KOHL, female, Koheela, male ; also, called Shahin, Falco peregrinator, black - eyed hawks, found in Sind.
KOH-i-BABA, a remarkable snow-clad ridge, with peaks about 18,000 feet in height. It is the great continuation of the Hindu Kush, is about 60 miles long, in lat. 31°30' N., and between long. 30' and 68° 30' E. It is at the S.W. extremity of Hindu Kush; with which it is connected by the transverse ridges of Kalu and Hajeguk. According to Mimes and Lady Sale, it is about 18,000 feet in height ; Outram, 20,000 feet ; Hum boldt, 2800 toises, or 17,640 feet ; the most pro bable is 16,000 feet. The highest accessible point is in let. 34° 40'N., long. 67° 30' E., and is 13,200 feet ; Hajikak or Hajeguk pass is 11,700 feet. It is a vast rounded mass, the culminating ridge ascending in lofty peaks, covered with perpetual snow, stretching as far as the eye can reach ; farther to the west it sinks into the mazy moun tains forming the IIazara highlands. The Hel mand, Hari-Rud, Murghab, Balkhab, and Kunduz rivers all rise in the Koh - i - Baba. In 1840 Griffiths ascended it to 13,500 feet. Its general character is that of great barrenness. The Siah Koh is the south branch of the Koh-i-Baba.— Moorcroft, ii. p. 384; MacGregor, p. 545.
KOH-i-DAMAN, a district north of Kabul, a favourite resort of the wealthier inhabitants. Charekar, at the head of the Koh-i-Daman valley, north of Kabul, is famous for the gallant defence made there by Eldred Pottinger and Haughton, during the Kabul outbreak. It is mentioned by Ibn Batuta as Charkh. Leech, in his report on the passes, calls it Charka.
KOH-i-KAS, or Koh-i-Kush, or Caucasus, is the great stony belt that separates Northern from Southern Asia. Koh-i-Kush offers a plausible etymology for the Caucasus of the classical writers. It is supposed by Ritter and Wilford to be the mount mentioned by Pliny under the name of Graucasas, but slightly deviating from the Sanskrit Gravakasas, meaning shining rock. See Koh.
KOH-i-MEERIAH, a hill which produces coal of good quality. It is near Baljawar, one day's journey north of the Oxus river.— TVood's Journey to the Oxus.
KOH-i-MUBARAK or Has Mubarak, a rock which British sailors call Bombareck. Koh-i Mubarak means blessed mountain, but it is also called Has Mubarak, the fortunate or auspicious headland. It is about 30 miles nearer the entrance to the Persian Gulf than Has Jask. It is a re markable isolated rock, situated on a sandy flat. It is a landmark for navigation.
KOH-i-NAMAK, a salt mountain in Irak-i Ajam, 12 miles N.W. of Kum. It is an insulated rocky mountain, from which saline springs issue and deposit salt, and slabs of the salt are quarried for use.—Abbott; MacGregor, p. 270.
KOH-i-NOKREH, or Silver Mountain. Mines
were formerly worked near the villages of Sahr Rud, Hassa, and Muhammadabad, but abandoned, like many others in Persia, when the produce was found inadequate.—Ouseley's Travels, ii. p. 106.
KOH-i-NUR, or Mountain of Light, a celebrated diamond, said to be the immemorial heirloom of Indian sovereignty from the days of the Pandu.
It is said to have been found at Purteal or Fur tyall, a village in the Masulipatatn district of the northern division, and that it weighed originally 793 carats. The portion at the Great Exhibition weighed 186 carats. The great Russian diamond has been supposed to be another portion. Colonel Sleeman says that the Koh-i-Nur was first found in Golconda by Mir Juinla, and presented by him to Shah Jahan, as a nuzzer for a passport to his aggrandizement. But 13aber states that on his capture of the palace of Ibrahim Lodi at Agra, he found one fatuous diamond, which had been ac quired by Sultan Ala-ud-Din. It was so valuable that judges of diamonds valued it at hall the daily expense of the world. Being carried off by Nadir Shah, it was afterwards obtained in that monarch's tents, by Ahmad Shah, from whom it descended to Shalt Shuja, who, in his misfortunes, sought refuge iu the dominions of Ranjit Singh. The Lion of the Panjab—once the owner of the diamond was in his power—at last got it into his possession. Zaman Shah, brother of Shah Shuja, when defeated near Sar-i-Asp, had fled to the Jalalabad valley, and stopped at Muhl Askah's fort, about 14 miles from Jalalabad. Zaman Shah during his confinement there had secreted the Koh-i-Nur with some other jewels in the walls of his apartment. While on his way to Kabul Zaman Shah was blinded by a lancet, but on Shah Shuja ascending the throne, his first act was to release his blind brother. Eanjit Singh be queathed the Koh-i-Nur diamond, now the pro perty of the Queen-Empress Victoria of Great Britain and India, to Jaganath pagoda.—Mac Gregor, p. 414. See Diamond.
KOH-i-SAFED, or White Mountain, forms a most majestic boundary to the southern side of a plain. Its height is about 17,000 feet, And along the whole southern side of the Himalaya, from the Hindu Kush to Nepal, the Safed Koh is visible. Its snowy top is also visible from Peshawur, but it cannot be seen from Kabul, even from the top of the Takht-i-Shah, which rises behind it.— Vigils's Personal Nar. p. 234.
KOH-i-SAFI. East of the Siah Koh is a hilly tract, not mountainous, although waste and desolate, named Koh - i - Safi, from the tribe that pasture their flocks in it, and this tract intervenes between the Siah Koh and the valley of Tagow ; moreover, through it meanders the river of the Kohistan.—illasson's Journeys, iii. p. 151.