IDNO

N.19741.ROS

Description

An ‘old-style’ flat-roofed hut in the Sabei region of Mount Elgon. In the doorway, a woman and two young children can be seen.

Physical Condition: Glass plate negative in good condition. [ED 14/1/2008]

Place

E Africa; Uganda; eastern Uganda; Eastern District; near Mount Elgon; Sabei

Cultural Affliation

Basabei

Named Person

Photographer

?Roscoe, John R.

Collector / Expedition

Roscoe, John R. [Mackie Ethnological Expedition, Uganda, 1919 - 1920]

Date

1919 - 1920

Collection Name

Roscoe Collection

Source

Format

Glass Negative Halfplate

Primary Documentation

Other Information

This negative was kept in glass negative box marked C32/6/ by the cataloguer. The glass negative box was kept in box marked C32/ by the cataloguer.
Previously stored on Shelf 4, in group of 4 wooden boxes numbered 180.

Context: "BUILDING: When a man was going to build he had only one taboo which had to be observed-if the fire in the house where he lodged died out during the night he would not go to work that day.
The type of hut formerly used by the tribe, which was built so that it could not easily be destroyed by enemies, fell, of recent years, into disuse, and the bee-hive hut was adopted. The beehive hut with the grass roof was more easily and quickly built, requiring less labour and less timber than the old style; and therefore, when there was no longer the same danger of sudden raids, the people adopted it.
The old style of hut was oblong and flat-roofed, the walls being formed of poles some five feet long and not less than four inches in diameter, planted closely side by side in the ground and bound together. Posts were sometimes also planted inside the walls to carry stouter beams and help to support the roof. For the roof, poles some eight feet long and about the same thickness as those forming the walls were laid across from wall to wall projecting fully a foot beyond the walls to protect them from rain; then another layer of lighter timber was laid at right angles and bound to the first layer. The interstices were filled up with coarse grass, and a layer of damp earth about four inches deep was spread on the top and beaten hard. This earth was a little thicker in the centre than at the sides so that rain ran down and off the sides of the hut. A layer of mud was also plastered on the walls both inside and out and smoothed with the palm of the hand.” (Roscoe, J., 1924. The Bagesu and other tribes of the Uganda Protectorate: The Third Part of the Report of the Mackie Ethnological Expedition to Central Africa. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.), p. 64 - 65). [ED 6/11/2007]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Elisabeth Deane 14/1/2008]