232 Rod and Tackle. Chapt. xvm. 



No. -$%-$ is finest plait trout. 



Of these last two I can say nothing from experience after 

 practical trial ; but from the samples sent, what they are pleased 

 to term " strong trout " seems to me strong enough, as far as 

 strength goes, to kill Mahseer, but perhaps not the best weight for 

 throwing a treble gut cast. If your habit is to use a single gut 

 cast, as " Doon " does, it would be heavy enough and strong 

 enough, and of course you could get more yards on a reasonably 

 sized winch. These 16 plait lines cost 2s. per score of yards. 



There is no getting anything out of them without previously 

 paid cash, which it is difficult to manage in India, when you do 

 not know the exact price. Your tackle-maker ought, however, to 

 arrange this for you. 



In the way nf running line there is nothing nicer for light fly- 

 fishing than plaited silk, coated with india-rubber, 

 Running Line. 



and use 30 yards. 



Of all your lines be careful that they do not rot from being 



put away wet. 



For gut, too, I could wish that some fisherman, who has time 



on his hands, would give the tussa silkworm (An- 

 Gut. \ 



//urn a Paphia) a trial. It is more than twice the 



size of the ordinary silkworm; and the Atlas moth (Attn ma 



Atlas) is still larger. I am inclined to think a thicker and 



stronger piece of gut, for Salmon and Mahseer fishing, might be 



got out of them. The process of manufacture is simple enough, 



apparently, for, if what one reads be true, you have only to take 



the worm, when, from a piece of silk hanging from his nose, you 



see he meditates spinning, and put him into a closed jar of vinegar, 



and let him pickle therein, fur some six hours in a tropica] climate, 



more in a colder; then break him open, and taking one of the two 



guts, stretch it between finger and thumb, and keep it stretched 



across a plank, by hitching the rods into niches, or round pins or 



tacks, and put it into the sun to dry. 



From "Shifts and Expedients of Gamp Life, Travel, and 



Exploration," by W. B. Lord and 'I'. Bains, I quote the following: — 



"Silkworm gut can also 1>< • obtained wherever silk-spinning worms 

 " are met with. To make it, a number nf the caterpillars are to be 

 " collected just prior to their time of spinning. These are to bo. 



