638 K A S 
KASR ibn HOBE'IRA, a lortrefs of Perfia, in tlie 
province of Chorafan : eighteen miles north-ehlt Mefchid 
Ali, and twelve fouth-fouth-weft of Iiellah. 
KASR JA'CUB, a fortrefs of Egypt, on the right bank 
of the Nile, oppofite Shabur. 
KASR KE'RUN. See Cask. Caroon, vol. i. 
KASR KlASS'ERA,.a town of Egypt, built on the 
ruins of the ancient Nicopolis, on the coaft of the Medi¬ 
terranean : five miles north-eaft of Alexandria. 
KASR SHI'RIN, a fort refs of the Arabian Irak : fix- 
teen miles fouth of Holvan. 
KASR TERA'NE, a fortrefs of Egypt: eighteen miles 
north-weft of Cairo. 
K ASS' AN, a town of Africa, in the kingdom of Yani, 
en the north fide of the Gambia: thirty-iix miles north- 
weft of Pilknia. 
K ASSERAMANG'ALUM, a town of Hindooftan, in 
Baramaul: feventeen miles fouth of Coveriporum. 
KASSGUN'GE, a town of Hindooftan, in the Dooab : 
twenty-four miles north-weft of Pattiary. 
KASS'IDE, otherwife called Gazel, f. [Arabic.] A 
fpecies of poem among the Hindoos, the lubject of which 
as in general love and wine, interfperfed with moral fen- 
timents, and reflexions on the virtues and vices of man¬ 
kind. It ought never to be more than eighteen diftichs, 
nor lefs than five, according to d’Herbelot: if lels than 
five, it is called rabat ; if more, ka]Jidc\ but Ravinlky fays, 
that all poems of this fort which exceed thirteen couplets, 
rank with the kallide and, according to Meninlki, the 
gazel ought never to be more than eleven; every verfe in 
the fame gazel mull rhyme with the fame letter ; it is 
more irregulaf than the Greek and Latin ode, one verfe 
having often no apparent connection, either with the fore¬ 
going or fubfequent couplets, hid. Glojfary. 
KASS'INA. See Cashna, vol. iii. 
KASS'ON, or Kassou'n, a populous kingdom on the 
north of Africa, bounded on the north by Jaffnoo, on the 
call by Kaarta, on the fouth by the Senegal, and on the 
weft by Jaaga, about fifty miles from north to fouth, aud 
nearly the lame from ealt to weft. Lat. 14. to 15. N. Ion. 
8. to 9. W. The king of the country was extremely kind 
to Mr. Park, although his fon plundered him in a very 
fhocking manner. He fays that the number of towns 
and villages, and the extenlive cultivation around them, 
exceeded every thing he had then feen in Africa. A grols 
calculation may be formed of the number of inhabitants 
in this enchanting plain, from ccnfidering that the king 
of Kaffoh can raile 4000 fighting men by the found of his 
war-drum. It is remarkable, that, although the people 
pcfllefs abundance of corn and cattle, both high and low 
make no fcruple of eating rats, moles, fquirrels, fnails, 
and locufts. What is perhaps no lefs Angular, the wo¬ 
men of this country, are not allowed to eat an egg, al¬ 
though they are ufed by the men without any fcruple in 
the prefence of their wives. 
The method of converting the negroes to the religion 
of Mahomet is worthy of notice. Mr. Park allures us 
that he faw the whole inhabitants of Teefce, a large un~ 
walled, town of Kaifon, inftkntly converted. While he 
trefided in that town, an embafly of ten people belonging 
to Alnrami Abdulkader, king of Foota Torra, a country 
to the weft of Bondou, arrived at Teefce ; and, defiring 
Tiggity Sego the governor to call an aftembly cf the inha¬ 
bitants, publicly made known the determination of their 
king, “that, unlefs all the people of Kaifon would em¬ 
brace the Mahometan religion, and evince their conver- 
fion by faying eleven public prayers, he (the king of Foota 
Torra) could not poffibly Hand neuter in the prefent 
conteft, but would certainly join his arms to thofe of Ka- 
jaaga.” Such a meffage from fo potent a.prince created 
great alarm; and the inhabitants, after deliberating for 
ibme time, agreed to conform themfelves to his.will and 
pleafurc, renouncing paganifm and embracing the doc¬ 
trines of the prophet. 
