K O R 
people of Rordofan are reported to be not only indifferent 
to the amours of their daughters and Jitters, but even at¬ 
tached to their feducers. The father or brother will even 
draw the fvvord againft him who offends the rejik, or com¬ 
panion of his daughter or fifter. Kordofan extends from 
lat. 12. o. to 14. 40. N. and from Ion. 29. 25. to 32. 30. E. 
KORDYN', a town of Poland, in the palatinate of 
Kiev : forty-four miles wefl-louth-weft of Kiev. 
KORE. See Korah. 
KORECSSOW', a town of Poland, in the palatinate of 
Chelm: twenty-eight miles fouth-fouth-well of Chelm. 
KOREMOZ'. See Karasu. 
KOREP'SKOl, a cape on the north coaft of Ruffin, in 
the North Sea : 124 miles north-weft of Archangel. 
KO RES, or Kceresch, a river of Hungary, which 
rifes in Tranfylvania, and runs into the Thcyfs near 
Cfongrad. 
KOREZTUR', a town of Tranfylvania: thirteen miles 
fouth-weft of Udvarhely. 
KOR'GEV, a town of Ruffia, in the government of 
Tver: twenty miles eaft of Tver. 
KOR'GO, Choueri, Kulle, or Gorgu, a fmall ifland 
an the Perfian gulf, near the coaft of Perfia, and feparated 
from the ifland of Karek by a channel about a mile broad, 
■which is a fafe paffage for fhips. It produces water and 
fome dates. Lat. 29. 10. N. Ion. 50. 30. E. 
KORIA'KI, an oftrog of Kamtchatka, on the Avatcha : 
twenty-feven miles weft of Avatcha. 
KORIAKOV', a fortrefs of Ruffia, in the government 
of Kolivan, on the Irtifch: 192 miles fouth-weft of Ko- 
livan. 
KO'RIAKS, a people to the north of Kamtfchatka, and 
the Penzinlkaia gulf, divided into fixed and wandering 
Koriaks; the number of each eftimated at about 900. The 
manners of the former, according to a late traveller, 
(Monf. Leffeps,) are a mixture of duplicity, miftruft, and 
avarice ; they have all the vices of the northern nations 
of Afia, without the virtues. Robbers by nature, they 
are fufpicious, cruel, incapable either of benevolence or 
pity. To procure the leaft fervice from them, it is firft 
neceflary to offer them fome recompence; nothing but 
prefents can excite their attention, or roufe their aftivity. 
From this perfidious and favage difpofition, it would not 
be eafy for them to live in peace, or form any durable ties 
with their neighbours. So unfociable a fpirit muft alfo 
give them an abhorrence of all foreign dominion : hence 
their continual in fur reft ions againlt the Ruffians, their 
atrocious robberies, their daily invafions on the people who 
furround them ; hence the refpeftive animofities and re¬ 
venge that inceffantly lpring up. This ftate of war fo¬ 
ments in every individual a ferocious Fpirit. The prac¬ 
tice of attacking and of defending themfelves creates in 
them an inflexible courage, that delights in perpetual com¬ 
bats, and glories in a contempt of life. Superftition lends 
its aid to ennoble, in their eyes, this thirft of blood, by 
impofing a law that obliges them to conquer or die. The 
more important the caule that calls them to arms, the more 
greedy are they of death. Neither the bravery nor the 
number of their adverfaries can at all intimidate them ; it 
is then they fwear to deftrcy the fun : they difcharge 
this terrible oath by cutting the throats of their wives 
and children, burning all their poffeiTions, and rufhing 
madly into the midft of their enemies. The combat can 
only terminate by the total deftruction of one of the par¬ 
ties. The vanquifhed never feek their fafety in flight; 
honour forbids it; and not a Koriak will furvive the 
flaughter of his countrymen. 
