Osage Diamonds

This figure was shown me by an Osage Indian, Charles Michelle from Pawhuska, Oklahoma, at the St. Louis Exposition, in September, 1904. He had no name for it. In the Philadelphia Free Museum of Science and Art there are two finished patterns collected by Mr. Stewart Culin; both are from the Hawaiian Islands. No. 21447 is called Ma-ka-lii-lii, and No. 21514, Pu-kau-la (see Culin, 1, p. 222). It is known among Indians, sometimes as "Jacob's Ladder," and also to the Irish, under the names of the "Ladder" or the "Fence."

First: Opening A.

Second: Release the loops from the thumbs, and separate the hands (Fig. 41).

Third: Pass each thumb away from you under all the strings, and take up from below with the back of the thumb the far little finger string, and return the thumb to its former position without touching the other strings (Fig. 42).

Fourth: Pass each thumb away from you over the near index string, and take up, from below, with the back of the thumb the far index string and return the thumb to its former position (Fig. 43).

Fifth: Release the loops from the little fingers and separate the hands.

Sixth: Pass each little finger toward you over the near index string and take up from below on the back of the little finger the far thumb string (Fig. 44, Left hand), and return the little finger to its former position (Fig. 44, Right hand).

Seventh: Release the loops from the thumbs (Fig. 45).

Eighth: Pass each thumb away from you over the index loop, and take up, from below, with the back of the thumb the near little finger string and return the thumb to its position (Fig. 46).

Ninth: With the right thumb and index pick up the left near index string (close to the left index and above the left palmar string) and put it over the left thumb (Fig. 47). With the left thumb and index pick up the right near index string (close to the right index and above the right palmar string) and put it over the right thumb. Separate the hands (Fig. 48).

Tenth: Bending each thumb toward the other hand and then up toward you, slip the lower near thumb string off the thumb, without disturbing the upper thumb loop (Fig. 49, Left hand).

Eleventh: Insert each index from above into the small triangle formed by the palmar string twisting around the thumb loop (Fig. 49, Right hand), and, turning the palms down, release the loop from the little fingers; then separate the hands, turn the palms away from you, and the finished figure will appear (Fig. 50).

String Figure Notation (SFN)

OA:re T:T mu S pu fLS
T mo nFS pu fFS:re L
L mo nFS pu fTS:re T
T mo FN pu nLS:OE

This figure is extremely simple; the majority of the movements are most direct. The Ninth movement appears to be rather a clumsy way of taking an additional loop on the thumb, but if you try the usual Indian way of putting each thumb simultaneously up into the index loop between the palmar string and the index, and then separating the thumbs from the index fingers, you will find it rather difficult.

In the Tenth movement we see a new way of slipping the lower thumb loop over the upper loop and off the thumb. The turning of the palms away from you to form the finished figure is a movement we shall meet with repeatedly; in this figure it is not essential to the success of the pattern, but in many other figures the final pattern will not appear unless the far strings are drawn tight by turning the palms away from you.