A Famous Silk Rope 89 
secured the rope to the sling. This was about on the level of 
my middle waistcoat button. I had started as already described, 
with two half-hitches and a foot of rope to spare, and, as my 
eye caught the knot, I realized that one of the half-hitches was 
gone and that the other was slowly drawing and lacked only a few 
inches to run clear! I quickly grasped the rope above me with 
one hand and somehow got hand-hold on the next ledge above, 
but only just before the knot drew! It was a frightful experience 
and due to sheer carelessness, for I had not taken into account 
the “curl” in the new rope when it was hanging slack nor the 
effect of the hot sun upon it. Eventually I got more rope eased 
down, and after making a secure knot this time was hauled up. 
It all happened long ago but I can still recall my sensations 
when, as I steadied myself on the friendly ledge, I glanced down 
that steep slope to the foot of the cliff. The moral of the tale 
is that no trust should ever be placed in two half-hitches, espe- 
cially in the case of a new rope, unless the free end be seized 
on to the standing part. 
No account of the ropes I employ would be complete without 
a description of my silk rope, already incidentally referred to, which 
has been my constant companion for nigh thirty years. This is 
one of those carried by Tyrolean sportsmen and is my most 
cherished memento of the happy birdsnesting days I spent with 
Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria in the spring of 1879. The Prince 
wore—as did his chief companion, Count Hans Wilczek (a famous 
sportsman)—the Tyrolean Jager costume, and both invariably 
carried these silk ropes in their ritcksacs. It was after a particularly 
nasty climb up an awkward fir tree to get the nest of the Black 
Kite that The Prince insisted on my having one of the silk ropes 
they carried to use as an aid in any such emergencies in the future. 
This rope is of strong plaited raw silk over 20 ft. in length with 
a loop at either end, well spliced and served. It is almost exactly 
