IDNO

N.19759.ROS

Description

Three Basabei? women from the Sabei region of Mount Elgon standing in front of a white screen; two wearing printed cloth, the other wearing white cloth. All three women wear a thick circular metal necklace, and metal bracelets as well as beaded bands around their heads. The woman wearing white also has an band around her head made from cowrie shells with a feather sticking up at the centre of her forehead.

Physical Condition: Glass plate negative in good condition. [ED 15/1/2008]

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 C32/8/ 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.

The negative was individually wrapped in tissue paper.

Publication: Similar image published in Roscoe, J., 1922. The Soul of Central Africa: An Account of the Mackie Ethnological Expedition. (London: Cassell and Co.), p. 277, with the caption: "Women of Sabei”. [ED 9/10/2007]

Clothing: "In spite of the fact that many of these people lived at great heights on the mountains, where the cold was often extreme, they wore practically nothing in the way of clothing; and though they took shelter in the warmth of their huts when the sun went down, they never allowed cold to interfere with their ordinary out-of-door tasks. ... A girl before she was of an age of marriage wore only a small apron four inches by six. This was often merely a fringe of grass twisted into strings, but sometimes seeds on the ends of bottle gourds were pierced and threaded on the strings. After a girl had reached marriageable age and had be initiated, she wore a robe over her shoulders and one round her waist hanging to her knees. The shoulder robe was usually a cow-skin; two corners were fastened together and it was slipped over her head, hanging over her shoulders to her waist with the opening in front, so that she could have her arms free or wrap the robe around her waist as she wished. The other robe was generally made of two or three goat-skins sewed together and hung from the waist to the knees” (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. 56). [ED 10/10/2007]

Context: "After a good deal of climbing we reached the next camp, where I meant to make my headquarters during my stay, and from there work up and down the mountain, visiting both the people and places of interest. This camp was a fairly level plateau in Sabei where the height registered by my aneroid was 8. 550 feet above sea level. In this part of the country I found greater difficulty in getting men who were willing and able to tell me about their customs. I questioned and talked to quite a number before I got hold of the right kind for my purpose. Fortunately, I soon found one man who was able to speak a language I knew and who was willing to be retained as an interpreter. Then, after two or three days’ general talk with the natives, I found three old men who by degrees became communicative and told me a good deal about their customs. By drawing comparisons between their stories and what I knew of other places I roused their interest, and they became quite anxious to prove how much more careful they were to adhere closely in all things to their tribal customs than were, for instance, the Bagesu.
The Basabei, as they call themselves, are an off-shoot of the Nandi and Turkana tribes, who do not follow milk customs entirely, though their ancestors were pastoral people.” (Roscoe, J., 1922. The Soul of Central Africa: An Account of the Mackie Ethnological Expedition. (London: Cassell and Co.), p. 268.). [ED 9/10/2007]

Context: "On the north and north-eastern slopes of Mount Elgon there is to be found a semi-pastoral tribe, divided into two sections, the Basabei and the Bambei. Though not so fine either in feature or physique as the pastoral people of Ankole, they ressembled the Negro-hamitic tribes of the Lake Region in appearance, but differed entirely from them in their mode of life. ... Much of their general behavior, however, seemed to connect them with the pastoral groups of the north-east, the Masai, the Nandi, the Wahumba of the Usagara hills, and the Wakikuyu, rather than with those of the south-west. Both men and women of the Basabei had to undergo initiation ceremonies before they were recognised as full members of the clan; until these rights were performed they might not enter into the council of the adults, nor might they marry.” (Roscoe, J., 1923. The Bakitara (or Banyoro): The First Part of the Report of The Mackie Ethnological Expedition to Central Africa. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), p. 51). [ED 9/10/2007]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Elisabeth Deane 2/11/2007]