(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.