KAABA KALB. 



293 



only in words originally German, Breton, &c.; but, 

 of late, it has become frequent in proper names of 

 Oriental origin, on account of the numerous transla- 

 tions from Oriental languages into the French. In 

 English, most modern writers drop it at the end of 

 words of Latin origin, as public, music, &c., formerly 

 publick, &c.; but, in monosyllables, it is retained on 

 account of their derivatives. In Swedish, Danish, 

 Dutch, Polish, k sounds as in English. K signifies, 

 on French money, Bordeaux, and, on money coined 

 at Cremnitz, /f and B signify the mines of Kcrmecz 

 ;ind Jitinya. K, before a vowel, is one of the easiest 

 sounds children learn ; but it is difficult, if it precedes 

 another consonant. The k, at the beginning of a 

 word, does not always belong to the root, but is, like 

 other aspirated letters, often a mere prefix. In 

 German, it often originates from the reduplication ge 

 and g (see G), particularly before a consonant. 



KAABA; originally a temple at Mecca, in great 

 esteem among the heathen Arabians, who, before 

 they embraced Mohammedanism, called a small build- 

 ing of stone, in the same temple, kaaba, which has, 

 in turn, become an object of the highest reverence 

 with the Mohammedans. They say it was built by 

 Abraham and Ishmael. On the side of it is a black 

 stone, surrounded with silver, called braktan, set in 

 the wall, about four feet from the ground. This 

 stone has served, since the second year of the 

 Hegira, as the kebla, that is, as the point towards 

 which the Mohammedan turns his face during prayer. 

 The pilgrims, or Aadgis, touch and kiss this stone 

 seven times, after which they enter the kaaba, and 

 offer up their prayer. The Mohammedans first 

 turned their face towards Jerusalem, until Moham- 

 med ordered the present direction. Burckhardt 

 (q. v.), in his Travels in Arabia, says " The holy 

 k;iaba is the scene of such indecencies, as cannot 

 with propriety be more particularly noticed. They 

 are not only practised with impunity, but it may be 

 said publicly; and my indignation has often been 

 excited at what drew forth only a laugh from other 

 passengers." \V'e find, therefore, that the Moham- 

 medan pilgrimages produce the same disorders as 

 those which attend Catholic pilgrimages that attract 

 great numbers of people, and which have led to the 

 prohibition of such pilgrimages in most Catholic 

 countries. In some places, however, they still exist, 

 with all their disorder and licentiousness, as, for in- 

 stance, at Einsiedeln, in Switzerland. The same 

 results take place in the numerous assemblages of 

 other sects, of which instances might be cited from 

 Europe; and camp-meetings have not unfrequently 

 been charged with a like tendency. The evil is the 

 natural consequence of assembling a multitude in a 

 state of excitement. 



KABARDA. See Circassia. 



KABBALA. See Cabala. 



KABUL. See Afghanistan. 



K^EMPFER, ENGELBRECHT, a famous traveller, 

 born at Lemgo, in 1657, and excellently educated by 

 his father, a clergyman, studied medicine at Konigs- 

 berg, performed a journey, in 1683, as secretary toa 

 Swedish embassy, by land through Russia to Persia; 

 after which he visited Arabia, Hindoostan, Java, 

 Sumatra, Siam and Japan, in which last country 

 he resided two years. In 1692, he returned, was 

 appointed private physician of the count of Lippe, 

 in his native city, and died in 1716. Of his writings, 

 his History and Description of Japan is deserving of 

 mention. This work was translated into English, 

 from the manuscript in 1727, published at London 

 in two folio volumes; and; in the German language, 

 it appeared first at Lemgo, in 1774, edited by Dolnn. 

 The greater part of his manuscripts, rich in import- 

 ant observations, have not yet been printed. Sir 



Hans Sloane purchased them from Kfempfer's 

 heirs, and they are now to be found in the British 

 museum. 



K^ESTNER, ABRAHAM GOTTHELF, a celebrated 

 mathematician and epigrammist, born at Leipsic, in 

 1719, never attended a public school. From his tenth 

 year, he received instructions in jurisprudence from 

 his father, who was professor in Leipsic ; and in his 

 eleventh, lie joined a debating society of several 

 youths studying law. He applied himself to philo- 

 sophy, physics, and mathematics ; metaphysics in 

 particular, according to his own statements, had 

 peculiar attractions for him. It is remarkable, that 

 he found addition and multiplication very difficult, 

 even after he had made considerable progress in ma- 

 thematics. He continued also the study of law. In 

 1739, he held disputations, and began to deliver 

 lectures on mathematics, philosophy, logic, and 

 jurisprudence. He also attended to belles-lettres. 

 Having obtained a professorship extraordinary in 

 1746, he was, in 1756, established on advantageous 

 terms, in Gottingen, as professor of natural philosophy 

 and geometry. The study of mathematics was 

 greatly promoted by his means. Among his numer- 

 ous writings, which fill nine pages in Meusel's 

 Gelehrte Deutschland, his Geschichte der Mathematik 

 (1795) is the best. In general, his acute mind seems 

 to have been too much directed to single points to 

 allow him to grasp, and exhibit happily, the whole of 

 the mathematical and physical sciences. He was 

 not less celebrated for his wit than for the cultivation 

 of the severer sciences. His epigrams, however, in- 

 volved him in many quarrels. He died in 1800. 



KAFFRARIA, and KAFFRES. See Caffraria, 

 and Caffres. 



KAIN, LE. See Le Kain. 



KA1SERSLAUTERN; a town on the river Lati- 

 ter, with 4550 inhabitants, a gymnasium and semi- 

 nary for teachers, in Rhenish Bavaria, on the Hardt- 

 gebirge, famous, in modern times, for the battle of 

 November 28, 29, and 30, 1793, between the duke 

 of Brunswick and a division of the French army of 

 the Moselle, under Hoche, which attempted to relieve 

 Landau. Another battle was fought near Kaisers- 

 lautern, May 23, 1794, and a third, September 20, 

 1794, in both of'which the French were unsuccessful. 

 The passes leading from the Vosges to Landau and 

 Mentz, both of which are German frontier fortresses, 

 are situated here. 



KALAH (Arabic, a fort); a word which enters into 

 the compositions of many geographical names of the 

 East. Kelat has the same meaning. 



KALAMATA. See Greece. 



KALAND (probably from Kalendee ; a lay frater- 

 nity, which originated in Germany in the thirteenth 

 century. The members assembled on the first of 

 each month, to pray for their deceased friends, after 

 which they took a repast in common. In the course 

 of time, the religious purpose of the assembly was 

 forgotten, and the meeting became one of mere fes- 

 tivity, so that, at la^t, the fraternity was abolished on 

 account of its excesses. The word kaland exists to 

 this day in proverbs, &c. 



KALB, BARON DE, a major-general in the Ameri- 

 can army, was born in Germany, about the year 1717. 

 When young, he entered into the service of France, 

 in which he continued for forty-two years, and 

 obtained the rank of brigadier-general. In 1757, 

 during the war between Britain and France, he was 

 sent, by the French government, to the American 

 colonies, in order to learn the points in which they 

 were most vulnerable, and how far the seeds of dis- 

 content might be sown in them towards the mother 

 country. He was seized, while in the performance 

 of this commission, as a suspected person, but 



