146 The N.Z. Journal of Science and Technology. [Aug. 
forefinger loop, turning palms away so that the far forefinger string slips 
over the backs and tips of forefingers. (This movemenr occurs several 
times in subsequent figures, and may conveniently be referred to as move¬ 
ment 4 of ikiiki.) Release middle fingers, but not thumbs, across whose 
backs passes a double string, and extend the figure by spreading it between 
the forefingers and little fingers, thumbs held close against forefingers, 
palms turned from you. 
Fig. 1 . — Ikiiki. During movement 2. 
On the writer one day setting up this figure at Ohinemutu, a young 
Maori girl, who had learned whai but was not then able to set up any of the 
figures, said “ Wait.” She inserted fingers and thumbs into the pattern, 
turned in through the central diamond as in takapau, and produced wahine. 
As her movements appeared the same as in takapau, no note of them was 
taken. On repeated subsequent trial, however, the writer has failed to 
produce wahine by the Maori girl’s method. A form of wahine may be 
obtained from ikiiki as follows : Lay the pattern on the knees, and note 
Fig. 2.— Ikiiki. 
the diamonds on the extreme left and right of the figure. Their upper 
and lower angles are formed of crossed strings, which crossed strings also 
form, with the top and bottom strings, small triangles. Insert forefingers 
in the upper and thumbs in the lower triangles, and draw hands slowly 
apart. The wahine appears in the centre. This resolution is more easily 
obtained by two persons. If it be attempted to produce tane from this 
figure in the ordinary way, a variation of the well-known seventh figure 
of the European catVcradle “ a fish in a dish” is obtained. If, on the other 
hand, the forefingers and thumbs are inserted into the figure so that they 
