﻿tin 



KIEW. 



KILDA, ST. 



898 



rivers are dried up. Hain seldom falls in summer. Locusts are 

 commoD, and the migratory locust often does grtat injury. 



Agriculture is the chief employment of the inhabitants. The 

 fruitful soil produces all kinds of corn, pulse, hemp, flax, and tobacco. 

 Ttie millet is of a peculiar kind, bearing several ears on one stem ; 

 the grain is large, round, and of excellent quality. The gardens 

 produce all kinds of vegetables, and likewise melons, water-melons, 

 and various kinds of fruit. Fruit of all kinds prospers, except the 

 vine. The country-people however do not grow much fruit, but are 

 content with their wild wood-berries. 



Kiew has more and better timber than any other province of Little 

 Bussia. Next to agriculture the breeding of cattle is the chief occu- 

 pation of the inhabitants. The oxen are large and of a good breed, 

 generally of a gray colour. Great numbers are fattened and sent to 

 Austria, Germany, and the interior of Russia. The horses are amaU. 

 Few sheep are kept, but great numbers of swine. In the forests there 

 sre foxei, a few wolves, fewer bears, but many deer ; there are hares, 

 partridges, quails, and ortolans. In the Dnieper there are beavers 

 and otters, but they are rare, and in that and the other streams there 

 are many kinds of river fiah, though not sufficient for the consumption 

 of the people. The only minerals made use of are clay, lime, chalk, 

 stone for millstones, and bog-iron. With the exception of beet-root 

 sugar factories, of which 72 were in operation in 1850, the manufac- 

 tories are unimportant ; they are confined to the towns, and furnish 

 very little for exportation. The trad« consists in the exportation of 

 the produce of the province, and the importation of salt, metal, wine, 

 manufactured goods, and colonial produce. The villages are much 

 closer together than in Great Russia, and have a very cheerful and 

 pleasing appearance ; all the houses have ganlens, in which there are 

 at least cherry- and plum-trees. The houses in the country are made 

 of brushwood and branches of trees, covered with clay within and 

 withoat, all whitewashed and thatched, anl kept very clean. The 

 Poles are the the chief landholders and nobles. Jews are everywhere 

 numerous ; they have all the public-houses, inns, and shops, and are 

 likewise the butchers, cattle-dealers, kc Most of the inhabitants are 

 of the Greek Church, under the archbishop of Kiew and tializ. Of the 

 Poles many are Roman Catholics. Of the Germans many are Lutherans. 

 The Jews have their synagogues and rabbis. The peasantry are almost 

 all an-fs. The only town of importance i^ KiEW. 



KIEW, a city of Russia, capital of the government of Kiew, the 

 residence of an archbishop and of the civil and military admiuistraton 

 of the government, is situated on the right bank of the Dnieper about 

 660 miles S. from St. Petersburg, in50°27' N.lat,30° 27'53 " E. long., 

 and has about 50,000 inhabitants. It consists of three distinct parts : 

 Old Kiew, built on an eminence towards the north ; the fortress of 

 Petschersk on another hill towards the south ; and the Pudole, or new 

 town, which covers the low grotmd, between the two hills and the 

 river. Kach part of the town has its own fortifications, and the 

 whole is inclosed within vast entrenchments. The houses, in uumber 

 about 8000, are built partly of wood and partly of stone ; the streets, 

 in the old part of the dty, as in most old towns, are narrow and 

 irregular. 



The Old Town and the Petschersk are separated by a deep ravine. 

 The former was the residence of the grand dukes of Kiew, and in 

 remote ages was a great centre of the idolatrous worship of the 

 Slavonian race. On the site of the temple of Perane, the Russian 

 Jupiter, Vladimir the Great erect-d the church of St. Basil, which 

 still remains. This part of the town is inclosed with massive earthen 

 walls, and contains ten churches in all, the most interesting of which 

 is the cathedral of St. S'lphia, which was founded by the graud-duke 

 Jaroslav Vladimiruwitch in 1037. This splendid church is maguifi- 

 cently decorated and contains a marble monument of its founder. 

 Among the other buildings in this part of Kiew may be named the 

 archbishop's palace, which stands close to the cathedral, shaded by 

 venerable trees ; the convent of St. Michael ; and the churches of 

 St. Andrew, and the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin. This last was also 

 built by Vladimir the Great, who had his grandmother Olga buried 

 in it 



The Petschersk is the highest and best fortified part of Kiew. It 

 is considered one of the strongest fortresses in the interior of Russia. 

 Connected with the massive defences which girdle this part of the 

 city there are a large arsenal, magazines, and military atorea In the 

 Petschersk the civU and military governors of the province and other 

 persons of distinction reside ; it is partly inhabited also by Jews. 

 Near the arsenal is a bazaar. The most imposing structure in this 

 part of the town is the Petscherskoi monastery, founded by 

 SL Anthony in the 9th century, and famous for its fine buildings and 

 its catacombs, in which are buried several saints of the Greek Church. 

 The monastery is entered by a splendid gate ornamented with full 

 length tigures of St. Anthony and St. Theodosius. The great attrac- 

 tion is the church of the Assumption, which is reached by a fine alley 

 on each aide of which are the cells of the monks. The interior of 

 this church is richly decorated with gold and silver, and on the walls 

 are b-.-autiful representations of Scripture scenes. The building is 

 Mirmounted by a superb belfry, above 300 feet high, and by seven 

 tarrcts with gilt cupolas connected by golden chains. The Russian 

 annalist, Nestor, was a monk of this convent. The catacombs are 

 •zcavations in the precipitous limestone rock which overhangs the 



river : in them are above 100 bodies of Russian saints in an admirable 

 state of preservation. It is said that as many as 50,000 pilgrims from 

 all parts of Russia visit the monastery and the catacombs yearly. Oa 

 one side of the road leading from the Petschersk to the Podole is a 

 crucifix backed by a stone obelisk 150 feet high, which marks the 

 fountain in which the children of Vladimir the (Jreat were baptised. 



