Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 17, 1906.djvu/373

Rh it appears still held on the thumbs in front of the throat. I know of no other trick with a method resembling the first described, with its crude reversion of the movement by which the strings are crossed. Such an effect is achieved with much subtlety in the tricks which might be conveniently grouped under the Melanesian name, "Buli." Indeed, it would not be difficult to invent a "cutting-off head" trick on the principle of these.

I cannot help thinking that the trick I have described under this name may be a reminiscence or imitation of a much prettier one found by Dr. Cunnington in East Africa. The principle is as follows: The loop is placed over the head and a turn is taken with one string round the neck above the other string. The neck is thus enclosed in a small loop inside the main loop. A small loop is then made at the other (the free) end of the main loop, and inside it, by making a twist with the same string as before, as if round an imaginary neck at that end of the loop. This end of the main loop, with its small loop, is then made to describe a semicircle and placed inverted over the head. An arrangement of strings results, which can be resolved by pulling either of the strings in front of the throat, or the free loop end on the opposite side to the string used for making the