A House

Dr. Furness collected this figure in the Island of Uap, Western Carolines in 1902, from the same little boy who taught him "Carrying Money." The native name is Naun. The pattern is known to the Maoris of New Zealand, and to the blacks of North Queensland (see Roth, plate xii, Figs. 4, 5, reproduced on page 385 of this book), but we have no information as to their methods of forming it or that they fully complete the figure by pulling up the ridge-pole.

Two persons (A and B) and two loops of string are required for this figure.

1

First: Each person takes a loop and proceeds to form Opening A.

2

Second: They then stand close together facing each other, and each turns his hands with the thumbs up and the fingers directed toward the other person. Then A passes his hands away from him through the index loops of the figure held on the hands of B. B then draws his hands toward him, but leaves his index loops on the wrists of A (Figs. 456, 457).

Fig. 456
Fig. 457
3

Third: B passes his hands away from him through the index loops of the figure held on the hands of A. A draws his hands toward him, but leaves his index loops on the wrists of B (Fig. 458).

Fig. 458
4

Fourth: A now takes his hands entirely out of the figure which he has been holding and, gathering together all the strings running to B's hands, twists them into a rope (Fig. 459), and passes this rope several times around the figure held in B's hands, under the figure toward B, then up between B and the figure, and finally over the figure toward A, and allows the end to hang down (Fig. 460).

Fig. 459
Fig. 460
5

Fifth: A with the right hand now removes the loop from B's left thumb, and with the left hand removes the loop from B's left little finger. B removes his left hand from the wrist loop, and picks up with the left hand the right thumb loop and the right little finger loop; and removes his right hand from the wrist loop, and then holds in his right hand the right little finger loop (Fig. 461). A and B now draw the hands apart, working the figure until the large square pattern appears (Fig. 462).

Fig. 461
Fig. 462
6

Sixth: A and B now sit down opposite each other, crossing the legs tailor-fashion, and each places the loop held by the right hand on the left foot, and the loop held by the left hand on the right foot. The feet must be pressed down firmly to keep the loops secure. A now brings together the pair of inner strings, which pass at right angles under the other pair of inner strings, and with both hands lifts them up to form the ridge-pole of the house (Fig. 463).

Fig. 463

The corner loops held by the feet represent the piles on which the house is built.

String Figure Notation (SFN)

  1. Persons A & B: OA facing each other
  2. A: H mo-th B's FN, B: re FN, ex away from A
  3. B: H mo-th A's FN, A: re FN, ex away from B
  4. A: re H, B: kl, A: gr all hS, tw into rope, wrap S ar B's HS
  5. A: lFMRL gr-re B's lLN, rFMRL gr-re B's lTN, B: re lH, kl
  6. B: lTF gr-ht rnLS & rfTS, re rH, rTL pu original N, re lTF
  7. B: lFMRL gr rTN, rFMR mu-th rLN gr fLS
  8. A & B: ex H apart, tr HN to feet
  9. A or B: TF md-th outter triangles gr 2SS ex up for House

This is a pretty figure and the only one—except "Ten Times," in the formation of which two people take equal shares.

I have put it in this place in the series because it is the last of the figures which begin with Opening A.