 12th or 13th century, when we find the small portative organs furnished with narrow keys which appear to be balanced; the single bellows were manipulated by one hand while the other fingered the keys. As this little instrument was mainly used to accompany the voice in simple chaunts, it needed few keys, at most nine or twelve. The pipes were flue-pipes. A similar little instrument, having tiny invisible pipes furnished with beating reeds and a pair of bellows (therefore requiring two performers) was known as the regal. There are representations of these medieval balanced keyboards with keys of various shapes, the most common being the rectangular with or without rounded corners and the T-shaped. Until the 14th century all the keys were in one row and of the same level, and although the B flat was used for modulation, it was merely placed between A and B natural in the sequence of notes. During the 14th century small square additional keys made their appearance, one or two to the octave, inserted between the others in the position of our black keys but not raised. An example of this keyboard is reproduced by J. F. Riaño7from a fresco in the Cistercian monastery of Nuestra Señora de Piedra in Aragon, dated 1390.

So far the history of the keyboard is that of the organ. The only stringed instruments with keys before this date were theorganistrumand thehurdy-gurdy, in which little tongues of wood manipulated by handles or keys performed the function of the fingers in stopping the strings on the neck of the instruments, but they did not influence the development of the keyboard. The advent of the immediate precursors of the pianoforte was at hand. In theWunderbuch8(1440), preserved in the Grand Ducal Library at Weimar, are represented a number of musical instruments, all named. Among them are aclavichordiumand aclavicymbalumwith narrow additional keys let in between the wider ones, one to every group of two large keys. The same arrangement prevailed in aclavicymbalumfigured in an anonymous MS. attributed to the 14th century, preserved in the public library at Ghent9; from the lettering over the jacks and strings, of which there are but eight, it would seem as though the draughtsman had left the accidentals out of the scheme of notation. These are the earliest known representations of instruments with keyboards. The exact date at which our chromatic keyboard came into use has not been discovered, but it existed in the 15th century and may be studied in the picture of St Cecilia playing the organ on the Ghent altarpiece painted by the brothers Hubert and Jan van Eyck. Praetorius distinctly states that the large Halberstadt organ had the keyboard which he figures (plates xxiv. and xxv.) from the outset, and reproduces the inscription asserting that the organ was built in 1361 by the priest Nicolas Fabri and was renovated in 1495 by Gregorius Kleng. The keyboard of this organ has the arrangement of the present day with raised black notes; it is not improbable that Praetorius’s statement was correct, for Germany and the Netherlands led the van in organ-building during the middle ages.

At the beginning of the 16th century, to facilitate the playing of contrapuntal music having a drone bass orpoint d’orgue, the arrangement of the pipes of organs and of the strings of spinets and harpsichords was altered, with the result that the lowest octave of the keyboard was made in what is known as short measure, or mi, ré, ut,i.e.a diatonic with B flat included, but grouped in the space of a sixth instead of appearing as a full octave. In order to carry out this device, the note below F was C, instead of E, the missing D and E and the B flat being substituted for the three sharps of F, G and A, and appearing as black notes, thus:—

D E B♭C F G A B C,

or if the lowest note appeared to be B, it sounded as G and the arrangement was as follows:—

A BG C D E F G.

This was the most common scheme for the short octave during the 16th and 17th centuries, although others are occasionally found. Praetorius also gives examples in which the black notes of the short octave were divided into two halves, or separate keys, the forwardhalf for the drone note, the back half for the chromatic semitone, thus:—

This arrangement, which accomplishes its object without sacrifice, was to be found early in the 17th century in the organs of the monasteries of Riddageshausen and of Bayreuth in Vogtland.

See A. J. Hipkins,History of the Pianoforte(London, 1896), and the older works of Girolamo Diruta (1597), Praetorius (1618), and Mersenne (1636).

(K. S.)

