272 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



will prove as strong as three uneven, scabby hairs, 

 that are ill-chosen, and full of galls or unevenness. 

 You shall seldom find a black hair but it is round, 

 but many white are flat and uneven ; therefore, if 

 you get a lock of right round, clear, glass-color hair, 

 make much of it. 



And for making your line, observe this rule : 

 first let your hair be clean washed ere you go 

 about to twist it ; and then choose not only the 

 clearest hair for it, but hairs that be of an equal 

 bigness, for such do usually stretch all together, 

 and break all together, which hairs of an unequal 

 bigness never do, but break singly, and so deceive 

 the angler that trusts to them. 



When you have twisted your links, lay them in 

 water for a quarter of an hour at least, and then 

 twist them over again before you tie them into a 

 line : for those that do not so shall usually find 

 their line to have a hair or two shrink and be 

 shorter than the rest at the first fishing with it ; 

 which is so much of the strength of the line lost 

 for want of first watering it and then re-twisting 

 it ; and this is most visible in a seven-hair line, 

 one of those which hath always a black hair in 

 the middle. 



And for dyeing of your hairs, do it thus. Take 

 a pint of strong ale, half a pound of soot, and a 

 little quantity of the juice of walnut-tree leaves, 

 and an equal quantity of alum : put these together 

 into a pot, pan, or pipkin, and boil them half an 

 hour, and having so done, let it cool ; and being 



