IDNO

P.148605.MAT

Description

"Crowd of Saka, showing waist fringe, skin garment, neck rings, shaved & mostly shaved heads & long hair - the Suka characteristic."

Place

E Africa; Kenya

Cultural Affliation

Suka

Named Person

Photographer

Browne, Granville St John Orde (Lieutenant)

Collector / Expedition

Date

circa 1911

Collection Name

Museum Archive Transfer

Source

Browne, Granville St John Orde (Lieutenant)

Format

Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

P.148599.MAT - P.148606.MAT in envelope C983/ were transferred from MAA Archives AA4/2/2 by Jocelyne Dudding 17/01/2018.

Related Archive: Paper Archive AA4/2/2 is described as "Document - List of objects from Embu district, Kenya sent by Lt. S.J. Orde Brown. Includes ethnological notes on the district and specimens.
Also includes 8 photos with descriptions on back. Photos are referred to in notes.
Acc. 1912.7 (1-84); AR 1912.318-90." [JD 23/02/2022]

Related Archive: In Paper Archive AA4/2/2, Granville St John Orde Browne lists specimens as:
"No. 5(a) &(b). Pouch, of goat (or other) skin. Used in Embu, Suka, andEmberre, called 'B'oru'. Used in a varied form in Kikuyu & Mwimbe, & called 'móndu'. Carries tobacco flask for snuff, small knife, tweezers for pulling out hairs, and any other odds and ends.
Examples from Chief Kabandángo's section, Suka.
No. 6 (a) & (b). Neck rings of native smelted iron and native manufacture known in all sections as 'ngária' and also as 'ngámbe' in Mwimbe. The 'bells' which are fixed on the second example are known as 'mbúgi'. Worn more or less generally by all classes in all sections. Examples from Chief Kabandángo's & Chief Kibáu's sections of Suka.
No. 9 (a) & (b). Waist fringe, worn - sometimes as the only dress - in Suka, Mwimbe, and parts of Emberre & Embu. Known, but scarcely worn in Kikuyu.
The longer fringe hangs behind, the shorter in front: the string is tied round the hips, not the waist.
Worn by all ages, from small boys to old men.
Name Kikuyu 'Kibénia'
Suka 'Kithúria'
Emberre 'Kirígi'
also generally as 'Kathilhi'.
Specimen from Chief Kabandano's Suka.
No. 10. Skin, use this ornament or dress, hung from shoulder, or neck, either back or front. Various in it's form but is worn in all parts. Particular specimen is distinctively Suka. Worn by all ages of males, but chiefly by boys.
Known as 'Nguo' (meaning simply cloth or clothes)
or 'Muthíbe' (Kikuyu)
or 'Mgúng-u' other sections.
Specimen from Chief Kibau's Suka." [JD 02/03/2022]

Related Object: Granville St John Orde Brown donated neck rings to the MAA, reference E 1912.7.4; Z 1439 "necklace - A man's iron neck-ring, (neckring), Ngaria. The catalogue card (a duplicate) also notes Embu, Kenya Colony."
Orde Brown also donated a "dress - A fringe dress worn by men. (Kathithi)
Blue Book adds "worn on the waist", reference E 1912.7.1; Z 1436.
"Dress - A boy's skin dress, (nguo)
'W-shaped skin with a flap folded over a stick. One side of the skin is brown while the inner side is white. There is a fibre string attached to the wooden stick.", reference Z 1435. [JD 02/03/2022]