IQ The North Country Angler. 



*s o 



CHAP. III. 



Of Hogs' Bristles. Their use and Excellence. 



JL DO not mean of such bristles as grow upon 

 our swine, or boars in England, but such as 

 are brought from Russia, &c. where their swine 

 are much larger than ours, and the bristles in pro- 

 portion longer. They are a more considerable 

 article in our trade than most people imagine ; 

 our brush-makers in London, &c. buying great 

 quantities of them. I was once in a warehouse, 

 where I saw great bundles of them, and some 

 of them longer than I had ever seen any before. 

 A whim came into my head at that instant, that 

 I could make them serviceable in fishing, 



I begged leave to choose a few from among 

 them, which was readily granted ; and I got 

 about the thickness of my wrist of the longest, 

 smallest, and roundest I could find; some of 

 them were nine, ten and eleven inches long. 



When I came down into the country, 1 began 

 to try some experiments with them, and found 

 they answered beyond my expectation. If I 

 should say, I prefer them to Indian-grass and 

 silk-worm-gut, it is only because these things 

 are not ordered to the best advantage they are 

 capable of. The Indian-grass might be stretched 

 and drawn longer, streighter, smaller and less 

 taper, than most of them are. And the silk- 

 worm-gut, that is generally thickest in the mid* 

 die, flat, and too suddenly tapering to the ends, 



