Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/675

 KANSAS

597

KANSAS

the fruit itself, which is not vcrj- palatable, a strong intoxicant is distilled. Serpents arc numerous, espe- cially the cobra and the carawilla. Kandy has a nuuiieipal council jiart ly elected by the ratepayers and parth' l)y the gnxcnior-aKent. A figure of extreme interest among th(> inhabitants for many years now has been Arabi Pasha, the Egyptian patriot, impris- oned or exiled there since the Battle of Tel-el-Kebir in 1882.

Besides being the seat of the diocese and the residence of the governor-agent, Kandj- is also the residence of the Apostolic delegate to the East Indies, Monsignor Zaleski, Archbishop of Thebes. The town has a seminary known as the " Leonianum" for native students of India and Ceylon. It is under the care of the Jesuits and numbers eighty-eiglit students; the course of studies includes philosophy and theolog}-.

The population of the Diocese of Kandy, which is made up of various races including Cingalese and Tamils, amounts to 809,506, of whom 27,938 are Catholics; 11,871 are Protestants; 403,909 are Bud- dhists; 321,350 Hindus; 43,867 Mohammedans; and the remainder unaccounted for. The languages spoken include Cingalce, Tamil, and English. The towns that have churches with resident priests, tesides the episcopal city, are Ampitiya, Panvile, Matale, Vahacotte, Gampola, Mavalapitiya, Hatton, Dirubula, Nuvara-Eliya, Badulla, and Bandara- wella.

Matale, a hundred miles from Ceylon, is the north- ermnost limit of European civilization. It is a large village and is the centre of a flourishing tea and cocoa plantation; it is famous for its native bazaar, and for a splendid avenue of rain-trees, so called from the cir- cumst.'ince that at night the leaves fold into a kind of sack in which the moisture condenses and at sun- rise when the leaves ojien tliis is discharged in quite a shower all arovmd. .-Vmong the natives many Christians are to be found with Portuguese names, descendants of converts made on the island 400 years ago.

Hatton (414 feet alx)ve the sea-level) is a resting- place for tourists or pilgrims on their way up Sumana, or Adam's Peak (7400 feet), where Buddha is said to have left the imprint of his foot. Hatton is also the centre of a great tea-growing district. Nuvara-Eliya (6210 feet atove the sea) is famous for its cool climate, and has been chosen as the summer residence of the governor-agent. In the neighbourhood is Pidauru Talagala (8300 feet), the highest peak in Ceylon. Badulla is an attractive old town. Dambulla, near Hatton, is famous for its rock temples and natural caves, to which access is obtained along a steep stair- way cut about 500 feet up the face of a rock.

Besides the churches with resident priests, there are fifteen chapels-of-ease and thirty-two stations in the diocese. The mission work is done by three secu- lar ijriests, one native priest, twenty-one regulars, and twelve catechists. There are in the diocese six ele- mentary schools for boys with 668 pupils; nine for girls with 921 pupils; one college for boys with fifty- five pupils; two for girls with 163 pupils. There are, moreover, four orphanages containing 126 children. The girls are looked after by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd of whom there are seventeen, and by native sisters of whom there are ten. The regular clergy consists of twenty-five Sylvestrine Benedictines and eleven Jesuits. By an ordinance of 1906 the bishop is constituted a corporation sole, w-ith power to acquire and hold property, and to sue and be sued in courts of justice in relation thereto. The management of tlie schools is in the hands of the missionaries, but the Government sends its inspector every year to hold an examination, on the results of which a grant is made for the upkeep of the school. The Church Missionary Society and the Wesleyan Methodist Mission Society are very active in and around Kandy.

Tennent, Ceylon (London, 1R60): nrRROws, Burird Ciiies of Ceylon (London, 1899); Cave, Ruined Ciiies of Ceylon (Lon- don, 1900); Murray. Handbook of India (London, 1907); Crane. India Impressions (New York, 1907); Ballou, Pear/ o/ India (Boston, 1894); Piglet, Lis Missions (Paris, 1902); i C'ai/iohco' (Rome, 1907).

J. C. Grey.

Kansas — Physical Characteristics. — Geography. — Kansas, one of the United States of America, is the central state of the Union, to which it was admitted 29 Jan., 1861. It has an area of 82,144 square miles, approximately 400 miles from east to west, and 200 miles from north to south. It is bounded on the north by Nebraska, on the east by Missouri, on the west by Colorado, and on the south by Oklahoma. The Territory of Kansas was organized in 1S54 with the following limits: beginning at a point on the west- ern boundary of the State of IMissouri, where parallel 37° N. crosses the same; thence west on said parallel to the eastern boun- dary of NewMexico ; thence north of said boundary to 38° N.; thence follow- ing said boundary westward to the east boundary of the Territory of Utah on the sum- mit of the llocky Mountains; thence northward on saiil summit to 40° N.; thence east on saitl parallel to the west- ern boundary of the State of Mis- souri; thence south with the western boundary of said state to the place of beginning. It was, however, provided in the organic Act of the Territory that the United States Government should not be inhibited thereby from dividing the Territory of Kansas or from attaching any portion of said territory to any other territory or state of the United States. The State of Kansas is not as large as the territory organized under the same name; in area it ranks the eleventh among the states in the Union, and it is nearly ten times as large as Massachusetts.

Surface. — The general surface of Kansas is undulat- ing. It slopes gently from an average height of about 3650 feet above sea level at its western boundary to 850 at its eastern; the average slope is about seven feet to the mile. There is also an inclination from north to south. The mean elevation of the state is about 2000 feet. As for timber, along the waterways in the eastern part are found black hackberry, locust, cherry, maple, and hickory. Artificial forests are found in almost every county.

The state is drained by the Missouri River that forms the north-eastern boumlary, and by the Kansas and Arkansas Rivers and their tributaries — all of which belong to the Mississippi system.

Climate. — The chmate of Kansas is mild and healthful. In the higher altitudes of western Kansas the air is dry, and wholesome for persons with a tend- ency to pulmonary diseases. The annual range of temperature is about 120° F. The average tempera- ture of the winter months for twentj' years has been 31° F.; of the three summer months 74° F. The mean temperature for the year is thus 53° F. The an- nual average precipitation, which includes rainfall and the water from melted snow, ranges from fifteen inches in the extreme west to forty-four inches in the extreme south-east. Irrigation is applied in parts of the west- ern countries.

History. — It is supposed by some grave writers that the "Cow Countrv" through which Cabeza de