Chapter XIII: Part 13

KIEV, KIEFF, or KIYEFF, a government of south-western Russia, conterminous with those of Minsk, Poltava, Chernigov, Podolia, Kherson and Volhynia; area 19,686 sq. m. It represents a deeply trenched plateau, 600 to 800 ft. in altitude, reaching 950 to 1050 ft. in the west, assuming a steep character in the middle, and sloping gently northwards to the marshy regions of the Pripet, while on the east it falls abruptly to the valley of the Dnieper, which lies only 250 to 300 ft. above the sea. General A. Tillo has shown that neither geologically nor tectonically can "spurs of the Carpathians" penetrate into Kiev. Many useful minerals are extracted, such as granites, gabbro, labradorites of a rare beauty, syenites and gneiss, marble, grinding stones, pottery clay, phosphorites, iron ore and mineral colours. Towards the southern and central parts the surface is covered by deep rich "black earth." Nearly the whole of the government belongs to the basin of the Dnieper, that river forming part of its eastern boundary. In the south-west are a few small tributaries of the Bug. Besides the Dnieper the only navigable stream is its confluent the Pripet. The climate is more moderate than in middle Russia, the average temperatures at the city of Kiev being--year, 44.5°; January, 21°; July, 68°; yearly rainfall, 22 inches. The lowlands of the north are covered with woods; they have the flora of the Polyesie, or marshy woodlands of Minsk, and are peopled with animals belonging to higher latitudes.[1] The population, which was 2,017,262 in 1863, reached 3,575,457 in 1897, of whom 1,791,503 were women, and 147,878 lived in towns; and in 1904 it reached 4,042,526, of whom 2,030,744 were women. The estimated population in 1906 was 4,206,100. In 1897 there were 2,738,977 Orthodox Greeks, 14,888 Nonconformists, 91,821 Roman Catholics, 423,875 Jews, and 6820 Protestants.

No less than 41 % of the land is in large holdings, and 45 % belongs to the peasants. Out of an area of 12,600,000 acres, 11,100,000 acres are available for cultivation, 4,758,000 acres are under crops, 650,000 acres under meadows, and 1,880,000 acres under woods. About 290,000 acres are under beetroot, for sugar. The crops principally grown are wheat, rye, oats, millet, barley and buckwheat, with, in smaller quantities, hemp, flax, vegetables, fruit and tobacco. Camels have been used for agricultural work. Bee-keeping and gardening are general. The chief factories are sugar works and distilleries. The former produce 850,000 to 1,150,000 tons of sugar and over 50,000 tons of molasses annually. The factories include machinery works and iron foundries, tanneries, steam flour-mills, petroleum refineries and tobacco factories. Two main railways, starting from Kiev and Cherkasy respectively, cross the government from N.E. to S.W., and two lines traverse its southern part from N.W. to S.E., parallel to the Dnieper. Steamers ply on the Dnieper and some of its tributaries. Wheat, rye, oats, barley and flour are exported. There are two great fairs, at Kiev and Berdichev respectively, and many of minor importance. Trade is very brisk, the river traffic alone being valued at over one million sterling annually. The government is divided into twelve districts. The chief town is Kiev (q.v.)and the district towns, with their populations in 1897, Berdichev (53,728), Cherkasy (29,619), Chigirin (9870), Kanev (8892), Lipovets (6068), Radomysl (11,154), Skvira (16,265), Tarashcha (11,452), Umañ (28,628), Vasilkov (17,824) and Zvenigorodka (16,972).

The plains on the Dnieper have been inhabited since probably the Palaeolithic period, and the burial-grounds used since the Stone Age. The burial mounds (_kurgans_) of both the Scythians and the Slavs, traces of old forts (_gorodishche_), stone statues, and more recent caves offer abundant material for anthropological and ethnographical study.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] Schmahlhausen's _Flora of South-West Russia_ (Kiev, 1886)
contains a good description of the flora of the province.

KIEV, a city of Russia, capital of the above government, on the right or west bank of the Dnieper, in 50° 27´ 12´´ N. and 30° 30´ 18´´ E., 628 m. by rail S.W. of Moscow and 406 m. by rail N.N.E. of Odessa. The site of the greater part of the town consists of hills or bluffs separated by ravines and hollows, the elevation of the central portions being about 300 ft. above the ordinary level of the Dnieper. On the opposite side of the river the country spreads out low and level like a sea. Having received all its important tributaries, the Dnieper is here a broad (400 to 580 yds.) and navigable stream; but as it approaches the town it divides into two arms and forms a low grassy island of considerable extent called Tukhanov. During the spring floods there is a rise of 16 or even 20 ft., and not only the island but the country along the left bank and the lower grounds on the right bank are laid under water. The bed of the river is sandy and shifting, and it is only by costly engineering works that the main stream has been kept from returning to the more eastern channel, along which it formerly flowed. Opposite the southern part of the town, where the currents have again united, the river is crossed by a suspension bridge, which at the time of its erection (1848-1853) was the largest enterprise of the kind in Europe. It is about half a mile in length and 52½ ft. in breadth, and the four principal spans are each 440 ft. The bridge was designed by Vignoles, and cost about £400,000. Steamers ply in summer to Kremenchug, Ekaterinoslav, Mogilev, Pinsk and Chernigov. Altogether Kiev is one of the most beautiful cities in Russia, and the vicinity too is picturesque.

Until 1837 the town proper consisted of the Old Town, Pechersk and Podoli; but in that year three districts were added, and in 1879 the limits were extended to include Kurenevka, Lukyanovka, Shulyavka and Solomenka. The administrative area of the town is 13,500 acres.

