ILETSK, formerly Fort Iletskaya Zashchita, a town of Russia, in the government of Orenburg, 48 m. S. of the town of Orenburg by the railway to Tashkent, near the Ilek river, a tributary of the Ural. Pop. 11,802 in 1897. A thick bed of excellent rock-salt is worked here to the extent of about 100,000 tons annually. The place is resorted to for its salt, mud and brine baths, and its koumiss cures.
ILFELD, a town in Germany, in the Prussian province of
Hanover, situated at the south foot of the Harz, at the entrance
to the Bährethal, 8 m. N. from Nordhausen by the railway to
Wernigerode. Pop. 1600. It contains an Evangelical church,
a celebrated gymnasium, once a monasterial school, with a
fine library, and manufactures of parquet-flooring, paper and
plaster of Paris, while another industry in the town is brewing.
It is also of some repute as a health resort.
Ilfeld, as a town, dates from the 14th century, when it sprang up round a Benedictine monastery. Founded about 1190 this latter was reformed in 1545, and a year later converted into the school mentioned above, which under the rectorship of Michael Neander (1525–1595) enjoyed a reputation for scholarship which it has maintained until to-day.
See Förstemann, Monumenta rerum Ilfeldensium (Nordhausen, 1843); M. Neander, Bericht vom Kloster Ilfeld, edited by Bouterwek (Göttingen, 1873); and K. Meyer, Geschichte des Klosters Ilfeld (Leipzig, 1897).
ILFORD [Great Ilford], an urban district in the Romford
parliamentary division of Essex, England, on the Roding,
7 m. E.N.E. of London by the Great Eastern railway. Pop.
(1891) 10,913, (1901) 41,234. A portion of Hainault Forest
lies within the parish. The hospital of St Mary and St Thomas,
founded in the 12th century as a leper hospital, now contains
almshouses and a chapel, and belongs to the marquess of Salisbury,
who as “Master” is required to maintain a chaplain and six
aged inmates. The chapel appears to be of the date of this
foundation. Claybury Hall is a lunatic asylum (1893) of the
London County Council. There are large photographic material
works and paper mills. Little Ilford is a parish on the
opposite (west) side of the Roding. The church of St Mary
retains Norman portions, and has a curious monumental brass
commemorating a boy in school-going clothes (1517). Pop.
(1901) 17,915.
ILFRACOMBE, a seaport and watering-place in the Barnstaple
parliamentary division of Devonshire, England, on the Bristol
Channel, 225 m. W. by S. of London by the London & South-Western
railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 8557. The
picturesque old town, built on the cliffs above its harbour,
consists of one street stretching for about a mile through a network
of lanes. Behind it rise the terraces of a more modern
town, commanding a fine view across the Channel. With its
beautiful scenery and temperate climate, Ilfracombe is frequented
by visitors both in summer and winter. Grand rugged cliffs
line the coast; while, inland, the country is celebrated for the
rich colouring of its woods and glens. Wooded heights form a
semicircle round the town, which is protected from sea winds
by Capstone Hill. Along the inner face of this rock has been cut
the Victoria Promenade, a long walk roofed with glass and used
for concerts. The restored church of Holy Trinity dates originally
from the 12th century. Sea-bathing is insecure, and is confined
to a few small coves, approached by tunnels hewn through the
rock. The harbour, a natural recess among the cliffs, is sheltered
on the east by Hilsborough Head, where there are some alleged
Celtic remains; on the west by Lantern Hill, where the ancient
chapel of St Nicholas has been transformed into a lighthouse.
In summer, passenger steamers run to and from Ilfracombe
pier; but the shipping trade generally has declined, though
herring fisheries are carried on with success. In the latter part
of the 13th century Ilfracombe obtained a grant for holding a
fair and market, and in the reign of Edward III. it was a place
of such importance as to supply him with six ships and ninety-six
men for his armament against Calais. During the Civil War,
being garrisoned for the Roundheads, it was in 1644 captured
by the Royalists, but in 1646 it fell into the hands of Fairfax.
