KUMISHAH, a district and town in the province of Isfahan, Persia. The district, which has a length of 50 and a breadth of 16 m., and contains about 40 villages, produces much grain. The town is situated on the high road from Isfahan to Shiraz, 52 m. S. of the former. It was a flourishing city several miles in circuit when it was destroyed by the Afghans in 1722, but is now a decayed place, with crumbled walls and mouldering towers and a population of barely 15,000. It has post and telegraph offices. South of the city and extending to the village Maksudbeggi, 16 m. away, is a level plain, which in 1835 (February 28) was the scene of a battle in which the army (2000 men, 16 guns) of Mahommed Shah, commanded by Sir H. Lindsay-Bethune, routed the much superior combined forces (6000 men) of the shah’s two rebellious uncles, Firman-Firma and Shuja es Saltana.
KUMQUAT (Citrus japonica), a much-branched shrub from 8 to 12 ft. high, the branches sometimes bearing small thorns, with dark green glossy leaves and pure white orange-like flowers standing singly or clustered in the leaf-axils. The bright orange-yellow fruit is round or ellipsoidal, about 1 in. in diameter, with a thick minutely tuberculate rind, the inner lining of which is sweet, and a watery acidulous pulp. It has long been cultivated in China and Japan, and was introduced to Europe in 1846 by Mr Fortune, collector for the London Horticultural Society, and shortly after into North America. It is much hardier than most plants of the orange tribe, and succeeds well when grafted on the wild species, Citrus trifoliata. It is largely used by the Chinese as a sweetmeat preserved in sugar.
KUMTA, or Coompta, a sea-coast town of British India, in the North Kanara district of Bombay, 40 m. S. of Karwar. Pop. (1901), 10,818. It has an open roadstead, with a considerable trade. Carving in sandal-wood is a speciality. The commercial importance of Kumta has declined since the opening of the Southern Mahratta railway system.
KUMYKS, a people of Turkish stock in Caucasia, occupying the Kumyk plateau in north Daghestan and south Terek, and the lands bordering the Caspian. It is supposed that Ptolemy knew them under the name of Kami and Kamaks. Various explorers see in them descendants of the Khazars. A. Vambéry supposes that they settled in their present quarters during the flourishing period of the Khazar kingdom in the 8th century. It is certain that some Kabardians also settled later. The Russians built forts in their territory in 1559 and under Peter I. Having long been more civilized than the surrounding Caucasian mountaineers, the Kumyks have always enjoyed some respect among them. The upper terraces of the Kumyk plateau, which the Kumyks occupy, leaving its lower parts to the Nogai Tatars, are very fertile.
KUNAR, a river and valley of Afghanistan, on the north-west frontier of British India. The Kunar valley (Khoaspes in the classics) is the southern section of that great river system which reaches from the Hindu Kush to the Kabul river near Jalalabad, and which, under the names of Yarkhun, Chitral, Kashkar, &c., is more extensive than the Kabul basin itself. The lower reaches of the Kunar are wide and comparatively shallow, the river meandering in a multitude of channels through a broad and fairly open valley, well cultivated and fertile, with large flourishing villages and a mixed population of Mohmand and other tribes of Afghan origin. Here the hills to the eastward are comparatively low, though they shut in the valley closely. Beyond them are the Bajour uplands. To the west are the great mountains of Kafiristan, called Kashmund, snow-capped, and running to 14,000 ft. of altitude. Amongst them are many wild but beautiful valleys occupied by Kafirs, who are rapidly submitting to Afghan rule. From 20 to 30 miles up the river on its left bank, under the Bajour hills, are thick clusters of villages, amongst which are the ancient towns of Kunar and Pashat. The chief tributary from the Kafiristan hills is the Pechdara, which joins the river close to Chagan Sarai. It is a fine, broad, swift-flowing stream, with an excellent bridge over it (part of Abdur Rahman’s military road developments), and has been largely utilized for irrigation. The Pechdara finds its sources in the Kafir hills, amongst forests of pine and deodar and thick tangles of wild vine and ivy, wild figs, pomegranates, olives and oaks, and dense masses of sweet-scented shrubs. Above Chagan Sarai, as far as Arnawai, where the Afghan boundary crosses the river, and above which the valley belongs to Chitral, the river narrows to a swift mountain stream obstructed by boulders and hedged in with steep cliffs and difficult “parris” or slopes of rocky hill-side. Wild almond here sheds its blossoms into the stream, and in the dawn of summer much of the floral beauty of Kashmir is to be found. At Asmar there is a slight widening of the valley, and the opportunity for a large Afghan military encampment, spreading to both sides of the river and connected by a very creditable bridge built on the cantilever system. There are no apparent relics of Buddhism in the Kunar, such as are common about Jalalabad or Chitral, or throughout Swat and Dir. This is probably due to the late occupation of the valley by Kafirs, who spread eastwards into Bajour within comparatively recent historical times, and who still adhere to their fastnesses in the Kashmund hills. The Kunar valley route to Chitral and to Kafiristan is being developed by Afghan engineering. It may possibly extend ultimately unto Badakshan, in which case it will form the most direct connexion between the Oxus and India, and become an important feature in the strategical geography of Asia.