Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 05.djvu/422

KITTATINNY MOUNTAINS of Scotland, who by means of a thermometer attached to a kite were able to take temperatures above the earth's surface. Franklin's experiments with electricity by means of a kite and key are familiar to everyone. In more recent times kites are being made to serve, not only the peaceful ends of science, but the needs of modern warfare. The first improvement was to make a tailless kite, and this was perfected by Mr. Eddy.

In 1895 Captain Baden-Powell, of England, weighing 150 pounds, was enabled to hoist himself 100 feet in the air by a tandem of five kites. Mr. Eddy has done much to develop tandem kite flying. In 1897 he made a tandem of nine Eddy-Malay kites on a cord two miles long, with an elevation of 5,595 feet, the same being kept up for 15 hours. At Blue Hill Observatory, near Boston, this height was exceeded, the tandem of seven Malay and two Hargrave kites, with an area of 170 feet, rising 8,740 feet above Blue Hill, or 9,375 feet above sea-level. Piano wire has been found preferable to cord, having greater tensile strength and presenting less surface to the wind. In the United States weather bureau para-kites are used for the purpose of recording the velocity of the wind, and the humidity and temperature at high altitudes, by the meteorograph. The para-kites may be put to several uses in time of war. They can, by means of colored electric lights or lanterns controlled by the cord or electric wire, convey signals to the troops, or they may be made to drop explosive substances on the heads of the enemy. Photographs may be taken by means of a camera fastened on the frame of a kite and operated by a cord. They were not much employed in the World War, photographs made from airplanes being more accurate.

KITTATINNY MOUNTAINS, sometimes called the Blue Mountains, an extensive range of mountains in the United States, which can be traced with but slight breaks from Ulster co., N. Y,, through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia, into Alabama. They are over 800 miles in length, with an elevation of from 800 to 2,500 feet.

KITTIWAKE, a gull, Larus tridactubis, so called because the fourth toe is only a small tubercle without any projecting horny nail or claw. Length, 15½ inches; head, neck and under surface white; back and wings, French gray; legs short and dusky; toes and interdigital membranes dusky. Found in the highest latitudes and as far S. as Tripoli.

KITT'S, ST., or SAINT CHRISTOPHER, an island of the Leeward group, West Indies, belonging to Great Britain; area about 100 square miles; surface, diversified, a mountainous ridge extending through the center from N. to S., and at Mount Misery (an extinct volcano), rising to an elevation of 3,711 feet. The soil is very fertile, and produces all the tropical fruits. Capital, Basseterre. Discovered by Columbus in 1493. Pop. about 30,000.

KIU-KIANG, a seaport of China, province Kiangsi, on the S. bank of the Yang-tse-kiang. It derives importance from its connection with the green-tea districts. The port was opened to foreign trade in 1862. Pop. about 50,000.

KIU-SIU, one of the three principal islands of Japan, separated from Korea by the Strait of Korea, and from Hondo by the Strait of Sikoku. Nagasaki is situated here.

KIZIL-IRMAK, the Turkish "Red River," a river known to the ancients as the Halys, the principal river of Asia Minor. Rising in the E. of the peninsula, it flows in a circuitous route for about 500 miles, and enters the Black Sea near Sinope.

KIZIL-KUM ("Red Sands"), a sandy desert in Russian Turkestan, between the lower courses of the Amu-Daria and Syr-Daria. They stretch S. E. from the Sea of Aral, and rise from an elevation of 150 feet at the sea to 2,000 toward Bokhara. N. E. of the Caspian stretches the Kara-Kum "black sands" desert, a former bed of the sea.

KLAMATH (kla'mat) LAKE, a body of water in Oregon, at the E. base of the Cascade Range; overlaps the S. boundary of the State into California. The lake is about 44 miles long, by 6 to 14 miles wide. It consists of two considerable bodies of water, connected by a narrovw strait less than 2 miles wide. Klamath river is the outlet, and issues from the S. end, or Lower Klamath Lake.

KLAUSENBURG (Hungarian Kolozvar), one of the chief cities in Transylvania; 95 miles E. by S. from Grosswardein. It consists of the inner town, formerly fortified, and of five suburbs. Here are a university, and a Unitarian College, and numerous other educational establishments. The town possesses the national museum, with antiquities, scientific collections, and a library. Klausenburg was captured by the Hungarians under Bern on Christmas day, 1848. Machines, oil, and spirits are manufactured. Pop. about 60,000.