[Illustration: FIG. 132.--Matthew Walker (complete but slack).]

[Illustration: FIG. 133.--Matthew Walker (complete).]

The "Turk's Head," Figs. 135 and 136, is a knot much used aboard
yachts and warships and is so handsome and ornamental that it is a
great favorite. It is used in ornamenting rigging, in forming
shoulders or rings on stays or ropes to hold other gear in place, to
ornament yoke lines, and for forming slip-collars on knife lanyards.
It is also used to form collars around stanchions or spars, and,
placed around a rope close beneath a man-rope knot, it gives a
beautiful finish. When made of small line sailors often use the Turk's
Head as a neckerchief fastener. Although so elaborate in effect, it is
really an easy knot to make, and while you may have difficulty in
getting it right at first a little patience and practice will enable
you to become proficient and capable of tying it rapidly and easily in
any place or position. To make a Turk's Head, have a smooth, round
stick, or other object, and some closely twisted or braided small
line. Pass two turns of the line around the rod, _A_, Fig. 135, from
left to right, and pass the upper bight down through the lower and
reeve the upper end down through it, as at _B_. Then pass the bight up
again and run the end over the lower bight and up between it and the
upper bight. Turn the upper bight again through the lower one and pass
the end over what is now the upper bight and between it and the
lower, _C_, Fig. 135. Now work from left to right, following the lay
of the knot (or, in other words, passing your long end alongside the
first end), _D_, Fig. 135, until a braid of two or more lays is
completed, as shown in Fig. 136. The Turk's Head may be drawn as tight
as desired around the rope, or rod, by working up the slack and
drawing all bights taut. A variation of the knot may be formed by
making the first part as described and then by slipping the knot to
the end of the rod; work one side tighter than the other until the
"Head" forms a complete cap, as shown in Fig. 137. This makes a
splendid finish for the ends of flagpoles, stanchions, etc.

[Illustration: FIG. 135.--Making Turk's head.]

[Illustration: FIG. 136.--Turks' heads.]

[Illustration: FIG. 137.--Turk's cap.]

Ropes that are to be used as hand-lines, stanchions, man-ropes,
railings, or in fact wherever a neat appearance counts, are usually
wormed, served, and parcelled. Worming consists in twisting