ion is not necessary as they can readily be mastered by looking
at the diagrams.

But of all knots perhaps the most perfect is the _bowline_ (Fig. 17).
This is preëminently _the_ sailor’s knot and every person who uses or
owns boats should learn to tie a bowline quickly and readily for it is
the strongest, most secure and best of all useful knots and can be used
for a thousand and one different purposes.

It is very simple and by following the various stages as illustrated you
will have no difficulty in learning to tie it. In A the rope is shown
with the bight or cuckold’s neck formed with the end over the standing
part. Pass A back through the bight, under, then over, then under again,
as shown in B; then over and down through the bight, as shown at C and
D. Then draw tight as at E.

While for most purposes knots serve every purpose for fastening two
ropes together or for attaching a rope to some other object, yet a tied
rope is never as strong as a whole rope and moreover where two ropes are
thus fastened together, the knot will not pass through blocks, eyes or
other openings which will admit the rope itself. For this reason it is
often necessary to join two ropes so that there is scarcely any increase
in the size of the ropes. This is accomplished by making what is known
as a _splice_.

A splice, if well made, is as strong as the rest of the rope; it will
run through a block or eye readily and moreover it is not difficult to
make. There are various kinds of splices, known as _short splices_, _eye
splices_, _cut splices_, _long splices_, etc., and everyone who has
occasion to use ropes should be able to make any or all of these.

The simplest splice, and the one you should learn first, is the _short
splice_ (Fig. 18). To make this untwist or _unlay_ the ends of the two
ropes to be joined for a few inches and wrap a few turns of twine or
yarn around them to prevent the strands from untwisting any farther, as
shown at A, A. The end of each strand should also be whipped or seized
to prevent unravelling, but a