Kavala has been identified with Neapolis, at which St Paul landed on his way from Samothrace to Philippi (Acts xvi. 11). Neapolis was the port of Philippi, as Kavala now is of Seres; in the bay on which it stands the fleet of Brutus and Cassius was stationed during the battle of Philippi. Some authorities identify Neapolis with Datum (Δάτον), mentioned by Herodotus as famous for its gold mines.
KAVANAGH, ARTHUR MACMORROUGH (1831-1889), Irish politician, son of Thomas Kavanagh, M.P., who traced his descent to the ancient kings of Leinster, was born in Co. Carlow, Ireland, on the 25th of March 1831. He had only the rudiments of arms and legs, but in spite of these physical defects had a remarkable career. He learnt to ride in the most fearless way, strapped to a special saddle, and managing the horse with the stumps of his arms; and also fished, shot, drew and wrote, various mechanical contrivances being devised to supplement his limited physical capacities. He travelled extensively in Egypt, Asia Minor, Persia and India between 1846 and 1853, and after succeeding to the family estates in the latter year, he married in 1855 his cousin, Miss Frances Mary Leathley. Assisted by his wife, he was a most philanthropic landlord, and was an active county magistrate and chairman of the board of guardians. A Conservative and a Protestant, he sat in Parliament for Co. Wexford from 1866 to 1868, and for Co. Carlow from 1868 to 1880. He was opposed to the disestablishment of the Irish Church, but supported the Land Act of 1870, and sat on the Bessborough Commission. In 1886 he was made a member of the Privy Council in Ireland. He died of pneumonia on the 25th of December 1889, in London. It is supposed that his extraordinary career suggested the idea of “Lucas Malet’s” novel, The History of Sir Richard Calmady.
KAVANAGH, JULIA (1824-1877), British novelist, was born at Thurles in Tipperary, Ireland, in 1824. She was the daughter of Morgan Peter Kavanagh (d. 1874), author of various worthless philological works and some poems. Julia spent several years of her early life with her parents in Normandy, laying there the foundation of a mastery of the French language and insight into French modes of thought, which was perfected by her later frequent and long residences in France. Miss Kavanagh’s literary career began with her arrival in London about 1844, and her uneventful life affords few incidents to the biographer. Her first book was Three Paths (1847), a story for the young; but her first work to attract notice was Madeleine, a Tale of Auvergne (1848). Other books followed: A Summer and Winter in the Two Sicilies (1858); French Women of Letters (1862); English Women of Letters (1862); Woman in France during the 18th Century (1850); and Women of Christianity (1852). The scenes of her stories are almost always laid in France, and she handles her French themes with fidelity and skill. Her style is simple and pleasing rather than striking; and her characters are interesting without being strongly individualized. Her most popular novels were perhaps Adèle (1857), Queen Mab (1863), and John Dorrien (1875). On the outbreak of the Franco-German War Julia Kavanagh removed with her mother from Paris to Rouen. She died at Nice on the 28th of October 1877.
KAVASS, or Cavass (adapted from the Turkish qawwas, a bow-maker; Arabic qaws, a bow), a Turkish name for an armed police-officer; also for a courier such as it is usual to engage when travelling in Turkey.
