KAIRA, a British district in the province of Guzerat, Bombay, India, lying between 22 26 and 23 6 N. lat., and between 72 33 and 73 21 E. long., bounded on the N. by Ahmadabaxt district, on the E. and S. by the river Mahi, and on the W. by Ahmadabad district and the state of Cambay, with an area of 1561 square miles. Except a small corner of hilly ground near its northern boundary, and in the south-east and south where the land along the Mahi is furrowed into deep ravines, Kaira district forms one unbroken plain, sloping gently towards the south west. The north and north-east portions are dotted with patches of rich rice land, broken by untilled tracts of low brushwood. The centre of the district is very fertile and highly cultivated ; the luxuriant fields are surrounded by high growing hedges, and the whole country is clothed with clusters of large, shapely trees. To the west this belt of rich vegetation passes into a bare though well- cultivated tract of rice land, growing more barren and open till it reaches the maritime belt, whitened by a salt-like crust, along the Gulf of Cambay. The chief rivers are the Mahi on tli3 south-east and south, and the Sabarmati on the western boundary. The former, owing to its deeply cut bed and sandbanks, is impracticable for either navigation or irrigation ; but the waters of the S&barmati are largely utilized for the latter purpose. A smaller stream, the Khari, also waters a considerable area by means of canals and sluices.
The census of 1872 returned the population at 782,733 (419,142 males and 363,591 females). Hindus numbered 711,619 ; Musal- mans, 70,741 ; Parsis, 68 ; and Christians 305, of whom 243 are natives. Among the Hindus the most important classes arc the Lewa and Kadwa Kumbis, numbering 144,639 ; they are the best cul tivators in the district, sober, peaceful, and industrious. The Rajputs, with the exception of a few who with the title of thakur still retain landed estates, have sunk into the mass of ordinary peasant proprie tors. The Kolis number 281,252 ; idle and turbulent under native rule, they are now quiet, hard-working, and prosperous. Among the Hindu low castes, numbering 61, 834, the Dhersare distinguished for industry and good behaviour. They formerly lived in comfort by weaving coarse cotton cloth, but the competition of the Bombay and local steam mills is now shutting them out of the market. Of the Musalman population, about one-third represent the foreign conquerors of Guzerat ; the remainder are the descendants of con verted Hindus. The first class, employed chiefly as cultivators, or in Government service as police and messengers, are for the most part poor ; the second class, who are artisans, chiefly weavers and oil- prcssers, are hard-working and well-to-do. Thirteen towns contain more than 5000 inhabitants each. Agriculture forms the support of upwards of two-thirds of the population. In 1876-77, 362,221 acres, or 75 per cent, of the Government cultivable land, were under tillage, and 20,753 acres fallow or under grass. Food grains com prise upwards of 88 per cent, of the crops ; pulses, 8 per cent. ; oil seeds, 1 per cent. ; fibres, 1 per cent. ; the remainder being taken up by miscellaneous crops, chiefly tobacco, which has the reputation of being the finest in western India. The manufactures comprise soapmaking, glassmaking, calico printing, and handloom weaving of coarse cloth. A steam spinning and weaving mill has been re cently established. The exports are grain, tobacco, butter, oil, and the petals of the maliud tree ; the imports, piece-goods, groceries, molasses, and dye-stuffs. About 40 miles of the Bombay, Barodn, and Central India Railway pass through the district.
The revenue administration of the district is conducted by a col lector-magistrate and three assistants ; for judicial purposes Kaira is included within the jurisdiction of the judge of Ahmadabad. The total imperial, local, and municipal revenue in 1875-76 was 249,314, of which 195,184 was derived from the land. Educa tion was afforded in 1876-77 by 189 schools, attended by 14,720 pupils. Kaira possesses a public library, and in 1876 published three vernacular newspapers. The prevailing diseases consist of fevers of a malarious type. The average rainfall during the live years ending 1876 was 30 inches.
Kaira district has no independent history of its own. It is made up partly of lands acquired from the peshwa in 1802, and partly of territory acquired from the gaekwar 01 Baroda in 1803 and 1817.
Kaira, chief town and headquarters of the above dis trict, situated 5 miles south-west of Mehmaddbad railway station, in 22 44 30" N. lat., and 72 44 30" E. long. It is a very ancient city, having a legendary connexion with the Mahdbhdrata, and is proved by the evidence of copperplate grants to have been known as early as the 5th century. Early in the 18th century it passed to the Babi family, with whom it remained till 1763, when it was taken by the Marhattas ; it was finally handed over to the British in 1803. It was a large military station till 1820, when the cantonment was removed to Deesa. Population (1872), 12,681.
the Mecca of northern Africa, is a city of the regency of Tunis, 30 miles inland from Susa, and about 80 miles due south from the capital. It is built in an open plain a little to the west of a stream which flows south to the Sidi el Heni lake. Of the luxuriant gardens and olive groves which form so prominent a feature in the early Arabic accounts of the place hardly a remnant has been left. The total circuit of the walls, according to Edward Rae, is about 3500 yards ; and the population is variously estimated from 10,000 to 15,000. A little modification of the eastern wall would make the plan an irregular hexagon. Kairwan is emphatically a religious city : no Jew is permitted to enter within its gates, and it is only at rare intervals that access has been obtained by Christian travellers, though for them in ordinary circumstances the real danger is reduced to a minimum. The more important mosques are only six in number, but the variety of the lesser religious struc tures is exceedingly great, and several parts of the city are crowded with the tombs of saints and warriors of the Mahometan faith. In the northern quarter stands the great mosque founded by Okba ibn Ndfi el Fehri, and con taining within its sacred precincts the shrine of this great defender of the faith and the tombs of the kings of Tunis. It has a length of 140 yards, and the south-east and north east ends measure respectively 85 and 75 yards. To the outside it presents a heavy buttressed wall, with little of either grandeur or grace, but in the interior, in spite of whitewash and paint, it has that magnificence of marble columns which fitted it to be the prototype of the mo.sque of Cordova, As no European footstep has traversed its arcades, the number of the columns has not been ascer tained, but there are at least upwards of 400 of them a mingled spoil from the Roman ruins of the surrounding country. To the Mahometan mind the crowning distinc tion of the building is that through Divine inspiration the founder was enabled to set it absolutely true to Mecca. In the central aisle are two pillars between which the people believe that no person with the guilt of mortal sin upon him can by any possibility pass. A unique collection of ancient armour is preserved in one of the chambers. Of greater external beauty than the great mosque is the mosque of the Three Gates. The shrine of Sidi Ibn Isa is worthy of note for the peculiar conjuring performances carried on
every Friday by the followers of its founder ; and that of
