and then treacherously annihilated them in detail. This disaster did not prevent the Russians from sending embassies from time to time to the khan, but the representations of the envoys did not induce him to desist from enslaving Russian subjects or even to free those already in bondage. The Persian campaign which subsequently followed, the designs in other parts of Central Asia, and the constant embroilment of Russia in European wars caused Khivan affairs to recede temporarily to the background, and it was not until the third decade of the 19th century that the attention of the Muscovite Government was again directed to the khanate. In 1839 a force under General Perovsky, consisting of three and a half battalions, three Cossack regiments, and twenty-two guns, in all 4500 men, with a large train of camels, moved from Orenburg across the Ust Urt to the Khivan frontiers, in order to occupy the khanate, liberate the captives, and open the way for trade. This expedition likewise terminated in disaster. The inaccessibility of Khiva was once more her safeguard. Before the force reached half-way towards its destination it was forced to return, in consequence of the severity of the weather and the loss of life among the men and animals. These expeditions had convinced the Russians that for the effective control of the relations of Khiva a nearer position must be sought. In 1847 they founded the Raim fort at the mouth of the Jaxartes. As this advance deprived the Khivans not only of territory, but of a large number of tax-paying Kirghiz, while the establishment of a fort gave the Russians a base for further operations, a collision became sooner or later inevitable. For the next few years, however, the attention of the Russians was taken up with Khokand, their operations on that side culminating in the capture of Tashkend in 1865. Free in this quarter, they directed their thoughts once more to Khiva. In 1869 Krasnovodsk on the east shore of the Caspian was founded, and in 1871-72 the country leading to Khiva from diferent parts of Russian Turkestan was thoroughly explored and surveyed. In 1873 an expedition to Khiva was carefully organized on a large scale. The forces placed at the disposal of General v. Kaufmann started from three different bases of operation-Krasnovodsk, Orenburg, and Tashkend. The whole force consisted of more than 10,000

men.

Khiva was occupied by the Russians almost without opposition. All the territory (35,700 square miles, and 110,000 souls) on the right bank of the Oxus was annexed to Russia and formed into the Amu Daria sub-district, while a heavy war indemnity was imposed upon the khanate. The difficult position financially in which the khan is thereby placed has more than once impelled him to beg the Russians to take the country under their administration. Russia, however, prefers the present arrangement of maintaining Khiva semi-independent instead of in complete subjection, for, not only does the collection of the indemnity fall upon the Khivan authorities, but the country shields the Russian possessions on the Oxus from the attacks of the Turcomans, which if made must first come in contact with the intervening territory of Khiva.

Topography.-The Khivan oasis is indebted for its fertility to the waters of the Oxus, which by means of irrigating canals and ditches penetrate into what was at one time barren steppe. Where this water reaches the land teams with life; where it ends all is death and a waste. The area of sandy desert reclaimed by the Oxus is estimated by the late Major Wood, Madras Engineers, at 1 millions of acres. The soil of the khanate is a tenacious clay of a red and grey colour, more or less impregnated with sand, -the detritus brought down by the river. Black earth is seldom seen; but earth strongly impregnated with salt is frequently found. The oasis is generally level, except some unimportant heights and sand-hills.

That part of the Oxus which waters the khanate has at Pitniak a north-west direction, and flows within a single bed. Below Kipchak it bends sharply to the west, and, after describing part of a semicircle to Hodjeili and giving off the Laudan, which with the Usboi forms the ancient course of the Oxus, resumes its north-west course to Kungrad. There it takes a north direction, dividing into two branches, the Taldyk and Ulkun, the latter the principal arm, and ultimately disembogues by many channels into the Sea of Aral. The banks of the river are generally low, and in midsummer do not stand more than 6 to 20 feet. above the level of the water. The river is in flood three or four times a year, the chief periods being in April and May, when it overflows its banks and does much damage to the canal dams. The average velocity is about 3 miles an hour, but at times of inundation the current becomes much more rapid. The breadth of the river at ordinary times varies from to mile, but increases to 3 or more miles at inundations. There are no obstacles to navigation in the shape of rapids, but the shifting of the sand banks acts as an impediment. The water of the Oxus is wholesome, although of a yellowish-brown colour, which is due to particles in suspension. These particles are gritty, and unlike the mud of the Nile do not fertilize the ground. The deposit from the water when dried is used by the Khivans to form their dams. In consequence of the large body of matter brought down, the irrigating canals require constant clearing. These canals vary from 20 to 150 feet in breadth, and from 10 to 20 feet in depth, and are sometimes as much as 80 miles long. They have a current of about 2 miles an hour, and are mostly navigable by boats. The direction of the canals is west and north-west, from which it may be concluded that the left bank of the river has a natural slope towards the Caspian. By actual measurement it has been found that the fall of the ancient bed is 400 feet from the point near Kipchak where it had its origin to Balkhan Bay in the Caspian,-a distance of 500 miles.

