762 GAMES OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS  [8TH. ANN. 24 
idea seems to underlie the tradition among the Navaho also that the 
play was taught them by the Spider people. In addition to cat’s 
cradle the Indians have a variety of tricks and amusements with 
string. Charlie Williams, at Neah bay, Washington, described the 
following as a common amusement among the Makah: 
A string is tied about the neck with a false knot. It is pulled tight and 
comes off. This is called tu-a-oss. The string is sometimes tied about the toe. 
The writer saw this trick performed with many grimaces by an 
old Shoshoni woman at Fort Washakie, Wyoming. 
Dr Alfred Tozzer described the trick of splicing a cut rope in the 
mouth, as seen by him among the Maya at Chichen Itza, Yucatan. 
The rope is arranged as shown in figure 1033, the point @ being con- 
cealed from the audience, who consider the ring an unbroken piece 
of rope, circled twice. The rope is then cut at > and four ends 
shown, @ still being concealed from the audience. The two ends 
below 6 are placed in the mouth, but, the strmg having been cut at 
6, a small piece only is left around the longer loop at a, which the 
tongue easily frees from the loop of the main string; the string when 
taken from the mouth thus shows an unbroken surface at 6, as the 
small piece cut at 6 and running from 6 to @ and back to & is still 
concealed in the mouth. : 
; b a 
Fig. 1033. Cord arranged for trick of splicing in the mouth; Maya Indians, Chichen Itza, 
' Yucatan; cat. no. 2815, Brooklyn Institute Museum. 
Mr Dorsey describes an amusement with string among the Teton 
Dakota under the name of “ String wrapped in and out among the 
fingers,” ete. 
ALGONQUIAN STOCK 
Sauk anp Foxrs. Tama, Iowa. 
These Indians described the game of cat’s cradle to the writer under 
the name of sah-sah-nah-ki--ti-wi, parcel. 
ATHAPASCAN STOCK 
Apacue (Wuire Mountain). Arizona. (Cat. no. 3001, Brooklyn 
Institute Museum. ) 
The cat’s cradle (figure 1034) figure was collected by the writer 
from a White Mountain Apache girl at Albuquerque. She called 
it ikinasthlani. 
«Consult String Figures and Tricks, by Prof. Alfred C. Haddon. American Anthro- 
pologist, n. s., vy. 5, p. 218, 1903. 
