"Sunday, December 24, 1905. [underlined, p. 60] [p. 61] [...] In the evening came the [...] [?] which have ethnographic value. Almost all were procured for me by Max. Snuff box made of horn & wood, bought here from a Swahili (1 Rupia). Similar illustration in Baumann. Usambara. 1891. p. 231. / Kiswahili: tabakero is made by Wanjamwezi [drawing with material details] Wood Horn Wood / Combs, 3 pieces similar to those I illustrated in diary TB. 44, p. 68. One comb like the attached illustration & one was recently carved for me by a Njamwezi named [?], it had the following shape [drawing] / Kiswahili: schamo / and was unfinished made from [p. 62] white soft wood, while the others come from one and the same Fundi (craftsman), who specializes in them. These are yellow and smooth. [drawing] / Small and larger carved round spoons with burnt-in designs, shallowly hollowed, the figures vary. [drawings of seven spoons a-g, partly detailed drawings with labels] Kiswahili: kijiko / mwiko / wu bu [?] / a deep spoon: [drawing h] [drawing of a flute with material details] Wooden flute Tin Gourd Pumpkin Wood Kiswahili: nzumari [corrected to zumari] [p. 63] Device for hollowing coconuts. The halved nut is rasped out with a saw-toothed iron [correction], while the man who operates it sits on the apparatus itself. The wooden parts are carved from one piece & foldable. [Two drawings, one showing a detail] Kiswahili: mbuzi (actually = goat) / A bush knife called "munde" in Kiswahili. Most come from Germany, but these have a much slimmer shape. [drawing] Max received two Chinese pictures embroidered on darkest silk to hang on the wall [p. 64]. I had actually [?] bought them, like the other fabric goods, from an Indian in Tanga. Then a transparent thin fiber fabric, perhaps pineapple fiber, with very colorful butterflies embroidered from thick silk threads. A table runner made of silk, Indian work. –" [translation]

source: Museum der Kulturen Basel, VI 56197, 46 (63)
author: Karl Braun

"53. Bush knife = mundu / Amani 24 Dec 1905 / TB [diary]. 46.63 / Material designation to drawing] Wood Hyphaene coriacea, iron / [drawing]" [translation]

source: Museen Stade, r 2018 / 18566
author: Karl Braun

In 1934, the former director of the Biological Imperial Institute for Agriculture and Forestry (Biologische Reichsanstalt für Land- und Forstwirtschaft) Karl Braun (1870–1935) gave the so-called “Kolonialsammlung Braun” (Colonial Collection Braun) to the Hanseatic City of Stade, or rather its representative, the then mayor Hans Arthur Meyer (1884–1961). See the file „Transfer of a colonial collection from the senior government councillor Professor Dr. Karl Braun in Stade to the City of Stade” („Überlassung einer Kolonialsammlung vom Oberregierungsrat Professor Dr. Karl Braun in Stade an die Stadt Stade") at the Lower Saxony State Archives Stade (Niedersächsischen Landesarchiv Standort Stade).

source: Niedersächsisches Landesarchiv Standort Stade, Dep. 10 Nr. 03025

In 1997, the then city archivist Jürgen Bohmbach concludes a permanent loan agreement with the Museum Society Stade (Museumsverein Stade e.V.), for which the then director Gerd Mettjes signs. Thereafter, the collection from Karl Braun is transferred to the care of the Museum Society Stade (Museumsverein Stade e.V.).

source: Museen Stade, Vereinbarung Leihgabe "Brauns'sche Kolonialsammlung"

