Page:String Figures and How to Make Them.djvu/61

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30
STRING FIGURES

release the loops from the little fingers, and separate the index fingers widely from the thumbs to extend the figure (Fig. 56).

This is a slightly different and abbreviated form of the Osage Diamonds.

Of course it can be done also with a single string loop, but the final pattern is not so effective and closely resembles the final figure of the Navaho "Twin Stars."

DRESSING A SKIN

Dr. Haddon learned "Dressing a Skin" from Mr. Harlan I. Smith of the American Museum of Natural History, New York, who found it among the Salish Indians of Thompson River, British Columbia, when on the Jessup North Pacific Expedition. (See Smith p. 282, fig. 270 , a, 1- 7 and Haddon 5, P. 217.)

First: Opening A.

Second: Release the loops from the little fingers, but do not separate the hands; let the long loop hang down (Fig. 57).

Third: Toss this long loop toward you over all the other strings and let it hang down on the near side (Fig. 58).

Fourth: Bend each thumb down into its own loop, over that part of the string of the hanging loop which crosses over the thumb loop (Fig. 59 Left hand), and let the original thumb loop slip over the knuckle and off the thumb (Fig. 59, Right hand).