ROTH] TWINE, CORDS, AND BANDS 93 
top of its shank. The base of the shank—that is, the portion below 
the guard—is now rolled with the flat of the open right hand sharply 
down the thigh (fig. 8), and so sent spinning on itself with the 
momentum just imparted. While thus spinning freely, more of the 
pad is unwound from the arm, the cotton is again carefully teased 
out and stretched between the thumbs, and the spindle, gradually 
coming to rest, is again spun. The whole process, indeed, consists 
of these three factors: The unwinding and rewinding of the pad, 
the stretching out and teasing of that portion of it between the 
thumbs, and the spinning of the spindle down the thigh. When a 
convenient length of cotton thread (say, 2 or 3 feet) has been spun, 
it is rolled taut around the spindle shank and looped into the hook, 
Fic. 6.—Spinning the cotton—stretching and winding it on the wrist. 
and the process thus repeated. The degree of coarseness or fineness 
with which the cotton may be spun into twine will depend partly 
upon the use for which it is intended, the two extremes being met 
with in the rough string forming the basis of the cotton hammocks 
and in the delicate twine ornamenting the butt end of the Arawak 
arrow. Another condition that has to be taken into account in this 
connection is the quality of the cotton, the special properties of its 
different species being locally recognized. I learn, for instance, that 
the Wapishana have distinctive names for at least six different kinds 
of cotton (JO). 
34. The spindle employed in the manufacture of cotton twine 
consists of a tapering wooden shank passed through a circular guard, 
its distal extremity being either nicked or provided with a small 
