34 MODERN PRACTICAL ANGLER. 
The best gimp’ is commonly made on pure white 
silk—a yellow colour is generally an inferior quality. 
To STAIN GIMP. 
Nothing can be worse, as regards fine-fishing, than the 
common glittering gimp; indeed so great is the draw- 
back that some authors have actually recommended the 
troller to take the trouble of lapping it over from end to 
end with waxed silk like the shanks of hooks: but it has 
this great advantage of being very durable, safe com- 
paratively speaking from the effects of the Pike’s teeth, 
and easily manipulated. I therefore tried various ways 
of staining or clouding it, so as to remove the glittering 
appearance complained of. Green paint, and sealing- 
wax varnish both answer this purpose for a short time, 
but they soon wear off, as do other less effectual dyes. 
The difficulty was to get a stain which would perma- 
nently cloud, without impairing the strength of the 
gimp, and the following will be found to answer every 
purpose :— 
Soak the gimp in a solution of bichloride of platinum—mixed in 
about the proportion of one part of platinum to eight or ten of water— 
until it has assumed the colour desired. ‘This will take from a quarter 
of an hour to two or three hours, according to the strength of the 
solution. ‘This will impart to the gimp a dark cloud tint, almost in- 
visible in the water. The permanent nature of the stain is owing to a 
chemical action by which certain minute portions of soft metal are 
extracted from the wire of the gimp, and platinum deposited in their 
place. 