From the statement of Abulghazi Khan and other proofs there can be little doubt that two hundred and fifty years ago the Oxus flowed into the Caspian through the Usboi, which was connected with the present channel by at any rate three arms-Daudan, Daryalik, and Lauzan or Laudan. The alteration in the course of the river was probably due to the gradual elevation of the land where the old bed passed, from which naturally resulted a diminution in the velocity of the stream, and at the same time a silting of the channel. From this cause the waters of the Oxus found for themselves another outlet. Whether the Russians will be able to carry out their scheme of forcing the Oxus to resume its old course to the Caspian it would be premature to offer an opinion, but the surveys at present are not favourable. The advantages to Russia would be great, as she would have a continuous waterway from the Volga to Afghanistan.

The khanate has numerous lakes, especially towards the Aral, connected together by affluents and canals. They are usually covered with reeds. Lake Aibugir, once a large inlet of the Aral, is now dry.

The means of communication in the khanate is by road and by water. The roads are usually narrow, but some are as much as 70 feet wide. In spring and autumn, at the time of inundations, they are in bad order. Internal trade is carried on by camels and by carts.

Government. The government is an absolute despotism, and, subject to a certain moral control exercised by the proximity of the Russians, is entirely in the hands of the khan. The chief secular officials are (1) the kush-begi or vizier, prime minister; (2) mehter, chancellor of the exchequer; (3) inakh, four in number, local governors; (4)

metch-mehrem and batchman, controller and collector of customs respectively; (5) biy, the khan's supporter in battle; (6) minbashi, yuzbashi, and onbashi, belonging to the military class, now fast disappearing. The ulema or priests, of whom the nakib is the chief, are subdivided as follows:-(1) kazi kelan and kazi, judicial functionaries; (2) alem, chief of the five muftis; (3) reis, mufti, and akhond. The acknowledged religion is the Suni form of Mohammedanism. Justice is administered in the mosques and in the private dwellings of the cadis and muftis, but every Khivan subject has the right to prefer his complaint before the governor or even before the khan.

Revenue. The khan's revenue is derived from (1) the land-tax, paid in coin by all sedentary Khivan subjects, and in cattle (2 per cent.) by nomads; (2) a customs due on all incoming and outgoing caravans, and on the sale of cattle-2 per cent. ad valorem; (3) the rent of crown lands. The revenue of certain districts is set aside for the support of the relatives of the reigning khan, and of the rest the greater part is exhausted in paying the large indemnity imposed by the Russians after the campaign of 1873. Population. The inhabitants are partly sedentary and partly nomad. They include Uzbegs, Karakalpaks, Turcomans, Sarts, Kizilbashes, and Arabs-the first three of Mongol origin, the rest of Aryan descent. The Uzbegs come from a Turk stock, and constitute the dominant class. Some few live in towns, but the bulk reside on their farms, where they occupy themselves in agriculture, gardening, silk cultivation, and fishing. Very few engage in trade. They are divided into tribes. The Karakalpaks, or "black hats," are supposed to be a clan of Uzbegs. They inhabit They inhabit the lower part of the Oxus, and are mostly stock-breeders; they are divided into tribes, and are nearly all nomadic. The Turcomans are of similar origin to the Uzbegs, and are divided into tribes, of which the chief are the Yomud, Karadashli, Goklen, Ersari, Chaudor, and Imrali. They are all engaged in breeding horses and stock and in agriculture. Some are sedentary, while others migrate to the steppe in summer. The Sarts or Tajiks, who were probably the original inhabitants of the country, live chiefly in the large towns and are engaged in trade or in handicrafts, some in agriculture and silk cultivation. The Kizilbashes are liberated Persian slaves, and are distributed over the khanate, but more particularly inhabit the Tashauz district. Of the Semitic race we find Arabs in small numbers at Shavat. They form the living monuments of the Arab conquest.

