Eskimo String Figures 45 b 



XXXV. The Post 



This figure is known to the Inland Eskimos a.Bmiluktuayoq, but no one seemed 

 to be quite certain what the word meant. One native explained it as derived 

 from miluhtuaq, "she suckles a child." Another said that he thought it meant 

 the leaf of the convolvulus. In the Mackenzie river region, however, it is called 

 sukayotaluk, "the door post," and continued on to produce "the white fox" 

 which ran away when the post fell. The Copper Eskimos, who seem not to 

 know the development into "the fox," called the first figure cukayyuk, "the two 

 sticks which support the lamp." 



Opening A. , 



Pass the thumbs over the other strings and from the proximal side take up 

 the ulnar little finger string and return. 



Push the index loops through each other and interchange them on the 

 indices. 



With the thumbs from the proximal side take up the radial index strings and 

 navaho the thumbs. 



Press down the ulnar index strings and you have "the breast," conical in 

 shape with the nipple below; or, by another interpretation the two perpendicular 

 strings immediately below are "the door-post." This is the completion of the 

 first figure. 



Fig. 45 



The Mackenzie Eskimos at this stage say: 



cukayotaluk teriyan-idlum imnayavahn ukyoin 



"Door-post, the white fox is about to urinate against you. Fall on it." 



Drop the thumb loops. "The post" has fallen, and you are left with an 

 upper and a lower transverse string and two diagonal strings that loop round 

 each other in the middle. 



Transfer the right index loop to the thumb. 



With the right thumb from the proximal side remove the little finger loop. 



Pass the right little finger into the right thumb loops from the proximal 

 side, press down the ulnar strings, allow the transverse string to slip off, then 

 hook the little finger down over it. 



With the back of the right index from the distal side push back the proximal 

 radial right thumb string, then with its palm draw out the upper transverse 

 string. 



