K R U K R U 149
KRÜDENER, Barbara Juliana von Wietinghoff, Baroness von (1766-1824), authoress of the romance of Valérie, but better known by the religious fervour and pious mysticism of her later years, was born of noble and wealthy parents at Riga, November 21, 1766. Her education, which was an elaborate one, was received partly in her father's house and partly in Paris. While still very young she was married to the Baron von Krüdener, a Russian diplomatist twenty years her senior, whom she accompanied to Copenhagen and subsequently to Venice; the union did not prove a very happy one, and for some years the couple lived apart. It is understood that Valérie, published by Madame Krüdener in 1804, is to a considerable extent an autobiography of this period of her life; if this be so, it is impossible to exonerate her of all blame for the domestic misfortunes which befel her. After the death of her husband she resided for some time in Paris, mingling freely with a large and brilliant social circle, but afterwards she retired to her property in Livonia, where her sense of the vanity of earthly things gradually deepened, and religious yearnings were quickened which ultimately found satisfaction in the doctrine and worship of the Moravian community. In 1808 she saw much, of Jung Stilling at Carlsruhe and of Oberlin in Steinthal; and the religious convictions now formed were held by her with such earnestness that she felt constrained to adopt the vocation of an itinerant preacher. Her obvious sincerity, her culture and refinement, her social standing, enabled her to attract considerable notice throughout Baden, in Strasburg, and in Switzerland, especially in Geneva; and at Heilbronn in 1815 she could reckon even an emperor (Alexander I. of Russia) among her attentive hearers. Her activity, how ever, which was hardly favourable to established church order, soon became distasteful to the authorities, and, after being invited to withdraw from more than one German state, she again retired into private life on her estate in 1818. Led by her enthusiasm of humanity to St Petersburg, she was dismissed by the emperor for having declared her sympathy for the struggling cause of Greece. Ill health now came upon her, and she was advised by her physicians to seek a warmer climate. On the southward journey she died at Karasu-Bazar on December 25, 1824. Her life has been written by Eynard (Vie de Madame de Krüdener, 2 vols., Paris, 1849).
KRUMEN, Croomen, Krus, or Croos, a negro people on the west cimt of Africa. The name is properly Kra or Krao, though the corrupt form Crew-men has sometimes been put forward as the original. Ethnographically it ought to be confined to the tribes settled in the neighbour hood of the Since in the republic of Liberia, where their chief towns are known as Settra Kru, Little Kru, and Nana Kru; but, as they were the first west African people who ventured to take service on board European vessels, it is now generally applied to about a score of tribes living along 200 miles of coast who in this respect have followed their example. In spite of the fact that the Krus have come into close connexion with Europeans for a long series of years, the information in regard to them is of the scantiest description. They are an independent as well as an enterprising people, and keep themselves very much apart from other tribes. It is said that they have never famished even a nominal convert to Christianity. They are now mainly engaged as traders or agents; and com paratively few of the Krumen proper are to be found serving as boatmen or sailors. As soon as they have amassed a competency they return to their native country. They keep no slaves themselves, and they are never found in slavery abroad. The men are tall, strong, and well- proportioned, with bluish-black complexion, woolly and abundant hair, and a greater frequency of beard than is
common among negroes. They appear to be dolichocephalic and prognathic. Their women are of a lighter shade than negro women generally, and in several respects come much nearer to a European standard. Tribal or clan marks are worn on the face: the Krumen examined by Schlagintweit, for example, had a blue vertical stroke on the brow; those seen by Wittstein at Monrovia had a black stroke and an arrow directed from the ear to the eye. Dr Bleek classifies the Kru language with the Mandingo family, and in this he is followed by Latham; Dr Koelle, who published a Kru grammar (1854), considers it as distinct.
Further details will be found in Quatrefages and Hamy, Crania Ethnica, part ix., 1878-79, p. 363; Schlagintweit-Sakunlunski, in the Sitzungsbericht of the Academy at Munich, 1875; Nicolas, in Bull. de la Soc. d Anthrop., Paris, 1872.
KRUMMACHER. Three members of this family have attained some popularity as religious writers in Germany and indeed throughout Reformed Protestant Christendom.
1. Friedrich Adolf Krummacher was born July 13, 1768, at Tecklenburg, Westphalia, studied theology at Lingen and Halle, and became successively rector of the grammar school at Mors, professor of theology at Duisburg, preacher at Crefeld and afterwards at Kettwich, consisto rialrath and superintendent in Bernburg, and pastor of the Ansgariuskirche in Bremen (1824), where he died on 14th April 1845. He was the author of numerous religious works, but is best known by his Parabeln, first published in 1805, which have gone through numerous German editions (9th ed., Essen, 1876), and have been translated into English and other European languages.
2. Gottfried Daniel Krummacher, born at Tecklenburg, April 1, 1774, was pastor successively in Bärl, Wulfrath, and Elberfeld. He was the leader of the "pietists" of Wupperthal, and published several volumes of sermons, including one entitled Israel's Wanderings. His death occurred on January 30, 1837.
3. Friedrich Wilhelm Krummacher, son of Friedrich Adolf, was born at Mors, January 28, 1796, studied theology at Halle and Jena, and became pastor successively at Ruhrort (1823) and Gemarke, near Barmen (1825). In 1847 he received an appointment to the Dreifaltigkeitskirche in Berlin, and in 1853 he became court preacher at Potsdam. He died December 10, 1868. F. W. Krummacher was an influential promoter of the Evangelical Alliance. His best known works are Elias der Thisbiter (1828-33; 6th ed. 1874), well known to English readers, and Elisa (1837), also translated, but much less popular both in England and Germany than its predecessor. He published several volumes of sermons, and an Autobiography appeared in 1869.
KRUSENSTERN, Adam John (1770-1846), Russian navigator, hydrographer, and admiral, was born in Esthonia on November 8, 1770. In 1785 he entered the corps of naval cadets, after leaving which, in 1788, with the grade of midshipman, he served in the war against Sweden. Having been appointed to serve in the English fleet for several years (1793-99), he visited America, India, and China. Having published a paper pointing out the advan tages of direct communication between Russia and China by Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope, he was appointed by the emperor Alexander to make a voyage to the east coast of Asia to endeavour to carry out the project. Two English ships were bought, Krusenstern commanding the one and Lisiansky the other. Leaving Cronstadt in August 1803, Krusenstern proceeded by Cape Horn aud the Sand wich Islands to Kamchatka, and thence to Japan. Re turning to Europe by the Cape of Good Hope, after an extended series of explorations, Krusenstern reached Kron- stadt in August 1806, his being the first Russian expedition