Owing to the absence of any census it is impossible to give more than a very rough estimate of the population of the Khivan oasis. Major Wood, a competent observer, estimated it in 1875 at 300,000 souls, of whom two-thirds are Uzbegs and Tajiks. Liberated Persians and other slaves make up 50,000, while the remainder is composed of sedentary Turcomans who occupy cultivated lands or who nomadize about the western borders of the khanate.

There is no marked division of the people into castes or classes. A Khivan may be a merchant, an agriculturist, or craftsman as he pleases; he may possess land or other real property, but for this privilege he must fulfil his obligation to the state, pay taxes, and furnish labourers for digging or repairing canals, upon which the life of the oasis may be said to depend. Only the military class, the priest hood, and the khodjas are exempt from the payment of The khodjas consider themselves descendants of the prophet; they pay no taxes and render no military service, nor do they furnish canal labour. They are derived from the same stock as the khodjas of Turkestan, and according to tradition came to Khiva six hundred years ago. Agriculture, trade, and handicrafts constitute their chief employment.

taxes.

Towns.-Khivan towns are nothing more than agglomerations of houses without plan or regularity; the streets are so crooked and narrow that two carts can only pass with difficulty or not at all. The towns are usually surrounded by a defensive wall, in a more or less dilapidated state; sometimes there is also a wet ditch. Outside the walls stretches an extensive suburb. Each town contains usually a bazaar, a caravanserai, and one or more medresses (ecclesiastical colleges) and mosques. The population consists of government officials, shopkeepers, mechanics, and a very few agriculturists. There are no villages as we understand the term,-only farmsteads dotted at intervals along the banks of the canals. The security against Turcoman raids which is given to the townspeople by the wall and ditch is replaced in the case of the farming class by small round guard-houses (karachi-khane) constructed along the same canals where the farmsteads are placed. The chief towns are Khiva (the present capital and residence of the khan); Khazarasp, spoken of by the Arab geographers as a strong place in the 10th century, a reputation it still maintains; New Urgentch, the chief trading town; Tashauz, another strong place; Gurlen, Hazavat, Ilalli, Kipchak, Khanka, Hodjeili, Kungrad, Pitniak, Kunia Urgentch (once the capital, but destroyed first by Jenghiz Khan, and afterwards by Timur), and Kiat, which up to the 15th century was the capital of Kharezm, but is now a place of little importance.

Climate. The climate is quite continental, but is healthy, and the people are long-lived. The prevailing ailments are small-pox, inflammation of the eyes, and ague. Cholera is a rare visitant. Winter begins in November and lasts until February. At this season the thermometer sometimes falls to 20° Fahr., and the Oxus freezes to a depth of 6 to 12 inches. At the end of March the vine, pomegranate, and fig commence to bud, and in the first days of April are covered with green. Wheat harvesting commences early in July; about this time apricots and plums ripen. Leaves begin to grow yellow and fall in the first half of November. The west wind is distinguished by its violence, but it only rages in spring. At this season the north wind also blows strongly. When the wind is in these quarters dews are abundant. Severe storms and earthquakes are of rare occurrence; and, generally speaking, there is little rain, snow,

or hail.

carp, and sandre.

Trade and Industry.-The trade of Khiva, in the Middle

Ages very considerable, has in the present day declined to insignificant proportions. At the epoch when Arab trade flourished, and in the time of Jenghiz Khan, Kharezm possessed important trade routes. Along these routes were dug deep stone-lined wells, and they were moreover dotted at intervals with caravanserais; so that, in the words of a historian of the 14th century, the traveller from Khiva to the Crimea need make no provision for his journey, for all that was needful could be procured from caravanserais on the way. In this latter half of the 19th century the trade is unimportant, and even the ruins of the caravanserais and wells are to be detected with difficulty. The merchants of New Urgentch, it is true, take their wares as far as the great Russian fair of Nijni-Novgorod on the west, to Bokhara on the east, and to Persia on the south, but the caravans are small and money is scarce. The chief articles of trade are horned cattle, camels, horses, sheep, cereals, khalats, silk and cotton cloth, clothing, gunpowder, arms, agricultural implements, two-wheeled carts, saddlery, harness, boats, wood, potash, salt, &c. These wares are sometimes bartered, sometimes sold for money. Dried fish is also an article of export for the Bokhara market. The cotton is of excellent quality, and the silk of Khazarasp is renowned in Central Asia.

