The Leashing of Lochiel's Dogs

This game is well known in Scotland, Ireland, and England. It has been described by the Rev. John Gray (p. 118, Fig. 4) from the Island of Eriskay, Outer Hebrides; it is also called "Tying Dogs' Feet." In some parts of Ireland, it is known as "Duck's Feet." It is the same as the Cherokee Indian "Crow's Feet." (See Haddon, 5, p. 217.) Dr. W. H. Furness has found it among the Kabyles of Algeria, introduced from France under the name of "Cock's Feet." It is known to the Ulungu of Africa as Umuzwaza = a Wooden Spoon. Roth gives a similar pattern from Australia (pl. xii, 1). It closely resembles the "Two Hogans" of the Navaho Indians, just before the completion of that figure.

First: Opening A.

Second: Turn the palms toward you, draw the strings tight and close the four fingers over all the strings except the near thumb string (Fig. 259, Left hand); turn each hand down and then up toward you (Fig. 259, Right hand) under the near thumb string, to put this string around the four fingers (Fig. 260).

Third: With the thumb and index of the right hand lift the loop from the left index and place it on the left thumb (Fig. 261). With the thumb and index of the left hand lift the loop from the right index and place it on the right thumb. This movement can also be made by putting each thumb from below into the index loop and withdrawing the index.

Fourth: With the thumb and index of the right hand pick up the string on the back of the left hand, and put the loop on the left middle finger only (Fig. 262). With the thumb and index of the left hand pick up the string on the back of the right hand, and put the loop on the right middle finger only. Separate the hands.

Fifth: Turning the palms slightly toward you, bend each little finger down over the far middle finger string, and take up from below on the back of the finger the near little finger string (Fig. 263), and return the little finger to its former position, being careful not to allow the far little finger string to slip off the little finger. After this movement you have on each hand a loop on the thumb and a loop on the middle finger, and two far little finger strings forming a loop around the far middle finger string between the little finger and the ring finger (Fig. 264).

Sixth: With the thumb and index of the right hand pick up the lower left far little finger string (the one which runs straight across to the right little finger), and, drawing it over the tip of the left little finger, let it fall on the palmar side (Fig. 265), being careful not to disturb the upper far little finger string (the one that crosses over to the far side of the right thumb). With the thumb and index of the left hand, in the same way pick up the lower right far little finger string, lift it over the tip of the right little finger, and drop it on the palmar side. Separate the hands (Fig. 266).

This movement may also be made by bending each little finger down over the upper far little finger string, and picking up from below on the back of the finger the lower far string, which will slip to the palmar side as the little finger is straightened.

Seventh: Release the loops from the thumbs and separate the hands, when it will be observed that the middle and little fingers of each hand, "the dogs," are leashed by loops to two central straight strings (Fig. 267).

String Figure Notation (SFN)

OA:P mt, FMRL gr fTS
fl nTS over H
T mo nHS pu FN (re F)
tr HN to M:L mo fRS pu nLS
na L:re T:ex

The transfer of a loop from a finger to the wrist, or around the backs of the four fingers, of the same hand is quite a common movement in string figures. In the "Apache Door" we saw a very simple method of changing a finger loop to the wrist, and now, in the second movement of this figure, we have a neat method of putting the thumb loop on the back of the four fingers. A similar movement occurs in the Caroline Islands "Coral" and in the Navaho "Man."

On examining more closely the "Leashing of Lochiel's Dogs," one cannot fail to be struck by the rather crude way in which many of the movements are carried out; except in the Fifth movement, there appears to be lacking that expert use of both hands at the same time which characterizes the figures made by savage races. It is interesting to observe that Dr. Haddon's description of the Cherokee "Crow's Feet" differs from our description of the British figure; his description, in my own words, is as follows:

First: Opening A; but the palmar strings are taken up with the middle fingers instead of with the index fingers.

Second: Close together the four fingers of each hand, and insert them from above into the thumb loop, then take this loop off the thumb; thus turning it over in the transfer. Separate the hands.

Third: Pass each thumb into the middle finger loop from below, then withdraw the middle finger and return the thumb to its position, thereby transferring the middle finger loop to the thumb.

Fourth: Transfer the loop on the back of each hand to its respective middle finger.

Fifth: Pass each near little finger string from below through the middle finger loop and replace it on the far side of the little finger.

Sixth: Transfer each far little finger string over the little finger to the near side of that finger.

Seventh: Release the loops from the thumbs and draw the strings tight. "Crow's Feet" was taught to Dr. Haddon by a Pullman porter of European, negro and Cherokee parentage, which may account for the absence of what, for lack of a better term, we may call "savage characters."

From the figure shown to Mr. John L. Cox by an Onondaga Indian, Charles Doxon, we know that "Crow's Feet" is done by the Indians in the typical Indian way. This method differs from "The Leashing of Lochiel's Dogs" only in the Third and Fourth movements:

Third: Insert each thumb from above into the index loop, and pick up from below the far index string; return the thumb to its position, and withdraw the index.

Fourth: Turning the hands toward you and closing the fingers on the palms, let the far wrist string slip toward you along the fist until it comes to the index finger, when the whole wrist loop can be readily transferred to the middle finger.