K A S 
KASSU'TO, f. An African mufical inftrument, com. 
pofed of a hollow piece of wood, about an ell long, co¬ 
vered with a plate cut into a kind of 1’cale, upon which 
the negroes beat with a flick. 
KAST, a town of Perlia, in Segeflan : forty miles 
fouth-wefl of Arokhage. 
KASTAMO'NI. See Castamena, vol. iii. p. 881. 
KASTAN'OVITZ, a tovhi of Croatia, fituated on am 
ifland in the river Unna : fifty miles fouth-ealt of Carl- 
lladt, and 125 weft of Peterwardein. 
KASTAGNATZ', a mountain of European Turkey, 
in Romania : twenty miles north-eaft of Emboli. 
KASTEE', a town of Hindooftan, in Dowlatabad ; fe* 
venteen miles eaft-fouth-eaft of Tooliapour. 
K AS'TEL, a town of France, in the department of the 
Mofelle : fix miles north-well of Sar Louis. 
KAST'HOLM, a town of Svt'eden, on the fouth-eaft 
coaft of the ifland of Aland. 
* KAST'NER (Abraham), a celebrated German mathe¬ 
matician, was born at Leipiic on the 27th of September, 
1719. His father, Abraham Kaftner, maintained himfelf 
and family by giving lectures on different fubjedl.s relat¬ 
ing to jurifprudence ; and his mother’s brother. Dr. G. 
R. Pommer, by lecturing on the practical parts of the lam* 
fcience. Both of them, however, had more tafte for lite¬ 
rary purfuits than for that from which they derived their 
fupport. The latter underftood the French, Englilh, 
Italian, and Spnnifli; and by his means young Kaftner 
had an opportunity of learning thefe languages. Pommer 
poffeffed alfo a confiderable collection of books in thefa 
languages ; and, as Kaftner had early acquired a tafte for 
reading, lie made ufe of it, as well as of his father’s li¬ 
brary, as far as his talents would admit. In the year 
1731, lie attended the philofophical leflures of the cele¬ 
brated Winkler, and next year ftudied mathematics un¬ 
der G. F. Richter. In the year 1735 he ftudied under 
Haul’en, and lie ufed to thank this preceptor for having 
recommended to him the Greek method of geometry, 
which is fo certain, and which Kaftner afterwards purfued 
with fo much credit to himfelf. At this period there was 
very little encouragement at Leipfic for praflical aftro- 
nomy. Haufen fometimes fliowed the moon to his pupils 
through a telefcope, and young Kaftner once ohferved in 
his company an eclipfe of that planet; but they had no 
time-piece, and their only telefcope was borrowed from 
Walzen, a native of Wirtemberg, who refided at Leipfic 
as a private tutor, and who was afterwards geographer 
royal at Drefden, where he died. Another time Haufen 
carried Kaftner along with him to the tower of St. Nicho¬ 
las’s church to obferve a tranfit of Mercury over the fun ; 
and for determining the time they had a plummet fufpend- 
ed by a thread ; but, the weather being cloudy, they could 
make no oblervation. In the year 1742 a comet appear¬ 
ed, and Haufen determined its orbit in the fimplell t man- 
ner, by the itjterfedlion of two arches through two pair 
of liars. Young Kaftner, being defirous of obferving, 
along with fome friends, this comet through a telefcope, 
applied to his tutor, who gave him an* old wooden tube, 
and a convex glafs to be ufed as an eye-glafs, by holding 
it to the end of the tube with the hand. What obferva- 
tions the company could make with this inftrument it 
would be difficult to fay in profe; but Kaftner himfelf 
has given an account of them in an ode publifiied in the 
firft part of his Mifcellanies. From what has been laid it 
may readily be conceived what progrefs Kaftner was able 
to lqake in praftical aftronomy. Being left entirely to 
his own affiduity, he procured Doppelmaier’s chart of the 
liars and Bayer’s Uranometria ; and often repaired to the 
market-place of Leipfic, and other convenient llations, to 
obferve the heavenly bodies. In the year 1742 he formed 
an acquaintance with I. C. Baumann, who by his oyvn in~ 
duftry had ftudied mathematics in the writings of Wolfe, 
and who wiftied to fee himfelf what he had learned from 
thefe and other books; but he had no money- to purchafe 
inftruments 