Of manufactures there are none in the true sense of the word. The Khivans weave in their hand-looms cotton and silk cloth sufficient to satisfy their home necessities. In handicraft they are specially clever as armourers, smiths, and founders. The fuel used is saksaul.

Currency. The money of the country is the gold tilla, the silver tenghe, and the copper pul. The tilla is worth 28 to 35 tenghe, or from sixteen shillings to a pound, according to the exchange; while the tenghe, value about sevenpence, is equivalent to about 35 to 50 puls. Russian, Persian, and Bokharian money are also in circulation.

KHIVA, a fortified city, capital of the khanate of the same name, situated between two canals derived from the Oxus, and in the midst of green fields, orchards, and high poplars. It lies in 41° 22′ 30′′ N. lat. and 60° 25′ E. long., about 400 miles east of Krasnovodsk on the Caspian, 350 miles north of Meshhed in Persia, and 700 miles north-north-west of Kandahar. The city is girt with two mud walls. The inner wall, which surrounds the main town, is built on a low eminence, and forms a tolerably regular parallelogram with four towers at the angles. This wall is about 24 feet high, and has a perimeter of some 2500 yards. Three gates lead into the inner town. The outer wall, 10 feet high, was built in 1842 to enclose a former suburb, and has an irregular perimeter of 7200 yards. Twelve gates pierce this outer wall. In the main or inner town are two palaces of mean appearance, seventeen mosques, twenty-two educational seminaries, a caravanserai, a covered bazaar of some one hundred and twenty shops, and two hundred and sixty other shops distributed over the place. The principal mosques are those erected in honour of the saints Polvan Ata and Seid Bai. (F. C. H. C.) KHOI, a town and district in the province of Azerbijan, Persia, towards the extreme north-west frontier, between Lake Urumiyah and the river Aras. The town lies in 38° 37' N. lat., 45° 15′ E. long., 77 miles north-west of Tabriz on the great trade route between the Euxine and Persia, and on the Kotura, a tributary of the Aras, crossed here by a seven-arched bridge. The fortifications, which are in a ruinous state, consist of an outer line of bastions, redans, glacis, ditch and covered way, and an inner high wall flanked with towers, the intervening space being occupied with gardens and mud hovels. But the central part forms one of the best laid out towns in Persia, cool streams and lines of willows running along its broad regular streets. Here are a few good buildings, including the

governor's palace, several mosques, a large brick bazaar second only to those of Shiraz, and a fine caravanserai. There is a large transit trade, and considerable local traffic across the Turkish border. Ophthalmia is very prevalent, about 10 per cent. of the inhabitants suffering from inflammation of the eyes. The chief manufactures are copper wares and worsted socks. Here the Turks under Selim I. gained a great victory over the Persians in 1514, but with such heavy losses to themselves that the battle was long after known as the "day of doom." In September 1881 Khoi was visited by a series of violent earthquakes, the seismic waves running north-west and southeast in the direction of the main mountain ranges. The population numbers about 30,000, including many Armenians, who occupy a separate quarter. The district consists of an elevated plateau 60 miles by 10 to 15, highly cultivated by a skilful system of drainage and irrigation, producing a series of fertile oases laid out in meadows, gardens, and tillage, and yielding rich crops of wheat and barley, besides apples, pears, cherries, walnuts, chestnuts, and unrivalled mulberries.

