especially the Luando from the east. In about 10°, and at intervals during its westerly passage through the outer plateau escarpments, its course is broken by rapids, the river flowing in a well-defined valley flanked by higher ground. The lowest fall is that of Kambamba, or Livingstone, with a drop of 70 ft. Thence to the sea, a distance of some 160 m., it is navigable by small steamers, though very shallow in the dry season. The river enters the sea in 9° 15′ S., 13° 20′ E., 40 m. S. of Loanda. There is a shifting bar at its mouth, difficult to cross, but the river as a waterway has become of less importance since the fertile district in its middle basin has been served by the railway from Loanda to Ambaca (see Angola).
KWEI-CHOW, a south-western province of China, bounded N. by Sze-ch‛uen, E. by Hu-nan, S. by Kwang-si, and W. by Yun-nan. It contains 67,000 sq. m., and has a population of about 8,000,000. Kwei-yang Fu is the provincial capital, and besides this there are eleven prefectural cities in the province. With the exception of plains in the neighbourhood
of Kwei-yang Fu, Ta-ting Fu, and Tsun-i Fu, in the central and
northern regions, the province may be described as mountainous.
The mountain ranges in the south are largely inhabited
by Miao-tsze, who are the original owners of the soil and have
been constantly goaded into a state of rebellion by the oppression
to which they have been subjected by the Chinese officials.
To this disturbing cause was added another in 1861 by the spread
of the Mahommedan rebellion in Yun-nan into some of the
south-western districts of the province. The devastating
effects of these civil wars were most disastrous to the trade
and the prosperity of Kwei-chow. The climate is by nature
unhealthy, the supply of running water being small, and that
of stagnant water, from which arises a fatal malaria, being
considerable. The agricultural products of the province are
very limited, and its chief wealth lies in its minerals. Copper,
silver, lead, and zinc are found in considerable quantities,
and as regards quicksilver, Kwei-chow is probably the richest
country in the world. This has been from of old the chief
product of the province, and the belt in which it occurs extends
through the whole district from south-west to north-east. One
of the principal mining districts is K‛ai Chow, in the prefecture
of Kwei-yang Fu, and this district has the advantage of being
situated near Hwang-p‛ing Chow, from which place the products
can be conveniently and cheaply shipped to Hankow. Cinnabar,
realgar, orpiment and coal form the rest of the mineral
products of Kwei-chow. Wild silk is another valuable article
of export. It is chiefly manufactured in the prefecture of
Tsun-i Fu.
KYAUKPYU, a district in the Arakan division of Lower Burma,
on the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal. It consists of, first, a
strip of mainland along the Bay of Bengal, extending from the
An pass, across the main range, to the Ma-ī River, and, secondly,
the large islands of Ramree and Cheduba, with many others to
the south, lying off the coast of Sandoway. The mainland in the
north and east is highly mountainous and forest-clad, and the
lower portion is cut up into numerous islands by a network
of tidal creeks. Between the mainland and Ramree lies a group
of islands separated by deep, narrow, salt-water inlets, forming
the north-eastern shore of Kyaukpyu harbour, which extends for
nearly 30 m. along Ramree in a south-easterly direction, and
has an average breadth of 3 m. The principal mountains are the
Arakan Yomas, which send out spurs and sub-spurs almost to
the sea-coast. The An pass, an important trade route, rises to
a height of 4664 ft. above sea-level. The Dha-let and the An
rivers are navigable by large boats for 25 and 45 m. respectively.
Above these distances they are mere mountain torrents.
Large forests of valuable timber cover an area of about 650
sq. m. Kyaukpyu contains numerous “mud volcanoes,” from
which marsh gas is frequently discharged, with occasional issue
of flame. The largest of these is situated in the centre of Cheduba
island. Earth-oil wells exist in several places in the district.
