CHAPTER V. 



GUT, HAIR, AND GIMP. 



As is probably well known to my readers, the silkworm gut 

 of to-day is very different from the material for bottom lines 

 of the earlier ages of English angling. An idea of the 

 extraordinary coarseness of the tackle of the fifteenth cen- 

 tury may be gathered from the annexed tracing (Fig. 13) 

 from the "Boke of St. Alban's," of a ground or "ren- 

 nynge ' ' line ; in other words, a line suitable for tench or 

 roach. 



Faney insulting the understanding of a nineteenth century 

 -tench with this kind of tackle ! 



It is not likely that any other kind of bottom lines will ex- 

 tensively supplant the above three recognised materials. The 

 tackle shown in the cut is of wire and a sort of coarse chain, 

 which would certainly not in any case at the present day be of 

 service for the capture of any of the Cyprinidce family. I find 

 a mention of some sort of weed being used for bottom lines 

 amongst the older anglers, but unless this wa s, as indicated in 

 my remarks on " Eunning Lines," a sort of bysshus from abroad, 

 I cannot conceive what it could have been. There is an 

 American importation which gardeners use instead of the 

 strands of the old bass mat for tying plants, which is very 

 tenuous and capable of being separated into very fine strands, 

 but it will never supplant gut or hair, though I have used it 

 for a fly cast ere now with tolerable success. 



GUT. 



Silkworm gut is chiefly prepared in Spain, I believe, but 

 Portugal, Italy, and Sicily also produce it, and consists of the 



