[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 a small line into the grooves between the strands of rope, A, Fig. 138.  This fills up the grooves and makes the rope smooth and ready for serving or parcelling.  Parcelling consists in covering the rope already wormed with a strip of canvas wound spirally around it with the edges overlapping, B, Fig. 138.  Serving is merely wrapping the rope with spun yarn, marline, or other small stuff, C, Fig. 138.  Although this may all be done by hand, yet it can be accomplished far better by using a “Serving Mallet,” shown in D, Fig. 138.  This instrument enables you to work tighter and more evenly than by hand, but in either case you must have the rope to be served stretched tightly between two uprights.  Often a rope is served without parcelling and for ordinary purposes parcelling is not required.  A variation of serving is made by “half-hitch” work, as shown in Figs. 139-140.  This is very pretty when well done and is very easy to accomplish.  Take a half-hitch around the rope to be served, then another below it; draw snug; take another half-hitch and so on until the object is covered and the series of half-hitch knots forms a spiral twist, as shown in the illustrations.  Bottles, jugs, ropes, stanchions, fenders, and numerous other articles may be covered with half-hitch work; and as you become more expert you will be able to use several lines of half-hitches at the same time.  Four-strand braiding is also highly ornamental and is easy and simple.  The process is illustrated in Fig. 141, and consists in crossing the opposite strands across and past one another, as shown in A, B, C, Fig 141.  Still more ornamental is the “Crown-braid” which appears, when finished, as in Fig. 143.  The process of forming this braid is exactly like ordinary crowning and does not require any description; it may be done with any number of strands, but four or six are usually as many as the beginner cares to handle at one time.

[Illustration:  FIG. 138.—­Worming, parcelling, and serving.]

[Illustration:  FIG. 139.—­Half-hitch work.]

[Illustration:  FIG. 140.—­Half-hitch work.]

[Illustration:  FIG. 141.—­Four-strand braid (making).]

[Illustration:  FIG. 142.—­Four-strand braid (complete).]

[Illustration:  FIG. 143.—­Crown-braid.]