dust as to bury their forests and greatly to increase the area of the land. So much was the sea filled up that a number of new islands rose above its level. But a vast body of the fine dust was carried far and wide by aerial currents, while the floating pumice was transported for many hundreds of miles on the surface of the ocean. At Batavia, 100 m. from the centre of eruption, the sky was darkened by the quantity of ashes borne across it, and lamps had to be used in the houses at midday. The darkness even reached as far as Bandong, a distance of nearly 150 miles. It was computed that the column of stones, dust and ashes projected from the volcano shot up into the air for a height of 17 m. or more. The finer particles coming into the higher layers of the atmosphere were diffused over a large part of the surface of the earth, and showed their presence by the brilliant sunset glows to which they gave rise. Within the tropics they were at first borne along by air-currents at an estimated rate of about 73 m. an hour from east to west, until within a period of six weeks they were diffused over nearly the whole space between the latitudes 30° N. and 45° S. Eventually they spread northwards and southwards and were carried over North and South America, Europe, Asia, South Africa and Australasia. In the Old World they spread from the north of Scandinavia to the Cape of Good Hope.
Another remarkable result of this eruption was the world-wide disturbance of the atmosphere. The culminating paroxysm on the morning of the 27th of August gave rise to an atmospheric wave or oscillation, which, travelling outwards from the volcano as a centre, became a great circle at 180° from its point of origin, whence it continued travelling onwards and contracting till it reached a node at the antipodes to Krakatoa. It was then reflected or reproduced, travelling backwards again to the volcano, whence it once more returned in its original direction. “In this manner its repetition was observed not fewer than seven times at many of the stations, four passages having been those of the wave travelling from Krakatoa, and three those of the wave travelling from its antipodes, subsequently to which its traces were lost” (Sir R. Strachey).
The actual sounds of the volcanic explosions were heard over a vast area, especially towards the west. Thus they were noticed at Rodriguez, nearly 3000 English miles away, at Bangkok (1413 m.), in the Philippine Islands (about 1450 m.), in Ceylon (2058 m.) and in West and South Australia (from 1300 to 2250 m.). On no other occasion have sound-waves ever been perceived at anything like the extreme distances to which the detonations of Krakatoa reached.
Not less manifest and far more serious were the effects of the successive explosions of the volcano upon the waters of the ocean. A succession of waves was generated which appear to have been of two kinds, long waves with periods of more than an hour, and shorter but higher waves, with irregular and much briefer intervals. The greatest disturbance, probably resulting from a combination of both kinds of waves, reached a height of about 50 ft. The destruction caused by the rush of such a body of sea-water along the coasts and low islands was enormous. All vessels lying in harbour or near the shore were stranded, the towns, villages and settlements close to the sea were either at once, or by successive inundations, entirely destroyed, and more than 36,000 human beings perished. The sea-waves travelled to vast distances from the centre of propagation. The long wave reached Cape Horn (7818 geographical miles) and possibly the English Channel (11,040 m.). The shorter waves reached Ceylon and perhaps Mauritius (2900 m.).
See R. D. M. Verbeek, Krakatau (Batavia, 1886); “The Eruption of Krakatoa and Subsequent Phenomena,” Report of the Krakatoa Committee of the Royal Society (London, 1888).
KRAKEN, in Norwegian folk-lore, a sea-monster, believed to haunt the coasts of Norway. It was described in 1752 by the Norwegian bishop Pontoppidan as having a back about a mile and a half round and a body which showed above the sea like an island, and its arms were long enough to enclose the largest ship. The further assertion that the kraken darkened the water around it by an excretion suggests that the myth was based on the appearance of some gigantic cuttle-fish.
See J. Gibson, Monsters of the Sea (1887); A. S. Packard, “Colossal Cuttle-fishes,” American Naturalist (Salem, 1873), vol. vii.; A. E. Verrill, “The Colossal Cephalopods of the Western Atlantic,” in American Naturalist (Salem, 1875), vol. ix.; and “Gigantic Squids,” in Trans. of Connecticut Academy (1879), vol. v.
