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CHAPTER XV. 

 STRING FIGURES. 



In the five editions of this work issued between 1911 and 

 1920 I devoted a chapter of some length to describing the pro- 

 duction of string figures. In 1920 I gave an account of the 

 subject in a lecture in London, and this, with the addition of 

 a good many examples, has been issued as a small booklet. That 

 being now available*, I propose in this edition to cut down the 

 space devoted to the subject and merely explain the construction 

 of a few typical string forms which may serve as an introduction 

 to the amusement and will, I would fain hope, induce my readers 

 to go further into it. 



The formation of these designs is a world-wide amusement 

 of primitive man and has an interesting history. Such figures, 

 when shown to a few spectators in a room, always prove, as far 

 as my experience goes, interesting alike to young and old ; but 

 their attractiveness, their fascination I might almost say, is not 

 permanent unless people can be induced to construct them for 

 themselves, and, bold though I may seem, I venture to assert 

 that those who leam the moves will assuredly find pleasure in 

 the game. In most cases a design takes less than five minutes 

 to learn if a practical lesson be given, and not more than a 

 quarter of an hour if it has to be puzzled out and memorized 

 from a complete description. Much of the charm of the art lies 

 in the ease and rapidity with which the figures are produced; 

 to make any of these here described rarely occupies more than 

 eight or ten seconds when once the construction has been 



mastered. 



A string figure is usually made by taking a piece of good 

 * String Figures, An Amusement for Everybody, by W. W. Eouse Ball, 

 Cambridge, Second Edition, 1921. 



B. K. 21 



