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 16 KIRGHIZ authority on the old Italic languages and on palaeography. For the academy of sciences he edited part of the Corpus Inscriptionum Grw- carum (1859), containing the Christian inscrip- tions, and Corpus Inscriptionum Atticarum (1872 et seq. KIRGHIZ, Kirghises, or Kirghiz-Kaizaks, a no- madic people of Asiatic Russia, occupying a region called the Kirghiz steppes, which ex- tends from the Caspian sea to the Russian- Chinese frontier at the Altai mountains, and from the sea of Aral to the Tobol and the Ir- tish. Their former abodes were further east. Since the recent political reconstruction of Si- beria and central Asia there are three divisions of Kirghiz steppes : those of Orenburg, of West Siberia, and of Turkistan. The Russian gov- ernment estimates all the Kirghiz at 1,286,000, occupying an area of 856,000 sq. m. The Kirghiz are divided into the Little, Great, and Middle hordes, which are politically indepen- dent of each other. They are subject to Rus- sia, and the dignity of khan has been disallowed among them as a title of authority. They be- long to the Turco-Tartaric race, but their physi- ognomy betrays a large admixture of more eastern blood. They resemble the Uzbecks, speak the same language, and profess to be re- lated to them. Their stature is under the mid- dle size, their countenance disagreeable, their eyes deep set and elongated, and their cheeks large and bloated; the women are, however, rather pretty and delicately formed. The men, though not muscular, are hardy and vigorous. Their chief occupation is tending sheep, goats, horses, and camels. They have a few domestic manufactures, but on the whole are one of the most barbarous races of Asia, and the efforts of the Russian government to gather them into towns and teach them the arts of civilization have met with no success. A large share of the outdoor as well as domestic labor is left to the women. The dress of the men consists of one or more loose frocks, wide trousers, colored boots, a girdle, and a conical felt hat in summer or a furred cap in winter. That of the women is nearly the same. The more wealthy wear silks, sometimes finely embroidered. Their dwellings, called yurts, consist of huts made of willow trellis work covered with a kind of sheeting of wool and camels' hair. Mutton, horse flesh, tea, and sour mares' milk are the principal articles of diet. The Kirghiz were for- merly the chief slave catchers of the steppes, and a brother sometimes sold his sisters into servitude in order to avoid the expense of their support. The slaves were sent to Khiva, Bo- khara, and other Turkoman states ; but recently the influence of Russia has caused the abolition of slavery in these states. The religion of the hordes is a corrupt form of Mohammedanism. There are kindred tribes in East Turkistan, sometimes designated as the eastern Kirghiz. See Atkinson's "Oriental and Western Si- beria." Nicholas Ilminski, professor at the university of Kazan, published in 1861 in KIRKBRIDE Kirghiz, a manual of the Russian language, and in 1862 the Kirghiz text of the legend of the popular hero Targun, and a grammar and dictionary in one volume, under the title of "Materials for the Study of Kirghiz." KIRK, Edward Jtorris, an American clergy- man, born in New York, Aug. 14, 1802, died in Boston, March 27, 1874. He graduated at the college of New Jersey in 1820, and studied law for 18 months, but afterward entered and graduated at the theological school in Prince- ton. He was for a time agent in the southern states for the American board of foreign mis- sions, and in 1828 became pastor of a Presby- terian church organized for him in Albany, N. Y. In 1837 he resigned on account of ill health, and visited Europe, preaching in Lon- don, and for several months in Paris. Being appointed secretary of the foreign evangelical society, he returned to the United States in 1839, to present the claims of Roman Catholic countries as a field for missionary effort. In 1842 he became pastor of the Mount Vernon church in Boston, which was organized for him, and where he preached till 1871, when his failing health compelled the transfer of active labor to -a colleague. In 1856 he visit- ed Paris, at the request of the American and foreign Christian union, for the purpose of establishing American Protestant worship in that city. While assiduous in the duties of his own parish, he was a frequent and most ac- ceptable preacher in other parishes, particularly in times of special religious interest. During his last years he became almost entirely blind ; he was active, however, in ministerial meet- ings, and led an interesting discussion on re- vivals only four days before his death. He received the degree of D. D. from Amherst college. At the time of his death he was pres- ident of the American missionary association. Besides about 30 occasional sermons and ad- dresses, he published two volumes of sermons and a volume of "Lectures on the Parables." He also wrote some short works which were published by the American tract society in Boston, and translated Gaussen's Theopneustie, a treatise on the inspiration of the Scriptures. KIRK, John Foster, an American author, born in Fredericton, New Brunswick, in 1824. He was educated in Nova Scotia, and took up his residence in the United States about 1842. In 1847 he became secretary to William H. Pres- cott, whom he continued to assist until the historian's death in 1859. In 1863 he publish- ed in London and Philadelphia the first two volumes of his " History of Charles the Bold," the third and concluding volume appearing in 1868. He has contributed several historical and other articles to leading periodicals, and since 1871 has been editor of " Lippincott's Maga- zine " in Philadelphia. He has prepared a new edition of Prescott's works, embodying emen- dations left by the author, with original notes. < KIRKBRIDE, Thomas S., an American phy- sician, born near Morrisville, Bucks co., Pa.,