ears. They
are skilful fishermen, and live in large communal houses. They are
divided into clans and distinct social orders.

CHIMKENT, a town of Asiatic Russia, in the province of Syr-darya, 70 m.
by rail N.N.E. of Tashkent. Pop. (1897) 10,756, mostly Sarts. It
occupies a strategical position at the west end of the valley between
the Alexander range and the Ala-tau (or Talas-tau), at the meeting of
commercial routes from (1) Vyernyi and Siberia beyond, from the
north-east, (2) the Aral Sea and Orenburg (connected with it by rail
since 1905) to the north-west, and (3) Ferghana and Bokhara to the
south. The citadel, which was stormed by the Russians in 1864, stands on
high ground above the town, but is now in ruins. Chimkent is visited by
consumptive patients who wish to try the koumiss cure. It has cotton
mills and soap-works.

CHIMNEY (through the Fr. _cheminee_, from _caminata_, sc. _camera_, a
Lat. derivative of _caminus_, an oven or furnace), in architecture, that
portion of a building, rising above the roof, in which are the flues
conveying the smoke to the outer air. Originally the term included the
fireplace as well as the chimney shaft. At Rochester Castle (1130) and
Heddington, Essex, there were no external chimney shafts, and the flue
was carried through the wall at some height above the fireplace. In the
early examples the chimney shaft was circular, with one flue only, and
was terminated with a conical cap, the smoke issuing from openings in
the side, which at Sherborne Abbey (A.D. 1300) were treated
decoratively. It was not till the 15th century that the smoke issued at
the top, and later in the century that more than one flue was carried up
in the same shaft. There are a few examples of the clustered shaft in
stone, but as a rule they are contemporaneous with the general use of
brick. The brick chimney shafts, of which there are fine specimens at
Hampton Court, were richly decorated with chevrons and other geometrical
patterns. One of the best examples is that at Thornton Castle,
Gloucestershire.

In the 15th and 16th centuries in France the chimney shaft was
recognized as an important architectural feature, and was of
considerable elevation in consequence of the great height of the roofs.
In the chateau of Meillant (1503) the chimney shafts are decorated with
angle buttresses, niches and canopies, in the late Flamboyant style; and
at Chambord and Blois they are carved with pilasters and nic