Nuer tobacco cake
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1937.34.62
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan]
Cultural Group:
Nuer
Date Made:
By 1936
Materials:
Tobacco Plant
Process:
Modelled , Dried
Dimensions:
L = 125, W = 80, Ht = 40 mm [RTS 19/10/2004].
Weight:
150.3 g
Local Name:
Tap
Other Owners:
Collected by Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard during his last period of fieldwork amongst the Nuer between October and November 1936, where he worked amongst the Nuer Leek in the area west of the Nile [RTS 6/7/2004].
Field Collector:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
PRM Source:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Acquired:
Donated 1937
Collected Date:
October to November 1936
Description:
Oval cake of compressed tobacco, somewhat fibrous in texture and orangey brown in colour (Pantone 463C).
The cake is oval in plan view, with a convex back, well defined edges and irregular, concave underside with some linear impressions running randomly across the surface.
It is complete and intact, with a weight of 150.3 grams, measuring 125 mm long, 80 mm wide and 40 mm high.
Collected by Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard during his last period of fieldwork amongst the Nuer between October and November 1936, where he worked amongst the Nuer Leek in the area west of the Nile (pers. comm. Chris Morton 2004).
This cake would have been used for smoking, and as snuff. It is known to the Nuer as tap. The Dinka Tuich use the same term for tobacco products - see for example 1979.20.82 tiem tap , a zoomorphic tobacco box; gourd tobacco flask 1934.8.20, known as guntab, and wooden and gourd tobacco containers 1979.20.104 and 1979.20.90, known as matup tap.
Schweinfurth published a tobacco cake of similar form, in his section on the 'Mittoo', who were probably one of the sub-groups of the Rumbek Jur; this was slightly smaller, with a diameter of 30 mm. He commented that “The tobacco, which so frequently circulates in commerce as a substitute for money among all the negro tribes of the Upper Nile territory, has this shape, and Col. Speke observed it also among the Wanyamuezi. The leaves, while in a half-dry state, having been pounded in a small wooden mortar, the latter is used as a form, and the pounded lumps are then left to dry. The very compact mass has subsequently to be ground between stones and broken into small pieces to be employed as tobacco for smoking" (G.A. Schweinfurth, 1875, Artes Africanae, pl. X figure 2). See also tobacco cake 1937.64.61, which is conical, and 63-64 (Nuer, Evans-Pritchard), and 1902.17.2 (Shilluk, D. Gunn - made by being steeped in cow's urine and pressed into a cake), which have an oval form with convex top.
Rachael Sparks 18/9/2005.
Collected by Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard during his last period of fieldwork amongst the Nuer between October and November 1936, where he worked amongst the Nuer Leek in the area west of the Nile (pers. comm. Chris Morton 2004).
This cake would have been used for smoking, and as snuff. It is known to the Nuer as tap. The Dinka Tuich use the same term for tobacco products - see for example 1979.20.82 tiem tap , a zoomorphic tobacco box; gourd tobacco flask 1934.8.20, known as guntab, and wooden and gourd tobacco containers 1979.20.104 and 1979.20.90, known as matup tap.
Schweinfurth published a tobacco cake of similar form, in his section on the 'Mittoo', who were probably one of the sub-groups of the Rumbek Jur; this was slightly smaller, with a diameter of 30 mm. He commented that “The tobacco, which so frequently circulates in commerce as a substitute for money among all the negro tribes of the Upper Nile territory, has this shape, and Col. Speke observed it also among the Wanyamuezi. The leaves, while in a half-dry state, having been pounded in a small wooden mortar, the latter is used as a form, and the pounded lumps are then left to dry. The very compact mass has subsequently to be ground between stones and broken into small pieces to be employed as tobacco for smoking" (G.A. Schweinfurth, 1875, Artes Africanae, pl. X figure 2). See also tobacco cake 1937.64.61, which is conical, and 63-64 (Nuer, Evans-Pritchard), and 1902.17.2 (Shilluk, D. Gunn - made by being steeped in cow's urine and pressed into a cake), which have an oval form with convex top.
Rachael Sparks 18/9/2005.
Primary Documentation:
Accession Book Entry
[p.
38, pencil in left column] 34 [ink]
E.E.
EVANS-PRITCHARD
, M.A., Exeter College.
Specimens collected by himself in the EASTERN SUDAN, vis: [addition in different pen] (Coll.
in 1936) [p.
41, pencil] 61-64 [ink] - [1 of] 4 Cakes of compressed tobacco,
tap
, for smoking & snuff.
(one broken).
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the tribes catalogue card [RTS 23/7/2004].
Detailed Pipes [Unsorted] Card Catalogue entry - 2. Description: Tobacco for smoking and snuff. Cake of brown tobacco roughly oval in shape, flattened and almost concave on one side, rounded on the other. Length c 12.8 cm, width c 8.5 cm, Max thickness c 3.5 cm. People: Nuer tribe. Locality: A.E. Sudan. Native name: Tap. Collected by: E. Evans-Pritchard. How Acquired: dd E. Evans-Pritchard 1937 [Drawing].
Written on object - Tap , tobacco for smoking & snuff. NUER, A.-E. SUDAN. Pres. by E. Evans Pritchard. 1937 [rectangular paper label stuck to surface, RTS 19/10/2004].
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the tribes catalogue card [RTS 23/7/2004].
Detailed Pipes [Unsorted] Card Catalogue entry - 2. Description: Tobacco for smoking and snuff. Cake of brown tobacco roughly oval in shape, flattened and almost concave on one side, rounded on the other. Length c 12.8 cm, width c 8.5 cm, Max thickness c 3.5 cm. People: Nuer tribe. Locality: A.E. Sudan. Native name: Tap. Collected by: E. Evans-Pritchard. How Acquired: dd E. Evans-Pritchard 1937 [Drawing].
Written on object - Tap , tobacco for smoking & snuff. NUER, A.-E. SUDAN. Pres. by E. Evans Pritchard. 1937 [rectangular paper label stuck to surface, RTS 19/10/2004].