ILHAVO, a seaport in the district of Aveiro, formerly included
in the province of Beira, Portugal, 3 m. S.W. of Aveiro (q.v.),
on the lagoon of Aveiro, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean. Pop.
(1900) 12,617. Ilhavo is inhabited chiefly by fishermen, but has
a celebrated manufactory of glass and porcelain, the Vista-Alegre,
at which the art of glass-cutting has reached a high
degree of perfection. Salt is largely exported. Ilhavo is celebrated
for the beauty of its women. It is said to have been
founded by Greek colonists about 400 B.C., but this tradition is
of doubtful validity.
ILI, one of the principal rivers of Central Asia, in the Russian
province of Semiryechensk. The head-stream, called the Tekez,
rises at an altitude of 11,600 ft. E. of Lake Issyk-kul, in
82° 25′ E. and 43° 23′ N., on the W. slopes of mount Kash-katur.
At first it flows eastward and north-eastward, until, after
emerging from the mountains, it meets the Kungez, and then,
assuming the name of Ili, it turns westwards and flows between
the Trans-Ili Ala-tau mountains on the south and the Boro-khoro
and Talki ranges on the north for about 300 m. to Iliysk.
The valley between 79° 30′ and 82° E. is 50 m. wide, and the
portion above the town of Kulja (Old Kulja) is fertile and
populous, Taranchi villages following each other in rapid succession,
and the pastures being well stocked with sheep and
cattle and horses. At Iliysk the river turns north-west, and
after traversing a region of desert and marsh falls by at least
seven mouths into the Balkash Lake, the first bifurcation of
the delta taking place about 115 m. up the river. But it is only
the southern arm of the delta that permanently carries water.
The total length of the river is over 900 m. From Old Kulja to
New Kulja the Ili is navigable for at most only two and a half
months in the year, and even then considerable difficulty is
occasioned by the shoals and sandbanks. From New Kulja
to Iliysk (280 m.) navigation is easy when the water is high,
and practicable even at its lowest for small boats. At Iliysk
there is a ferry on the road from Kopal to Vyernyi. The principal
tributaries of the Ili are the Kash, Chilik and Charyn. A vast
number of streams flow towards it from the mountains on both
sides, but most of them are used up by the irrigation canals
and never reach their goal. The wealth of coal in the valley
is said to be great, and when the Chinese owned the country
they worked gold and silver with profit. Fort Ili or Iliysk, a
modern Russian establishment, must not be confounded with
Ili, the old capital of the Chinese province of the same name.
The latter, otherwise known as Hoi-yuan-chen, New Kulja
(Gulja), or Manchu Kulja, was formerly a city of 70,000 inhabitants,
but now lies completely deserted. Old Kulja, Tatar
Kulja or Nin-yuan, is now the principal town of the district.
The Chinese district of Ili formerly included the whole of the
valley of the Ili river as far as Issyk-kul, but now only its upper
part. Its present area is about 27,000 sq. m. and its population
probably 70,000. It belongs administratively to the province of
Sin-kiang or East Turkestan. (See Kulja.)
ILION, a village of Herkimer county, New York, U.S.A.,
about 12 m. S.E. of Utica, on the S. bank of the Mohawk river.
Pop. (1890) 4057; (1900) 5138 (755 foreign-born); (1905, state
census) 5924; (1910) 6588. It is served by the New York
Central & Hudson river, and the West Shore railways, by the
Utica & Mohawk Valley Electric railroad, and by the Erie canal.
It has a public library (1868) of about 13,500 volumes, a public
hospital and a village hall. The village owns its water-works
and its electric-lighting plant. Its principal manufactures are
Remington typewriters and Remington fire-arms (notably the
Remington rifle); other manufactures are filing cabinets and
cases and library and office furniture (the Clark & Baker Co.),
knit goods, carriages and harness, and store fixtures. In 1828
Eliphalet Remington (1793–1861) established here a small
factory for the manufacture of rifles. He invented, and, with the
assistance of his sons, Philo (1816–1889), Samuel and Eliphalet,
improved the famous Remington rifle, which was adopted
by several European governments, and was supplied in large
numbers to the United States army. In 1856 the company
added the manufacture of farming tools, in 1870 sewing-machines,
