REEF-KNOT NETS. 



is 



and in the remainder of the free part close to the peg there is 

 turned in a second bowline knot (D, Fig. 4). These two bowline 

 knots serve as clews to the net. This selvage and first tier 

 of half-meshes are invariably made from right to left, on the 

 ground that it is the custom of the country, and any variation 

 therefrom would be attended by consequences as unpleasant as 

 they are ill-defined. 



The second tier of meshes is made from left to rigbt, and here 

 the peculiar mesh knot makes its first appearance. 



Holding the mesh-block in her left hand, so that its upper 

 edge just touches the bottom of the meshes already formed, the 

 operator passes the ball of cord from the last knot down in front 

 and up behind the mesh-block (F, Fig. 4), making due allowance 

 for the difference in size of this exterior mesh necessary to keep 

 the tier uniform. The ball is held in the right hand, gripped be- 

 tween the ball of the thumb, the palm, and the third and fourtli 

 fingers, thus leaving the thumb and two fingers free to work 



/? 



^i;h 







*^ 



7S 



Fig. 1. — Selvage Knot. Fig. 2. — Mesh Knot, Fig. 3. — Mesh Knot, second titrn. 



first tukn. 



with. A loop (C, Fig. 2) of any convenient size is made in the 

 netting-cord, between the block and the ball, passed up through 

 the bight of the mesh (A) from below, and drawn through the 

 bight sufficiently far to draw taut the part which passes about 

 the mesh-block, in which position it is stopped by the left thumb 

 on the block. The ball (E) is passed through the loop (C), also 

 from below upward (as shown at D), returned to its place in the 

 palm of the right hand, and the part drawn taut and stopped by 

 the left thumb. This completes a single turn of the knot as 

 shown in Fig. 2, where the relation of the several parts is ex- 

 hibited before they have been pulled taut and stopped, which in 

 practice will be found essential to the success of the operation. 



The second and final part of the knot is illustrated in Fig. 3. 

 A second loop (F) is made in the cord between the ball and the 

 part stoppered by the left thumb. This loop is passed from 

 above downward through the bight of the mesh (A), drawn taut, 

 and stopped at the mesh-block by the left thumb as before. 