The Old Town, or Old Kiev quarter (Starokievskaya Chast), occupies the highest of the range of hills. Here the houses are most closely built, and stone structures most abundant. In some of the principal streets are buildings of three to five storeys, a comparatively rare thing in Russia, indeed in the main street (Kreshchatik) fine structures have been erected since 1896. In the 11th century the area was enclosed by earthen ramparts, with bastions and gateways; but of these the only surviving remnant is the Golden Gate. In the centre of the Old Town stands the cathedral of St Sophia, the oldest cathedral in the Russian empire. Its external walls are of a pale green and white colour, and it has ten cupolas, four spangled with stars and six surmounted each with a cross. The golden cupola of the four-storeyed campanile is visible for many miles across the steppes. The statement frequently made that the church was a copy of St Sophia's in Constantinople has been shown to be a mistake. The building measures in length 177 ft., while its breadth is 118 ft. But though the plan shows no imitation of the great Byzantine church, the decorations of the interior (mosaics, frescoes, &c.) do indicate direct Byzantine influence. During the occupation of the church by the Uniats or United Greek Church in the 17th century these were covered with whitewash, and were only discovered in 1842, after which the cathedral was internally restored; but the chapel of the Three Pontiffs has been left untouched to show how carefully the old style has been preserved or copied. Among the mosaics is a colossal representation of the Virgin, 15 ft. in height, which, like the so-called "indestructible wall" in which it is inlaid, dates from the time (1019-1054) of Prince Yaroslav. This prince founded the church in 1037 in gratitude for his victory over the Petchenegs, a Turkish race then settled in the Dnieper valley. His sarcophagus, curiously sculptured with palms, fishes, &c., is preserved. The church of St Andrew the Apostle occupies the spot where, according to Russian tradition, that apostle stood when as yet Kiev was not, and declared that the hill would become the site of a great city. The present building, in florid rococo style, dates from 1744-1767. The church of the Tithes, rebuilt in 1828-1842, was founded in the close of the 10th century by Prince Vladimir in honour of two martyrs whom he had put to death; and the monastery of St Michael (or of the Golden Heads--so called from the fifteen gilded cupolas of the original church) claims to have been built in 1108 by Svyatopolk II., and was restored in 1655 by the Cossack chieftain Bogdan Chmielnicki. On a plateau above the river, the favourite promenade of the citizens, stands the Vladimir monument (1853) in bronze. In this quarter, some distance back from the river, is the new and richly decorated Vladimir cathedral (1862-1896), in the Byzantine style, distinguished for the beauty and richness of its paintings.

Until 1820 the south-eastern district of Pechersk was the industrial and commercial quarter; but it has been greatly altered in carrying out fortifications commenced in that year by Tsar Nicholas I. Most of the houses are small and old-fashioned. The monastery--the Kievo-Pecherskaya--is the chief establishment of its kind in Russia; it is visited every year by about 250,000 pilgrims. Of its ten or twelve conventual churches the chief is that of the Assumption. There are four distinct quarters in the monastery, each under a superior, subject to the archimandrite: the Laura proper or New Monastery, that of the Infirmary, and those of the Nearer and the Further Caves. These caves or catacombs are the most striking characteristic of the place; the name Pechersk, indeed, is connected with the Russian _peshchera_, "a cave." The first series of caves, dedicated to St Anthony, contains eighty saints' tombs; the second, dedicated to St Theodosius, a saint greatly venerated in Russia, about forty-five. The bodies were formerly exposed to view; but the pilgrims who now pass through the galleries see nothing but the draperies and the inscriptions. Among the more notable names are those of Nestor the chronicler, and Iliya of Murom, the Old Cossack of the Russian epics. The foundation of the monastery is ascribed to two saints of the 11th century--Anthony and Hilarion, the latter metropolitan of Kiev. By the middle of the 12th century it had become wealthy and beautiful. Completely ruined by the Mongol prince Batu in 1240, it remained deserted for more than two centuries. Prince Simeon Oblkovich was the first to begin the restoration. A conflagration laid the buildings waste in 1716, and their present aspect is largely due to Peter the Great. The cathedral of the Assumption, with seven gilded cupolas, was dedicated in 1089, destroyed by the Mongols in 1240, and restored in 1729; the wall-paintings of the interior are by V. Vereshchagin. The monastery contains a school of picture-makers of ancient origin, whose productions are widely diffused throughout the empire, and a printing press, from which have issued liturgical and religious works, the oldest known examples bearing the date 1616. It possesses a wonder-working ikon or image of the "Death of the Virgin," said to have been brought from Constantinople in 1073, and the second highest bell-tower in Russia.

The Podol quarter lies on the low ground at the foot of the bluffs. It is the industrial and trading quarter of the city, and the seat of the great fair of the "Contracts," the transference of which from Dubno in 1797 largely stimulated the commercial prosperity of Kiev. The present regular arrangement of its streets arose after the great fire of 1811. Lipki district (from the _lipki_ or lime trees, destroyed in 1833) is of recent origin, and is mainly inhabited by the well-to-do classes. It is sometimes called the palace quarter, from the royal palace erected between 1868 and 1870, on the site of the older structure dating from the time of Tsaritsa Elizabeth. Gardens and parks abound; the palace garden is exceptionally fine, and in the same neighbourhood are the public gardens with the place of amusement known as the Château des Fleurs.

In the New Buildings, or the Lybed quarter, are the university and the botanical gardens. The Ploskaya Chast (Flat quarter) or Obolon contains the lunatic asylum; the Lukyanovka Chast, the penitentiary and the camp and barracks; and the Bulvarnaya Chast, the military gymnasium of St Vladimir and the railway station. The educational and scientific institutions of Kiev rank next to those of the two capitals. Its university, removed from Vilna to Kiev in 1834, has about 2500 students, and is well provided with observatories, laboratories, libraries and museums; five scientific societies and two societies for aid to poor students are attached to it. There are, besides, a theological academy, founded in 1615; a society of church archaeology, which possesses a museum built in 1900, very rich in old ikons, crosses, &c., both Russian and Oriental; an imperial academy of music; university courses for ladies; a polytechnic, with 1300 students--the building was completed in 1900 and stands on the other side of Old Kiev, away from the river. Of the learned societies the more important are the medical (1840), the naturalists' (1869), the juridical (1876), the historical of Nestor the Chronicler (1872), the horticultural (1875), and the dramatic (1879), the archaeological commission (1843), and the society of church archaeology.

