Page:String Figures and How to Make Them.djvu/355

314 which, on each side, form a loop around the near index string). Draw this string toward you, and still keeping the loop between the teeth, extend the figure by drawing the hands away from you, with their palms toward each other and the fingers directed away from you.

I have found it more convenient, after the figure has been extended, to release the loop held by the teeth and hold it between the tips of the extended thumbs (Fig. 718).

In this Eskimo figure, the movement which we have regarded as the most characteristic "Navaho movement" (slipping a lower loop over an upper loop and

then off the finger) reaches its maximum development; indeed there is little else in this figure than a constant repetition of this movement.

To take the string off the hands without tangling it, release the loop held by the teeth, remove the upper loop from each little finger, and draw the hands forcibly apart. The simple loop can then be dropped from the fingers.

A BIRD'S NEST

This figure was shown me by the two Navaho girls from Gallup, New Mexico.

First: Arrange the loop of string in the "First Position" on the left hand, and as a single, uncrossed loop around the little finger of the right hand. Draw the strings tight (Fig 719).