1SeeMusurgia, bk. II., iv. § 3.2Thes. Antiq. Sacra.(Venice, 1744-1769), xxxii. 477.3II. 3 and fol. 10, 2.‘Arākhīn(“Valuations”) is a treatise in the Babylonian Talmud. The wordMagrephahoccurs in theMishna, the description of the instrument in thegemārā.4See the Cividale Prayer Book of St Elizabeth in Arthur Haseloff’sEine Sächs.-thüring. Malerschule, pl. 26, No. 57, also Bible of St Etienne Harding at Dijon (seeOrgan:History).5See the original Greek with translation by Charles Maclean in “The Principle of the Hydraulic Organ,”Intern. Musikges.vi. 2, 219-220 (Leipzig 1905).6See Clément Loret’s account inRevue archéologique, pp. 76-102 (Paris, 1890).7Early Hist. of Spanish Music(London, 1807).8Reproduced by Dr Alwin Schulz inDeutsches Leben im XIV. u. XV. Jhdt., figs. 522 seq. (Vienna, 1892).9“De diversis monocordis, pentacordis, etc., ex quibus diversa formantur instrumenta musica,” reproduced by Edm. van der Straeten inHist. de la musique aux Pays-Bas, i. 278.

1SeeMusurgia, bk. II., iv. § 3.

2Thes. Antiq. Sacra.(Venice, 1744-1769), xxxii. 477.

3II. 3 and fol. 10, 2.‘Arākhīn(“Valuations”) is a treatise in the Babylonian Talmud. The wordMagrephahoccurs in theMishna, the description of the instrument in thegemārā.

4See the Cividale Prayer Book of St Elizabeth in Arthur Haseloff’sEine Sächs.-thüring. Malerschule, pl. 26, No. 57, also Bible of St Etienne Harding at Dijon (seeOrgan:History).

5See the original Greek with translation by Charles Maclean in “The Principle of the Hydraulic Organ,”Intern. Musikges.vi. 2, 219-220 (Leipzig 1905).

6See Clément Loret’s account inRevue archéologique, pp. 76-102 (Paris, 1890).

7Early Hist. of Spanish Music(London, 1807).

8Reproduced by Dr Alwin Schulz inDeutsches Leben im XIV. u. XV. Jhdt., figs. 522 seq. (Vienna, 1892).

9“De diversis monocordis, pentacordis, etc., ex quibus diversa formantur instrumenta musica,” reproduced by Edm. van der Straeten inHist. de la musique aux Pays-Bas, i. 278.

KEYSTONE,the central voussoir of an arch (q.v.). The Etruscans and the Romans emphasized its importance by decorating it with figures and busts, and, in their triumphal arches, projected it forward and utilized it as an additional support to the architrave above. Throughout the Italian period it forms an important element in the design, and serves to connect the arch with the horizontal mouldings running above it. In Gothic architecture there is no keystone, but the junction of pointed ribs at their summit is sometimes decorated with a boss to mask the intersection.

KEY WEST(from the SpanishCayo Hueso, “Bone Reef”), a city, port of entry, and the county-seat of Monroe county, Florida, U.S.A., situated on a small coral island (4½ m. long and about 1 m. wide) of the same name, 60 m. S. W. of Cape Sable, the most southerly point of the mainland. It is connected by lines of steamers with Miami and Port Tampa, with Galveston, Texas, with Mobile, Alabama, with Philadelphia and New York City, and with West Indian ports, and by regular schooner lines with New York City, the Bahamas, British Honduras, &c. There is now an extension of the Florida East Coast railway from Miami to Key West (155 m.). Pop. (1880), 9890; (1890), 18,080; (1900), 17,114, of whom 7266 were foreign-born and 5562 were negroes; (1910 census), 19,945. The island is notable for its tropical vegetation and climate. The jasmine, almond, banana, cork and coco-nut palm are among the trees. The oleander grows here to be a tree, and there is a banyan tree, said to be the only one growing out of doors in the United States. There are many species of plants in Key West not found elsewhere in North America. The mean annual temperature is 76° F., and the mean of the hottest months is 82.2° F.; that of the coldest months is 69° F.; thus the mean range of temperature is only 13°. The precipitation is 35 in.; most of the rain falls in the “rainy season” from May to November, and is preserved in cisterns by the inhabitants as the only supply of drinking water. The number of cloudy days per annum averages 60. The city occupies the highest portion of the island. The harbour accommodates vessels drawing 27 ft.; vessels of 27-30 ft. draft can enter by either the “Main Ship” channel or the south-west channel; the south-east channel admits vessels of 25 ft. draft or less; and four other channels may be used by vessels of 15-19 ft. draft. The harbour is defended by Fort Taylor, built on the island of Key West in 1846, and greatly improved and modernized after the Spanish-American War of 1898. Among the buildings are the United States custom house, the city hall, a convent, and a public library.