Kiev is the principal centre for the sugar industry of Russia, as well as for the general trade of the region. Its Stryetenskaya fair is important. More than twenty caves were discovered on the slope of a hill (Kirilov Street), and one of them, excavated in 1876, proved to have belonged to neolithic troglodytes. Numerous graves, both from the pagan and the Christian periods, the latter containing more than 2000 skeletons, with a great number of small articles, were discovered in the same year in the same neighbourhood. Many colonial Roman coins of the 3rd and 4th centuries, and silver _dirhems_, stamped at Samarkand, Balkh, Merv, &c., were also found in 1869.

In 1862 the population of Kiev was returned as 70,341; in 1874 the total was given as 127,251; and in 1902 as 319,000. This includes 20,000 Poles and 12,000 Jews. Kiev is the headquarters of the IX. Army Corps, and of a metropolitan of the Orthodox Greek Church.

The history of Kiev cannot be satisfactorily separated from that of
Russia. According to Nestor's legend it was founded in 864 by three
brothers, Kiy, Shchek and Khoriv, and after their deaths the
principality was seized by two Varangians (Scandinavians), Askold and
Dir, followers of Rurik, also in 864. Rurik's successor Oleg conquered
Kiev in 882 and made it the chief town of his principality. It was in
the waters of the Dnieper opposite the town that Prince Vladimir, the
first saint of the Russian church, caused his people to be baptized
(988), and Kiev became the seat of the first Christian church, of the
first Christian school, and of the first library in Russia. For three
hundred and seventy-six years it was an independent Russian city; for
eighty years (1240-1320) it was subject to the Mongols; for two
hundred and forty-nine years (1320-1569) it belonged to the Lithuanian
principality; and for eighty-five years to Poland (1569-1654). It was
finally united to the Russian empire in 1686. The city was devastated
by the khan of the Crimea in 1483. The Magdeburg rights, which the
city enjoyed from 1516, were abolished in 1835, and the ordinary form
of town government introduced; and in 1840 it was made subject to the
common civil law of the empire.

The Russian literature concerning Kiev is voluminous. Its bibliography
will be found in the _Russian Geographical Dictionary_ of P. Semenov,
and in the _Russian Encyclopaedic Dictionary_, published by Brockhaus
and Efron (vol. xv., 1895). Among recent publications are: Rambaud's
_La Russie épique_ (Pans, 1876); Avenarius, _Kniga o Kievskikh
Bogatuiryakh_ (St Petersburg, 1876), dealing with the early Kiev
heroes; Zakrevski, _Opisanie Kieva_ (1868); the materials issued by
the commission for the investigation of the ancient records of the
city; Taranovskiy, _Gorod Kiev_ (Kiev, 1881); De Baye, _Kiev, la mère
des villes russes_ (Paris, 1896); Goetz, _Das Kiewer Höhlenkloster als
Kulturzentrum des Vormongolischen Russlands_ (Passau, 1904). See also
Count Bobrinsky, _Kurgans of Smiela_ (1897); and N. Byelyashevsky,
_The Mints of Kiev_. (P. A. K.; J. T. Be.)

KILBARCHAN, a burgh of barony of Renfrewshire, Scotland, 1 m. from Milliken Park station on the Glasgow & South-Western railway, 13 m. W. by S. of Glasgow. Pop. (1901), 2886. The public buildings include a hall, library and masonic lodge (dating from 1784). There is also a park. In a niche in the town steeple (erected in 1755) is the statue of the famous piper, who died about the beginning of the 17th century and is commemorated in the elegy on "The Life and Death of Habbie Simson, Piper of Kilbarchan" by Robert Sempill of Beltrees (1595-1665). The chief industries are manufactures of linen (introduced in 1739 and dating the rise of the prosperity of the town), cotton, silks and "Paisley" shawls, and calico-printing, besides quarries, coal and iron mines in the neighbourhood. Two miles south-west is a great rock of greenstone called Clochoderick, 12 ft. in height, 22 ft. in length, and 17 ft. in breadth. About 2 m. north-west on Gryfe Water, lies Bridge of Weir (pop. 2242), the industries of which comprise tanning, currying, calico-printing, thread-making and wood-turning. It has a station on the Glasgow & South-Western railway. Immediately to the south-west of Bridge of Weir are the ruins of Ranfurly Castle, the ancient seat of the Knoxes. Sir John de Knocks (fl. 1422) is supposed to have been the great-grandfather of John Knox; and Andrew Knox (1550-1633), one of the most distinguished members of the family, was successively bishop of the Isles, abbot of Icolmkill (Iona), and bishop of Raphoe. About 4 m. N.W. of Bridge of Weir lies the holiday resort of Kilmalcolm (pronounced Kilmacome; pop. 2220), with a station on the Glasgow & South-Western railway. It has a golf-course, public park and hydropathic establishment. Several charitable institutions have been built in and near the town, amongst them the well-known Quarrier's Orphan Homes of Scotland.

KILBIRNIE, a town in north Ayrshire, Scotland, on the Garnock, 20½ m. S.W. of Glasgow, with stations on the Glasgow & South-Western and the Caledonian railways. Pop. (1901), 4571. The industries include flax-spinning, rope works, engineering works, and manufactures of linen thread, wincey, flannels and fishing-nets, and there are iron and steel works and coal mines in the vicinity. The parish church is of historical interest, most of the building dating from the Reformation. In the churchyard are the recumbent effigies of Captain Thomas Crawford of Jordanhill (d. 1603), who in 1575 effected the surprise of Dumbarton Castle, and his lady. Near Kilbirnie Place, a modern mansion, are the ruins of Kilbirnie Castle, an ancient seat of the earls of Crawford, destroyed by fire in 1757. About 1 m. E. is Kilbirnie Loch, 1(1/3) m. long.

