°H. XV] STRING FIGURES 323 



is stated, such a return is always made when a string has been 

 picked up.J (4) Pass the left hand between you and the right 

 hand, then put the left little-finger on the right palm, and pass 

 it towards you under the two strings on the right thumb, pick 

 them up, and return. (5) Lastly, lift the dorsal strings on the 

 left hand over the five digits, and separate the hands. This is 

 the Mosquito. 



With a mosquito between your hands you naturally try to 

 squash it by clapping them together sharply. Do this, then 

 draw the hands apart quickly, at the same time secretly release 

 the little-fingers, and you will find that the insect has escaped, 

 a result that usually happens in real life. 



Like figures are made in various countries, and the tale is 

 told differently in different places. Thus in Lifu in a similar 

 figure, the twist in the string midway between the hands is 

 taken to represent a coco-nut, and the last movement is used to 

 illustrate efforts to crush the shell. The unskilful person, when 

 clapping his hands and not releasing his little-fingers, fails, for 

 on separating his hands the nut remains visible. But when the 

 skilled native tries, then on clapping his hands and simultaneously 

 releasing his little-fingers he succeeds, for on separating his 

 hands the nut is broken and gone. 



Such a use of string figures to illustrate local stories is not 

 infrequent, and I think adds to their interest, but the amuse- 

 ment of making them is independent of their employment for 

 this purpose. 



A Man Climbing a Tree. This, derived from the Blacks in 

 Queensland, is an example illustrative of action. The result 

 shows two upright strings which represent the trunk of a tree, 

 and loops round it which represent the arms and feet of a man 

 climbing up it. 



This figure may be made thus : (1) Put the tips of the left 

 thumb and little-finger together, then put them from below into 

 the loop of string and separate them : do the same with the 

 right hand. Pick up on the back of the right index-finger the 

 string resting on the left palm, and return; similarly pick up 

 the right palmar string on the back of the left index-finger. 



21—2 