KRALYEVO (sometimes written Kraljevo or Kralievo), a city of Servia, and capital of a department bearing the same name. Kralyevo is built beside the river Ibar, 4 m. W. of its confluence
with the Servian Morava; and in the midst of an upland
valley, between the Kotlenik Mountains, on the north, and the Stolovi Mountains, on the south. Formerly known as Karanovats, Kralyevo received its present name, signifying “the King’s
Town,” from King Milan (1868–1889), who also made it a bishopric,
instead of Chachak, 22 m. W. by N. Kralyevo is a garrison
town, with a prefecture, court of first instance, and an agricultural
school. But by far its most interesting feature is the Coronation
church belonging to Jicha monastery. Here six or seven kings
are said to have been crowned. The church is Byzantine in
style, and has been partially restored; but the main tower dates
from the year 1210, when it was founded by St Sava, the patron
saint of Servia. Pop. (1900), about 3600.
The famous monastery of Studenitsa, 24 m. S. by W. of Kralyevo, stands high up among the south-western mountains, overlooking the Studenitsa, a tributary of the Ibar. It consists of a group of old-fashioned timber and plaster buildings, a tall belfry, and a diminutive church of white marble, founded in 1190 by King Stephen Nemanya, who himself turned monk and was canonized as St Simeon. The carvings round the north, south and west doors have been partially defaced by the Turks. The inner walls are decorated with Byzantine frescoes, among which only a painting of the Last Supper, and the portraits of five saints, remain unrestored. The dome and narthex are modern additions. Besides the silver shrine of St Simeon, many gold and silver ornaments, church vessels and old manuscripts, there are a set of vestments and a reliquary, believed by the monks to have been the property of St Sava.
KRANTZ (or Crantz), ALBERT (c. 1450–1517), German historian, was a native of Hamburg. He studied law, theology and history at Rostock and Cologne, and after travelling through western and southern Europe was appointed professor, first of philosophy and subsequently of theology, in the university of Rostock, of which he was rector in 1482. In 1493 he returned to Hamburg as theological lecturer, canon and prebendary in the cathedral. By the senate of Hamburg he was employed on more than one diplomatic mission abroad, and in 1500 he was chosen by the king of Denmark and the duke of Holstein as arbiter in their dispute regarding the province of Dithmarschen. As dean of the cathedral chapter, to which office he was appointed in 1508, Krantz applied himself with zeal to the reform of ecclesiastical abuses, but, though opposed to various corruptions connected with church discipline, he had little sympathy with the drastic measures of Wycliffe or Huss. With Luther’s protest against the abuse of Indulgences he was in general sympathy, but with the reformer’s later attitude he could not agree. When, on his death-bed, he heard of the ninety-five theses, he is said, on good authority, to have exclaimed: “Brother, Brother, go into thy cell and say, God have mercy upon me!” Krantz died on the 7th of December 1517.
Krantz was the author of a number of historical works which for the period when they were written are characterized by exceptional impartiality and research. The principal of these are Chronica regnorum aquilonarium Daniae, Sueciae, et Norvagiae (Strassburg, 1546); Vandalia, sive Historia de Vandalorum vera origine, &c. (Cologne, 1518); Saxonia (1520); and Metropolis, sive Historia de ecclesiis sub Carolo Magno in Saxonia (Basel, 1548). See life by N. Wilckens (Hamburg, 1722).
KRASNOVODSK, a seaport of Russian Transcaspia, on the N. shore of Balkhan or Krasnovodsk Bay, on the S. side of the Caspian Sea, opposite to Baku, and at 69 ft. below sea-level. Pop. (1897), 6359. It is defended by a fort. Here begins the Transcaspian railway to Merv and Bokhara. There is a fishing