In 1869 the insignificant population of Key West was greatly increased by Cubans who left their native island after an attempt at revolution; they engaged in the manufacture of tobacco, and Key West cigars were soon widely known. Towards the close of the 19th century this industry suffered from labour troubles, from the competition of Tampa, Florida, and from the commercial improvement of Havana, Cuba; but soon after 1900 the tobacco business of Key West began to recover. Immigrants from the Bahama Islands form another important element in the population. They are known as “Conchs,” and engage in sponge fishing. In 1905 the value of factory products was $4,254,024 (an increase of 37.7% over the value in 1900); the exports in 1907 were valued at $852,457; the imports were valued at $994,472, the excess over the exports being due to the fact that the food supply of the city is derived from other Florida ports and from the West Indies.

According to tradition the native Indian tribes of Key West, after being almost annihilated by the Caloosas, fled to Cuba. There are relics of early European occupation of the island which suggest that it was once the resort of pirates. The city was settled about 1822. The Seminole War and the war of the United States with Mexico gave it some military importance. In 1861 Confederate forces attempted to seize Fort Taylor, but they were successfully resisted by General William H. French.

KHABAROVSK(known asKhabarovkauntil 1895), a town of Asiatic Russia, capital of the Amur region and of the Maritime Province. Pop. (1897), 14,932. It was founded in 1858 and is situated on a high cliff on the right bank of the Amur, at its confluence with the Usuri, in 48° 28′ N. and 135° 6′ E. It is connected by rail with Vladivostok (480 m.), and is an important entrepôt for goods coming down the Usuri and its tributary the Sungacha, as well as a centre of trade, especially in sables. The town is built of wood, and has a large cathedral, a monument (1891) to Count Muraviev-Amurskiy, a cadet corps (new building 1904), a branch of the Russian Geographical Society, with museum, and a technical railway school.

KHAIRAGARH,a feudatory state in the Central Provinces, India. Area, 931 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 137,554, showing a decrease of 24% in the decade due to the effects of famine; estimated revenue, £20,000; tribute £4600. The chief, who is descended from the old Gond royal family, received the title of raja as an hereditary distinction in 1898. The state includes a fertile plain, yielding rice and cotton. Its prosperity has been promoted by the Bengal-Nagpur railway, which has a station at Dongargarh, the largest town (pop. 5856), connected by road with Khairagarh town, the residence of the raja.

