ROTH] STRING FIGURES, TRICKS, AND PUZZLES 501 
progressive stages of manipulation. Circumstances, however, having 
changed, I am now able to record some seventy-odd figures from the 
Guiana Indians explaining the construction of each on the basis 
laid down by Messrs. Haddon and Rivers. But these authors hay- 
ing only recorded a position 1, with an opening A, I have seen fit 
to extend the former to at least four positions according as the string 
is stretched (1) over the thumbs and little fingers, (2) over the 
wrists, (3) upon the thumbs, or (4) on the indices. At least one 
figure can be commenced in two positions; e. g., a corial in position 
1 (sec. 668) and in position 2 (sec. 680). Another can be com- 
menced in two different openings (secs. 659, 665). Some of the fig- 
ures illustrated in the following pages have their counterpart in those 
met with in other parts of the globe. The Warrau name for these 
string figures is doma-ameho, i. e., marudi breastbone, which, with 
its attached ribs cleaned of the flesh, does, indeed, bear a resemblance 
to the strings stretched over the two hands. 
624. An ite, a cotton, or other string is usually employed of a 
length a little greater than that between the hands with arms ex- 
tended. A piece about 6 feet long will prove convenient, though for 
the manufacture of certain of the figures a shorter string is desirable. 
Its ends are spliced so that in the many turns and twists to which 
it is exposed there may be no knots or kinks to hamper its running 
smoothly and freely. 
625. “A string passed over a digit is termed a loop. A loop con- 
sists of two strings. Anatomically anything on the thumb aspect 
of the hand is termed ‘ radial, and anything on the little-finger side 
is called ‘ulnar.’ Thus every loop is composed of a radial string and 
an ulnar string. By employing the terms thumb, index, middle 
finger, ring finger, little finger, and right and left, it is possible to 
designate any one of the 20 strings that may extend between the 
two hands. .. . 
“A string lying across the front of the hand is a palmar string 
and one lying across the back of the hand is a dorsal string. .. . 
“ Sometimes there are two loops on a digit, one of which is nearer 
the finger tip than the other. Anatomically, that which is nearer to 
the point of attachment is ‘ proximal,’ that which is nearer the free 
end is ‘ distal.’ Thus, of two loops on a digit, the one which is nearer 
the hand is the proximal loop; that which is nearer the tip of the 
digit is the distal loop. Similarly, we can speak of a proximal string 
and a distal string... . 
“The manipulation consists of a series of movements after each 
of which the figure should be extended by drawing the hands apart 
and separating the digits. [This extension and separation is here 
and there described in the text as ‘ Return. —W. E.R.] ... 
