70 PRACTICAL LESSONS TX RIVER ANGLING. 



of hard wood, with a dent to receive the bar. The 

 shank is next thinned, flattened, the upper part made 

 square, and the whole worked ofF with the pohshing 

 file. Again let it be put in the fire, and bent by a 

 turn of the wrest round circular pincers. It is now 

 cut from the bar, put into the fire a third time, and 

 brought to a slight red-heat, and, taking it out sud- 

 denly, it is plunged into cold water. The temper is 

 given by placing it on an iron heated in the same 

 fire till it becomes bright blue, and while still hot it 

 is surrounded with candle grease, which gives it a 

 black colour. This completes the process. The sizes of 

 hooks are numbered from No. 1, which is the largest, 

 to No. 13, the smallest 



Arming, Whipping, or Ootiiiig. 



For fixing the hook to the gut, grass, or hair, which 

 is termed arming or zv/iipping^, use small but strong 

 silk, well rubbed with shoemaker's wax_, after having 

 smoothed the shank with a whetstone, to hinder its 

 fretting. From a straw's breadth below the top of 

 the hook, wrap the silk about the bare shank until it 

 comes to the top, which will prevent its slipping, or 

 cutting the line from frequently usirg; then lay the 

 hair or gut on the inside, never on the outside, as that 



(1) Provincially, Whoopiiig, or Ooping. 



