174 HANDS, VOICE, WHIP AND SPUR. 



is attached to the keeper, which is a leather loop at 

 the end of the crop. Men generally like a thong of 

 white pipe-clayed leather, but as the colour is apt to 

 come off and soil one's habit, a brown leather thong is 

 best for ladies. 



The keeper of the modern hunting whip has a slit, 

 near its end, through both thicknesses of leather. In 

 attaching the thong, the loop at its upper end is placed 

 over the end of the keeper, and it is then passed 

 through the slit and drawn tightly (Fig. 86). The 

 old-fashioned keeper, which is still greatly in use, is a 

 simple loop of leather, over which the loop of the 

 thong is put, and the remainder of the thong is 

 threaded through the opening at the end of the 

 keeper (Fig. Sy). A wrong way to put on the thong 

 is, in the first instance, to pass the loop of the thong 

 through (instead of over) the keeper (Fig. SS). Some 

 authorities might take exception to the way the thong 

 is put on in Fig. 89. 



To facilitate the use of the thong, it is well to have 

 a long keeper, as in Fig. 86. The keeper of the whip 

 which is shown in. Fig. 85, and also in Fig Sy, is too 



short. 



The chief use of the thong in hunting is to recover 

 the crop if it happens to be pulled out of the hand 

 when opening a gate, before doing which, one or more 

 turns of the thong are consequently taken round the 

 hand. It also enables us to warn off hounds who 

 approach too near our horses' legs, on which occasions 

 the whip should be held at arm's length, with thong 



