KUNKUR 377 KURLAND KUNKUR or KANKAR, a calcare- ous stratum found in many iRarts of India. KUNNOJ (kun'oj)> a formerly im- portant town of British India, capital of the pergunnah of the same name, in the district of Furruckabad. At present the place is little more than an expanse of ruins. Kunnoj was formerly one of the greatest Indian cities. KUNTHIA, a genus of palms, tribe Arecex. It is found in New Granada, the Indians of which use the reedy stems as tubes through which to blow their poisoned arrows. The juice of the tree is used as a remedy for snake bites. KUNZ, GEORGE FREDERICK, an American gem expert; born in New York City, Sept. 29, 1856; was educated at Cooper Union, receiving an honorary A. M. at Columbia University; 3rd vice- president of Tiffany & Co. since 1879. He became a special agent of the United States Greological Survey in 1883 ; was in charge of the department of mines at the Omaha, Atlanta, World's Columbian and Paris Expositions; was president of the New York Mineralogical Club and vice-president of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, etc. Author of "Gems and Precious Stones of North America"; annual reports on the "Pro- duction of Precious Stones," in "Mineral Resources of the United States," etc., and over 200 papers on gems and min- erals in magazines and reviews. Dec- orated by France, Germany, and Japan. KUPFERSCHIEFER (kop'fer-shef er) , one of the series of strata which make up the "Dyas" type of the Permian System as it is developed in Germany. The bed consists of black bituminous shale, about two feet thick, abundantly charged with well-preserved remains of various fish, coniferous leaves, fruits, etc. KUR, or KURA (ancient Cyrus or Kiaros) , a river of western Asia, rising in the mountains W. of Kars, flowing through the Russian governments of Tiflis, Elizabethpol, and Baku, and fall- ing into the Caspian Sea, after a course of between 500 and 600 miles. KURAM, (ko-ram'), a river rising in Afghanistan near the N. end of the W. Suliman range, and flowing through British territory into the Indus near Isakhel. ' KURDISTAN (kur-dis-tiin') , an ox- tensive geographical, though not polit- ical, region of Asia, for the most part included within a line drawn from Sivas in Asia Minor by way of Diarbekr, Sulimanieh, Kermanshah and Urmia (in Persia), Mount Ararat, and Erzerum, back to Sivas. Kurdistan thus belongs to both the Turkish and Persian mon- archies, chiefly to the former, and con- tains about 50,000 square miles, with a population estimated at more than 2,250,- 000, thus distributed: Nearly 1,500,000 in Turkey, 700,000 in Persia, 45,000 in Russian Transcaucasia, and about 5,000 on the Afghano-Persian frontier (trans- planted thither by Nadir Shah). Th^ country embraces the mountainous chains that abut upon the Armeni;i7i plateau on the S. and on the Iranian. plateau on the E. Thus its surface ranges from 5,000 up to 15,000 feet in altitude. The principal products of the soil and of native industry are wool, but- ter, sheep, g:um, gall-nuts, hides, raisins, and tobacco. The bulk of the inhabitants are Kurds (the ancient Carduchi), a race partly nomad and pastoral, and partly settled and agricultural. The Kurds speak a language called Kermanji, derived from an old Persian dialect. They are predatory and impatient of political subjection, but recognize a code of rude chivalrous honor and are hospitable and brave. They live under chiefs of their own, but are nominally subject to the Porte and the Shah of Persia respectively. Their origin is traced back to the Turanian Gutu or Kurdu, who were a powerful people in Assyrian times. The great Saladin was of Kurd- ish descent. In 1880 an extensive Kurd- ish rising against Persia took place. The chief towns are Bitlis, Van, Urumia, Diarbekr, and Kermanshah. Estimates of population give 1,500,000 to 2,500,000 to the Turkish portion, and from 400,000 to 500,000 to the Persian part. KURILES (ko'ril-ez), a chain of islands in the North Pacific, extending S. W. to N. E. from Japan to Kam- chatka, and belonging to Japan; area, about 5,000 square miles. The whole chain is of volcanic origin, and there are many active volcanoes, one of which is from 12,000 to 15,000 feet high. The population is very scanty. KURIOLOGIC, a term applied by Warburton to that kind of hieroglyphic writing in which the principal circum- stance in the subject stands for the whole. Thus a battle was depicted by two hands, one holding a shield and the other a bow; an insurrection by an armed man casting arrows ; a siege, by a scaling ladder, and so on. KURLAND. See COURLAND.
