porcelain-makers. Subsequently the term applied by long custom to
designate the material itself became corrupted into the word now
familiar in all countries,--kaolin. In the language of the Chinese
potters, the _kaolin_, or clay, was poetically termed the "bones," and
the _tun_, or quartz, the "flesh" of the porcelain; while the prepared
bricks of the combined substances were known as _pe-tun-tse_. Both
substances, the infusible and the fusible, are productions of the same
geological formation,--decomposed feldspathic rock.

KASÍ (_or_ VARANASI).--Ancient name of Benares, the "Sacred City,"
believed to have been founded by the gods. It is also called "The
Lotos of the World." Barth terms it "the Jerusalem of all the sects
both of ancient and modern India." It still boasts two thousand
shrines, and half a million images of divinities. See also Sherring's
"Sacred City of the Hindoos."

KIANG-KOU-JIN.--Literally, the "tell-old-story-men." For a brief account
of Chinese professional story-tellers, the reader may consult Schlegel's
entertaining introduction to the _Mai-yu-lang-toú-tchen-hoa-koueï_.

KIN.--The most perfect of Chinese musical instruments, also
called "the Scholar's Lute." The word _kin_ also means "to prohibit";
and this name is said to have been given to the instrument because
music, according to Chinese belief, "_restrains evil passions, and
corrects the human heart_." See Williams's "Middle Kingdom."

KOUEI.--Kouei, musician to the Emperor Yao, must have held his
office between 2357 and 2277 B.C. The extract selected from one of his
songs, which I have given at the beginning of the "Story of Ming-Y," is
therefore more than four thousand years old. The same chant contains