Page 391 - The Ashley Book of Knots

[HE ASHLEY BOOK OF KNOTS

2396. This knot appears on the center priest cord of page 381.

Both this cord and the left cord are also to be found pictl!Ired among

the photographic frontispieces.

---- ----
2397. The figure-eight diagram appears as a motif in this knot,

coupled with the CARRICK BEND diagram. The knot is a large and

somewhat flimsy one that was found on a very stiff lantern lanyard.

2398. The FIGURE-EIGHT KNOT also appears in this one, which is

from a cord that was sketched through a shopwindow, one evening

after business hours, on the boardwalk of Atlantic City.

2399. A knot from the ochre cord pictured in the center of page

3 81 •

2400. A compact knot of two interlocked CARRICK BENDS.

2<W1. A knot from the orange-colored cord on the right side of

page 38 I. It is very much like KNOT ?lI2 399.

I have always supposed that these cords were part of a priest's

costume. If a priest cord is tied about the neck, the tassels clear the

ground at about the right height.

But I took two of the cords to the Chinese Embassy in 1935, and

although they were thought to be employed as ornaments in Bud-

dhist temples, I was not so fortunate as to discover whether they

were peculiar to the priest's garb or to the temple furniture, or were

used in both ways. Also I am still in doubt of their period. Some of

them appear to show signs of great age, but the material is such that,

if well cared for, a cord one hundred years old might appear quite

fresh. I don't imagine that either their origin or purpose is at all

obscure, but I have not been so fortunate as to find anyone having

certain information regarding them. It has been suggested that they

may be Tibetan, and I have even been told by a shopkeeper that they

are a part of the loot of Peiping.

2397