Sudan / South Sudan: 'A Dinka Cattle-Park' (Georg August Schweinfurth, 1874)

'The accompanying illustration is designed to exhibit something of the daily routine of the Dinka. It represents one of those murahs or cattle-parks, of which I have seen hundreds. It depicts the scene at about five o’clock in the afternoon.

In the foreground there are specimens of the cattle of the country. The men in charge are busied collecting up into heaps the dung that has been exposed during the day to be dried in the sun. Clouds of reeking vapour fill the murah throughout the night and drive away the pestiferous insects. The herds have just been driven to their quarters, and each animal is fastened by a leather collar to its own wooden peg. Towards the left, on a pile of ashes, sit the owners of this section of the murah.

The ashes which are produced in the course of the year raise the level of the entire estate. Semi-circular huts erected on the hillocks afford the owners temporary accommodation when they quit their homes some miles away and come to feast their eyes upon the goodly spectacle of their wealth.'

Copyright:

Supplier: CPA Media Co. Ltd.

Credit:

Pictures From History

Theme:

SOUTH SUDAN