KILBRIDE, WEST, a town on the coast of Ayrshire, Scotland, near the mouth of Kilbride Burn, 4 m. N.N.W. of Ardrossan and 35¾ m. S.W. of Glasgow by the Glasgow & South-Western railway. Pop. (1901), 2315. It has been growing in repute as a health resort; the only considerable industry is weaving. In the neighbourhood are the ruins of Law Castle, Crosbie Castle and Portincross Castle, the last, dating from the 13th century, said to be a seat of the Stuart kings. Farland Head, with cliffs 300 ft. high, lies 2 m. W. by N.; and the inland country is hilly, one point, Kaim Hill, being 1270 ft. above sea-level.

KILDARE, a county of Ireland in the province of Leinster, bounded W. by Queen's County and King's County, N. by Meath, E. by Dublin and Wicklow, and S. by Carlow. The area is 418,496 acres or about 654 sq. m. The greater part of Kildare belongs to the great central plain of Ireland. In the east of the county this plain is bounded by the foot-hills of the mountains of Dublin and Wicklow; in the centre it is interrupted by an elevated plateau terminated on the south by the hills of Dunmurry, and on the north by the Hill of Allen (300 ft.) which rises abruptly from the Bog of Allen. The principal rivers are the Boyne, which with its tributary the Blackwater rises in the north part of the county, but soon passes into Meath; the Barrow, which forms the boundary of Kildare with Queen's County, and receives the Greese and the Lane shortly after entering Kildare; the Lesser Barrow, which flows southward from the Bog of Allen to near Rathangan; and the Liffey, which enters the county near Ballymore Eustace, and flowing north-west and then north-east quits it at Leixlip, having received the Morrel between Celbridge and Clane, and the Ryewater at Leixlip. Trout are taken in the upper waters, and there are salmon reaches near Leixlip.

_Geology._--The greater part of the county is formed of typical grey
Carboniferous limestone, well seen in the flat land about Clane. The
natural steps at the Salmon Falls at Leixlip are formed from similar
strata. Along the south-east the broken ground of Silurian shales
forms the higher country, rising towards the Leinster chain. The
granite core of the latter, with its margin of mica-schist produced by
the metamorphism of the Silurian beds, appears in the south round
Castledermot. A parallel ridge of Silurian rocks, including an
interesting series of basic lavas, rises from the plain north of
Kildare town (Hill of Allen and Chair of Kildare), with some Old Red
Sandstone on its flanks. The limestone in this ridge is rich in
fossils of Bala age, and has been compared with that at Portrane in
county Dublin. The low ground is diversified by eskers and masses of
glacial gravel, notably at the dry sandy plateau of the Curragh; but
in part it retains sufficient moisture to give rise to extensive bogs.
The Liffey, which comes down as a mountain-stream in the Silurian
area, forming a picturesque fall in the gorge of Pollaphuca, wanders
through the limestone region between low banks as a true river of the
plain.

_Climate and Industries._--Owing to a considerable degree to the large
extent of bog, the climate of the northern districts is very moist,
and fogs are frequent, but the eastern portion is drier, and the
climate of the Liffey valley is very mild and healthy. The soil,
whether resting on the limestone or on the clay slate, is principally
a rich deep loam inclining occasionally to clay, easily cultivated and
very fertile if properly drained. About 40,000 acres in the northern
part of the county are included in the Bog of Allen, which is,
however, intersected in many places by elevated tracts of firm ground.
To the east of the town of Kildare is the Curragh, an undulating down
upwards of 4800 acres in extent. The most fertile and highly
cultivated districts of Kildare are the valleys of the Liffey and a
tract in the south watered by the Greese. The demesne lands along the
valley of the Liffey are finely wooded. More attention is paid to
drainage and the use of manures on the larger farms than is done in
many other parts of Ireland. The pastures which are not subjected to
the plough are generally very rich and fattening. The proportion of
tillage to pasture is roughly as 1 to 2½. Wheat is a scanty crop, but
oats, barley, turnips and potatoes are all considerably cultivated.
Cattle and sheep are grazed extensively, and the numbers are well
sustained. Of the former, crosses with the shorthorn or the Durham are
the commonest breed. Leicesters are the principal breed of sheep.
Poultry farming is a growing industry.

Though possessing a good supply of water-power the county is almost
destitute of manufactures; there are a few small cotton, woollen and
paper mills, as well as breweries and distilleries, and several corn
mills. Large quantities of turf are exported to Dublin by canal. The
main line of the Midland Great Western follows the northern boundary
of the county, with a branch to Carbury and Edenderry; and that of the
Great Southern & Western crosses the county by way of Newbridge and
Kildare, with southward branches to Naas (and Tullow, county Carlow)
and to Athy and the south. The northern border is traversed by the
Royal Canal, which connects Dublin with the Shannon at Cloondara.
Farther south the Grand Canal, which connects Dublin with the Shannon
at Shannon Harbour, occupies the valley of the Liffey until at Sallins
it enters the Bog of Allen, passing into King's County near the source
of the Boyne. Several branch canals afford communication with the
southern districts.

_Population and Administration._--The decreasing population (70,206 in 1891; 63,566 in 1901) shows an unusual excess of males over females, in spite of an excess of male emigrants. About 86% of the population are Roman Catholics. The county comprises 14 baronies and contains 110 civil parishes. Assizes are held at Naas, and quarter sessions at Athy, Kildare, Maynooth and Naas. The military stations at Newbridge and the Curragh constitute the Curragh military district, and the barracks at Athy and Naas are included in the Dublin military district. The principal towns are Athy (pop. 3599), Naas (3836) and Newbridge (2903); with Maynooth (which is the seat of a Roman Catholic college), Celbridge, Kildare (the county town), Monasterevan, Kilcullen and Leixlip. Ballitore, one of the larger villages, is a Quaker settlement, and at a school here Edmund Burke was educated. Kildare returned ten members to the Irish parliament, of whom eight represented boroughs; it sends only two (for the north and south divisions of the county) to the parliament of the United Kingdom. The county is in the Protestant diocese of Dublin and the Roman Catholic dioceses of Dublin and of Kildare and Leighlin.

