Page:String Figures and How to Make Them.djvu/397

354 Sixth: Release the loop from the left index and hold it erect between the left index and thumb (Fig. 800). This loop represents a Yam. Offer this hand to another person: He says, "Have you any food for me?" You say, "I haven't

any," pulling the right hand strings at the same time; the "Yam" disappears and all the strings come off the left hand.

The same can then be repeated with the right hand.

THREADING A CLOSED LOOP This little trick is probably very widely distributed; it has been observed among the Omahas, the Pawnees and the Kwakiutls; the Japanese, and the Caroline Islanders. Dr. Boas informs Dr. Haddon (see American Anthropologist, v, 1903, p. 218) that there are two shamanistic societies among the Kwakiutls, and that this trick is used to identi$ the members of One of these societies when they meet in the forest. The members of the other society are recognized by another trick, which, since it requires the use of a stick, does not fall within our subject. The trick has also been described from Argyleshire by Dr. R. C. Maclagan (p. 189) as the "thumb loop."

First: Take a piece of string about eighteen inches long, and, holding it at the middle between the tips of the right thumb and index, wind a portion of one-half of it around the left thumb, toward the body above the thumb, and away from the body under the thumb, the left hand being held with the thumb and index pointing to the right.