The DISTRICT OF KAIRA has an area of 1595 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 716,332, showing a decrease of 18% in the decade, due to the results of famine. 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, the 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 hedges, and the whole country is clothed with clusters of 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 the south-east and south, and the Sabarmati on the western boundary. The Mahi, owing to its deeply cut bed and sandbanks, is impracticable for either navigation or irrigation; but the waters of the Sabarmati are largely utilized for the latter purpose. A smaller stream, the Khari, also waters a considerable area by means of canals and sluices. The principal crops are cotton, millets, rice and pulse; the industries are calico-printing, dyeing, and the manufacture of soap and glass. The chief centre of trade is Nadiad, on the railway, with a cotton-mill. A special article of export is _ghi_, or clarified butter. The Bombay & Baroda railway runs through the district. The famine of 1899-1900 was felt more severely here than in any other part of the province, the loss of cattle being specially heavy. KAIRAWAN (KEROUAN), the "sacred" city of Tunisia, 36 m. S. by W. by rail from Susa, and about 80 m. due S. from the capital. Kairawan is built in an open plain a little west of a stream which flows south to the Sidi-el-Hani lake. Of the luxuriant gardens and olive groves mentioned in the early Arabic accounts of the place hardly a remnant is left. Kairawan, in shape an irregular oblong, is surrounded by a crenellated brick wall with towers and bastions and five gates. The city, however, spreads beyond the walls, chiefly to the south and west. Some of the finest treasures of Saracenic art in Tunisia are in Kairawan; but the city suffered greatly from the vulgarization which followed the Turkish conquest, and also from the blundering attempts of the French to restore buildings falling into ruin. The streets have been paved and planted with trees, but the town retains much of its Oriental aspect. The houses are built round a central courtyard, and present nothing but bare walls to the street. The chief buildings are the mosques, which are open to Christians, Kairawan being the only town in Tunisia where this privilege is granted.