CHILLON, CASTLE OF, a castle and state prison built on a rock, 62 ft. from the shore, at the eastern end of the Lake of Geneva; surnamed the Bastille of Switzerland, in which Bonivard, the Genevese patriot, was, as celebrated by Byron, incarcerated for six years; it is now an arsenal.

CHILOE (77), a thickly wooded island off the coast, and forming a province, of Chile, 115 m. long from N. to S., and 43 m. broad; inhabited chiefly by Indians; exports timber; is said to contain vast deposits of coal.

CHILTERN HILLS, a range of chalk hills extending about 70 m.  NE. from the Thames in Oxfordshire through Bucks, from 15 to 20 m. broad, the highest Wendover, 950 ft.

CHILTERN HUNDREDS, a wardship of beech forests on the Chiltern Hills against robbers, that at one time infested them; now a sinecure office, the acceptance of which enables a member of Parliament to resign his seat if he wishes to retire, the office being regarded as a Government one.

CHIMAERA, a fire-breathing monster of the Greek mythology, with a goat’s body, a lion’s head, and a dragon’s tail; slain by Bellerophon, and a symbol of any impossible monstrosity.

CHIMBORA`ZO, one of the loftiest peaks of the Andes, in Ecuador, 20,700 ft.; is an extinct volcano, and covered with perpetual snow.

CHIMPANZEE, a large African ape, from 3 to 4 ft. in height, and more allied in several respects to man than any other ape:  it is found chiefly in W. Africa.

CHINA (300,000 to 400,000), which, with Tibet, Mongolia (from which it is separated by the Great Wall), and parts of Turkestan, forms the Chinese Empire; is a vast, compact, and densely peopled country in Eastern Asia; bounded on the N. by Mongolia; W. by Tibet and Burmah; S. by Siam, Annam, and the China Sea; and E. by the Pacific.  In the W. are lofty mountain ranges running N. and S., from which parallel ranges run E. and W., rising to greatest height in the S. Two great rivers traverse the country, the Hoang-ho and the Yangtse-kiang, the latter with many large lakes in its course, and bearing on its waters an innumerable fleet of boats and barges.  Between the lower courses of these rivers lies the Great Plain, one of the vastest and richest in the world, whose yellow soil produces great crops with little labour and no manure.  The coast-line is long and much indented, and out of it are bitten the gulfs of Pe-che-lee, the Yellow Sea, and Hang-chou.  There are many small islands off the coast; the mountainous Hainau is the only large one still Chinese.  The climate in the N. has a clear frosty winter, and warm rainy summer; in the S. it is hot.  The country is rich in evergreens and flowering plants.  In the N. wheat, millet, and cotton are grown; in the S. rice, tea, sugar, silk, and opium.  Agriculture is the chief industry, and though primitive, it is remarkably painstaking and skilful.  Forests have everywhere been cleared away, and the whole country is marvellously