KHOJEND, or HODJENT, chief town of the Khojend and Jizak district in the province of Sír Daria, in Russian Turkestan, is situated on the left bank of the Sír Daria or Jaxartes, 96 miles south-east from Tashkend, and on the direct road from Bokhara to Khokand. The Russian quarter lies between the river and the native town. Near the river is the old citadel, built on the top of an artificial square mound, about 100 feet high, which Mr Schuyler suspected to be a mere hollow wooden framework, only half filled in with earth. The bazaar of Khojend is very large in proportion to the size of the town. There is a wooden bridge over the Jaxartes, whose banks at this point are so high as to make the river useless to the town in the absence of pumping gear; so that when the little stream Khoja Bakargan dries up in summer, there is much suffering from want of water. The great heat intensifies the distress. There is now no very great trade in Khojend. Formerly the entire commerce between the khanates of Bokhara and Khokand passed through it, but since the Russian occupation much of that has been diverted. Silk worms are reared, and silk goods are manufactured in the town. A coarse sort of ware is made in imitation of the Chinese porcelain. Lignite is carried to Tashkend from the neighbourhood of Khojend. The surrounding district is tolerably well cultivated; immediately about the town. the ground is taken up with cotton plantations aud vineyards. The majority of the inhabitants are Tajiks. They are sociable and pleasure-loving, and the whole air of the town is agreeable. The population for 1873 is put down by Mr Schuyler at 30,000.

Khojend has always been a bone of contention between Khokand and Bokhara; and, although belonging from very ancient times to the former, it has often been seized by the latter. When the ameer of Bokhara assisted Khudayer Khan to regain his throne in 1864, he kept possession of Khojend. In 1806 it was stormed by the Russians; and during the war with Khokand in 1875 it played an important part.

KHOKAND, a city of Turkestan, was, previous to the Russian conquest, the capital of an independent khan, but, owing mainly to the fact that those who reside in it are subject to goitre, it has not been made the administrative centre of the Russian province (FERGHANA, q.v.). The town is situated on the skirts of the Kashgar Devan ridge, which separates Kashgar from Fergbana, and it is traversed by three mountain gullies which send their scanty waters to the Jaxartes. Dating only from the reign of Saur Khan, about the early part of the 18th century, Khokand has within the 10 miles circuit of its mud walls a greater amount of space to spare than is to be found in any other city of Central Asia; some of the market-places are of

the whole soil over which the marsh extends becomes encrusted with salt."1

The surface of Khorasan thus consists mainly of highlands, saline swampy deserts, and fertile well-watered upland valleys. Of the last, occurring mainly in the north, the chief are the longitudinal valley stretching from near the Herat frontier through Meshhed, Kuchan, and Shirvan to Bunjurd, and the Daragez district, which lies on the northern skirt of the outer range projecting into the Akhal Tekke domain, now Russian territory. These fertile tracts produce rice and other cereals, some cotton, tobacco, saffron, and especially melons and other fruits in great profusion, 45 b of splendid grapes being sold in Daragez for ninepence. Other products are manna, gums, and great quantities of asafoetida, which is not used by the natives but exported to India. The chief manufactures are the famous Khorasan sabres, firearms, stoneware, armour, fine carpets and rugs, velvets, woollens, cottons, and sheepskin pelisses.

The population is far from homogeneous, consisting of Iranians (Tajiks, Kurds, and Baluchis), Mongols, Tatars, and Arabs, as under:

4

Turki and Persian. Persian. 3

The Persians proper have always represented the settled, industrial, and trading elements, and to them the Kurds. (removed to the north by Shah Ismail) and the Arabs have become largely assimilated. Even many of the Tatar nomad tribes, collectively called Iliat, have become Shahrnishin, i.e., "townsfolk," or settled. But all the Baluchis are not only still Sahra-nishin, i.e., "country or desert folk," but have lately resumed their old predatory habits, covering incredible distances on their swift camels, and harassing the country as far west as the Yezd district. On the other hand the raids of the Turkoman marauders have almost entirely ceased since the reduction of the Akhal Tekke Turkomans by the Russians in the spring of 1881. In religion great uniformity prevails, all except the Baluchis and Turkomans having conformed to the national Shiah sect.

The administrative divisions of the province seem to be Daragez, Kuchan, Turshiz, Tabbas, Ghayn, Khaf, Meshhed, Nishapur, Shahrud, and Damgan. The chief towns are Meshhed, Kuchan, Mohammadabad, Shirvan, Bostan, Turshiz, Tún, Tabbas, Khaf, and Ghayn. (A. H. K.) KHOSRU. See PERSIA.

1 Colonel C. E. Stewart, in Proc. Roy. Geog. Soc., September 1881. This traveller visited the north frontier of Persia in 1880-81, disguised as an Armenian horse-dealer from Calcutta.

