The virtues of the timber-hitch are, that, so long as the strain upon it is kept up, it will never give; when the strain is taken off, it is cast loose immediately.
The bow-line makes a knot difficult to undo; with it the ends of two strings are tied together, or a loop made at the end of a single piece of string. For slip nooses, use the bowline to make the draw-loop.
The clove-hitch binds with excessive force, and by it, and it alone, can a weight be hung to a smooth pole, as to a tent-pole. A kind of double clove-hitch is generally used, but the simple one suffices, and is more easily recollected.
There are other knots very useful in the artillery service and indispensable aboard ship, viz.: single knot, weaver’s knot, figure-eight knot, artificer’s knot, mooring knots, hitches, capstan, or prolonge knot, square knot, loops, becker knot, and anchor knot.
Knot, Shoulder-. See [Shoulder-knot].
Knout. A scourge composed of many thongs of skin, plaited, and interwoven with wire, which was till lately the favorite instrument of punishment in Russia for all classes and degrees of criminals. The offender was tied to two stakes, stripped, and received on the back the specified number of lashes; 100 or 120 were equivalent to sentence of death, but in many cases the victim died under the operation long before this number was completed. This punishment is at present only inflicted upon ordinary criminals, such as incendiaries or assassins. It is no longer in use in the army, except when a soldier is dismissed for ill conduct, in which case 3 to 10 lashes are given, in order to disgrace the soldier, rather than punish him.
Kolin. A town of Bohemia, on the left bank of the Elbe. Here the Austrians under Daun defeated the Prussians under Frederick the Great, June 18, 1757.
Koloshes. The Russian name for the Indians of the coast of Alaska.
Komorn. See [Comorn].
Koniagas, or Kadiaks. The names by which the various tribes of aborigines living along the coast of Alaska for over 1500 miles, are known.