42 KONIGSHtfTTE rection of Bessel until his death in 1846, and contains one of the finest meridian globes in the world, prepared by Reichenbach. The first rector of the university was Georg Sabinus, the son-in-law of Melanchthon. It ^ became celebrated as the place where the philosophy of Kant was first propounded. Besides Kant, the names of Hamann, Hippel, Herder, Fichte, Herbart, and Jacobi are associated with the in- stitution. The new university buildings were completed in 1862. Konigsberg, which had been fortified by detached forts since 1843, has now been made one of the strongest fortresses of Prussia. KONIGSHCTTE, a town of Prussia, in the province of Silesia, formed in 1869 by the consolidation of the former domain of Konigs- hutte, which in 1864 had only 1,1 44 inhabitants, and several adjacent domains, 100 m. S. E. of Breslau; pop. in 1871, 19,546. It is one of the chief centres of the mining industry in the eastern portion of Prussia, and is the seat of a mining board which is subordinate to the su- preme mining board of Breslau. The produce of raw iron amounted in 1870 to about 1,000,- 000 cwt. About 3,000 workmen are employed in the government coal mines, which produce about 16,000,000 cwt. annually. KONIGSMARK. I. Philip Christopher, count of , a Swedish adventurer, born about 1650, killed July 1, 1694. While a colonel in the Swedish service he went to the court of Hanover in 1692. The prince elector (subsequently George I. of England) had married his cousin Sophia Dorothea, daughter of the duke of Celle, a princess celebrated for her beauty. Alienated from her husband by his gloomy and jealous character, Sophia was attracted by Konigs- mark, whom she had known when young, and availed herself of his offer to aid her to fly from the court of Hanover, where she was most unkindly treated, to France. Their interviews were watched, and one evening on quitting her he was assassinated by order of the elector. Dr. Doran, in his "Lives of the Queens of the House of Hanover," endeavors to exon- erate the princess from a guilty love for the gallant Swede ; but the fact of its existence is established by the letters which she exchanged with him, published by Palmblad (Leipsic, 1847). II. Maria Aurora, sister of the preceding, born probably in Stade about 1670, died in Quedlinburg, Feb. 16, 1728. She was an or- phan, and went while yet a young girl to Dres- den, hoping to recover by royal intervention ' her property, which was kept from her by Hamburg bankers. Augustus the Strong, the elector of Saxony and future king of Poland, made her his mistress, and by him she became mother of the celebrated Maurice of Saxony (Marshal Saxe). She was considered one of the most beautiful and accomplished women of her age. The last years of her life she spent in retirement as prioress of Quedlinburg. She left in manuscript a number of dramatic pieces and poems. The memorable incidents of her KOOMASSIE life were published by Cramer, DenTcwurdiglcei- ten der G-rafin Konigsmark (2 vols., Leipsic, 1836), and a biography was written by Palm- blad (6 vols., Leipsic, 1848-'53). KONIGSTEIN, a town of Saxony, at the con- fluence of the Biela with the Elbe, 18 m. S. E. of Dresden ; pop. about 3,000. It is noted for its picturesque situation opposite the fortress of Konigstein, a formidable stronghold upon a mass of rock 800 ft. high, on the left bank of the Elbe. The fortress is accessible only through a strongly defended passage on the northwest. A well, cut in the solid rock to a depth of 600 ft., supplies the garrison with water, and casemates, likewise excavated, con- tain storehouses for provisions. By virtue of the military convention of Feb. 7, 1867, it was partly garrisoned by Prussians. According to the German constitution of 1871 the commander is appointed by the emperor, though the garri- son now consists exclusively of Saxon soldiers. KOODOO. See ANTELOPE. KOOMASSIE, or Coomassie, a town of W. Af- rica, capital of Ashantee, about 105 m. N. by W. of Cape Coast Castle ; pop. (previous to its destruction in 1874) about 15,000. Its site is on the declivity of a hill of ironstone, around whose base flows the Suabin, a sluggish stream, which in the rainy season transforms the neighborhood into a swamp. Beyond it a dense forest extends to the coast on the south and several days' journey to the north. The town occupied a parallelogram about a mile in length by half a mile in breadth, and was laid out in squares, with broad, straight, and well kept streets. The principal ones, which were shaded with fine banian trees, were bordered with picturesque houses and verandas in front and projecting roofs, each having a large pub- lic room opening directly on the street, and smaller private rooms behind. The walls were of wattle work plastered with clay, the lower part colored with red ochre, the upper with white clay and ornamented with arabesque de- signs. In the rear of these houses, which were the residences of the chief men, were other buildings arranged in quadrangles, the homes of the slaves and retainers. N. of the road leading to Juabin was the king's palace, a col- lection of buildings and courtyards covering an area of five acres and surrounded by a palisade of bamboo 8 ft. high. It served at once as the royal abode, harem, mausoleum, and military magazine. The king's private residence was a strongly built edifice of two stories, of quarried stone plastered with lime mortar, enclosing a quadrangle 24 by 20 ft. It had a flat roof, and was fitted with battlements and loopholes for musketry. Within the town and extending nearly into its centre was the grove into which were thrown the bodies of the victims of the annual sacrifices, numbering frequently hun- dreds at a time. Koomassie had little trade and no manufactures of consequence, it being chiefly the place of residence of the sovereign and the nobles. It was founded about 1720.
