378 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 



the English, Scotch, and Irish makers. The round bend 

 hook, is that which is most used in England, the Limerick 

 pattern being chiefly in vogue in Ireland, and the Scotch 

 anglers using, some of them the former and others the lat- 

 ter : while many Scotchmen use what is called the sneck- 

 bend, differing slightly from both of the above, in being 

 made of a more square shape. The round bend hook is 

 numbered from 1, the largest salmon size, to 14, the small- 

 est midge. The best Irish hooks, made by Philips of 

 Dublin, are classed in a different way : F E is intended 

 for the smallest trouting-fly ; F, the next ; then F F ; then, 

 again, F F F. After this come C and C C ; then B and 

 B B. The C's and B's have intermediate or half-num- 

 bers, and above B B the hooks for salmon are known by 

 numbers, beginning with B B, which corresponds with 9, 

 and going on regularly up to No. 1. 



Various articles are required for uniting these portions 

 of the line viz., silk of different degrees of strength, cob- 

 bler's wax, spirit varnish, and small scissors, &c. 



The joints used are first, whipping ; second, knot- 

 ting. Whipping consists in drawing successive circles of 

 silk, well waxed, tightly around the two objects laid in 

 apposition ; as, for instance, two portions of the line, or the 

 line and hook. This is finished off by slipping the end of 

 the silk through the last circle and drawing tight, and, if 

 necessary, repeating the operation again and again ; this is 

 called the half-hitch. Knotting is effected by several 

 modes, the most common of which is the water-knot, which 

 is managed as follows : Lay the two pieces of gut or hair 

 together, one overlapping the other three inches or more, 