_History and Antiquities._--According to a tale in the Book of Leinster the original name of Kildare was _Druim Criaidh_ (Drumcree), which it retained until the time of St Brigit, after which it was changed to _Cilldara_, the church of the oak, from an old oak under whose shadow the saint had constructed her cell. For some centuries it was under the government of the Macmurroughs, kings of Leinster, but with the remainder of Leinster it was granted by Henry II. to Strongbow. On the division of the palatinate of Leinster among the five grand-daughters of Strongbow, Kildare fell to Sibilla, the fourth daughter, who married William de Ferrars, earl of Derby. Through the marriage of the only daughter of William de Ferrars it passed to William de Vescy--who, when challenged to single combat by John Fitz Thomas, baron of Offaly, for accusing him of treason, fled to France. His lands were thereupon in 1297 bestowed on Fitz Thomas, who in 1316 was created earl of Kildare, and in 1317 was appointed sheriff of Kildare, the office remaining in the family until the attainder of Gerald, the ninth earl, in the reign of Henry VIII. Kildare was a liberty of Dublin until 1296, when an act was passed constituting it a separate county.

In the county are several old gigantic pillar-stones, the principal being those at Punchestown, Harristown, Jigginstown and Mullamast. Among remarkable earthworks are the raths at Mullamast, Knockcaellagh near Kilcullen, Ardscull near Naas, and the numerous sepulchral mounds in the Curragh. Of the round towers the finest is that of Kildare; there are remains of others at Taghadoe, Old Kilcullen, Oughterard and Castledermot. Formerly there were an immense number of religious houses in the county. There are remains of a Franciscan abbey at Castledermot. At Graney are ruins of an Augustinian nunnery and portions of a building said to have belonged to the Knights Templars. The town of Kildare has ruins of four monastic buildings, including the nunnery founded by St Brigit. The site of a monastery at Old Kilcullen, said to date from the time of St Patrick, is marked by two stone crosses, one of which is curiously sculptured. The fine abbey of Monasterevan is now the seat of the marquess of Drogheda. On the Liffey are the remains of Great Connel Abbey near Celbridge, of St Wolstan's near Celbridge, and of New Abbey. At Moone, where there was a Franciscan monastery, are the remains of an ancient cross with curious sculpturings. Among castles may be mentioned those of Athy and Castledermot, built about the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion; Maynooth Castle, built by the Fitzgeralds; Kilkea, originally built by the seventh earl of Kildare, and restored within the 19th century; and Timolin, erected in the reign of King John.

KILDARE, a market town and the county town of county Kildare, Ireland, in the south parliamentary division, a junction on the main line of the Great Southern & Western railway, 30. m. S.W. from Dublin, the branch line to Athy, Carlow and Kilkenny diverging southward. Pop. (1901), 1576. The town is of high antiquarian interest. There is a Protestant cathedral church, the diocese of which was united with Dublin in 1846. St Brigit or Bridget founded the religious community in the 5th century, and a fire sacred to the memory of the saint is said to have been kept incessantly burning for several centuries (until the Reformation) in a small ancient chapel called the Fire House, part of which remains. The cathedral suffered with the town from frequent burnings and destructions at the hands of the Danes and the Irish, and during the Elizabethan wars. The existing church was partially in ruins when an extensive restoration was begun in 1875 under the direction of G.E. Street; while the choir, which dated from the latter part of the 17th century, was rebuilt in 1896. Close to the church are an ancient cross and a very fine round tower (its summit unhappily restored with a modern battlement) 105½ ft. high, with a doorway with unusual ornament of Romanesque character. There are remains of a castle of the 13th century, and of a Carmelite monastery. From the elevated situation of the town, a striking view of the great central plain of Ireland is afforded. Kildare was incorporated by James II., and returned two members to the Irish parliament.

KILHAM, ALEXANDER (1762-1798), English Methodist, was born at Epworth, Lincolnshire, on the 10th of July 1762. He was admitted by John Wesley in 1785 into the regular itinerant ministry. He became the leader and spokesman of the democratic party in the Connexion which claimed for the laity the free election of class-leaders and stewards, and equal representation with ministers at Conference. They also contended that the ministry should possess no official authority or pastoral prerogative, but should merely carry into effect the decisions of majorities in the different meetings. Kilham further advocated the complete separation of the Methodists from the Anglican Church. In the violent controversy that ensued he wrote many pamphlets, often anonymous, and frequently not in the best of taste. For this he was arraigned before the Conference of 1796 and expelled, and he then founded the Methodist New Connexion (1798, merged since 1906 in the United Methodist Church). He died in 1798, and the success of the church he founded is a tribute to his personality and to the principles for which he strove. Kilham's wife (Hannah Spurr, 1774-1832), whom he married only a few months before his death, became a Quaker, and worked as a missionary in the Gambia and at Sierra Leone; she reduced to writing several West African vernaculars.

KILIA, a town of S. Russia, in the government of Bessarabia, 100 m. S.W. of Odessa, on the Kilia branch of the Danube, 20 m. from its mouth. Pop. (1897), 11,703. It has steam flour-mills and a rapidly increasing trade. The town, anciently known as Chilia, Chele, and Lycostomium, was a place of banishment for political dignitaries of Byzantium in the 12th-13th centuries. After belonging to the Genoese from 1381-1403 it was occupied successively by Walachia and Moldavia, until in 1484 it fell into the hands of the Ottoman Turks. It was taken from them by the Russians in 1790. After being bombarded by the Anglo-French fleet in July 1854, it was given to Rumania on the conclusion of the war; but in 1878 was transferred to Russia with Bessarabia.

KILIAN (CHILIAN, KILLIAN), ST, British missionary bishop and the apostle of eastern Franconia, where he began his labours towards the end of the 7th century. There are several biographies of him, the first of which dates back to the 9th century (_Bibliotheca hagiographica latina_, Nos. 4660-4663). The oldest texts which refer to him are an 8th century necrology at Würzburg and the notice by Hrabanus Maurus in his martyrology. According to Maurus, Kilian was a native of Ireland, whence with his companions he went to eastern Franconia. After having preached the gospel in Würzburg, the whole party were put to death by the orders of an unjust judge named Gozbert. It is difficult to fix the period with precision, as the judge (or duke) Gozbert is not known through other sources. Kilian's comrades, Coloman and Totman, were, according to the Würzburg necrology, respectively priest and deacon. The elevation of the relics of the three martyrs was performed by Burchard, the first bishop of Würzburg, and they are venerated in the cathedral of that town. His festival is celebrated on the 8th of July.

