TUE PAJ.MER. 267 



again; then take the hackle; hold the small end 

 between the fore-finger and thumb of your left hand, 

 and stroke the fibres of it with your right contrarywise 

 to which they are formed ; keep your hold as in the 

 first position, and place the point of the hackle in 

 its bend, with that side which grows nearest the cock 

 upward, then whip it tight to the hook — in fastening 

 it, avoid tying in the fibres as much as possible : the 

 hackle being fastened, take it by the large end, and 

 keeping the side nearest the cock to the left hand, 

 begin with your right hand to wind it up the shank 

 upon the dubbing, stopping every second turn, and 

 holding what you have wound tight with your left 

 fingers, whilst, with a needle, you pick what fibres 

 may have been taken in : proceed in this manner 

 until you come to the place where you first fastened, 

 and where an end of the silk is, then clip those fibres 

 off the hackle which you hold between your fore- 

 finger and thumb, close to the stem, and hold the stem 

 close to the hook ; afterwards, take the silk in your 

 right hand, and whip the stem quite fast to it, then 

 make a loop and fasten it tight. Take a sharp knife, 

 and if that part of the stem next the shank of the hook 

 be as long as the part of the hook which is bare, pare 

 it fine : wax your silk, and bind neatly over the bare 

 part of the hook ; then fasten the silk tight, and spread 

 shoe-maker's wax lightly on the last binding ; then 

 clip off the remaining silk at the shank and bend of 

 the hook ; and, also, any fibres that may stand amiss. 

 Captain Williamson, author of the Anglers Fade 



