KOULI KHAN KRAKKN. 



329 



In 1814, he produced a very poor history of the Ger- 

 man empire. He had already proved himself totally 

 unfit for a historian by his Early History of Prussia 

 (Riga, 1809). In 1817, he received a salary of 

 15,000 roubles, with directions to reside in Germany, 

 and to report upon literature and public opinion. 

 K^tzebue, who, during the whole campaign, had 

 written in favour of the Russians, even at the 

 expense of his native country, was now considered 

 by most Germans as a spy. He established the Lite- 

 rary Weekly Paper, in which he passed judgment on 

 the publications of the day, and advanced political 

 opinions equally dishonourable and obnoxious to Ger- 

 many, ridiculing everyattempt at liberal institutions. 

 The state of things before the French revolution, was 

 his standard of perfection. Kotzebue was regarded 

 with aversion by the liberal party in Germany, as an 

 enemy to the freedom of his country; and among 

 the young and ardent, his ridicule of their noblest 

 sentiments and most cherished hopes awakened bitter 

 hatred. This feeling was so strong in the case of a 

 young enthusiast named Sand (q. v.), that he formed 

 the plan of putting Kotzebue to death, as the enemy 

 of his country, and deliberately murdered him, March 

 23, 1819, after which he immediately gave himself up 

 to justice. Kotzebue was three times married, and 

 left thirteen children. His best productions are his 

 comedies, which seem to be much more popular with 

 foreigners than with Germans. A sickly sentimen- 

 tality in his graver dramas, and the insipidity of his 

 comedies, are seldom redeemed by higher excellen- 

 ces. He wrote ninety-eight dramas. As an historian, 

 he deserves to be mentioned only for a few documents 

 reprinted in his Prussian History. 



KOULI KHAN. See Nadir Shah. 



KOURD; strong, robust; a Persian word. Hence 

 the name of Kurdes, Kourdes, or Curdes, and Cur - 

 destan. 



KRAKEN, KRAXEN or, as some call it, KRAB- 

 BEN ; that word, says Pontoppidan, bishop of 

 Bergen, being applied, by way of eminence, to the 

 fish otherwise called horven, soe-horven, ancker-troll 

 and kreuzfisch " incontestably," as observes the 

 same naturalist (whose description of it we shall give 

 in a translation of his own words), "the largest sea- 

 monster in the world. It is round, flat, and full of 

 branches. The Norwegian fishermen unanimously, af- 

 firm, and without the least variation in their accounts, 

 that, when they row out several miles to sea, parti- 

 cularly in the hot summer days, and, by their situation 

 ( which they know by taking a view of certain points 

 of land), expect to find 80 or 100 fathoms water, it 

 often happens that they do not find above twenty or 

 thirty, and sometimes less. At these places, they 

 generally find the greatest number of fish, especially 

 cod and ling. Their lines, they say, are no sooner 

 out, than they may draw them up with the hooks all 

 full of fish ; by this, they judge that the kraken is at 

 the bottom. They say this creature causes these 

 unnatural shallows mentioned above, and prevents 

 their sounding. These the fishermen are always glad 

 to find, looking upon them as a means of their taking 

 abundance of fish. There are sometimes twenty boats 

 or more got together, throwing out their lines at a 

 moderate distance from each other, and the only thing 

 they have to observe is, whether the depth continues 

 the same, which they know by their lines, or whether 

 it grows shallower, by their seeming to have less 

 water. If this last be the case, they find then the kraken 

 is raising himself nearer the surface, and then it is no 

 time for them to stay any longer ; they immediately 

 leave oft' fishing, take to their oars, and get away as 

 fast as they can. When they have reached the 

 usual depth of the place, and find themselves out of 

 danger, they lie uuon their oars, and, in a few minutes 



after, they see this enormous monster come up to the 

 snrface of the water. He there shows himself suf- 

 ficiently, though his whole body does not appear, 

 which, in all likelihood, no human eye ever beheld, 

 excepting in the case of one of the young of this 

 species, which shall afterwards be spoken of. Its 

 back or upper part, which seems to be in appear- 

 ance about an English mile and a half in circum- 

 ference some say more, but I choose the least for 

 greater certainty looks at first like a number of 

 small islands, surrounded with something that floats 

 and fluctuates like sea-weed. Here and there, a large 

 rising is observed, like sand-banks, on which various 

 kinds of small fishes are seen continually leaping 

 about, till they roll off into the water from the sides 

 of it. At last, several bright points or horns appear, 

 which grow thicker and thicker the higher they rise 

 above the surface of the water, and sometimes they 

 stand up as high and large as the masts of middle- 

 sized vessels. It seems these are the creature's 

 arms ; and it is said, if they were to lay hold of the 

 largest man-of-war, they would pull it down to the 

 bottom. After this monster has been on the surface of 

 the water a short time, it begins slowly to sink again ; 

 and then the danger is as great as before, because the 

 motion of his sinking causes such a swell in the sea, 

 and such an eddy or whirlpool, that it draws every 

 thing down with it." The arms above described are 

 conjectured to be tentacula, and the kraken itself to 

 be an enormous polypus. Besides these arms, " the 

 great Creator has also given this creature a strong and 

 peculiar scent, which it can emit at certain times, 

 and by means of which it beguiles and draws other 

 fish to come in heaps about it." During many 

 months, the kraken is continually employed in eating; 

 during many others, in carrying on the very last process 

 which succeeds digestion ; and this operation is so 

 peculiarly agreeable to the " smell and taste of other 

 fishes, that they gather together from all parts to it, 

 and keep for that purpose directly over the kraken : 

 he then opens his arms or horns, seizes and swallows 

 his welcome guests, and converts them, after the due 

 time, by digestion, into a bait for other fish of the 

 same kind. I relate what is affirmed by many ; but 

 I cannot give so certain assurance of this particular 

 as I can of the existence of this surprising creature, 

 though I do not find any thing in it absolutely con- 

 trary to nature. As we can hardly expect an oppor- 

 tunity to examine this most enormous sea-animal 

 alive, I am the more concerned that nobody embraced 

 that opportunity, which according to the following 

 account, once did, and perhaps never more may offer, 

 of seeing it entire when dead. The reverend M. 

 Friis, consistorial assessor, minister of Bodoen, in 

 Nordland, and vicar of the college for promoting 

 Christian knowledge, gave me, at the latter end of 

 last year, when he was at Bergen, this relation, which 

 I deliver again on his credit. In the year 1680, a 

 kraken, perhaps a young and careless one, came into 

 the water that runs between the rocks and cliffs in 

 the parish of Alstahoug, though the general custom 

 of that creature is to keep always several leagues 

 from land, and therefore, of course, they must die 

 them It happened that its extended long arms or 

 antennae, which this creature seems to use like the 

 snail, in turning about, caught hold of some trees 

 standing near the water, which might easily have been 

 torn up by the roots ; but, besides this, as it was found 

 afterwards, he entangled himself in some openings or 

 clefts in the rock, and therein stuck so fast, and hung 

 so unfortunately, that he could not work himself out, 

 but perished and putrefied on the spot. The carcass, 

 which was a long while decaying, and filled great 

 part of the narrow channel, made it almost impass- 

 able by its intolerable stench." The animal seen by 



