Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/859

 K A I -K A K 825 the Campanion (i.e. of the Prophet) outside of the walls is specially sacred as possessing three hairs of the Prophet s beard. Formerly famous for its carpets and its oil of roses, Kairwan is now known in northern Africa rather for copper vessels, articles in morocco leather, potash, and saltpetre. In almost every respect it has greatly declined. The Arabic historians relate the foundation of Kairwan by Okba with miraculous circumstances (Tabary, ii. 63 ; Yakut, iv. 213). The date is variously given (see Weil, Gesch. d. Chalifen, i. 283 sq.) ; according to Tabary it must have been before 670. See Grenville T. Temple, Excursions in the Mediterranean, 1835; Edward Rae, The Country of the Moors, 1873 ; 11. L. Play fair, Travels in the Footsteps of Bruce, 1877. KAISARIEH. See OESAREA, vol. iv. p. 640. KAISERSLAUTERN, the chief town of a circle in the government district of Rheinpfalz, Bavaria, is situated on the Lauter, in the hilly district of Westrich, about 40 miles west of Mannheim, and is one of the most important indus trial towns of the Palatinate. It is the seat of the usual official bureaus, and counts among its educational institu tions a gymnasium, a Protestant normal school, a com-, mercial school, and an industrial museum. There are several churches, of which one owes its first foundation to Frederick Barbarossa, a hospital, and a large fruit- market. The house of correction occupies the site of Barbarossa s castle, built in 1153, and demolished by the French in 1713. The industries include cotton and wool spinning and weaving, iron-founding, and the manufacture of beer, tobacco, and numerous other articles. There is some trade in fruit and in timber. Population in 1875, 22,699. Kaiserslautern takes its name from the emperor (Kaiser) Frede rick I., who presented to the place a wood worth 50,000 marks annually. In 1276 it became a town, and in 1357 passed to the Palatinate. In 1621 it was taken by the Spanish, in 1631 by the .Swedish, in 1635 by the imperial, and in 1713 by the French troops. During 1793 and 1794 it was the scene of active righting; and in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 it was the base of operations of the second German army, under Prince Frederick Charles. It was one of the early stations of the Reformation, and in 1849 was n focus for the revolutionary spirit in the Palatinate. KAISERSWERTH, an ancient town in the circle and government district of Diisseldorf, Prussia, is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, 6 miles below Diisseldorf. It contains an old Romanesque church of the 12th or 13th century, and has several benevolent institutions, of which the chief is the training-school for Protestant sisters of charity. This institution, founded by Pastor Fliedner in 1836, has more than 100 branches, some even in Asia and America ; the head establishment at Kaiserswerth includes an orphanage, a lunatic asylum, and a Magdalen institution. The Roman Catholic hospital occupies the former Fran ciscan convent. The population in 1875 was 2135, chiefly engaged in silk-weaving and tobacco manufacture. In 710 Pippin of Heristal presented the site of the town to Bishop Suitbert, who built the Benedictine monastery round which the town gradually formed. Until 1214 Kaiserswerth lay on an island, but in that year Count Adolphus V. of Berg, who was besieging it, dammed up effectually one arm of the Rhine. About the beginning of the 14th century Kaiserswerth was pawned by the empire to Jiilich, whence, after some vicissitudes, it finally passed into the possession of the princes of the Palatinate, whose rights, long disputed by the elector of Cologne, were legally settled in 1762. In 1702 the fortress was captured by the Austrians and Prussians, and the Kaiserburg, whence the young emperor Henry IV. was abducted by Archbishop Hanno in 1062, blown up. KAITHAL, or KYTHAL, an ancient town in Karnal district, Punjab, India, 29 48 7&quot; N. Int., 76 26 26&quot; E. long. It is said to have been founded by the mythical hero Tudishthira, and is connected by tradition with the monkey-god Hanumdn. In 1767 it fell into the hands of the Sikh chieftain, Bhai Desu Sinh, whose descendants, the Bhais to Kaithal, ranked among the most important and powerful Cis-Sutlej chiefs. Their territories lapsed to the British in 1843. There is some trade in grain, sal- ammoniac, live stock, and blankets ; and saltpetre and lac ornaments and toys are manufactured. Population in 1868, 14,490. KAKAPO, the Maori name, signifying &quot; Night-Parrot,&quot; and frequently adopted by English writers, of a bird, com- mon-ly called by British colonists in New Zealand the Ground-Parrot &quot; or &quot; Owl-Parrot.&quot; The existence of this singular form was first made known in 1843 by Dieffenbach (Travels in N. Zealand, ii. p. 194), from some of its tail- feathers obtained by him in the interior of that country, and he suggested that it was one of the Ciiculidx, possibly belonging to the genus Centropus, but he added that it was becoming scarce, and that no example had been seen for many years. The late Mr G. R. Gray, noticing it in June 1 845 (Zool. Voij. &quot; Erebus &quot; and &quot; Terror,&quot; part ix. p. 9), was able to say little more of it, but very soon after wards a skin was received at the British Museum, of which, in the following September, he published a figure (Gen. Birds, part xvii.), naming it Strigops 1 habroptilus, and rightly placing it among the Parrots, but he did not describe it technically for another eighteen months (Proc. Zool. Society, 1847, p. 61), by which time some further informa tion concerning it had been furnished by Sir George Grey (Ann. Nat. History, xviii. p. 427) and the late Mr Strange (Proc. Zool. Society, 1847, p. 50) ; while in the same year Jules Verreaux sent an example, with an account of its habits, to the museum of Paris, which was published by Dr Pucheran (Rev. Zoologique, 1847, p. 385). Various observers, among whom must be especially named Drs Lyall (Proc. Zool, Society, 1852, p. 31) and Haast (Verh, zool.-bot, Gesellsch. Wien, 1863, p. 1115) supplied other particulars, and many specimens have now been received in Europe, so that it is represented in most museums, and at least half a dozen examples have reached England alive. Yet, though much has been written about it, there is no detailed description of its internal structure, which fact is the more to be regretted since the bird is obviously doomed to early extinction, and the opportunity of solving several zoological problems of great interest, which a minute examination of its anatomy might afford, will be lost if some one does not speedily take the matter in hand. Few existing birds offer a better subject for a monographer, and it is to be hoped that, if perish the genus and species must, posterity will not have to lament the want of an exhaustive treatise on its many and wonderful character istics. In habits the Kakapo is almost wholly nocturnal, 2 hiding in holes (which in some instances it seems to make for itself) under the roots of trees or rocks during the day time, and only issuing forth about sunset to seek its food, which is solely vegetable in kind, and consists of the twigs, leaves, seeds, and fruits of trees, grass, and fern-roots some observers say mosses also. It sometimes climbs trees, but generally remains on the ground, only using its com paratively short wings to balance itself in running, or to break its fall when it drops from a tree though not always then being apparently quite incapable of real flight. It thus becomes an easy prey to the marauding creatures cats, rats, and so forth which European colonists have let loose in New Zealand, so disastrously for its indigenous inhabit ants. Sir G. Grey says it had been, within the memory of old people, abundant in every part of that country, but (writing in 1854) was then found ouly in the unsettled districts. But as the latter are continually suffering from encroachment, so are the haunts of the Kakapo, and it is 1 This generic term was subsequently altered by Van der Hoeven, rather pedantically, to Stringops, a spelling now generally adopted. 2 It has, however, been occasionally observed abroad by day; and, in captivity, one example at least is said to have been just as active by day as by night. xni. -- 104