His attention was also turned to the subject of compass needles, his Bakerian lecture “On the Best Kind of Steel and Form for a Compass Needle” (Phil. Trans., 1821) containing the results of many experiments. The treatise on “Mechanics” in Lardner’s Cyclopaedia was partly written by him; and his interest in more purely astronomical questions was evidenced by two communications to the Astronomical Society’s Memoirs for 1831-1833—the one on an observation of Saturn’s outer ring, the other on a method of determining longitude by means of lunar eclipses.
KATHA, a district in the northern division of Upper Burma, with an area of 6994 sq. m., 3730 of which consists of the former separate state of Wuntho. It is bounded N. by the Upper Chindwin, Bhamo and Myitkyina districts, E. by the Kaukkwe River as far as the Irrawaddy, thence east of the Irrawaddy by the Shan State of Möng Mit (Momeik), and by the Shweli River, S. by the Ruby Mines district and Shwebo, and W. by the Upper Chindwin district. Three ranges of hills run through the district, known as the Minwun, Gangaw and Mangin ranges. They separate the three main rivers—the Irrawaddy, the Mèza and the Mu. The Minwun range runs from north to south, and forms for a considerable part of its length the dividing line between the Katha district proper and what formerly was the Wuntho state. Its average altitude is between 1500 and 2000 ft. The Gangaw range runs from the north of the district for a considerable portion of its length close to and down the right bank of the Irrawaddy as far as Tigyaing, where the Myatheindan pagoda gives its name to the last point. Its highest point is 4400 ft., but the average is between 1500 and 2000 ft. The Katha branch of the railway crosses it at Petsut, a village 12 miles west of Katha town. The Mangin range runs through Wuntho (highest peak, Maingthôn, 5450 ft.).
Gold, copper, iron and lead are found in considerable quantities in the district. The Kyaukpazat gold-mines, worked by an English company, gave good returns, but the quartz reef proved to be a mere pocket and is now worked out. The iron, copper and lead are not now worked. Jade and soapstone also exist, and salt is produced from brine wells. There are three forest reserves in Katha, with a total area of 1119 sq. m. The population in 1901 was 176,223, an increase of 32% in the decade. The number of Shans is about half that of Burmese, and of Kadus half that of Shans. The Shans are mostly in the Wuntho sub-division. Rice is the chief crop in the plains, tea, cotton, sesamum and hill rice in the hills. The valley of the Mèza, which is very malarious, was used as a convict settlement under Burmese rule. The district was first occupied by British troops in 1886, but it was not finally quieted till 1890, when the Wuntho sawbwa was deposed and his state incorporated in Katha district.
Katha is the headquarters of the district. The principal means of communication are the Irrawaddy Flotilla steamers, which run between Mandalay and Bhamo, and the railway which communicates with Sagaing to the south and Myitkyina to the north. A ferry-steamer plies between Katha and Bhamo.
KATHIAWAR, or Kattywar, a peninsula of India, within the Gujarat division of Bombay, giving its name to a political agency. Total area, about 23,400 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 2,645,805. These figures include a portion of the British district of Ahmedabad, a portion of the state of Baroda, and the small Portuguese settlement of Diu. The peninsula is bounded N. by the Runn of Cutch, E. by Ahmedabad district and the Gulf of Cambay, and S. and W. by the Arabian Sea. The extreme length is 220 m.; the greatest breadth about 165 m. Generally speaking, the surface is undulating, with low ranges running in various directions. With the exception of the Tangha and Mandav hills, in the west of Jhalawar, and some unimportant hills in Hallar, the northern portion of the country is flat; but in the south, from near Gogo, the Gir range runs nearly parallel with the coast, and at a distance of about 20 m. from it, along the north of Babriawar and Sorath, to the neighbourhood of Girnar. Opposite this latter mountain is the solitary Osam hill, and then still farther west is the Barada group, between Hallar and Barada, running about 20 m. north and south from Gumli to Ranawao. The Girnar group of mountains is an important granitic mass, the highest peak of which rises to 3500 ft. The principal river is the Bhadar, which rises in the Mandav hills, and flowing S.W. falls into the sea at Navi-Bandar; it is everywhere marked by highly cultivated lands adjoining its course of about 115 m. Other rivers are the Aji, Machhu and Satrunji—the last remarkable for romantic scenery. Four of the old races, the Jaitwas, Churasamas, Solunkis and Walas still exist as proprietors of the soil who exercised sovereignty in the country prior to the immigration of the Jhalas, Jadejas, Purmars, Kathis, Gohels, Jats, Mahommedans and Mahrattas, between whom the country is now chiefly portioned out. Kathiawar has many notable antiquities, comprising a rock inscription of Asoka, Buddhist caves, and fine Jain temples on the sacred hill of Girnar and at Palitana.
The political agency of Kathiawar has an area of 20,882 sq. m. In 1901 the population was 2,329,196, showing a decrease of 15% in the decade due to the results of famine. The estimated gross revenue of the several states is £1,278,000; total tribute (payable to the British, the gaekwar of Baroda and the nawab of Junagarh), £70,000. There are altogether 193 states of varying size and importance, of which 14 exercise independent jurisdiction, while the rest are more or less under British administration. The eight states of the first class are Junagaw, Nawanagar, Bhaunagar, Porbandar, Dhrangadra, Morvi, Gondal and Jafarabad. The headquarters of the political agent are at Rajkot, in the centre of the peninsula, where also is the Rajkumar college, for the education of the sons of the chiefs. There is a similar school for girasias, or chiefs of lower rank, at Gondal. An excellent system of metre-gauge railways has been provided at the cost of the leading states. Maritime trade is also very active, the chief ports being Porbandar, Mangrol and Verawal. In 1903-1904 the total sea-borne exports were valued at £1,300,000, and the imports at £1,120,000. The progressive prosperity of Kathiawar received a shock from the famine of 1899-1900, which was felt everywhere with extreme severity.
KATKOV, MICHAEL NIKIFOROVICH (1818-1887), Russian journalist, was born in Moscow in 1818. On finishing his course at the university he devoted himself to literature and philosophy, and showed so little individuality that during the reign of Nicholas I. he never once came into disagreeable contact with the authorities. With the Liberal reaction and strong reform movement which characterized the earlier years of Alexander II.’s reign (1855-1881) he thoroughly sympathized, and for some time he warmly advocated the introduction of liberal institutions of the British type, but when he perceived that the agitation was assuming a Socialistic and Nihilist tinge, and that in some quarters of the Liberal camp indulgence was being shown to Polish national aspirations, he gradually modified his attitude until he came to be regarded by the Liberals as a renegade. At the beginning of 1863 he assumed the management and editorship of the Moscow Gazette, and he retained that position till his death in 1887. During these twenty-four years he exercised considerable influence on public opinion and even on the Government, by representing with great ability the moderately Conservative spirit of Moscow in opposition to the occasionally ultra-Liberal and always cosmopolitan spirit of St Petersburg. With the Slavophils he agreed in advocating the extension of Russian influence in south-eastern Europe, but he carefully kept aloof from them and condemned their archaeological and ecclesiastical sentimentality. Though generally temperate in his views, he was extremely incisive and often violent in his modes of expressing them, so that he made many enemies and sometimes incurred the displeasure of the press-censure and the ministers, against which he was more than once protected by Alexander III. in consideration of his able advocacy of national interests. He is remembered chiefly as an energetic opponent of Polish national aspirations, of extreme Liberalism, of the system of public instruction based on natural science, and of German political influence. In this last capacity he helped to prepare the way for the Franco-Russian alliance.