KHAIREDDIN(Khair-ed-Din= “Joy of Religion”) (d. 1890), Turkish statesman, was of Circassian race, but nothing is known about his birth and parentage. In early boyhood he was in the hands of a Tunisian slave-dealer, by whom he was sold to Hamuda Pasha, then bey of Tunis, who gave him his freedom and a French education. When Khaireddin left school the bey made him steward of his estates, and from this position he rose to be minister of finance. When the prime minister, Mahmud ben Ayad, absconded to France with the treasure-chest of the beylic, Hamuda despatched Khaireddin to obtain the extradition of the fugitive. The mission failed; but the six years it occupied enabled Khaireddin to make himself widely known in France, to become acquainted with French political ideas and administrative methods, and, on his return to Tunisia, to render himself more than ever useful to his government. Hamuda died while Khaireddin was in France, but he was highly appreciated by the three beys—Ahmet (1837), Mohammed (1855), and Sadok (1859)—who in turn followed Hamuda, and to his influence was due the sequence of liberal measures which distinguished their successive reigns. Khaireddin also secured for the reigning family the confirmation from the sultan of Turkey of their right of succession to the beylic. But although Khaireddin’s protracted residence in France had imbued him with liberal ideas, it had not made him a French partisan, and he strenuously opposed the French scheme of establishing a protectorate over Tunisia upon which France embarked in the early ’seventies. This rendered him obnoxious to Sadok’s prime minister—an apostate Jew named Mustapha ben Ismael—who succeeded in completely undermining the bey’s confidence in him. His position thus became untenable in Tunisia, and shortly after the accession of Abdul Hamid he acquainted the sultan with his desire to enter the Turkish service. In 1877 the sultan bade him come to Constantinople, and on his arrival gave him a seat on the Reform Commission then sitting at Tophane. Early in 1879 the sultan appointed him grand vizier, and shortly afterwards he prepared a scheme of constitutional government, but Abdul Hamid refused to have anything to do with it. Thereupon Khaireddin resigned office, on the 28th of July 1879. More than once the sultan offered him anew the grand vizierate, but Khaireddin persistently refused it, and thus incurred disfavour. He died on the 30th of January 1890, practically a prisoner in his own house.

KHAIRPUR,orKhyrpoor, a native state of India, in the Sind province of Bombay. Area, 6050 sq. m.; pop. (1901),199,313, showing an apparent increase of 55% in the decade; estimated revenue, £90,000. Like other parts of Sind, Khairpur consists of a great alluvial plain, very rich and fertile in the neighbourhood of the Indus and the irrigation canals, the remaining area being a continuous series of sand-hill ridges covered with a stunted brushwood, where cultivation is altogether impossible. A small ridge of limestone hills passes through the northern part of the state, being a continuation of a ridge known as the Ghar, running southwards from Rohri. The state is watered by five canals drawn off from the Indus, besides the Eastern Nara, a canal which follows an old bed of the Indus. In the desert tracts are pits ofnatron.

Khairpurtown is situated on a canal 15 m. E. of the Indus, with a railway station, 20 m. S. of Sukkur, on the Kotri-Rohri branch of the North-Western railway, which here crosses a corner of the state. Pop. (1901), 14,014. There are manufactures of cloth, carpets, goldsmiths’ work and arms, and an export trade in indigo, grain and oilseeds.

The chief, or mir, of Khairpur belongs to a Baluch family, known as the Talpur, which rose on the fall of the Kalhora dynasty of Sind. About 1813, during the troubles in Kabul incidental to the establishment of the Barakzai dynasty, the mirs were able to withhold the tribute which up to that date had been somewhat irregularly paid to the rulers of Afghanistan. In 1832 the individuality of the Khairpur state was recognized by the British government in a treaty under which the use of the river Indus and the roads of Sind were secured. When the first Kabul expedition was decided on, the mir of Khairpur, Ali Murad, cordially supported the British policy; and the result was that, after the battles of Meeanee and Daba had put the whole of Sind at the disposal of the British, Khairpur was the only state allowed to retain its political existence under the protection of the paramount power. The chief mir, Faiz Mahommed Khan, G.C.I.E., who was an enlightened ruler, died in 1909, shortly after returning from a pilgrimage to the Shiite shrine of Kerbela.

KHAJRAHO,a village of Central India, in the state of Chhatarpur, famous for its old temples; pop. (1901), 1242. It is believed to have been the capital of the ancient kingdom of Jijhoti, corresponding with modern Bundelkhand. The temples consist of three groups: Saiva, Vaishnav and Jain, almost all built in the 10th and 11th centuries. They are covered outside and inside with elaborate sculptures, and also bear valuable inscriptions.

