War Cloth "Mai Bere"
date: label: Accession Date
content: 27 Feb 1891
name: label: Donor Name
content: Dr. William L. Abbott
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "Old [19th or early 20th century exhibit] label: This pattern of cloth is used exclusively in trade with the Masai ... ; they prefer it to other varieties. The red stripe in this sample is narrower than usual."
label: Notes
content: Reference: Abbott, W. L. 1891. Ethnological collections in the U. S. National Museum from Kilima-Njaro, East Africa. In: Report of the United States National Museum for the year ending June 30, 1891. pp.381-428, 24 figs. On p. 405 of the publication this object is described: "War Cloth (Maibere). For trade with the Masai all cloth must be made up into maibere. The red stripe in this specimen is too narrow and therefore was rejected in trade. Masai tribe; Mount Kilima-Njaro, East Africa. In dress, implements, and in weapons, fashion reigns supreme among these fastidious aborigines. Frequently, an assagai offered in traffic will be rejected with the remark "We have not used that pattern for ten years.""
label: Record Last Modified
content: 5 Jun 2025
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: East, Africa
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Masai (Maasai)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 024008
label: USNM Number
content: E151819-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Cloth
physicalDescription: label: Width
content: 91 cm
label: Length
content: 184 cm