I: Okay, now we go to another picture, we have another picture registered with the number 2018_18293_001, look at it, can you identify what is this? R: This is a knife, but this knife was for a very old man, that is, he can tell you 'kaniletee giatu ni jangu' this means ‘go and bring me my knife’, this was the one. I: What was it called? R: 'Tuni' I: What community is that? R: That is Sambaa community, in Pare community it is 'kahandwi', so this is a special kahandwi, and this same knife could be used to shave when finishing a funeral, this knife was special to the traditional elders, not that you will find them with anyone, but after this point of the young generation they were made in large quantities, sometimes the local healers cut incisions to people, they are very sharp, they were sharpened on special black stones as you told me. I: So, they were used by the elders? R: Yes, the elders. I: From what age? R: From 60 to 90 years old, you find him staying with it, he might be unable to use it but he had it, and he could make a will that if I die the knife should be given to Karedio, this was never changed, or maybe you take it and say I will give it to a certain person, but without that it will be kept until you are back. I: So, it was directly connected to the tradition? R: Yes. I: And you said anyone can have it at this moment? R: Yes. I: Why do you think it has become easier for everyone to have it now compared to those years? R: The traditional ethics have fallen, currently there is no traditional concern, because right now if you tell someone to sharpen it with a stone not with a grinding stone, he will say you will kill me, he is used in sharpening ‘chwaaaa’, he sharpens it both sides at the moment then he leaves, in that period there were no grinding stones, there are sharpening stones and hitting stones. I: What were the special sharpening stones called? R: 'Ibwe' I: What does it mean? R: It is a stone, when you were told 'kaniendie ibwe maalum’, you were also directed where to get it, it is not available easily. I: Okay, can you tell us who was making it? R: It used to be made by the ancestors and they inherited it like that, then it went, and other people were inherited, like the way we are talking here if you ask for it, I can make it and inherit it to you. I: Can you identify what material the knife was exactly made with? R: They were metals which were burnt in fire, I mean the rocks that were blown up were kept in the so-called 'mvuo', they said 'uvugwithwa' meaning it was melted until it became red, and they flattened it on a stone until it looks like this. I: So, it was metal, what other material was used to make this tool? R: Maybe the handle was the other thing that was joined, on this part it is made thin with its handle and trying to improve it with other things, others were covering it with the skin of… there is an animal in the Pare community it is called 'sunipaa', the antelope, things like that were the skins used to be worn on special knives like this. I: Why was it that animal? R: They said that the animal has some kind of blessings, it is like when people say if you come to meet kakakuona something will happen, or there is a blessing, or sometimes they said if you meet kakakuona in an improper environment that is a disaster, at this moment you can stay outside and there is no forest, then you happen to see a wild animal standing there, so the elders can predict that it is a calamity, then go and perform ritual, or it is a blessing depending on when it has happened. I: Okay fine, so it was a sign of blessing, and the handle was exactly made with what kind of wood? R: There is a tree called 'mzuu', in the Pare community they call it 'mthuluu', that was the kind of tree I used to see being used in making the handles of the special knives and the walking stick of the old people, but I have never seen a walking stick made here. I: Why were they only using that tree? R: They said it was a hard tree and as well a blessed tree. I: So, it was hard and with blessings, and that is why they were using the skin of that animal because it also had blessings? R: Yes, they go together with blessings, you know the past people were different. During my late grandfather, a black snake got inside and we shouted 'a snake, a snake’ then he said no, don’t kill it, he got inside and took a bottle of ghee and poured it on the snake, then it walked out. He said we should not kill it because it has brought a blessing, and this was because it is black. But if it could be green he said kill it, if a green snake gets inside it was a disaster so it should be killed. For example these antelopes, it was chased and got in a goat shed, I witnessed that 2 to 3 times with my late grandfather. Getting into the goat shed the hunters were after it, but my grandfather stopped them and said ‘please choose a goat you prefer and leave it’. They were complaining the animal belonged to them, but he told them leave it because it has surrendered and it has brought blessings in my goat shed. The animal will stay there and when the goats were taken out it follows them for grazing. Now we don't eat that animal for those reasons, he said it has come to us to surrender so it is not good to eat it. I: A ‘tuni’ like that, how much shillings can you buy it for now? R: This moment maybe at Tsh. 5000/=, it had not many things when making it, they were very few as I told you.

source: Amani-Stade Project / Amani Field Research, Interview No. 5
author: I: Mohamed Seif, R: Anonymous