The oil when brought to the surface has the appearance of a
whitish-blue water, which gives out brilliant straw-coloured rays,
and emits a strong pungent odour. Limestone, iron and coal
are also found. Area 4387 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 168,827, showing
an increase in the decade of 2.3%.
The chief town, Kyaukpyu, had a population in 1901 of 3145. It has a municipal committee of twelve members, three ex officio and nine appointed by the local government, and there is a third-class district gaol. Kyaukpyu is a port under the Indian Ports Act (X. of 1889), and the steamers of the British India Navigation Company call there once a week going and coming between Rangoon and Calcutta.
KYAUKSĒ, a district in the Meiktila division of Upper Burma,
with an area of 1274 sq. m., and a population in 1901 of
141,253. It is also known as the Ko-kayaing, so called from the
original nine canals of the district. It consists of a generally
level strip running north and south at the foot of the Shan Hills,
and of a hilly region rising up these hills to the east, and including
the Yeyaman tract, which lies between 21° 30′ and 21° 40′ N.
and 96° 15′ and 96° 45′ E., with peaks rising to between 4500
and 5000 ft. This tract is rugged and scored by ravines, and is
very sparsely inhabited. The Panlaung and Zawgyi rivers from
the Shan States flow through the district and are utilized for the
numerous irrigation canals. Notwithstanding this, much timber
is floated down, and the Panlaung is navigable for small boats all
the year round. Rain is very scarce, but the canals supply ample
water for cultivation and all other purposes. They are said to
have been dug by King Nawrahtā in 1092. He is alleged to have
completed the system of nine canals and weirs in three years’
time. Others have been constructed since the annexation of
Upper Burma. At that time many were in serious disrepair, but
most of them have been greatly improved by the construction
of proper regulators and sluices. Two-thirds of the population
are dependent entirely on cultivation for their support, and this
is mainly rice on irrigated land. In the Yeyaman tract the
chief crop is rice. The great majority of the population is pure
Burmese, but in the hills there are a good many Danus, a cross
between Shans and Burmese. The railway runs through the
centre of the rice-producing area, and feeder roads open up the
country as far as the Shan foot-hills. The greater part of the
district consists of state land, the cultivators being tenants of
government, but there is a certain amount of hereditary freehold.
Kyauksē town is situated on the Zawgyi River and on the Rangoon-Mandalay railway line, and is well laid out in regular streets, covering an area of about a square mile. It has a population (1901) of 5420, mostly Burmese, with a colony of Indian traders. Above it are some bare rocky hillocks, picturesquely studded with pagodas.
KYD, THOMAS (1558–1594), one of the most important of the English Elizabethan dramatists who preceded Shakespeare. Kyd remained until the last decade of the 19th century in what appeared likely to be impenetrable obscurity. Even his name was forgotten until Thomas Hawkins about 1773 discovered it in connexion with The Spanish Tragedy in Thomas Heywood’s Apologie for Actors. But by the industry of English and German scholars a great deal of light has since been thrown on his life and writings. He was the son of Francis Kyd, citizen and scrivener of London, and was baptized in the church of St Mary
Woolnoth, Lombard Street, on the 6th of November 1558. His mother, who survived her son, was named Agnes, or Anna. In October 1565 Kyd entered the newly founded Merchant Taylors’ School, where Edmund Spenser and perhaps Thomas Lodge were at different times his school-fellows. It is thought that Kyd did not proceed to either of the universities; he apparently followed, soon after leaving school, his father’s business as a scrivener. But Nashe describes him as a “shifting companion that ran through every art and throve by none.” He showed a fairly wide range of reading in Latin. The author on whom he draws most freely is Seneca, but there are many reminiscences, and occasionally mistranslations of other authors. Nashe contemptuously said that “English Seneca read by candlelight yeeldes many good sentences,” no doubt exaggerating his indebtedness to Thomas Newton’s translation. John Lyly had a more marked influence on his manner than any of his contemporaries. It is believed that he produced his famous play, The Spanish Tragedy, between 1584
