KEHL

kehl, a town in the grand-duchy of baden, on the right bank of the rhine, opposite strassburg, with which it is connected by a railway bridge and a bridge of boats. pop. 4000. it has a considerable river trade in timber, tobacco and coal, which has been developed by the formation of a harbour with two basins. the chief importance of kehl is its connexion with the military defence of strassburg, to the strategic area of which it belongs. it is encircled by the strong forts bose, blumenthal and kirchbach of that system. in 1678 kehl was taken from the imperialists by the french, and in 1683 a new fortress, built by vauban, was begun. in 1697 it was restored to the empire and was given to baden, but in 1703 and again in 1733 it was taken by the french, who did not however retain it for very long. in 1793 the french again took the town, which was retaken by the austrians and was restored to baden in 1803. in 1808 the french, again in possession, restored the fortifications, but these were dismantled in 1815, when kehl was again restored to baden. in august 1870, during the franco-german war, the french shelled the defenceless town. keighley (locally keithley), a municipal borough in the keighley parliamentary division of the west riding of yorkshire, england, 17 m. w.n.w. of leeds, on branches of the great northern and midland railways. pop. (1901), 41,564. it is beautifully situated in a deep valley near the junction of the worth with the aire. a canal between liverpool and hull affords it water communication with both west and east coasts. the principal buildings are the parish church of st andrew (dating from the time of henry i., modernized in 1710, rebuilt with the exception of the tower in 1805, and again rebuilt in 1878), and the handsome gothic mechanics' institute and technical school (1870). a grammar school was founded in 1713, the operations of which have been extended so as to embrace a trade school (1871) for boys, and a grammar school for girls. the principal industries are manufactures of woollen goods, spinning, sewing and washing machines, and tools. the town was incorporated in 1882, and the corporation consists of a mayor, 6 aldermen and 18 councillors. kei islands [_ke_, _key_, _kii_, &c.; native, _ewab_], a group in the dutch east indies, in the residency of amboyna, between 5 deg. and 6 deg. 5' s. and 131 deg. 50' and 133 deg. 15' e., and consisting of four parts: nuhu-iut or great kei, roa or little kei, the tayanda, and the kur group. great kei differs physically in every respect from the other groups. it is of tertiary formation (miocene), and has a chain of volcanic elevations along the axis, reaching a height of 2600 ft. its area is 290 sq. m., the total land area of the group being 572 sq. m. all the other islands are of post-tertiary formation and of level surface. the group has submarine connexion, under relatively shallow sea, with the timorlaut group to the south-west and the chain of islands extending north-west towards ceram; deep water separates it on the east from the aru islands and on the west from the inner islands of the banda sea. among the products are coco-nuts, sago, fish, trepang, timber, copra, maize, yams and tobacco. the population is about 23,000, of whom 14,900 are pagans, and 8300 mahommedans. the inhabitants are of three types. there is the true kei islander, a polynesian by his height and black or brown wavy hair, with a complexion between the papuan black and the malay yellow. there is the pure papuan, who has been largely merged in the kei type. thirdly, there are the immigrant malays. these (distinguished by the use of a special language and by the profession of mohammedanism) are descendants of natives of the banda islands who fled eastward before the encroachments of the dutch. the pagans have rude statues of deities and places of sacrifice indicated by flat-topped cairns. the kei islanders are skilful in carving and celebrated boat-builders. see c. m. kan, "onze geographische kennis der keij-eilanden," in _tijdschrift aardrijkskundig genootschap_ (1887); martin, "die kei-inseln u. ihr verhaltniss zur australisch-asiatischen grenzlinie," ibid. part vii. (1890); w. r. van hoevell, "de kei-eilanden," in _tijdschr. batavian. gen._ (1889); "verslagen van de wetenschappelijke opnemingen en onderzoekingen op de keij-eilanden" (1889-1890), by planten and wertheim (1893), with map and ethnographical atlas of the south-western and south-eastern islands by pleyte; langen, _die key- oder kii-inseln_ (vienna, 1902).