and in the remainder of the free part close to the peg there is turned in a second bowline knot (D, Fig. 4). These two bowline knots serve as clews to the net. This selvage and first tier of half-meshes are invariably made from right to left, on the ground that it is the custom of the country, and any variation therefrom would be attended by consequences as unpleasant as they are ill-defined.
The second tier of meshes is made from left to right, and here the peculiar mesh knot makes its first appearance.
Holding the mesh-block in her left hand, so that its upper edge just touches the bottom of the meshes already formed, the operator passes the ball of cord from the last knot down in front and up behind the mesh-block (F, Fig. 4), making due allowance for the difference in size of this exterior mesh necessary to keep the tier uniform. The ball is held in the right hand, gripped between the ball of the thumb, the palm, and the third and fourth fingers, thus leaving the thumb and two fingers free to work
| Fig. 1.—Selvage Knot. | Fig. 2.—Mesh Knot. | Fig. 3.—Mesh Knot, second turn. first turn. |
with. A loop (C, Fig. 2) of any convenient size is made in the netting-cord, between the block and the ball, passed up through the bight of the mesh (A) from below, and drawn through the bight sufficiently far to draw taut the part which passes about the mesh-block, in which position it is stopped by the left thumb on the block. The ball (E) is passed through the loop (C), also from below upward (as shown at D), returned to its place in the palm of the right hand, and the part drawn taut and stopped by the left thumb. This completes a single turn of the knot as shown in Fig. 2, where the relation of the several parts is exhibited before they have been pulled taut and stopped, which in practice will be found essential to the success of the operation.
The second and final part of the knot is illustrated in Fig. 3. A second loop (F) is made in the cord between the ball and the part stoppered by the left thumb. This loop is passed from above downward through the bight of the mesh (A), drawn taut, and stopped at the mesh-block by the left thumb as before.