The vicinity of the Ruffian fettlements has hitherto pro¬ 
duced no change in the mode of life of the refident Ko¬ 
riaks. Their commercial intercourfe with the Ruffians 
only renders them fufceptible to the attraction of wealth, 
and defirous of plunder. Infenfible to the advantages of 
a more polifhed life, they feem to feel a repugnance to 
civilization, and to confider their own manners and euf* 
K O ft 8(53 
toms as abfolutely perfect. The wandering Koriaks were 
for a long time ftiil more untraftable. The independence 
to which they were accuftcmed, and the natural re ft 1 e fi'- 
nefs of their charafter, little difpofed them to fubmit to 
the yoke. The Ruffians, on the other hand, from a love 
of conqueft, were perhaps not remarkable for moderation, 
and endeavoured probably to make themfelves feared ra¬ 
ther than loved. It is certain that they experienced the 
regret of feeing whole hordes fudd.enly difperfe upon the 
leaft appearance of oppreffion, and fly, .as in concert, far 
from tiie fettlements where they hoped, by the attraction- 
of commerce, to fix them. Thel'e frequent flights took 
place till the arrival of a late governor, major Gagnen. 
By the mildnefs of his government, his repeated invita¬ 
tions, and beneficial propolals, he gradually brought back 
thefe fugitive families. Their regular occupation is hunt¬ 
ing and fifhing, but every feafon will not permit them to 
follow it. During thefe intervals, fhut up in their pro¬ 
found habitations, they fleep, fmoke, and get drunk. 
Thoughtlefs of the future, without regret for the paft, 
they come not out of their yourts till the mod urgent ne- 
ceility compels them. Thefe people, enemies to induftry, 
live, like the Kamtfchadales, upon dried fifh, and the flefli 
and fat of the whale and fea-wolf: the whale is commonly 
eaten raw; and the fea-wolf dried and cooked in the fame 
manner as their fifh, except the finews, the marrow, the 
brain, and now and then a (lice of the flefh, which they 
devour raw with extreme avidity. Rein-deer is their fa¬ 
vourite difh. Vegetables alfo form a part of their food j 
they gather in autumn various forts of berries, of a part 
of which they make themfelves a refrefhing beverage, and 
the reft is bruifed to powder, and kneaded with the oil of 
the whale or fea-wolf; this pafte, or fweetmeat, is called 
toltchoukha, and it is held in high efteem in this country. 
Their paffion for ftrong liquors, increafed by the dearnefia- 
of brandy, and the difficulty of procuring it on account 
of their extreme diftance, has led them to invent a drink 
equally potent, which they extraft from a red mufliroom, 
known in Ruffia as a ftrong poifon, by the name of mouk - 
hamorr ; they put it in a veflel with certain fruits, and it 
has fcarcely time to clarify when their friends are invited 
to partake of it. A noble emulation inflames the guefts, 
and there is a conteft of who is beft able to difburthen the 
mafter of the houfe of his neftar. The entertainment lafts 
for one, two, or three, days, till the beverage is exlraufted.. 
Frequently, that they may not fail of being tipfy, they 
eat the raw mufhroom at the fame time. 
The features of the majority of the Koriaks are nof 
Afiatic ; and they might be confidered as Europeans, but 
for their low ftature, their ill ihape, and the colour of their 
flcin. The other Koriaks have the fame charafteriftic 
outlines as the Kkmtfchatdales; among the women parti¬ 
cularly, there are very few who have not funk eyes, flat 
nofes, and prominent cheeks; the men are almoft entirely 
beardlefs, and have fhort hair. The hair of the women is' 
very much neglefted; it commonly flows upon their 
fhoulders, though there are fome who wear it in tufts, or 
wrapt up in a handkerchief. The women carry their 
children in a fort of neft or balket arched over, in which 
the infant is placed in a fitting pollute, and fheltered from 
the weather. When a Koriak dies, his relations and neigh¬ 
bours aflemble to pay him their laft refpefts; they'ereft a 
funeral pile, upon which they place a portion of the wealth 
of the deceafed, and a ftock of provifions, confuting of 
rein-deer, fifh, brandy, in fhort, whatever they conceive 
he will want for his great journey, and to keep him from 
ftarving in the other world. If it be a wandering Koriak,. 
his deer conduft him to the pile; if a refident Koriak, he is 
drawn by his dogs, or carried by his relations. The body 
is exhibited, clothed in its beft attire, and lying in a kind 
of coffin ; there it receives the adieus of the attendants, 
who, with torches in their hands, confider it as an honour 
fpeediiy to reduce their relation or friend to afhes. They 
feel only the regret of a ilrort abfehce, and not of an eter- 
