KIT-FOX, PRAIRIE-Fox, or SWIFT. A small, pale, active fox (Fulpcs .re/ox), of the Western plains from Kansas and Colorado north ward, east of the Rocky Mountains. lts total length is about 25 inches; its color, a yellowish grizzle above, the legs and under parts lighter; belly and tip of tail. white; a black patch on each side of the muzzle. It dwells in burrows of its own making, and has the habits of its tribe elsewhere. See Plate of Foxes AND JACKALS.
kii'tse', or CHI-TSE, or KI-JA, Viscount Ki. A Chinese statesman, cestor of Confucius, and reputed founder of the civilization of Korea. lle was one of the feudal barons of the Shang dynasty, and one of the nobles of the Empire during the reign of the doned tyrant Chow-sin, who came to the throne in B.C. 1154, and showed himself one of the most licentious and cruel monarchs who ever sat on the throne of China. Viscount Ki vainly deavored to turn him from his evil ways, and for his pains was thrown into prison. from which he was released when Wu-wang defeated the tyrant and ended the Shang dynasty (n.e. 112:3).
Despite his sufferings, the loyalty of the Viscount was so great that he could not acknowledge the sovereignty of the conqueror. whom he regarded as a usurper; so retiring with a large following to the Far East, he set up a kingdom which had its capital at Ping-yang (q.v.), on the Ta Dong River in Korea, where his tomb is still shown. One of the most important sections of the King or Book of History entitled The Great Plan is attributed to him. He is said to have taught the Koreans propriety, integrity, agriculture, the rearing of silkworms, and the spinning and weaving of silk, besides giving them a code of eight laws. Since Korean tradition is dependent on Chinese history, critical scholarship does not see in the modern Koreans the descendants of Ili and his settlers, nor in their claims the exact truth. For The Great Plan, consult Legge, Chinese Classics, vol. iii. (Hong Kong, 1865).