KAVIRONDO, a people of British East Africa, who dwell in the valley of the Nzoia River, on the western slopes of Mount Elgon, and along the north-east coast of Victoria Nyanza. Kavirondo is the general name of two distinct groups of tribes, one Bantu and the other Nilotic. Both groups are immigrants, the Bantu from the south, the Nilotic from the north. The Bantu appear to have been the first comers. The Nilotic tribes, probably an offshoot of the Acholi (q.v.), appear to have crossed the lake to reach their present home, the country around Kavirondo Gulf. Of the two groups the Bantu now occupy a more northerly position than their neighbours, and “are practically the most northerly representatives of that race” (Hobley). Their further progress north was stopped by the southward movement of the Nilotic tribes, while the Nilotic Kavirondo in their turn had their wanderings arrested by an irruption of Elgumi people from the east. The Elgumi are themselves probably of Nilotic origin. Both groups of Kavirondo are physically fine, the Nilotic stock appearing more virile than the Bantu. The Bantu Kavirondo are divided into three principal types—the Awa-Rimi, the Awa-Ware and the Awa-Kisii. By the Nilotic Kavirondo their Bantu neighbours are known as Ja-Mwa. The generic name for the Nilotic tribes is Ja-Luo. The Bantu Kavirondo call them Awa-Nyoro. The two groups have many characteristics in common. A characteristic feature of the people is their nakedness. Among the Nilotic Kavirondo married men who are fathers wear a small piece of goat-skin, which though practically useless as a covering must be worn according to tribal etiquette. Even among men who have adopted European clothing this goat-skin must still be worn underneath. Contact with whites has led to the adoption of European clothing by numbers of the men, but the women, more conservative, prefer nudity or the scanty covering which they wore before the advent of Europeans. Among the Bantu Kavirondo married women wear a short fringe of black string in front and a tassel of banana fibre suspended from a girdle behind, this tassel having at a distance the appearance of a tail. Hence the report of early travellers as to a tailed race in Africa. The Nilotic Kavirondo women wear the tail, but dispense with the fringe in front. For “dandy” they wear a goat-skin slung over the shoulders. Some of the Bantu tribes practise circumcision, the Nilotic tribes do not. Patterns are tattooed on chest and stomach for ornament. Men, even husbands, are forbidden to touch the women’s tails, which must be worn even should any other clothing be wrapped round the body. The Kavirondo are noted for their independent and pugnacious nature, their honesty and their sexual morality, traits particularly marked among the Bantu tribes. There are more women than men, and thus the Kavirondo are naturally inclined towards polygamy. Among the Bantu tribes a man has the refusal of all the younger sisters of his wife as they attain puberty. Practically no woman lives unmarried all her life, for if no suitor seeks her, she singles out a man and offers herself to him at a “reduced price,” an offer usually accepted, as the women are excellent agricultural labourers. The Nilotic Kavirondo incline to exogamy, endeavouring always to marry outside their clan. Girls are betrothed at six or seven, and the husband-elect continually makes small presents to his father-in-law-elect till the bride reaches womanhood. It is regarded as shameful if the girl be not found a virgin on her wedding day. She is sent back to her parents, who have to return the marriage price, and pay a fine. The wife’s adultery was formerly punished with death, and the capital penalty was also inflicted on young men and girls guilty of unchastity. Among the Bantu Kavirondo the usual minimum price for a wife is forty hoes, twenty goats and one cow, paid in instalments. The Nilotic Kavirondo pay twenty sheep and two to six cows; the husband-elect can claim his bride when he has made half payment. If a woman dies without bearing children, the amount of her purchase is returnable by her father, unless the widower consents to replace her by another sister. The women are prolific and the birth of twins is common. This is considered a lucky event, and is celebrated by feasting and dances. Among the Bantu Kavirondo the mother of twins must remain in her hut for seven days. Among the Nilotic Kavirondo the parents and the infants must stay in the hut for a whole month. If a Bantu mother has lost two children in succession the next child born is taken out at dawn and placed on the road, where it is left till a neighbour, usually a woman friend who has gone that way on purpose, picks it up. She takes it to its mother who gives a goat in return. A somewhat similar custom prevails among the Nilotic tribes. Names are not male and female, and a daughter often bears her father’s name.
The Kavirondo bury their dead. Among one of the Bantu tribes, the Awa-Kisesa, a chief is buried in the floor of his own hut in a sitting position, but at such a depth that the head protrudes. Over the head an earthenware pot is placed, and his principal wives have to remain in the hut till the flesh is eaten by ants or decomposes, when the skull is removed and buried close to the hut. Later the skeleton is unearthed, and reburied with much ceremony in the sacred burial place of the tribe. Married women of the Bantu tribes are buried in their hut lying on their right side with legs doubled up, the hut being then deserted. Among the Nilotic tribes the grave is dug beneath the verandah of the hut. Men of the Bantu tribes are buried in an open space in the midst of their huts; in the Nilotic tribes, if the first wife of the deceased be alive he is buried in her hut, if not, beneath the verandah of the hut in which he died. A child is buried near the door of its mother’s hut. A sign of mourning is a cord of banana fibre worn round the neck and waist. A chief chooses, sometimes years before his death, one of his sons to succeed him, often giving a brass bracelet as insignia. A man’s property is divided equally among his children.