Eskimo String Figures 



89 b 



With the thumbs from the proximal side remove both the index and little 

 finger loops. 



Pass the little fingers from below from the proximal side into the thumb 

 loops, and, moving them towards the middle, allow the two lower transverse 

 strings to slip off, then hook the little fingers down over them and hold them 

 firmly against the palms. 



Pass the indices into the thumb loops from the distal side *, and inserting 

 them in between the two proximal radial (the diagonal) thumb strings, hook 

 their palms over the upper transverse string and draw it through. 



Drop all the loops on the thumbs except the proximal radial strings. 



Katilluik the thumb loops. You have the "two hips." 



Fig. 104 



The Barrow native continued without pausing to make the next figure, 

 "two men," but the Inland native, before continuing, said: 



apdn qCmiq cuman podX-aqaqpit uydmiayitatceavuk iyiyULk i,kiyuk. 



"Father, dog, when did you get the short mitts? Our necklets, let us throw 

 them away and let us wrestle." 



"The two men" are then produced by turning the little fingers outward, so 

 that they drop the loops they have been holding and push outward the string 

 which runs on each side across their backs. 



Fig. 105 



The Coronation gulf native retained in the last movement of katilluik 

 before producing "the two hips," the loops on the indices. Instead he turned 

 the little fingers outwards and considered the figure he thus obtained as "the 

 two hips." By merely dropping the index loops he obtained "the two men," or, 

 as he called it, "the two sticks that support the lamp." 



