Lango tobacco pouch
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1934.8.95
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan] Eastern Equatoria Lomo
Cultural Group:
Lango
Date Made:
By 1933
Materials:
Plant Fibre , Glass , String , Net Textile
Process:
Twisted , Plaited , Knotted , Bound , Woven , Strung
Dimensions:
L Pouch and loop = 587 mm; L bag body = 110 mm, W bag body = 56 mm; L tassels = 60 mm; diam beads = 2.5, th beads = 1.5 mm; diam loop body = 7 mm, W narrow strands of loop = 1 mm [RTS 30/9/2004].
Weight:
75.3 g
Local Name:
logolute
Other Owners:
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife Hannah Powell-Cotton (nee Hannah Brayton Slater) on 30th March 1933 during a shooting expedition [RTS 29/9/2004].
Field Collector:
Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton & Hannah Powell-Cotton (nee Hannah Brayton Slater)
PRM Source:
Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton
Acquired:
Donated 1934
Collected Date:
30th March 1933
Description:
Tobacco bag suspended from a long carrying loop.
The bag has a long, rectangular body, formed from thin twisted plant fibre string bias-woven together in a tight network design with small regular openings in the sides.
The weave has been done as a continuous 'cylinder', that is open at the top, and closed at the base with a thicker horizontal row of weave on the outer face, with either end of this projecting slightly beyond the edges of the bag itself.
This has been decorated with opaque white glass ring-shaped beads, threaded into the pattern in two single rows running horizontally around the bag's circumference - positioned with the rows one third and two thirds the way down the length of the bag.
The bag itself is currently pressed flat, although it would change to a cylindrical shape when full.
A series of 13 fibre strands have been threaded through the bottom edge of the bag, to hang down as 36 tassels of equal length.
These have been threaded with a series of glass ring beads, of similar size to those decorating the outer face, with around 35 beads per tassel.
The majority of these beads are opaque white in colour, but they have been randomly mixed with a few white with blue stripes (Pantone 2728C), and 2 red examples (Pantone 201C).
A tight knot at the end of each hanging string keeps the beads in place.
The bag body is a yellowish brown colour (Pantone 730C), and its interior still smells strongly of tobacco.
At its top, the bag has a thick, flexible mouth, formed in part by the body of the long carrying loop, which divides into two thick cords.
These cords have been bound around with thin string, forming a tight cylindrical binding, with the upper, loose ends of the bag's network body woven in with this binding to attach the two parts.
This binding has created a lentoid shaped mouth, which opens when the ends are compressed to present a rather tight aperture.
On either side of this mouth, the carrying loop continues as single cords, bound around with fibre string, before dividing into multi stranded sections of 28 and 29 strings each side.
Each strand is made of twisted 2 ply plant fibre strands.
After a section of 26 to 27 mm, these strands rejoin into single cords again, secured with further cylindrical binding, then plaited together on the other side with the ends knotted to prevent them fraying, and the two sides tied together at the top with a loose reef knot.
The carrying loop is heavily smeared with reddish brown ochre (Pantone 4695C), especially over the cylindrically bound areas.
The object is complete and in good condition.
The bag and its loop weigh 75.3 grams.
The have a total length of 587 mm; the bag body is 110 mm long and 56 mm wide; the tassels are 60 mm long; the beads have a typical diameter of 2.5 mm and thickness of 1.5 mm; the cylindrically bound part of the carrying loop has a diameter of 7 mm, while each individual strand is 1 mm wide.
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife Hannah at Lomo on 30th March 1933, during a shooting expedition.
These bags were worn around the neck, and used to store tobacco; they are known as logolute. For a similar pouch collected by Powell-Cotton, see 1934.8.94. This is very similar in style and technique, but more heavily beaded and not ochre covered.
Rachael Sparks 24/9/2005.
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife Hannah at Lomo on 30th March 1933, during a shooting expedition.
These bags were worn around the neck, and used to store tobacco; they are known as logolute. For a similar pouch collected by Powell-Cotton, see 1934.8.94. This is very similar in style and technique, but more heavily beaded and not ochre covered.
