This figure was obtained by Mr. John L. Cox, at Hampton, Virginia, from a Pueblo Indian, Antonio Abeita, from Isleta, New Mexico. He called it Nathu = a Hut. Mr. Cox tells me that it is also known to Emma Jackson the Klamath Indian, who taught him the other Klamath figures. There is a finished pattern of this figure preserved in the Philadelphia Free Museum of Science and Art, collected by Mr. Stuart Culin at Zuñi, New Mexico. It is numbered 22607 and labelled Pi-cho-wai, ham-pun-nai = a Brush House.
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First: Put the untwisted loop on the index fingers only, and separate the hands. Pass each thumb from below into the index loop (Fig. 690, Left hand), bend it over the far index string and sweep it down, toward you, and up again (Fig. 690, Right hand). In this way you put crossed loops on the thumbs and index fingers (Fig. 691). You now have, on each hand, a far thumb string and a near index string, and a palmar string passing from the near side of the thumb to the far side of the index.
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Second: Put the right index from below under this left palmar string, between the far thumb string and the near index string (Fig. 692), and draw the loop out on the back of the index, at the same time giving it one twist by rotating the index away from you, down, toward you, and up again (Fig. 693).
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Third: Put the right thumb from below into the right upper index loop, and separate the thumb from the index in order to make the loop wider (Fig. 694). Now pass the left index from above through this upper loop extended on the left thumb and index, and pick up, from below (between the lower near index string and the lower far thumb string) on the back of the left index the right palmar string (Fig. 695), and draw the loop out and give it one twist by rotating the left index away from you, down, toward you, and up again.
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Fourth: Pass the left thumb from below into the upper left index loop, and separate the thumb from the index in order to make the loop wider (Fig. 696).
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Fifth: Bend the right middle, ring and little fingers toward you over all the loops on the right hand, and close these fingers on the palm to hold the strings in place while you gather together, close to the left hand, between the right thumb and index all the loops on the left hand, by putting the right thumb below the loops and closing the right index down on them (Fig. 697). Now withdraw the left hand from all the loops, and with the right thumb and index turn the loops over, away from you (so that the right thumb comes on top of the loops), and put the left thumb and index back into the loop, as they were before (Fig. 698), except that now the left thumb loop goes on the left index and the left index loop goes on the left thumb and the loop common to both thumb and index is now the lower loop. Draw the hands apart and repeat the same movement on the right hand, as follows: Bend the left middle, ring and little fingers toward you over all the loops on the left hand, and close these fingers down on the palm to hold the strings in place while you gather together, with the left thumb and index, close to the right hand, all the loops on the left hand, putting the left thumb below the loops and closing the left index down on them. Now withdraw the right hand from all the loops and with the left thumb and index turn the loops over, away from you (so that the left thumb comes on top of the loops), and put the right thumb and index back into the loops as they were before, except that now the right thumb loop goes on the right index, the right index loop goes on the right thumb and the loop common to both right thumb and index is now the lower loop.
Separate the hands and draw the strings tight (Fig. 699). The figure now consists of an upper string which is a single straight near index string passing on either side between the two far index strings; a lower string which is a single straight far thumb string passing, on each side, between the two near thumb strings; and double near thumb and far index strings twisted together in the centre.
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Sixth: A second person now pulls upward the twisted strings in the centre of the figure, while you bend each index down toward you, over the near index string and each thumb away from you over the far thumb string (Fig. 700), and, holding these strings down, you let the other strings slip off the thumbs and index fingers. Now turn the hands with the palms down, and separate the thumbs widely from the index fingers, and the "Brush House" is formed (Fig. 701).
This is a very pretty figure and many of the movements are novel; the Sixth is of particular interest because it is just the reverse of the usual "Navaho movement," the thumb and index loops being drawn through the loop common to both thumb and index.