Page:String Figures and How to Make Them.djvu/79

CHAPTER III

FIGURES BEGINNINIG WITH OPENING A (CONTINUED)—MANY STARS—AN OWL—A SECOND OWL—A THIRD OWL—SEVEN STARS—TWO-POINTED STAR—TWO COYOTES—BIG STAR—NORTH STAR—CARRYING WOOD—OWL'S NET—TWO ELKS—A RABBIT—THE SUN.

MANY STARS

DR. HADDON showed me this figure in August, 1904. He obtained it in Chicago in 1901 from two old Navaho men, and has published a description of it (5, p. 222, pl. xv, Fig. 3). I also saw it done by the two Navaho girls who taught me other Navaho figures. It is called Son-tlani by the Navahos. Mr. Stewart Culin has preserved two examples of this pattern in the

Fig. 97.

Philadelphia Free Museum of Science and Art, one (22731) from Isleta, New Mexico; the other (22714) from St. Michael's Mission, Arizona.

First: Opening A.

Second: Pass each thumb away from you over the far thumb string and both index strings, and pickup from below, on the back of the thumb, the near little finger string (Fig. 97, Left hand), and return the thumb to its original position (Fig. 97, Right hand).

Third: Bend each middle finger down toward you over the index strings, and take up from below, on the back of the finger, the far thumb string (Fig. 98 , Left hand) and return the middle finger to its original position (Fig. 98 , Right hand). Release the loops from the thumbs (Fig. 99). You now have a loop on each index, a loop on each middle finger, and a loop on each little finger.

Fourth: Turning the palms slightly away from you, pass each thumb away from you over the near index string, but under the far index string, both strings on

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