IDNO

P.6986.ACH1

Description

On Catalogue Card: Young man playing with a snake (cf. G. Lindblom, The Akamba, p.305)

Place

E Africa; Kenya; Machakos district; west Ukamba

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Photographer

Lindblom, Gerhard (Prof.)

Collector / Expedition

Expeditions to British East Africa, 1910 - 1920

Date

1912

Collection Name

Mounted Haddon Collection

Source

Format

Print Black & White Mounted

Primary Documentation

Other Information

Publication: Image published in G. Lindblom, The Akamba in British East Africa; an ethnological monograph, p.305, fig. 62, with the following caption:
"Young man playing with a snake."
The related text on p.305 notes:
"There are no professional snake-tamers in Ukamba, but during the latter period of my stay in the country (1912) I came across several young men who had small snakes and took them with them when they strolled about (fig. 62). One of these young men came to me one day with two uguluku, a common small snake, which the Akamba say is poisonous, though as a matter of fact they say this about most snakes. He put their heads in his mouth, let them coil round his neck, etc. They showed the usual inertness of tame snakes, but one of them continually tried to get away, when their owner put them down on the ground. He said that he had given them 'medicine' and showed me tow kinds of powder, one black and one white." [JD 10/2/2013]

MAA Facebook: This image was published on the MAA's Facebook page 'Year of the Snake' album, 11/2/2013, with the following caption:
“‘Young Akamba man playing with a snake’
Lindlom writes of the occasion of the photograph: "[Same extract from publication as above]."
west Ukamba, Machakos district, Kenya.
(G. Lindblom, The Akamba in British East Africa; an ethnological monograph, p.305)
Photograph by Gerhard Lindblom, 1912
P.6986.ACH1" [JD 11/5/2013]