1920] 



on String Figures 



9"> 



over British New Guinea and Torres Straits,* and has also been 

 described from British Columbia and Vancouver Island. 



2. The Crayfish^ = Kaiaru. (Kiwi, Fly River, Papua.). 



Opening A. 



Pass thumbs proximal to the index loops and into the little-finger 

 loops from the proximal side, turn them down away from you 

 and up towards you, thus picking up the ulnar little-finger 

 string. Release little finger. 



Pass the middle, ring and little fingers proximally into the index- 

 finger loop, and hold down the radial string, pass the indices 

 distally into the thumb loops and turn them down away from 

 you and then up, picking up the two ulnar thumb strings 

 through the original index loop. 



Place the radial index string in the centre of the figure, over the toe. 



Pass the little fingers proximally into the triangles adjacent to the 

 thumbs, whose bases are formed by the radial thumb string, and 

 hook down this string. 



Lift the toe strings off the indices, release thumbs and extend. 



Fig. 10.— The Crayfish 



* Originally described by Rivers and Haddon, "A Method of Recording 

 String Figures and Tricks," Man, October 1902, cix, p. 146. See also " Cat's 

 Cradles from Many Lands," by Kathleen Haddon, Longmans, Green and Co., 

 London, 1911, p. 7. 



t Except where otherwise stated the figures were collected by myself. 



