THE KEEL. 27 



line of this kind to be had, since too fine a line 

 will not only be more likely to break than a 

 heavier one, but will not be so easy for him to 

 throw. A taper line entirely of hair, is the 

 easiest to cast with. 



Reel 



Notwithstanding the many complaints which 

 have been made of the REEL usually sold, no 

 very great improvement upon it seems to have 

 been put into practice. The principal requisites 

 seem to be, in the first place, a capability of 

 winding up the line rapidly ; secondly, smallness ; 

 thirdly, lightness ; fourthly, freedom from liabi- 

 lity to derangement. 



Perhaps rather too much of the first requisite 

 is generally sacrificed for the sake of cheapness, 

 and for the purpose of obtaining the second and 

 third. A reel having a sheave upon which the 

 line is to be wound, whose groove for the recep- 

 tion of the line is three quarters of an inch broad, 

 whose barrel is two inches in diameter, and 

 whose total diameter is two inches and three 

 quarters, would receive a trout-line of twenty 

 yards perfectly welL The whole diameter of 

 such a reel need not exceed three inches and a 

 quarter, nor the whole breadth one inch and a 

 quarter. The wheels might multiply five times, 

 and therefore the average rate at which it would 