KHAKI(from Urdukhak, dust), originally a dust-coloured fabric, of the character of canvas, drill or holland, used by the British and native armies in India. It seems to have been first worn by the Guides, a mixed regiment of frontier troops, in 1848, and to have spread to other regiments during the following years. Some at any rate of the British troops had uniforms of khaki during the Indian Mutiny (1857-58), and thereafter drill or holland (generally called “khaki” whatever its colour) became the almost universal dress of British and native troops in Asia and Africa. During the South African War of 1899-1902, drill of a sandy shade of brown was worn by all troops sent out from Great Britain and the Colonies. Khaki drill, however, proved unsuitable material for the cold weather in the uplands of South Africa, and after a time the troops were supplied with dust-coloured serge uniforms. Since 1900 all drab and green-grey uniforms have been, unofficially at any rate, designated khaki.

KHALIFA, THE.Abdullah et Taaisha(Seyyid Abdullah ibn Seyyid Mahommed) (1846-1899), successor of the mahdi Mahommed Ahmed, born in 1846 in the south-western portion of Darfur, was a member of the Taaisha section of the Baggara or cattle-owning Arabs. His father, Mahommed et Taki, had determined to emigrate to Mecca with his family; but the unsettled state of the country long prevented him, and he died in Africa after advising his eldest son, Abdullah, to take refuge with some religious sheikh on the Nile, and to proceed to Mecca on a favourable opportunity. Abdullah, who had already had much connexion with slave-hunters, and had fought against the Egyptian conquest of Darfur, departed for the Nile valley with this purpose; hearing on the way of the disputes of Mahommed Ahmed, who had not yet claimed a sacred character, with the Egyptian officials, he went to him in spite of great difficulties, and, according to his own statement, at once recognized in him the mahdi (“guide”) divinely appointed to regenerate Islam in the latter days. His advice to Mahommed to stir up revolt in Darfur and Kordofan being justified by the result, he became his most trusted counsellor, and was soon declared principal khalifa or vicegerent of the mahdi, all of whose acts were to be regarded as the mahdi’s own. The mahdi on his deathbed (1885) solemnly named him his successor; and for thirteen years Abdullah ruled over what had been the Egyptian Sudan. Khartum was deserted by his orders, and Omdurman, at first intended as a temporary camp, was made his capital. At length the progress of Sir Herbert (afterwards Lord) Kitchener’s expedition compelled him to give battle to the Anglo-Egyptian forces near Omdurman, where on the 2nd of September 1898 his army, fighting with desperate courage, was almost annihilated. The khalifa, who had not left Omdurman since the death of the mahdi, fled to Kordofan with the remnant of his host. On the 25th of November 1899 he gave battle to a force under Colonel (afterwards General Sir) F. R. Wingate, and was slain at Om Debreikat. He met death with great fortitude, refusing to fly, and his principal amirs voluntarily perished with him.

The khalifa was a man of iron will and great energy, and possessed some military skill. By nature tyrannical, he was impatient of all opposition and appeared to delight in cruelty. It must be remembered, however, that he had to meet the secret or open hostility of all the tribes of the Nile valley and that his authority was dependent on his ability to overawe his opponents. He maintained in public the divine character of the power he inherited from the mahdi and inspired his followers to perform prodigies of valour. Although he treated many of his European captives with terrible severity he never had any of them executed. It is said that their presence in Omdurman ministered to his vanity—one of the most marked features of his character. In private life he showed much affection for his family.

Personal sketches of the khalifa are given in Slatin Pasha’sFire and Sword in the Sudan(London, 1896), and in Father Ohrwalder’sTen Years in the Mahdi’s Camp(London, 1892). See also Sir F. R. Wingate’sMahdiism and the Egyptian Sudan(London, 1891).

