4-02 



SPLICING A THONG 



CH. XVII 



Fig. 164. 



A point may be put on in the same way, but it is 

 more usually done as in Fig. 164 : — 



The end of the thong being unbraided, one of the 

 four strands is tied round the others, and pulled 



tight to keep the thong 

 from unplaiting, and the 

 end of the point having 

 been unplaited is pushed 

 close against the end of 

 the thong. Each strand in succession is laid on 

 top of a strand of the thong, and that thong-strand 

 having been turned back, the point-strand is tied 

 round it and the body of the thong, in a single knot 

 and pulled tight. After all four are thus tied, the 

 ends are cut off and the knot rolled. 



Another way of splicing a thong is to make with 

 the two ends, what sailors call a ' shroud knot,' 

 which can be learned from any book on sailors' 

 knots. In this knot the pieces of thong are un- 

 plaited and butted against each other, and each 

 strand is tied with a single knot around the main 

 part of the thong to which it does not belong, one 

 half of all these knots coming above the joint and 

 one half below it. The knots are all pulled tight 

 and the ends cut off. 



The whip used in the West, and elsewhere than 

 in England, has a straight stick of an elastic wood, 



fro 



m 



3 



ft. 6 in. to 4 feet long. The thong is from 



8 to 10 feet long, rather heavy, and has usually a 



