Three Old Women, Kikuyu, Kenya, ca.1911

"The women in that land are the beasts of burden; the father sells his daughter for a sum of 50 to 60 sheep, and there-after she becomes the property of her husband. Her work is to weed and cultivate her garden, sew, plant, and harvest it, to go to the forest to cut firewood, bringing back a load weighing anything from ten to fourteen stone, to help to make her husband, and the other old men, to make his pots and to cook his food, and that of the other members of the family. Her life is a hard one, and not relieved by much In the way of pleasure. No wonder then she soon becomes an old woman, one of many wives, without much joy in the present, and no hope for the future." Group portrait of three older, indigenous women, wearing many beaded necklaces as part of the tribal dress. ❧ "This Lecture was prepared by Dr J.W. Arthur in October 1911 on his voyage to Mombasa. The set of slides is the gift to the Kikuyu Mission of the Young Peoples Meeting at the Burgh Hall, Hillhead, of which he was for many years a member." A green folder marked 'Kikuyu' and containing lecture notes and relevant photographs to accompany lantern slides.