IISHING TACKLE AND HOW TO MAKE IT. 453 



put into vinegar, where they remain for six hours, then put 

 into water. Some of the country people make a special 

 business of this, and purchase the worms from others, and 

 employ girls to draw out the gut, which is done by taking off 

 the head and taking hold of the entrails by the thumb and 

 linger and pulling them out as long as they will come, then 

 placing the gut in clear water again. When a sufficient 

 quantity of two or three thousand are made, it is tied in 

 bunches, and hung up to dry in the yard or garden. Some 

 worms produce one gut, some two, and a few three guts. 

 It is afterward sold by the pound-weight of rolls to the gut- 

 makers. The gut-makers boil the gut with soap and a little 

 soda, when the outer skin or film comes off easily. It is then 

 washed, bleached and hung up in rooms. Then girls are 

 employed who place each gut between their teeth, holding 

 the other end with their fingers, and rub it with wash leather. 

 It is then sorted — the strength, lengths, and quality — re-rubbed 

 and tied in bundles of lOO, then in i,ooo each, for sale." 



This graphic description was written by Mr. Allcock on the 

 spot, and I need not remind my readers that he had unrivaled 

 opportunities of knowing, having a factory there, and prepar- 

 ing, as he does, all the gut he imports so vastly. 



Good gut is of course expensive, but it is by far the cheap- 

 est, in the end. The characteristics of good gut are as fol- 

 lows: Length— the longer the better {ccetcris paribus) — 

 thickness (for Salmon gut), and strength. The best Salmon 

 gut I ever saw was over twenty inches long, very thick, and 

 sustained a dead weight of twelve pounds. This, however, 

 was worth more than its weight in gold. 



Good gut, when bent, should not form a permanent right- 

 angle, showing what medical science terms a "green stick 

 fracture." It should be round also. This is easily deter- 

 mined by taking it between the finger and thumb of each 

 hand and twisting it in contrary directions. Of course if 

 the fiber is flat it will look like a long miniature screw, 



