Eskimo String Figures 



117 b 



C. The Third Figure — The Goose 



Proceed as in the two preceding figures, but drop the right little finger loop and 

 pass that finger through the left thumb loop to remove with it the left index string. 



You have "the goose," the figure which two Mackenzie natives called "a 

 snowy owl." Drop the left httle finger loop and it flies away to the right, 



D. The Fourth Figure — The Ptarmigan and the Rabbit 



Opening C. 



Bring the right hand, palm upward, over the back of the left hand so that 

 the fingers of both point in the same direction, then slide the right index under 

 the string that passes behind the left thumb and index, and at the same time 

 take up with the left thumb similarly the corresponding string of the right hand. 

 Separate the hands, drawing these loops through. 



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

 navaho the thumbs, and drop the index loops. 



Near the left hand you have a trapezium or triangle. Pass the left index 

 into this from the distal side and with its palm hook up the lower transverse: 

 string (as in the preceding figures). Drop the left little finger loop, pass that, 

 finger from the proximal side under the upper transverse string just to the left 

 of the string that loops round it and returns on itself, remove with it the left 

 index loop from the distal side, and return. 



You have "the ptarmigan," with its tail to the right and its head near the- 

 left thumb. Drop the left little finger loop and you have "the rabbit" running 

 off to the right, after frightening away "the bird." 



Fig. 150 