See _Acta Sanctorum_, Julii, ii. 599-619; F. Emmerich, _Der heilige
Kilian_ (Würzburg, 1896); J. O'Hanlon, _Lives of the Irish Saints_,
vii. 122-143 (Dublin, 1875-1904); A. Hauck, _Kirchengeschichte
Deutschlands_, 3rd ed., i. 382 seq. (H. De.)

KILIMANJARO, a great mountain in East Africa, its centre lying in 3° 5´ S. and 37° 23´ E. It is the highest known summit of the continent, rising as a volcanic cone from a plateau of about 3000 ft. to 19,321 ft. Though completely isolated it is but one of several summits which crown the eastern edge of the great plateau of equatorial Africa. About 200 m. almost due north, across the wide expanse of the Kapte and Kikuyu uplands, lies Mount Kenya, somewhat inferior in height and mass to Kilimanjaro; and some 25 m. due west rises the noble mass of Mount Meru.

The major axis of Kilimanjaro runs almost east and west, and on it rise the two principal summits, Kibo in the west, Mawenzi (Ki-mawenzi) in the east. Kibo, the higher, is a truncated cone with a nearly perfect extinct crater, and marks a comparatively recent period of volcanic activity; while Mawenzi (16,892 ft.) is the very ancient core of a former summit, of which the crater walls have been removed by denudation. The two peaks, about 7 m. apart, are connected by a saddle or plateau, about 14,000 ft. in altitude, below which the vast mass slopes with great regularity in a typical volcanic curve, especially in the south, to the plains below. The sides are furrowed on the south and east by a large number of narrow ravines, down which flow streams which feed the Pangani and Lake Jipe in the south and the Tsavo tributary of the Sabaki in the east. South-west of Kibo, the Shira ridge seems to be of independent origin, while in the north-west a rugged group of cones, of comparatively recent origin, has poured forth vast lava-flows. In the south-east the regularity of the outline is likewise broken by a ridge running down from Mawenzi.

The lava slopes of the Kibo peak are covered to a depth of some 200 ft. with an ice-cap, which, where ravines occur, takes the form of genuine glaciers. The crater walls are highest on the south, three small peaks, uncovered by ice, rising from the rim on this side. To the central and highest of these, the culminating point of the mountain, the name Kaiser Wilhelm Spitze has been given. The rim here sinks precipitously some 600 ft. to the interior of the crater, which measures rather over 2000 yds. in diameter, and is in part covered by ice, in part by a bare cone of ashes. On the west the rim is breached, allowing the passage of an important glacier formed from the snow which falls within the crater. Lower down this cleft, which owed its origin to dislocation, is occupied by two glaciers, one of which reaches a lower level (13,800 ft.) than any other on Kilimanjaro. On the north-west three large glaciers reach down to 16,000 ft.

Mawenzi peak has no permanent ice-cap, though at times snow lies in patches. The rock of which it is composed has become very jagged by denudation, forming stupendous walls and precipices. On the east the peak falls with great abruptness some 6500 ft. to a vast ravine, due apparently to dislocation and sinking of the ground. Below this the slope is more gradual and more symmetrical. Like the other high mountains of eastern Africa, Kilimanjaro presents well-defined zones of vegetation. The lowest slopes are arid and scantily covered with scrub, but between 4000 and 6000 ft. on the south side the slopes are well watered and cultivated. The forest zone begins, on the south, at about 6500 ft., and extends to 9500, but in the north it is narrower, and in the north-west, the driest quarter of the mountain, almost disappears. In the alpine zone, marked especially by tree lobelias and _Senecio_, flowering plants extend up to 15,700 ft. on the sheltered south-west flank of Mawenzi, but elsewhere vegetation grows only in dwarfed patches beyond 13,000 ft. The special fauna and flora of the upper zone are akin to those of other high African mountains, including Cameroon. The southern slopes, between 4000 and 6000 ft., form the well-peopled country of Chaga, divided into small districts.

As the natives believe that the summit of Kilimanjaro is composed of
silver, it is conjectured that Aristotle's reference to "the so-called
Silver Mountain" from which the Nile flows was based on reports about
this mountain. It is possible, however, that the "Silver Mountain" was
Ruwenzori (q.v.), from whose snow-clad heights several headstreams of
the Nile do descend. It is also possible, though improbable, that
Ruwenzori and not Kilimanjaro nor Kenya may be the range known to
Ptolemy and to the Arab geographers of the middle ages as the
Mountains of the Moon. Reports of the existence of mountains covered
with snow were brought to Zanzibar about 1845 by Arab traders.
Attracted by these reports Johannes Rebmann of the Church Missionary
Society journeyed inland from Mombasa in 1848 and discovered
Kilimanjaro, which is some 200 m. inland. Rebmann's account, though
fully borne out by his colleague Dr Ludwig Krapf, was at first
received with great incredulity by professional geographers. The
matter was finally set at rest by the visits paid to the mountain by
Baron Karl von der Decken (1861 and 1862) and Charles New (1867), the
latter of whom reached the lower edge of the snow. Kilimanjaro has
since been explored by Joseph Thomson (1883), Sir H. H. Johnston
(1884), and others. It has been the special study of Dr Hans Meyer,
who made four expeditions to it, accomplishing the first ascent to the
summit in 1889. In the partition of Africa between the powers of
western Europe, Kilimanjaro was secured by Germany (1886) though the
first treaties concluded with native chiefs in that region had been
made in 1884 by Sir H. H. Johnston on behalf of a British company. On
the southern side of the mountain at Moshi is a German government
station.

