Khabarovsk

Khabarovsk, or Khabarovka, capital of the Maritime Province, and seat of the governor-general of the Amur (q.v.).

Khairpur

Khairpur, the chief town of Khairpur state, in Sind, stands among marshes 15 miles E. of the Indus. Pop. 7000. - Area of state, 6109 sq. m.; pop. 200,000, mostly Mohammedans.

Khandesh

Khandesh, or Candeish, on the northernmost edge of the Deccan in India, lies south of the Nerbudda and east of Baroda, and is intersected by the Tapti River. Area of the district (in Bombay presidency), 10,907 sq. in. ; pop. 1,460,851.

Khania

Khania. See Canea.

Kharbin

Kharbin. See Harbin.

Kharkoff

Kharkoff, capital of a Russian government, and one of the chief towns of the Ukraine, is by rail 312 miles NW. of Taganrog and 465 S. by W. of Moscow. It is the seat of a Greek bishop and of a university (1805), with four faculties, 900 students, an observatory, a library of 56,000 volumes, a botanical garden, etc. There are also a theological seminary, a veterinary school, and a government model farm. The chief industrial products are sugar, soap, candles, felt, brandy, tobacco, and iron ; but the place is principally celebrated for its four great fairs, at two of which (in horses and wool) the united turnover amounts annually to the sum of nearly £3,000,000. Pop. 176,500. - The government, situated in Little Russia, has an area of 21,035 sq. m., and a population of 2,537,900.

Khartoum

Khartoum, or Khartum, the most important town in the eastern Soudan, stands on the low tongue of land between the Blue and the White Nile, just above their junction, 445 miles SW. of Suakim (vid Berber), and 1625 S. of Cairo, following the windings of the Nile. Khartoum is the starting-point and terminus of caravans to the interior, and has been notorious for its great activity in the slave-trade. It was founded under the rule of Mehemet Ali in 1823, and soon became a place of commercial importance, and was made the capital of the Egyptian Soudan. It has a melancholy interest for Englishmen since its heroic defence by General Gordon against the forces of the Mahdi in 1884-85. Two days before the rescuing army reached it, Khartoum fell, and with it Gordon (26th January). At the time of the Mahdi's revolt its pop. was set down as 60,000. Since then Omdurman, on the opposite bank, has largely superseded it.

Khasi and Jaintia Hills

Khasi and Jaintia Hills, a district in Assam. Area, 6041 sq. in.; pop. 197,904; administrative headquarters, Shillong (pop. 3640). It forms part of the watershed between the Brahmaputra and the Surma, and rises in a series of step.

like plateaus. The rainfall in some parts is enormous; the average for twenty-five years being 489 inches. In 18(31, 805 inches (366 in July alone) are recorded to have fallen. For ages Bengal has been supplied with limestone, lime, and oranges, and since 1830 with potatoes, from this district; and coal and iron ore exist, but only the latter is extracted. The Khasis are an Indo-Chinese race.