He was the author of various instructional works for officers and soldiers (Des G. F. M. Grafen v. Khevenhüller Observationspunkte für sein Dragoner-regiment (1734 and 1748) and a règlement for the infantry (1737), and of an important work on war in general, Kurzer Begriff aller militärischen Operationen (Vienna, 1756; French version, Maximes de guerre, Paris, 1771).
KHEVSURS, a people of the Caucasus, kinsfolk of the Georgians. They live in scattered groups in East Georgia to the north and north-west of Mount Borbalo. Their name is Georgian and means “People of the Valleys.” For the most part nomadic, they are still in a semi-barbarous state. They have not the beauty of the Georgian race. They are gaunt and thin to almost a ghastly extent, their generally repulsive aspect being accentuated by their large hands and feet and their ferocious expression. In complexion and colour of hair and eyes they vary greatly. They are very muscular and capable of bearing extraordinary fatigue. They are fond of fighting, and still wear armour of the true medieval type. This panoply is worn when the law of vendetta, which is sacred among them as among most Caucasian peoples, compels them to seek or avoid their enemy. They carry a spiked gauntlet, the terrible marks of which are borne by a large proportion of the Khevsur faces.
Many curious customs still prevail among the Khevsurs, as for instance the imprisonment of the woman during childbirth in a lonely hut, round which the husband parades, firing off his musket at intervals. After delivery, food is surreptitiously brought the mother, who is kept in her prison a month, after which the hut is burnt. The boys are usually named after some wild animal, e.g. bear or wolf, while the girls’ names are romantic, such as Daughter of the Sun, Sun of my Heart. Marriages are arranged by parents when the bride and bridegroom are still in long clothes. The chief ceremony is a forcible abduction of the girl. Divorce is very common, and some Khevsurs are polygamous. Formerly no Khevsur might die in a house, but was always carried out under the sun or stars. The Khevsurs like to call themselves Christians, but their religion is a mixture of Christianity, Mahommedanism and heathen rites. They keep the Sabbath of the Christian church, the Friday of the Moslems and the Saturday of the Jews. They worship sacred trees and offer sacrifices to the spirits of the earth and air. Their priests are a combination of medicine-men and divines.
See G. F. R. Radde, Die Chevs’uren und ihr Land (Cassel, 1878); Ernest Chantre, Recherches anthropologiques dans le Caucase (Lyons, 1885-1887).
KHILCHIPUR, a mediatized chiefship in Central India, under the Bhopal agency; area, 273 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 31,143; estimated revenue, £7000; tribute payable to Sindhia, £700. The residence of the chief, who is a Khichi Rajput of the Chauhan clan, is at Khilchipur (pop. 5121).
KHINGAN, two ranges of mountains in eastern Asia.
(1) Great Khingan is the eastern border ridge of the immense plateau which may be traced from the Himalaya to Bering Strait and from the Tian-shan Mountains to the Khingan Mountains. It is well known from 50° N. to Kalgan (41° N., 115° E.), where it is crossed by the highway from Urga to Peking. As a border ridge of the Mongolian plateau, it possesses very great orographical importance, in that it is an important climatic boundary, and constitutes the western limits of the Manchurian flora. The base of its western slope, which is very gentle, lies at altitudes of 3000 to 3500 ft. Its crest rises to 4800 to 6500 ft., but its eastern slope sinks very precipitately to the plains of Manchuria, which have only 1500 to 2000 ft. of altitude. On this stretch one or two subordinate ridges, parallel to the main range and separated from it by longitudinal valleys, fringe its eastern slope, thus marking two different terraces and giving to the whole system a width of from 80 to 100 m. Basalts, trachytes and other volcanic formations are found in the main range and on its south-eastern slopes. The range was in volcanic activity in 1720-1721.