THE TREATISE. 25 



as little of it as possible must touch the water. 

 And also some of them give directions enabling 

 you to keep your fly near the top after you have 

 cast, and flies were specially dressed to swim 

 on or near the surface. Therefore, though the 

 line was thick, nearly all of it was in the air, 

 and consequently much less visible to the trout 

 than if it were in the water. The line, too, 

 though it was thick, was made of white and 

 translucent horsehair, and was less conspicuous 

 than might be imagined. 



The hooks, if the plate can be taken as a 

 guide, and it probably can, were not large. 

 Measured across the bend they run from about 

 2 or 3 to 15 on the modern scale, but they are 

 shorter in the shank and thicker in the wire. 



So much for the rod, line and hooks : what 

 about flies ? The Treatise gives a list of twelve, 

 a famous list, pirated by Mascall from the 

 Treatise, by Walton from Mascall, and from 

 him by numberless lesser writers for hundreds 

 of years. So interesting are flies that they 

 want two chapters to themselves, and are 

 described in Chapters VIII. and IX. It is 

 only necessary here to deal shortly with Dame 

 Juliana's list. Out of her twelve flies, eleven 

 can be identified. That is rather wonderful, 

 but I believe it to be incontestable. The eleven 

 are her first Dun Fly, which is the February 

 Red, dressed with a partridge feather for wing 

 and a brown body, as it is dressed to-day; 

 her second Dun Fly, which is the Olive Dun; 



