94 ARTS AND CRAFTS OF GUIANA INDIANS [PTH. ANN, 88 
hook (fig. 7). The bone hook of the Oyana and Trio spindles 
(GOK, pl. vn, figs. 7, 8) may be somewhat more complicated (fig. 9). 
The ordinary material out of which the guards are and were cut 
would seem to be “bone” (BB, 54), as tapir (Cr, 296), or turtle 
carapace, as with the Makusi, Patamona, and Wapishana. On the 
Pomeroon I have observed them made of two pieces of calabash 
(fig. 10 B) with their convexities outward. The guards may be 
incised with various patterns, as those of the Oyana (GO, 9) in 
Surinam (fig. 10 A) and of the Wapishana 
(fig. 10 C). 
35. Two-ply cotton twine. Having 
made two spindlefuls of single-ply 
thread, the ends are attached together 
to the hook of a third and larger spindle, 
the shank of which is spun in a direc- 
tion up the thigh with the right hand. 
To insure uniformity and regularity 
with the two single-ply threads as they 
are gradually unwound from their re- 
spective spindles, they are run over the 
left forefinger and through the fork 
between the ring and little fingers, re- 
spectively. As each convenient length 
of now 2-ply thread is spun, it is rolled 
taut around the spindle shank and 
looped into the hook and the shank 
again spun. 
36. Three-ply cotton twine is often 
manufactured by Wapishana and neigh- 
boring Indians and may be used in the 
crossbars of their hammocks and wher- 
ever extra strength is required. To make 
such a yarn the woman will take a ball of ordinary single-ply thread 
and tying the end of its strand around her right big toe, will lock it 
into long loops (fig. 11) and form a chain of them as far as her arms 
will reach. She will next wind this chain around and around her foot 
immediately behind the toes, finally bringing it forward from behind 
on the outer side of the base of the little toe; then continue the chain, 
roll it around again, and so repeat the process. When a sufficient 
length has been obtained she will unwind the chain from off her 
foot, wind it into a ball, fix the end onto her spindle, and roll it 
length by length down her thigh into a single yarn. 
37. Multiple-ply cotton twine. A dozen or more single-ply 
cotton threads may be spun together on the right thigh downward 
to form a multiple-ply yarn. Such yarn is softer to the skin than 
Fic. 7.—Spindles. 