KHALĪL IBN AḤMAD[ABŪ ‘Abdurraḥmān ul-Khalīl Ibn Aḥmad ibn ‘Amr ibn Tamīm] (718-791), Arabian philologist, was a native of Oman. He was distinguished for having written the first Arabic dictionary and for having first classified the Arabic metres and laid down their rules. He was also a poet, and lived the ascetic life of a poor student. His grammatical work was carried on by his pupil Sībawaihī. The dictionary known as theKitāb-ul-‘Ainis ascribed, at least in its inception, to Khalīl. It was probably finished by one of his pupils and was not known in Bagdad until 862. The words were not arranged in alphabetical order but according to physiological principles, beginning with‘Ainand ending withYa. The work seems to have been in existence as late as the 14th century, but is now only known from extracts in manuscript.

Various grammatical works are ascribed to Khalīl, but their authenticity seems doubtful; cf. C. Brockelmann,Gesch. der arabischen Literatur, i. 100 (Weimar, 1898).

(G. W. T.)

KHAMGAON,a town of India, in the Buldana district of Berar, 340 m. N.E. of Bombay. Pop. (1901), 18,341. It is an important centre of the cotton trade. The cotton market, the second in the province, was established about 1820. Khamgaon was connected in 1870 with the Great Indian Peninsula railway by a short branch line.

KHAMSEH,a small but important province of Persia, between Kazvin and Tabriz. It consisted formerly of five districts, whence its name Khamseh, “the five,” but is now subdivided into seventeen districts. The language of the inhabitants is Turkish. The province pays a revenue of about £20,000 per annum, and its capital is Zenjān.

KHAMSIN(Arabic for “fifty”), a hot oppressive wind arising in the Sahara. It blows in Egypt at intervals for about fifty days during March, April and May, and fills the air with sand. In Guinea the wind from the Sahara is known as harmattan (q.v.).

KHAMTIS,a tribe of the north-east frontier of India, dwelling in the hills bordering the Lakhimpur district of Assam. They are of Shan origin, and appear to have settled in their present abode in the middle of the 18th century. In 1839 they raided the British outpost of Sadiya, but they have since given no trouble. Their headquarters are in a valley 200 m. from Sadiya, which can be reached only over high passes and through dense jungle. In 1901 the number of speakers of Khamti was returned as only 1490, mostly in Burma.

KHAN(from the Turkī, hence Persian and ArabicKhān), a title of respect in Mahommedan countries. It is a contracted form ofkhāqān(khakan), a word equivalent to sovereign or emperor, used among the Mongol and Turkī-nomad hordes. The title khan was assumed by Jenghis when he became supreme ruler of the Mongols; his successors became known in Europe as the Great Khans (sometimes as the Chams, &c.) of Tatary or Cathay. Khan is still applied to semi-independent rulers, such as the khans of Russian Turkestan, or the khan of Kalat in Baluchistan, and is also used immediately after the name of rulers such as the sultan of Turkey; the meaning of the term has also extended downwards, until in Persia and Afghanistan it has become an affix to the name of any Mahommedan gentleman, like Esquire, and in India it has become a part of many Mahommedan names, especially when Pathan descent is claimed. The title of Khan Bahadur is conferred by the British government on Mahommedans and also on Parsis.

KHANDESH, EASTandWEST,two districts of British India, in the central division of Bombay. They were formed in 1906 by the division of the old single district of Khandesh. Their areas are respectively 4544 sq. m. and 5497 sq. m., and the population on these areas in 1901 was 957,728 and 469,654. The headquarters of East Khandesh are at Jalgaon, and those of West Khandesh at Dhulia.

