IDNO

P.141854.RDG

Description

Documentary photograph of an "Elephant hair bracelet, Angoweland." [Ridgeway's caption, c. 1908]

Place

C Africa; ?Malawi; Angowe [Angoweland]

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Photographer

None

Collector / Expedition

Ridgeway, William

Date

pre 1908

Collection Name

Ridgeway Collection

Source

Format

Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

P.141834.RDG - P.141877.RDG were located in a brown envelope, now numbered C987/, and transferred from MAA Paper Archives, W10/2/6, by Jos Dudding, 17/1/2018.

Publication: Ridgeway, William. 'The Origin of the Turkish Crescent.' The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 38, 1908, pp. 241–258. Plate XXI, Fig. 19. Elephant's hair bracelet, Angoweland.
"There is plenty of evidence to show that hairs from an elephant's tail as well as objects made of ivory have always been regarded as highly talismanic by many African peoples. I have two bracelets each formed of a hair from an elephant's tail made especially to be a talisman by an aged chief in Angoweland (Fig. 19). These objects were kindly given to me by my niece, Mrs. Montgomery Miller. Pigafetta tells us that such hairs were greatly prized as amulets by the people of Congo, " because the elephant is a mighty beast." (1908: 246) [www.jstor.org/stable/2843299, JD 16/08/2018]