See R. Thornton (the geologist of von der Decken's party) in _Proc. of
Roy. Geog. Soc._ (1861-1862); Ludwig Krapf, _Travels in East Africa_
(1860); Charles New, _Life ... in East Africa_ (1873); Sir J. D.
Hooker in _Journal of Linnean Society_ (1875); Sir H. H. Johnston,
_The Kilimanjaro Expedition_ (1886); Hans Meyer, _Across East African
Glaciers_ (1891); _Der Kilimanjaro_ (Berlin, 1900). Except the
last-named all these works were published in London. (E. He.)

KILIN, or CH'-I-LIN, one of the four symbolical creatures which in Chinese mythology are believed to keep watch and ward over the Celestial Empire. It is a unicorn, portrayed in Chinese art as having the body and legs of a deer and an ox's tail. Its advent on earth heralds an age of enlightened government and civic prosperity. It is regarded as the noblest of the animal creation and as the incarnation of fire, water, wood, metal and earth. It lives for a thousand years, and is believed to step so softly as to leave no footprints and to crush no living thing.

KILKEE, a seaside resort of county Clare, Ireland, the terminus of a branch of the West Clare railway. Pop. (1901), 1661. It lies on a small and picturesque inlet of the Atlantic named Moore Bay, with a beautiful sweep of sandy beach. The coast, fully exposed to the open ocean, abounds in fine cliff scenery, including numerous caves and natural arches, but is notoriously dangerous to shipping. Moore Bay is safe and attractive for bathers. Bishop's Island, a bold isolated rock in the vicinity, has remains of an oratory and house ascribed to the recluse St Senan.

KILKENNY, a county of Ireland, in the province of Leinster, bounded N. by Queen's County, E. by Carlow and Wexford, S. by Waterford, and W. by Waterford and Tipperary. The area is 511,775 acres, or about 800 sq. m. The greater part of Kilkenny forms the south-eastern extremity of the great central plain of Ireland, but in the south-east occurs an extension of the mountains of Wicklow and Carlow, and the plain is interrupted in the north by a hilly region forming part of the Castlecomer coal-field, which extends also into Queen's County and Tipperary. The principal rivers, the Suir, the Barrow and the Nore, have their origin in the Slieve Bloom Mountains (county Tipperary and Queen's County), and after widely divergent courses southward discharge their waters into Waterford Harbour. The Suir forms the boundary of the county with Waterford, and is navigable for small vessels to Carrick. The Nore, which is navigable to Innistioge, enters the county at its north-western boundary, and flows by Kilkenny to the Barrow, 9 m. above Ross, having received the King's River at Jerpoint and the Argula near Innistioge. The Barrow, which is navigable beyond the limits of Kilkenny into Kildare, forms the eastern boundary of the county from near New Bridge. There are no lakes of any extent, but turloughs or temporary lakes are occasionally formed by the bursting up of underground streams.

The coal of the Castlecomer basin is anthracite, and the most productive portions of the bed are in the centre of the basin at Castlecomer. Hematitic iron of a rich quality is found in the Cambro-Silurian rocks at several places; and tradition asserts that silver shields were made about 850 B.C. at Argetros or Silverwood on the Nore. Manganese is obtained in some of the limestone quarries, and also near the Barrow. Marl is abundant in various districts. Pipeclay and potter's clay are found, and also yellow ochre. Copper occurs near Knocktopher.

The high synclinal coal-field forms the most important feature of the
north of the county. A prolongation of the field runs out south-west
by Tullaroan. The lower ground is occupied by Carboniferous limestone.
The Old Red Sandstone, with a Silurian core, forms the high ridge of
Slievenaman in the south; and its upper laminated beds contain
_Archanodon_, the earliest known freshwater mollusc, and
plant-remains, at Kiltorcan near Ballyhale. The Leinster granite
appears mainly as inliers in the Silurian of the south-east. The
Carboniferous sandstones furnish the hard pavement-slabs sold as
"Carlow flags." The black limestone with white shells in it at
Kilkenny is quarried as an ornamental marble. Good slates are quarried
at Kilmoganny, in the Silurian inlier on the Slievenaman range.

On account of the slope of the country, and the nature of the soil, the surface occupied by bog or wet land is very small, and the air is dry and healthy. So temperate is it in winter that the myrtle and arbutus grow in the open air. There is less rain than at Dublin, and vegetation is earlier than in the adjacent counties. Along the banks of the Suir, Nore and Barrow a very rich soil has been formed by alluvial deposits. Above the Coal-measures in the northern part of the county there is a moorland tract devoted chiefly to pasturage. The soil above the limestone is for the most part a deep and rich loam admirably adapted for the growth of wheat. The heath-covered hills afford honey with a flavour of peculiar excellence. Proportionately to its area, Kilkenny has an exceptionally large cultivable area. The proportion of tillage to pasturage is roughly as 1 to 2¼. Oats, barley, turnips and potatoes are all grown; the cultivation of wheat has very largely lapsed. Cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry are extensively reared, the Kerry cattle being in considerable request.

The linen manufacture introduced into the county in the 17th century by the duke of Ormonde to supersede the woollen manufacture gradually became extinct, and the woollen manufacture now carried on is also very small. There are, however, breweries, distilleries, tanneries and flour-mills, as well as marble polishing works. The county is traversed from N. to S. by the Maryborough, Kilkenny and Waterford branch of the Great Southern & Western railway, with a connexion from Kilkenny to Bagenalstown on the Kildare and Carlow line; and the Waterford and Limerick line of the same company runs for a short distance through the southern part of the county.

The population (87,496 in 1891; 79,159 in 1901) includes about 94% of Roman Catholics. The decrease of population is a little above the average, though emigration is distinctly below it. The chief towns and villages are Kilkenny (q.v.), Callan (1840), Castlecomer, Thomastown and Graigue. The county comprises 10 baronies and contains 134 civil parishes. The county includes the parliamentary borough of Kilkenny, and is divided into north and south parliamentary divisions, each returning one member. Kilkenny returned 16 members to the Irish parliament, two representing the county. Assizes are held at Kilkenny, and quarter sessions at Kilkenny, Pilltown, Urlingford, Castlecomer, Callan, Grace's Old Castle and Thomastown. The county is in the Protestant diocese of Ossory and the Roman Catholic dioceses of Ossory and Kildare and Leighlin.

