KUM, a walled city of Persia, in the province of Trak-Adjemi, in a hilly district at the western edge of the Great Salt Desert, 85 miles south of Teheran on the main route to Ispahan, and at the northern extremity of the lofty Kuru-Kuh range, which runs thence for over COO miles south-east to the Bam highlands. It is a long, straggling, half-ruined place, with empty bazaars, and neglected streets full of holes and pitfalls. Yet it ranks second to Meshhed in sanctity, thanks to the famous shrine of Masuma Fatima, sister of the imâm Riza, which also contains the remains of ten kings and four hundred and forty-four “saints,” and whose gilded copper dome has been completed by the present shah. Like Kerbela, Kum is a favourite place of interment for the faithful, and is yearly visited by thousands of devout Shiah pilgrims. At one time it is said to have contained 100,000 inhabitants, and its former greatness is still attested by the surrounding ruins, of which Sir Thomas Herbert quaintly remarks that they “may gaine beliefe to the inhabitants, who say it was once comparable in pride and greatness to mightie Babylon.” Even in that traveller’s time it was still a flourishing place, with well-built houses “sweet and wel-furnished, her streets wide, her bazzar faire and her mosque of most honourable esteem.” But the neighbourhood now presents the aspect of a vast necropolis, while not more than 4000 of its 20,000 houses are occupied. Cotton of good quality and the castor-oil plant are extensively cultivated in the district, which is watered by the Gonsir and a few other intermittent streams draining east to the great desert. Population estimated at 20,000.

KUMAUN, a district in the North-Western Provinces of India, lying between 28° 55' and 30° 50' N. lat., and 78° 52' and 80° 56' E. long. It consists of two distinct tracts—the sub-Himalayan ranges, and the bhdbhar or waterless forest, averaging from 10 to 15 miles in breadth, which stretches between the forests and the Tarâi. See Himalaya, vol. xi.∙p. 824. Of the entire area of the highlands, only 500 square miles are returned as cultivated and 100 square miles as cultivable. The southern or bhdbhar portion was up to 1850 an almost impenetrable forest, given upto wild animals; but since then the numerous clearings have attracted a large population from the hills, who cultivate the rich soil during the hot and cold seasons, returning to the hills in the rains. The rest of Kumâun is a maze of mountains, some of which are among the loftiest known. In fact, in a tract not more than 140 miles in length and 40 in breadth, there are over thirty peaks rising to elevations exceeding 18,000 feet (see vol. xi. p. 825). The rivers rise chiefly in the southern slope of the Tibetan watershed north of the loftiest peaks, amongst which they make their way down valleys of rapid declivity and extraordinary depth. The principal are the Kâli or Gogra, and the Pindar and Kâilganga, whose waters join the Alaknanda. The valuable timber of the yet uncleared forest tracts in Kumâun is now under official supervision. The chief trees are the chip or three-leaved Himalayan pine, the cypress, fir, alder, sal or iron-wood, and saindan. Limestone, sandstone, slate, gneiss, and granite constitute the principal geological formations of the district. Mines of iron, copper, gypsum, lead, asbestos, and coral exist; but they are not thoroughly worked....

KUMPTA, or Coomptah, a town and port in North Kânara district, Bombay, India, 14° 2G' N. lat., 74° 27'E. long., with a population in 1872 of 10,932. It is the chief commercial town in the district. The average annual value of its trade, which consists chiefly of cotton, spices, and grain, the first coming from Dhârwâr district and the rest from the upland country of Kânara, is returned for the five years ending 1873-74 at =£481,811 of import and =£868,049 of export.