1934.8.20.1

Collection type

Object

Description

Tobacco-box made from the narrow end of a gourd [.1] with disc-shaped lid [.2] attached by string; contains some loose residue [RTS 22/9/2004].

Long description

Small container for tobacco [.1], made from the narrow, bulbous upper part of a gourd. This has been cut flat across the top, forming a narrow rim that is circular in plan view. The body is narrow and cylindrical, with the sides flaring concavely in then swelling out again just above the rounded base; this has a knot in the centre where the gourd would have been attached to its parent stem. The interior shows the natural fibrous interior of the gourd, with vertical fibres running down the sides; this is a pale yellow colour (Pantone 7506C). The exterior surface is mottled orange (Pantone 723C) and reddish brown (Pantone 469C). The container is accompanied by a small circular disc-shaped lid [.2], roughly chipped around the edges and made from a thick piece of gourd. This is attached to the vessel with a length of light cream coloured (Pantone 7401C) twisted fibre cord, possibly cotton and possibly European. This has been passed through two small holes, bored in the upper body of the vessel, with the loose ends then brought together, passed through a hole in the centre of the lid and secured with a knot on the other side. There is a small amount of residue inside the container, which includes soil particles; the interior of the container has a strong scent, but not necessarily of tobacco. Both parts are complete and intact. The vessel and its lid combined weigh 12.2 grams. The vessel rim measures 38.9 by 38.5 mm, while the body is 77 mm high and has walls that are 3 mm thick. The lid has a diameter of 30.5 mm, and is 8 mm thick. The string has a diameter of 0.5 mm [RTS 22/9/2004].

Geographical reference

South Sudan

Africa > Eastern Africa > South Sudan

Warab Fanamweir

Cultural groups

Dinka

Person

Field collector Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton

Field collector Hannah Powell-Cotton

PRM source Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1933

Date collected

3rd May 1933

Acquisition information

Donated: 1934

Materials and processes

Material Gourd Plant, Material String, Material Cotton Seed Fibre Textile Plant, Process Carved, Process Hollowed, Process Dried, Process Perforated, Process Twisted, Process Knotted

Dimensions

Height 8 mm, Height 77 mm, Width 28.5 mm, Length 38.9 mm, Diameter 30.5 mm, Weight 12.2 g

Object numbers

Accession number: 1934.8.20.1 Accession number: 1934.8.20.2 Other numbers: 2296

Research and responses

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica Online, the White Nile is the section of the Nile between Malakal and Khartoum, Sudan [CW 23/3/2000]. However the way in which this term has been used seems to have changed since this object was collected, and Fanamweir appears to be located in the administrative district of Warab in the Southern Sudan. Powell-Cotton made ethnographic films during his 1932-3 shooting expedition to southern Sudan; footage included a Dinka hunter setting a trap, a staged fight between a Dinka and Jur and a female Dinka potter at work (see the description in Mrs Powell Cotton, "Village Handicrafts in the Sudan", Man 34 (112), pp 90-91).

Nebel defines the term Tap (tab) as ‘tobacco’ (Nebel 1979, Dinka-English Dictionary, p. 81); not sure what the term 'gun' signifies in this context [RTS 8/11/2004].

Search terms: Narcotic, Vessel, Box, Cordage, Tobacco Accessory, Lid, Tobacco Narcotic