K The eleventh letter in the Phoenician alphabet and in its
descendant Greek, the tenth in Latin owing to the omission
of Teth (see I), and once more the eleventh in the
alphabets of Western Europe owing to the insertion of J.
In its long history the shape of K has changed very little. It
is on the inscription of the Moabite Stone (early 9th cent. B.C.)
in the form (written from right to left) of 
and 
. Similar forms
are also found in early Aramaic, but another form 
or 
, which
is found in the Phoenician of Cyprus in the 9th or 10th century
B.C. has had more effect upon the later development of the
Semitic forms. The length of the two back strokes and the
manner in which they join the upright are the only variations
in Greek. In various places the back strokes, treated as an
angle <, become more rounded (, so that the letter appears as
, a form which in Latin probably affected the development of
C (q.v.). In Crete it is elaborated into 
and 
. In Latin K,
which is found in the earliest inscriptions, was soon replaced by
C, and survived only in the abbreviations for Kalendae and the
proper name Kaeso. The original name Kaph became in Greek
Kappa. The sound of K throughout has been that of the unvoiced
guttural, varying to some extent in its pronunciation
according to the nature of the vowel sound which followed it.
In Anglo-Saxon C replaced K through Latin influence, writing
being almost entirely in the hands of ecclesiastics. As the sound changes
have been discussed under C it is necessary here only to
refer to the palatalization of K followed earlier by a final e as in
watch (Middle English wacche, Anglo-Saxon wæcce) by the side
of wake (M.E. waken, A.-S. wacan); batch, bake, &c. Sometimes
an older form of the substantive survives, as in the Elizabethan
and Northern make = mate alongside match. (P. Gi.)
K2, or Mt Godwin-Austen, the second highest mountain
in the world, ranking after Mt Everest. It is a peak of the
Karakoram extension of the Muztagh range dividing Kashmir
from Chinese Turkestan. The height of K2 as at present determined
by triangulation is 28,250 ft., but it is possible that an
ultimate revision of the values of refraction at high altitudes
may have the effect of lowering the height of K2, while it would
elevate those of Everest and Kinchinjunga. The latter mountain
would then rank second, and K2 third, in the scale of altitude,
Everest always maintaining its ascendancy. K2 was ascended
for the first time by the duke of the Abruzzi in June 1909, being
the highest elevation on the earth’s surface ever reached by man.
KA‛BA, KAABA, or Kaabeh, the sacred shrine of Mahommedanism, containing the “black stone,” in the middle of the great mosque at Mecca (q.v.).
KABARDIA, a territory of S. Russia, now part of the province
of Terek. It is divided into Great and Little Kabardia by the
upper river Terek, and covers 3780 sq. m. on the northern slopes
of the Caucasus range (from Mount Elbruz to Pasis-mta, or
Edena), including the Black Mountains (Kara-dagh) and the high
plains on their northern slope. Before the Russian conquest it
extended as far as the Sea of Azov. Its population is now about
70,000. One-fourth of the territory is owned by the aristocracy
and the remainder is divided among the auls or villages. A great
portion is under permanent pasture, part under forests, and some
under perpetual snow. Excellent breeds of horses are reared,
and the peasants own many cattle. The land is well cultivated
in the lower parts, the chief crops being millet, maize, wheat
and oats. Bee-keeping is extensively practised, and Kabardian
honey is in repute. Wood-cutting and the manufacture of
wooden wares, the making of búrkas (felt and fur cloaks), and
saddlery are very general. Nalchik is the chief town.
The Kabardians are a branch of the Adyghè (Circassians). The policy of Russia was always to be friendly with the Kabardian aristocracy, who were possessed of feudal rights over the Ossetes, the Ingushes, the Abkhasians and the mountain Tatars, and had command of the roads leading into Transcaucasia. Ivan the Terrible took Kabardia under his protection in the 16th century. Later, Russian influence was counterbalanced by that of the Crimean khans, but the Kabardian nobles nevertheless supported Peter the Great during his Caucasian campaign in 1722–23. In 1739 Kabardia was recognized as being under the double protectorate of Russia and Turkey, but thirty-five years later it was definitively annexed to Russia, and risings of the population in 1804 and 1822 were cruelly suppressed. Kabardia is considered as a school of good manners in Caucasia; the Kabardian dress sets the fashion to all the mountaineers. Kabardians constitute the best detachment of the personal Imperial Guards at St Petersburg.
A short grammar of the Kabardian language and a Russian-Kabardian dictionary, by Lopatinsky, were published in Sbornik Materialov dla Opisaniya Kavkaza (vol. xii., Tiflis, 1891). Fragments of the poem “Sosyruko,” some Persian tales, and the tenets of the Mussulman religion were printed in Kabardian in 1864, by Kazi Atazhukin and Shardanov. The common law of the Kabardians has been studied by Maxim Kovalevsky and Vsevolod Miller.
KABBA, a province of the British protectorate of Northern Nigeria, situated chiefly on the right bank of the Niger, between 7° 5′ and 8° 45′ N. and 5° 30′ and 7° E. It has an area of 7800 sq.
m. and an estimated population of about 70,000. The province
consists of relatively healthy uplands interspersed with fertile
valleys. It formed part at one time of the Nupe emirate, and
under Fula rule the armies of Bida regularly raided for slaves
and laid waste the country. Amongst the native inhabitants
the Igbira are very industrious, and crops of tobacco, indigo, all
the African grains, and a good quantity of cotton are already
grown. The sylvan products are valuable and include palm oil,
kolas, shea and rubber. Lokoja, a town which up to 1902 was
the principal British station in the protectorate, is situated in
this province. The site of Lokoja, with a surrounding tract of
country at the junction of the Benue and the Niger, was ceded
to the British government in 1841 by the attah of Idah, whose
dominions at that time extended to the right bank of the river.
The first British settlement was a failure. In 1854 MacGregor
Laird, who had taken an active part in promoting the exploration
of the river, sent thither Dr W. B. Baikie, who was successful
in dealing with the natives and in 1857 became the first
British consul in the interior. The town of Lokoja was founded
by him in 1860. In 1868 the consulate was abolished and the
settlement was left wholly to commercial interests. In 1879
Sir George Goldie formed the Royal Niger Company, which
bought out its foreign rivals and acquired a charter from the
British government. In 1886 the company made Lokoja its
military centre, and on the transfer of the company’s territories
to the Crown it remained for a time the capital of Northern
Nigeria. In 1902 the political capital of the protectorate was
shifted to Zungeru in the province of Zaria, but Lokoja remains
the commercial centre. The distance of Lokoja from the sea
at the Niger mouth is about 250 m.
In the absence of any central native authority the province is entirely dependent for administration upon British initiative. It has been divided into four administrative divisions. British and native courts of justice have been established. A British station has been established at Kabba town, which is an admirable site some 50 m. W. by N. of Lokoja, about 1300 ft. above the sea, and a good road has been made from Kabba to Lokoja. Roads have been opened through the province. (See Nigeria.)
KABBABISH (“goatherds”: James Bruce derives the name
from Hebsh, sheep), a tribe of African nomads of Semitic origin.
It is perhaps the largest “Arab” tribe in the Anglo-Egyptian
Sudan, and its many clans are scattered over the country extending
S.W. from the province of Dongola to the confines of Darfur.
The Kabbabish speak Arabic, but their pronunciation differs
much from that of the true Arabs. The Kabbabish have a
tradition that they came from Tunisia and are of Mogrebin or
western descent; but while the chiefs look like Arabs, the tribesmen
resemble the Beja family. They themselves declare that
