Eskimo String Figures 



The Siberian Eskimos say: 

 qoqojaqtahoq camaha neyiukcin 



87 b 



mantayuman 



na-ka kumiuy£janaqtjq 



nacqoyaqtoq 



qoqojaqtjq 



cipciyaqtoq aulayaqtoq 



The Inland natives chanted: 



qwit'uya ma-ni 

 qwd-uya ma-ni 

 puyuyiacjak ayuqkuyik 

 akimoayohkcyaX -iyi 

 nulukcyaxKiyi aya lyi 

 neaqoa pmyoxiqpoq aya lyi 



qotuk pmyoxtqpuk 



CLvyayak pinyoxiqpuk 



The Mackenzie natives say: 

 qoyayeqtoq neyiXuin 



avuyek-in piyokik 



Qoqoraqtaq down there, are you 



hungry? 



Yes, I want some black-skin to eat. 

 No, it sticks in your teeth. 

 It breaks your head (break the thumb 



knot). 

 It breaks your back (break the index 



knot). 

 Breaks your hip, splits your legs asunder 



(break the httle finger loops). 



I am crazy here. 



I am crazy here. 



? ? 



? ? 



? ? 



His head snapped off- (break the thumb 

 knot). 



His collar bones snapped (break the in- 

 dex knot). 



His hip-joints snapped (break the little 

 finger knot). 



Qogareqtoq, break your neck (break both 



thumb and index knots). 

 Break your hips (break the little finger 



knot). 



LXXV. The Children 



This figure, i\i\iyaiydt or "the children," I found among the Inland and 

 Mackenzie river Eskimos. The latter call it nukdtpiayluit, "the young people." 

 The initial movement is the same as in the preceding figure, and all the later 

 stages are simply a repetition of "the mountains," which, in its more developed 

 form, "the moon between the mountains," is known all along the coast from 

 Alaska to Coronation gulf (see No. CXXIX). 



Proceed as in "the angry man" (No. LXXIV) up to the knotting of the 

 right hand loop in the left. With the two strings coming away to the right 

 make, not Opening A, but Position 1. 



Draw the left thumb radial loop through the right hand loop and drop 

 this right hand loop. 



Again make Position 1 with the previous left hand loop only, so that across 

 the upper transverse string there falls the previous right hand loop. 



Take this pendent loop up with the backs of the indices from the distal 

 side, with the right index the portion on the proximal side of the transverse 

 strings, with the left the distal portion. 



Drop the little finger loops. 



