62 SALMON FISHING 



took it for granted that a line should be as light as 

 was compatible with reasonable strength. Until 

 comparatively recent times, therefore, what may be 

 called the accepted line was one of plaited horsehair. 

 Slightly elastic, it was stout enough to hold any 

 reasonable fish ; and it was lighter than any ordinary 

 cord. It sufficiently commended itself by its light- 

 ness. Suddenly, however, after it had been in use, 

 to the contentment of all, for many decades, the 

 line struck some original thinker as imperfect. 

 Prickly ends of hair stuck out all over it, and these 

 were the frequent cause of vexatious tangle. What 

 was to be done? The obtruding ends, no doubt, 

 could be put down and kept down by coils of thread ; 

 but the thread would have to be resined, and the 

 resin would have to be varnished, and that would 

 mean a serious loss of lightness. Clearly, then, the 

 ideal line must be of some other material. Hemp ? 

 Yes; that might be tried. Soon it was found 

 wanting. The hemp line went through the atmo- 

 sphere and fell on the water just as prettily as the 

 line of plaited hair ; but it did not last long. The 

 old line had been good for several seasons ; the new 

 one became rotten in a few months. This gradually 

 led to the line as we have it now, hair and silk or 

 hemp blent and waterproofed, or simply plaited silk 

 well oiled and varnished. 



Experiment led to more than that. It led to the 

 discovery, that in regarding lightness as desirable in 

 a line mankind had been wrong from time im- 

 memorial. Besides being much less liable to tangle, 



