Nuer tobacco cake
Accession Number:
1937.34.63
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan]
Cultural Group:
Nuer
Date Made:
By 1936
Materials:
Tobacco Plant
Process:
Modelled , Dried
Dimensions:
L = 110, Ht = 61 mm [RTS 19/10/2004].
Weight:
224.3 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, fibrous in texture and a dark brown colour on the surface and at the core (Pantone black 7C) mixed with some lighter orange fibres (Pantone 470C).
The cake is oval in plan view with a convex back and flat underside.
It currently consists of two large joining fragments, which make up two thirds of the whole object and include a complete profile, and a large number of smaller fragments.
Together, these fragments weigh 224.3 grams.
The cake had an original length of 110 mm and a height of 61 mm; the width cannot be measured in its current state.
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 cakes 1937.64.61-62 and 64 (Nuer, Evans-Pritchard), and 1902.17.2 (Shilluk, D. Gunn - made by being steeped in cow's urine and pressed into a cake); these are hemispherical or conical in form.
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 cakes 1937.64.61-62 and 64 (Nuer, Evans-Pritchard), and 1902.17.2 (Shilluk, D. Gunn - made by being steeped in cow's urine and pressed into a cake); these are hemispherical or conical in form.
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 - 3. Description: Native tobacco. Broken up cake of tobacco, brown in colour, contained in tin box. Two large pieces, the rest fragments. In shape the cake seems to have originally been roughly hemispherical People: Nuer tribe Locality: A.E. Sudan Native name: Tap Collected by: E. Evans-Pritchard How Acquired: dd E. Evans-Pritchard 1937 [Drawing]
Old Pitt Rivers Museum label - tap , native tobacco, NUER tribe, A.-E. SUDAN. Pres. by E. Evans-Pritchard, 1937 [rectangular label stuck on side of tin box; 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 - 3. Description: Native tobacco. Broken up cake of tobacco, brown in colour, contained in tin box. Two large pieces, the rest fragments. In shape the cake seems to have originally been roughly hemispherical People: Nuer tribe Locality: A.E. Sudan Native name: Tap Collected by: E. Evans-Pritchard How Acquired: dd E. Evans-Pritchard 1937 [Drawing]
Old Pitt Rivers Museum label - tap , native tobacco, NUER tribe, A.-E. SUDAN. Pres. by E. Evans-Pritchard, 1937 [rectangular label stuck on side of tin box; RTS 19/10/2004].
