ROUTLEDGE1910-001 - museum specimen
Kikuyu
Kenya - Historic Munge district - likely Mutira, Kirinyaga - East Africa
Play / practical
ke-hu-ru-ta English
Source term: bullroarer
ke-hu-ru-ta = Kikuyu name printed in Routledge’s Plate XXXII caption and glossary.
The Kikuyu ke-hu-ru-ta hung from bark twine and a 26-inch stick handle. Whirled around the head and then sharply twitched, its wooden tongue made the loud sound used to drive birds away. Routledge recorded this practical bird-scarer in the historic Munge district.
In use the thong is whirled around the head ... Used to scare birds.
Routledge 1910 Plate XXXII.1; British Museum Af1910,0604.53
- Object
- End-pierced flat wooden tongue on bark-twine thong and stick handle.
- Function
- Bird-scarer; Routledge says it was whirled overhead for a loud sound.
- Map confidence
- high - Historic Munge inferred inland to likely Mutira/Njumbi-Mutira, Kirinyaga; not the coastal Kwale Munge.
- Source location
- Af1910,0604.53; Routledge 1910 Plate XXXII.1