KEW-KIANG: or Krw-KrArto (Chinese, Nine Rivers), a considerable town of China, in Kiang-si; 227 m. s.w. of Nanking; at the northern boundary of Poyang lake, on the banks of the Yangtze river; the most convenient outlet for the green-tea, district. This province is notable for the Taeping rebellion, which had its rise in an outbreak in the province, of Kiang-si in 1850. It assumed such formidable proportions, as to obstruct all efforts for the extension of navigation and the establishment of commercial relations with foreign countries; until, in 1861, after a treaty obtained by lord Elgin, an expedition, with a squadron under command of sir James Hope, determining to open two of the principal cities—Hukon and Kew-Kiang—to foreign trade, took possession of those cities and installed consuls in them, and left a gun-boat in each port to protect British sub jects. Thus was opened to the world the great center of the tea traffic. Ning Chow congou tea is produced in the n.w. of the province of Kiang-si; but the finest of this kind is grown at Wuning, a place s.w. of the city of Kew-Kiang, the latter city being the chief market for teas of this kind. The population is estimated at over 1,000,000. Severe famines and inundations from the overflow of the Yangtze in successive years drove many fugitives to the town for shelter, and the missionary chapels were at the mercy of Mohammedan fanatics until they were overcome by the aid of vessels-of-war. In the rear of the British settlement, which fronts the river, are the remains of the Chi nese town and the monument of a general who fell during the siege, which was erected to his memory by the emperor. This port controls the carrying-trade on the lake and the river; and the shipping in 1871 comprised 320 American and 92 English steamers; 65 English and 23 American sailing-vessels. The port of Kew-Kiang is subsidiary to Shanghai, and at certain seasons of the year navigation is impeded by low water and sand-bars, necessitating the transfer of the cargoes to lighters at Hukon, 16 miles below Kew-Kiang, at the mouth of the lake. The value of the exportations from Kew-Kiang has amounted to £25,000,000 in one year.
KEY, a common heraldic bearing in the insignia of sees and religious houses, particu larly such as arc under the patronage of St. Peter. Two keys in saltine are frequent, and keys are sometimes interlaced or linked. together at the bows-.—i.e., rings. Keys indorsed are placed side by side, the wards away from each other. In secular heraldry, keys sometimes denote office in the state.
KEY, a musical term synonymous with scale, from scales, a stair. The diatonic scale, as produced by nature, is a certain succession of tones and semitones, ascending from any sound taken as a basis to the octave of that sound, the semitones of which will be found to lie between the 3d and 4th, and between the 7th and 8th degrees, ascending from the basis. In rendering this succession of sounds available for musical purposes by our artificial method of notation, the sounds have, so to speak, been fixed at a cer tain recognized pitch. Any of the.sounds of the natural scale may be taken as a note to form the basis of a new scale, observing always the due succession of the tones and semitones. The note forming the basis is denominated the key-note of the scale, and such scale is said to. be in the key of that note. As in our notation each whole tone can be artificially divided into two semitones (see CHROMATIC SCALE), it follows that, with the already existing diatonic semitones, there are 12 equal semitones between a key-note and its octave; and as each of these semitones may be taken as a new key-note, there are therefore twelve keys major, and the same number minor, all differing in pitch. In written notation the scale of the note named C has been assumed as the
natural key, the notes forming that scale being held to fall naturally into the requisite succession of tones and semitones. It follows that if any other note be taken as a key note, one or more or all of the notes of the so-called natural scale must be altered, by being either sharpened or flattened, to bring the scale of the new key into the due suc cession of tones and semitones. Such alteration is indicated by the marks of sharps or flats placed at the of the staff, and is termed the signature of the key.. In the minor mode, the key ofA minor stands exactly in the same relation to the other minor keys as the key of C does to the other major keys, A being the key-note on which the natural minor scale is found. All other keys have sharps or flats, in greater or less number as they are distant from the natural key of C major or A minor, reckoning by perfect fifths, ascending or descending; thus, the key of G major, which is a perfect fifth above C, has one sharp for its signature—viz., F sharp; the key of D, which is two fifths above C, has two sharps—viz., F sharp and C sharp; and so on to the key of F sharp, adding a sharp for every ascending fifth. The keys with flats are found exactly in the reverse order—viz., by descending fifths; thus, the key of F, a perfect fifth below C, has one flat—viz., B flat; the key of B flat has two flats—viz., B flat and E flat; and so on to the key of G flat with six fiats, which in practice ls regarded as the same as the key of F sharp with six sharps. The number of fiats or sharps is in some cases, for a harmonica) purpose, extended still further; such as the key of. C sharp with seven sharps, which is the same as D flat with five flats; or the key of G sharp with eight sharps, which is the same as A flat, with four flats. The unnecessary increasing of either sharps or flats only increases the difficulty of reading the music. The term key is often loosely used in the sense of mode, and we frequently hear of the major or minor key. Much confusion has arisen from this.
KEY, Fa/trims Scow, 1779-1843; b. Md. • completed the regular course of study at St. John's college, Annapolis, and then turned his attention to the study of law, which he subsequently adopted as a profession. He commenced practice in Frederick ( ity, Md., where he attained eminence as a jurist, and held the office of district attorney of the district of Columbia for several consecutive terms. He was intimately associated with chief-justice Taney, having married his sister. Detained ,against his will, he was an indignant spectator from the deck of a British man-of-war of the memorable attack on fort McHenry which inspired that enduring example of heroic verse, The Star Spangled Banner. On this composition rests his literary fame, though a volume of his poems was published in 1857. .In 1874 James Lick, of San Francisco, suLscribed $150,000 in aid of a fund to be used in the erection of a monument in that city, to his memory.