On the back of this picture, in Laura's writing is noted "Girls Day Out (with 1 husband) - a pigeon shoot". Laura Espeland is on the right.

Pigeon Shooting in the Sudan in the early 1900s

"In 1906, a group of British soldiers decided to use a small village in the delta called Denshawai as a forum for engaging in pigeon shooting. The pigeons were raised by the villagers who sold them, and they depended on the profit as their main income. The soldiers had done this sort of thing before, and when they returned, the villagers attacked them with sticks. None of the British soldiers were harmed in the attack, however, one soldier had run back to camp to tell his officer what had happened, and died of heat stroke. The punishment was severe: four of the villagers were hanged, two were sentenced to life in prison, and most of the others were to be flogged in public while the entire village was forced to watch."