The Podole, the best built and largest quarter of Kiew, stauds on 

 a level with the Dnieper and is surrounded with a wall. It is built 

 in the modem Russian style with regular wide streets interspersed 

 with trees and gardens. In it the principal merchants and the trading 

 part of the population reside. It contains 20 churches, an imperiid 

 palace, a town-hall, and a Greek academy, a vast and solid structure 

 with a library of 10,000 volumes, and an attendance of above 2000 

 students ; some authorities say there are 6000 students. The Poilolo 

 enjoys the privilege of being governed by its own magistrates, a right 

 which it obtained from the kings of Poland. It is exposed to the 

 overflowings of the Dnieper, which is here crossed by a bridi^e of boats, 

 and we believe by a suspeusion-bridg>^ also of recent erection. 



Besides its cathedral, 52 churches, 9 convents, and a Greek ecclesi- 

 astical academy, Kiew has a university, founded in 1834, called 

 St. Vladimir's University, which has obtained the library and collections 

 of the Volhynian Lyceum at Krzeminiec, and is the authorised place 

 of education for the youth of the governments of Kiew, Podolia, and 

 Volhyuia. It is endowed with about a million rubles, and has a 

 library of 35,000 volumes and an observatory. The number of pro- 

 fessors and teachers is about 80, and the uumber of students is 

 between 500 and 600. There are considerable manufactories of 

 earthenware, many tanneries, and a very celebrated fair, attended by 

 30,000 Turks, Armenians, Germans, Swiss, Euglish, &c. There is 

 considerable commerce with Odessa and the interior of Russia. 



The date of the foundation of Kiew is unknown. According to 

 the Polish annals it existed in a.d. 430, soon after which date it was 

 taken from the Khozares by two chiefs named Oskold and Dir. Under 

 the followers of Rurik it became the capital of agrand-duchy and the 

 chief town of Southern Russia, about a.b. 882. From 1037 to 1167 

 it was the capital of all the Russia.1 ; during this period it is said to 

 have been a very large and flourishing city with no leas than 400 

 churches. In aftertimes it suffered terribly from conflagrations and 

 wars, and was successively in the hands of Poles, the Tartai's, and a 

 khan of the Crimea. The Russians finally recovered it in 1667> 



KILBARCHAN. [Renfhewshiee.] 



KILBEGGAN. [Westmeath.J 



KILBIRNIE. [Atbshiee.] 



KILBRIDE, EAST. [LANARESHtRE.] 



KILBRIDE, WEST. [Atbshire.] 



KILCOCK. [Kildabe!] 



KILCULLEN, KILCULLENBRIDGE. [Kildabe.] 



KILDA, ST., the most western of the Hebrides, is situated in 

 57" 50' N. lat., 8° 85' W. long., and consists of an uneven mountain 

 ridge, whose most elevated point, called Conochan, rises 1380 feet 

 above the sea-level. The island is reckoned as belonging to the parish 

 of Harris, in Inverness-shire. To the sea it presents lofty precipices, 

 except at one point on the north side, where there is a rocky bay, and 

 another on the south-east side, where there is a landing-place. The 

 isUnd is 2 miles in length, and 3 miles in breadth. The mildness of the 

 air is favourable to agriculture ; but the crops of here and oats are fre- 

 quently exposed to destruction from heavy storms, particularly from 

 the west. Cultivation is therefore chiefly confined to the south-east 

 declivity, where there is most shelter. On this side, about a quarter 

 of a mile from the landing-place, is the village of St. Kilda, consisting 

 of 32 houses, placed on the sloping base of a steep hilL This is the 

 only inhabited place on St. Kilda, or the three other islands in the 

 group. The number of the population in 1851 was 110, of whom 

 48 were males, and 62 females. The men are all described in the 

 schedules as ' farmers and birdcatchers ; ' each ' farmer ' occupies 

 about three acres of land. Eight females are designated ' weaveressea ' 

 in ' wool.' The islands are the resort of sea-fowl, the flesh and eggs 

 of which, with fish and the produce of the small plots of laud, furnish 

 food to the inhabitants, who would however often be in a state of 

 starvation if the proprietor did not send every year a supply of oatmeal 

 to the island. The dwellings of the poor people are kept in a very 

 dirty state. There is a church and a manse, or minister's house, but 

 no clergyman or medical man resides on the island. The great 

 majority of the infants die of what the inhabitants call the ' eight 

 days' illnsss.' In the first visitation of cholera, it proved very fatal in 

 St. Kilda. The following curious particulars are given in the 

 Registrar-General's Report on the Census of 1861: — Of the 110 

 inhabitants, all were bom on the island except one woman, aged 35, 

 the wife of a M'Donald, who was imported from Sutherlandshirs. 

 There were only 8 family names in the island, in the following pro- 

 portions :— Gillies 33, M'Uonald 23, M'Quien 20, Ferguson 13, 

 M'Crimon 9, M'Kinnon 9, Morrison 2, and M'Cleod 1. Of those under 

 20 years of age there were 22 males and 30 females ; between the 

 ages of 20 and 60 there were 25 males and 26 females; one man 

 was above 70 years of age ; above 60 years of age there were 6 women, 

 of whom one was 79 years. Of married couples there were 19 ; of 

 widowers 2, widows 8, with five unmarried men and five unmarried 

 women of the age of 20 and under 46, 