Kilkenny is one of the counties generally considered to have been created by King John. It had previously formed part of the kingdom of Ossory, and was one of the liberties granted to the heiresses of Strongbow with palatinate rights. Circular groups of stones of very ancient origin are on the summits of Slieve Grian and the hill of Cloghmanta. There are a large number of cromlechs as well as raths (or encampments) in various parts of the county. Besides numerous forts and mounds there are five round towers, one adjoining the Protestant cathedral of Kilkenny, and others at Tulloherin, Kilree, Fertagh and Aghaviller. All, except that at Aghaviller, are nearly perfect. There are remains of a Cistercian monastery at Jerpoint, said to have been founded by Dunnough, King of Ossory, and of another belonging to the same order at Graigue, founded by the earl of Pembroke in 1212. The Dominicans had an abbey at Rosbercon founded in 1267, and another at Thomastown, of which there are some remains. The Carmelites had a monastery at Knocktopher. There were an Augustinian monastery at Inistioge, and priories at Callan and Kells, of all of which there are remains. There are also ruins of several old castles, such as those of Callan, Legan, Grenan and Clonamery, besides the ancient portions of Kilkenny Castle.

KILKENNY, a city and municipal and parliamentary borough (returning one member), the capital of county Kilkenny, Ireland, finely situated on the Nore, and on the Great Southern and Western railway, 81 m. S.W. of Dublin. Pop. (1901), 10,609. It consists of Englishtown (or Kilkenny proper) and Irishtown, which are separated by a small rivulet, but although Irishtown retains its name, it is now included in the borough of Kilkenny. The city is irregularly built, possesses several spacious streets with many good houses, while its beautiful environs and imposing ancient buildings give it an unusual interest and picturesque appearance. The Nore is crossed by two handsome bridges. The cathedral of St Canice, from whom the town takes its name, dates in its present form from about 1255. The see of Ossory, which originated in the monastery of Aghaboe founded by St Canice in the 6th century, and took its name from the early kingdom of Ossory, was moved to Kilkenny (according to conjecture) about the year 1200. In 1835 the diocese of Ferns and Leighlin was united to it. With the exception of St Patrick's, Dublin, the cathedral is the largest ecclesiastical building in Ireland, having a length from east to west of 226 ft., and a breadth along the transepts from north to south of 123 ft. It occupies an eminence at the western extremity of Irishtown. It is a cruciform structure mainly in Early English style, with a low massive tower supported on clustered columns of the black marble peculiar to the district. The building was extensively restored in 1865. It contains many old sepulchral monuments and other ancient memorials. The north transept incorporates the parish church. The adjacent library of St Canice contains numerous ancient books of great value. A short distance from the south transept is a round tower 100 ft. high; the original cap is wanting. The episcopal palace near the east end of the cathedral was erected in the time of Edward III. and enlarged in 1735. Besides the cathedral the principal churches are the Protestant church of St Mary, a plain cruciform structure of earlier foundation than the present cathedral; that of St John, including a portion of the hospital of St John founded about 1220; and the Roman Catholic cathedral, of the diocese of Ossory, dedicated to St Mary (1843-1857), a cruciform structure in the Early Pointed style, with a massive central tower. There are important remains of two monasteries--the Dominican abbey founded in 1225, and now used as a Roman Catholic church; and the Franciscan abbey on the banks of the Nore, founded about 1230. But next in importance to the cathedral is the castle, the seat of the marquess of Ormonde, on the summit of a precipice above the Nore. It was originally built by Strongbow, but rebuilt by William Marshall after the destruction of the first castle in 1175; and many additions and restorations by members of the Ormonde family have maintained it as a princely residence. The Protestant college of St John, originally founded by Pierce Butler, 8th earl of Ormonde, in the 16th century, and re-endowed in 1684 by James, 1st duke of Ormonde, stands on the banks of the river opposite the castle. In it Swift, Farquhar, Congreve and Bishop Berkeley received part of their education. On the outskirts of the city is the Roman Catholic college of St Kyran (Kieran), a Gothic building completed about 1840. The other principal buildings are the modern court-house, the tholsel or city court (1764), the city and county prison, the barracks and the county infirmary. In the neighbourhood are collieries as well as long-established quarries for marble, the manufactures connected with which are an important industry of the town. The city also possesses corn-mills, breweries and tanneries. Not far from the city are the remarkable limestone caverns of Dunmore, which have yielded numerous human remains. The corporation of Kilkenny consists of a mayor, 6 aldermen and 18 councillors.

Kilkenny proper owes its origin to an English settlement in the time of Strongbow, and it received a charter from William Marshall, who married Strongbow's daughter. This charter was confirmed by Edward III., and from Edward IV. Irishtown received the privilege of choosing a portreeve independent of Kilkenny. By Elizabeth the boroughs, while retaining their distinct rights, were constituted one corporation, which in 1609 was made a free borough by James I., and in the following year a free city. From James II. the citizens received a new charter, constituting the city and liberties a distinct county, to be styled the county of the city of Kilkenny, the burgesses of Irishtown continuing, however, to elect a portreeve until the passing of the Muncipal Reform Act. Frequent parliaments were held at Kilkenny from the 14th to the 16th century, and so late as the reign of Henry VIII. it was the occasional residence of the lord-lieutenant. In 1642 it was the meeting-place of the assembly of confederate Catholics. In 1648 Cromwell, in the hope of obtaining possession of the town by means of a plot, advanced towards it, but before his arrival the plot was discovered. In 1650 it was, however, compelled to surrender after a long and resolute defence. At a very early period Kilkenny and Irishtown returned each two members to the Irish parliament, but since the Union one member only has been returned to Westminster for the city of Kilkenny.