FISHING-LINES. 257 



ular manner. If a strand break, the bobbins all stop, and delicate 

 weights, sustained by the strands as they are braided, give them a 

 uniform tension. From eight to sixteen strands are put in a line, 

 each strand being composed of three threads. As the line is formed 

 it is reeled up, so that the braiding is not done in a long walk, but 

 in a room filled with compact machines clicking like looms. One 

 girl tends several lines, picking off with nippers any lint or bunch, 

 and removing poor strands. It is real satisfaction to an angler to 

 see such beautiful silks going into a line. It looks like braiding 

 cobwebs; but these fine threads, evenly and compactly braided, 

 make a fine line of amazing strength. The tapered lines are all 

 braided, because if one part of a twisted line be smaller than the rest, 

 that part yields to the twisting force and gets too much twist. The 

 tapering is done by simply dropping out a strand at regular intervals; 

 but the machine has to be readjusted each time to secure a regular 

 braid. Fine braided lines hitherto have often been weak, from de- 

 fective manufacture ; but recent improvements in the Highland 

 Mills in the methods of working up the fiber have produced a line 

 of wonderful strength for its size. Thus, I found that although one 

 of the threads of a line would lift but 14 ounces, yet the line of 8 

 threads, braided to a diameter of 1-40 of an inch, would lift 9^ to 10 

 pounds. The union of the threads in a twist or braid seems to aug- 

 ment their strength about 30 per cent. This fine line, 100 yards 

 long, weighs but 150 grains ; it requires 934 yards of prepared twist 

 to make it, and as each thread or twist contains three strands, the 

 lines contains 2,802 yards of strands. 



The celebrated Cuttyhunk line is made of four different kinds of 

 flax, Irish, French, Belgian, and German, spun to order for this pur- 

 pose. Line No. 9, having 12 threads in a diameter of about 1-30 of 

 an inch, lifts 25 pounds. They are all hand-made twisted lines, so 

 are the various grass lines and the relaid grass lines. 



The finishing of lines is generally done by some secret process that 

 each house wishes to monopolize. The fine lines are soaked in vari- 

 ous compounds of oils and gums to fill them with a preservative 

 water-proof substance. The well-known enamel finish gives the line a 

 glossy surface that excludes the water and keeps the line of a uniform 

 weight and stiffness in casting, and also makes it run very smoothly 

 through the rings or guides of a rod. Of course, there are many 

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