The principal natural feature is the Tapti river, which flows through both districts from east to west and divides each into two unequal parts. Of these the larger lie towards the south, and are drained by the rivers Girna, Bori and Panjhra. Northwards beyond the alluvial plain, which contains some of the richest tracts in Khandesh, the land rises towards the Satpura hills. In the centre and east the country is level, save for some low ranges of barren hills, and has in general an arid, unfertile appearance. Towards the north and west, the plain rises into a difficult and rugged country, thickly wooded, and inhabited by wild tribes of Bhils, who chiefly support themselves on the fruits of the forests and by wood-cutting. The drainage of the district centres in the Tapti, which receives thirteen principal tributaries in its course through Khandesh. None of the rivers is navigable, and the Tapti flows in too deep a bed to be useful for irrigation. The district on the whole, however, is fairly well supplied with surface water. Khandesh is not rich in minerals. A large area is under forest; but the jungles have been denuded of most of their valuable timber. Wild beasts are numerous. In 1901 the population of the old single district was 1,427,382, showing an increase of less than 1% in the decade. Of the aboriginal tribes the Bhils are the most important. They number 167,000, and formerly were a wild and lawless robber tribe. Since the introduction of British rule, the efforts made by kindly treatment, and by the offer of suitable employment, to win the Bhils from their disorderly life have been most successful. Many of them are now employed in police duties and as village watchmen. The principal crops are millets, cotton, pulse, wheat and oilseeds. There are many factories for ginning and pressing cotton, and a cotton-mill at Jalgaon. The eastern district is traversed by the Great Indian Peninsula railway, which branches at Bhusawal (an important centre of trade) towards Jubbulpore and Nagpur. Both districts are crossed by the Tapti Valley line from Surat. Khandesh suffered somewhat from famine in 1896-1897, and more severely in 1899-1900.

KHANDWA,a town of British India, in the Nimar district of the Central Provinces, of which it is the headquarters, 353 m. N.E. of Bombay by rail. Pop. (1901), 19,401. Khandwa is an ancient town, with Jain and other temples. As a centre of trade, it has superseded the old capital of Burhanpur. It is an important railway junction, where the Malwa line from Indore meets the main line of the Great Indian Peninsula. There are factories for ginning and pressing cotton, and raw cotton is exported.

KHANSĀ(Tumāḍir bint ‘Amr, known as al-Khansā) (d. c. 645), Arabian poetess of the tribe Sulaim, a branch of Qais, was born in the later years of the 6th century and brought up in such wealth and luxury as the desert could give. Refusing the offer of Duraid ibn uṣ-Ṣimma, a poet and prince, she married Mirdās and had by him three sons. Afterwards she married again. Before the time of Islam she lost her brothers Ṣakhr and Moawiya in battle. Her elegies written on these brothers and on her father made her the most famous poetess of her time. At the fair of ‘Ukāz Nābigha Dhubyāni is said to have placed A‘sha first among the poets then present and Khansā second above Hassān ibn Thābit. Khansā with her tribe accepted Islam somewhat late, but persisted in wearing the heathen sign of mourning, against the precepts of Islam. Her four sons fought in the armies of Islam and were slain in the battle of Kadisīya. Omar wrote her a letter congratulating her on their heroic end and assigned her a pension. She died in her tentc.645. Her daughter ‘Amra also wrote poetry. Opinion was divided among later critics as to whether Khansā or Laila (seeArabic Literature: §Poetry) was the greater.

Her diwan has been edited by L. Cheikho (Beirut, 1895) and translated into French by De Coppier (Beirut, 1889). Cf. T. Nöldeke’sBeiträge zur Kenntniss der Poesie der alten Araber(Hanover, 1864). Stories of her life are contained in theKitāb ul-Aghāni, xiii. 136-147.

(G. W. T.)

KHAR,a small but very fertile province of Persia, known by the ancients as Choara and Choarene; pop. about 10,000. The governor of the province resides at Kishlak Khar, a large village situated 62 m. S.E. of Teheran, or at Aradān, a village 10 m. farther E. The province has an abundant water-supply from the Hableh-rūd, and produces great quantities of wheat, barley and rice. Of the £6000 which it pays to the state, more than £4000 is paid in kind—wheat, barley, straw and rice.

KHARAGHODA,a village of British India, in the Ahmedabad district of Bombay, situated on the Little Runn of Cutch, and the terminus of a branch railway; pop. (1901), 2108. Here is the government factory of salt, known as Baragra salt, producing nearly 2,000,000 cwt. a year, most of which is exported to other provinces in Central and Northern India.

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