Rachael Sparks 24/9/2005.
Primary Documentation:
Accession Book Entry
[p.
248] 1934 [insert] 8 [end insert] -
MAJOR P.
H.
G.
POWELL-COTTON
, Quex Park, Birchington, E.
Kent.
Specimens collected by himself & Mrs Cotton, during hunting trips, 1933, viz: [...] [p.
256] - From the
LANGO
tribe, LOKOFOROK, LOMULENG & LOMO.
[insert] 94-95 [end insert] - [One of] 2 String-work tobacco-pouches,
logolute
, with neck-slings; decorated with white bead fringes.
LOMO.
(403 + 406)
Detailed Pipes [Unsorted] Card Catalogue entry - Description: Tobacco-pouch. Small narrow and elongated pouch, woven from brown string and ornamented with a bead fringe at the bottom and two lines of white beads across the pouch. The fringe beads are mainly white - with a few coloured ones here and there. From the two corners of the bag the separate strings are made into a long loop braided at the ends and loosely knotted together with a reef knot. Length - Pouch and loop c 58 cm, pouch alone and without end fringe 11.2 cm, pouch with fringe length 17.5 cm. People: Lango. Locality: Lomo, E. Sudan 4˚5'N 32˚57'E Native name: Logolute. Collected by: Major Powell-Cotton (403) [Note this should be 406; RTS 29/9/2004]. How Acquired: dd Major Powell Cotton 1934 [Drawing].
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the tribal catalogue card [RTS 24/5/2004].
Related Documents File - Typewritten List of "Curios Presented to Dr. Balfour by Major & Mrs. Powell-Cotton. Lango Tribe". This object appears as item 406: "Ditto [Tobacco pouch], one row white bead tassels, 2 lines white beads, native name Logolute , 30/3/33 Lomo, 4.5 N 32.57 E”. Also contains details of a cine film 'some tribes of the Southern Sudan', taken by Powell-Cotton during this 1933 expedition, copies of which are now in the National Film and Television Archive and the Powell-Cotton Museum in Kent [RTS 14/3/2005].
Old Pitt Rivers Museum label - Tobacco-pouch, logolute , LANGO, LOMO, E. SUDAN. 4° 5' N., 32° 57' E. d.d. Major Powell-Cotton, 1934 (406) [rectangular metal-edged tag, tied to object; RTS 29/9/2004].
Detailed Pipes [Unsorted] Card Catalogue entry - Description: Tobacco-pouch. Small narrow and elongated pouch, woven from brown string and ornamented with a bead fringe at the bottom and two lines of white beads across the pouch. The fringe beads are mainly white - with a few coloured ones here and there. From the two corners of the bag the separate strings are made into a long loop braided at the ends and loosely knotted together with a reef knot. Length - Pouch and loop c 58 cm, pouch alone and without end fringe 11.2 cm, pouch with fringe length 17.5 cm. People: Lango. Locality: Lomo, E. Sudan 4˚5'N 32˚57'E Native name: Logolute. Collected by: Major Powell-Cotton (403) [Note this should be 406; RTS 29/9/2004]. How Acquired: dd Major Powell Cotton 1934 [Drawing].
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the tribal catalogue card [RTS 24/5/2004].
Related Documents File - Typewritten List of "Curios Presented to Dr. Balfour by Major & Mrs. Powell-Cotton. Lango Tribe". This object appears as item 406: "Ditto [Tobacco pouch], one row white bead tassels, 2 lines white beads, native name Logolute , 30/3/33 Lomo, 4.5 N 32.57 E”. Also contains details of a cine film 'some tribes of the Southern Sudan', taken by Powell-Cotton during this 1933 expedition, copies of which are now in the National Film and Television Archive and the Powell-Cotton Museum in Kent [RTS 14/3/2005].
Old Pitt Rivers Museum label - Tobacco-pouch, logolute , LANGO, LOMO, E. SUDAN. 4° 5' N., 32° 57' E. d.d. Major Powell-Cotton, 1934 (406) [rectangular metal-edged tag, tied to object; RTS 29/9/2004].