2 The Kajars are the royal tribe to which the present dynasty belongs; hence the reigning shah's title, Násir ed-din Shah Kájár. But Nadir Shah, though commonly called a Kajar, was an Afshar.

3 Some travellers have stated that the Khorasan Arabs still speak Arabic as well as Persian-a mistake due probably to the fluency with which they repeat passages from the Koran. The great bulk of them have long been "Parsivan" or 'Persian-speaking." Iliat (plural of Ili) simply means "tribes," and is applied indifferently to all the nomads of Persia, whatever their affinities may be.

KHOTAN, a city and district of eastern Turkestan, lying between the northern slopes of the Kuenlun mountains and the eastern portion of the Gobi (Takla Makan) desert. The district is well watered by a number of rivers, the most important of which, the Karakash and the Khotan Daria, meet to the north of the city. Both soil and climate are excellent, and the vegetation is characterized at once by variety and luxuriance. Indian corn, barley, jowar, buckwheat, rice, olives, pears, peaches, apricots, mulberries, grapes, currants, melons, the charas plant, the cotton plant, are all produced in abundance. Willows, poplars, and tamarisks are the ordinary trees; in some parts they form extensive forests. Of the mineral wealth of the country glowing accounts are given,-gold, copper, iron, antimony, salt, sulphur, coal, jade, and a variety of precious stones being the principal items. Upwards of twenty gold mines are known to exist, and those of Sorghak and Kappa are worked by 4000 and 3000 men respectively. Jade is obtained, more especially in the Karakash district. Among the wild animals are goats, wolves, jackals, foxes, and hares; and the Khotanese keep camels, horses, mules, asses, goats, sheep, geese, ducks, and fowls (the goats and the fowls being particularly numerous). The total number of the inhabitants is variously estimated at from 130,000 to 250,000, and the country is capable of maintaining a much denser population. Females preponderate to as much as 25 per cent. There are six districts, each with a town of its name-Khotan or Ilchi (42,000), Karakash (7000), Yurung Kush (7000), Tchira (28,000), Kiria (28,000), and Naya (3500). The city of Khotan (in Chinese Hu-tan, locally Ilchi) is situated 150 miles south-east of Yarkand and 90 miles due east of Sanju, and is only 6 miles distant from the borders of the desert. It has long been celebrated as a great industrial centre, silks, felts, rich carpets (of either silk or wool), paper, and articles in jade being the chief productions; and its traders maintain an active traffic with Tibet.

As early as the 1st century the town contained (according to Chinese authorities) 3300 families. Cotan, as he calls it, was one of the places visited by Marco Polo. In modern times the first European who reached the city was Mr Johnson in 1865. At that time it was governed by a local khan, the Chinese having been expelled by their Mohammedan subjects, in 1863; and since then it has been subjugated by Yakub Khan of Kashgar (who perpetrated a terrible massacre at his capture of the place), and again recovered by the Chinese forces.

See Johnson, J. R. G. S., 1867; Sir T. D. Forsyth, Mission to Yarkund, Calcutta, 1875.

KHOTIN, or KHOTEEN (this is the Russian form of the name, which appears in a great variety of disguises-partly dialectal-such as Khotchim, Chotchim, Choczim, and Chocim), a fortified town of 21,000 inhabitants, in the government of Bessarabia, Russia, situated in 48° 30′ N. lat. and 26° 30′ E. long., on the right bank of the Dniester, near the Austrian (Galician) frontier, and opposite Podolian Kamenetz. Though it possesses a few manufactures and carries on a considerable trade both legitimate and contraband, Khotin has all through its history been of importance mainly as a military post. In the Middle Ages it was the seat of a Genoese colony; and it has passed through periods of Polish, Turkish, and Austrian possession. chief facts in its annals as a fortress are the defeat of the Turks in 1621 by Ladislaus IV., in 1673 by John Sobieski, and in 1739 by the Russians under Münnich; the defeat of the Russians by the Turks in 1768; the capture by the Russians in 1769; and the occupation by the Russians in 1806. It finally passed to Russia along with Bessarabia in 1812 by the peace of Bucharest.

The

KHULNA, or CULNA, a town in Jessor district, Bengal, India, situated at the point where the Bhairab river debouches on the Sundarban delta, in 22° 49′ N. lat., 89° 57′ E. long., may be described as the capital of the Sundar