120 ARTS AND CRAFTS OF GUIANA INDIANS [ETH. ANN. 38 
76. Beads of quartz (sec. 537), greenstone (WER, vi, 241), and 
similar material (sec. 505) are not unknown (pl. 16, fig. 2), and the 
artificial piercing of the first mentioned has been recorded (sec. 20). 
Throughout the Guianas, glass beads are employed in the construction 
of aprons, where the method of threading them is peculiar (pl. 18 A, B). 
They are strung on two horizontally placed weft threads. (cotton or 
silk grass) between which vertical warps pass, with the result that 
the web is kept compact, and has the same appearance in front as 
behind (secs. 78, 549). 
77. In other cases—e. g., threading beads for necklaces, armlets, 
and other similar articles (pl. 16, fig. 1)—the units may be hung directly 
on the supporting string (A) or threaded on separate loops (B) or 
on a continuous one, the latter varying according to whether the 
two components of each pass singly (C) or together (D) through the 
supporting band. This band may consist of from 4 to 6,8 (£), 10 or 
more strands, and is worked, so far as the insertion of the loops is 
concerned, on the same lines as the 4-strand top crosstie of the bead 
apron to be now described. 
78. The technique of a bead apron as made by an Akawai (its 
construction is similar throughout the tribes) would be as follows: 
The frame (pl. 17 A) is built of a bent switch (a) tied an inch or 
two above its ends to a straight crosspiece (b). A length of medium- 
sized cotton twine is attached to the upper portion of the switch 
and passing twice backward and forward gives a tie (c) formed of 
four strands. Owing to the bend in the switch, broader below 
than above, the tighter this tie is pulled in the subsequent manipu- 
lation the more firmly will its extremities be drawn into position. 
Another strand of cotton (B, d), still attached to its ball (e), is now 
fixed to the right extremity of the tie and plaited into it like this: 
While the right forefinger (f) raises the two middle strands (g, h) of 
the four constituting the tie, the left hand holding the ball of cotton 
unwinds from off it a length sufficient to form a loop reaching about 
3 inches below the crosspiece. The left hand, holding this loop in 
its palm, passes the ball between the middle and outer strands of 
the tie, for which space is made by the right forefinger. The latter 
is now withdrawn and reinserted (C) so as to raise the two outer 
strands (K, /) of the tie and the cotton ball passed back again to form 
another loop of similar length as before and, like it, held in the left 
hand. The process is thus repeated and loop after loop formed 
until the left-hand extremity of the tie is reached. The com- 
bined result of this method of inserting, releasing, and reinserting 
the right forefinger is to form two chain twists out of the original 
tie, and these constitute the upper limits of the apron to be manu- 
factured. The loops above described ultimately form the warp and are 
dealt with (D) as follows: The last three loops (m) at either end of 
