Page:String Figures and How to Make Them.djvu/193

160 on the palm. Then turn the hands so that the fingers closed on the palms face each other and the finished figure will be formed (Fig. 357).

The only interesting thing about this figure is the method by which the final

pattern is exhibited; in no other figure is the pattern turned over so that the far side becomes the near side.

CARRYING MONEY

Dr. Furness learned "Carrying Money" from a boy in the Island of Uap, Western Carolines, in i9o2. The native name is Runi-ka-fei.

First: Form the figure of "Ten Men."

Second: Rest the figure on your lap and slip each thumb out of its loop, and then pick up from below on the back of the thumb, close to the index finger, the string which passed from the thumb to the index (Fig. 358). Gently withdraw each middle finger from its loop, and let the string which passes over each index and thumb slip off the index, and draw the hands apart with the strings on the thumbs and index fingers until the central figure is about two inches in diameter (Fig. 359). Now withdraw the thumbs and index fingers, and let the figure lie flat on the lap, or a table, with the four loops radiating from the central circle.

Third: Without disturbing the figure, pick up with the left thumb and index the far string of the right near loop about two inches from the central figure, and pick up with the right thumb and index the same string about two inches farther to the right; and form a small, flat circle in the string by passing the string held by the right thumb and index under the string held by the left thumb and index; the point where the strings cross should be toward you. Lay the ring down, and with the