38 AMATEUR RODMAKING 



will give him good satisfaction. Having in 

 mind the disappointing experiences I had in my 

 first attempts to work bethabara, due for the 

 most part to poor material, I asked several of 

 the best known firms of rodmakers for their 

 opinions, and these agreed perfectly with my 

 own, which is that while first-class bethabara 

 will give better satisfaction, dagama of good 

 quality is more easily obtained, can be worked 

 to better advantage by the novice, and will 

 make a good rod. 



Dagama comes from Cuba and is rather 

 common. The tree grows to a height of forty 

 or fifty feet and has few branches. As a rule 

 it comes in billets six or seven feet long, split 

 from the log, but as these are not expensive, 

 the novice who expects to make two or three 

 rods can use the best part of a billet to advan- 

 tage. The wood is rather white when first 

 split, but exposure to the air turns it pale yel- 

 low and it darkens slightly when made up into 

 rods. It resembles lancewood so closely that 

 unless pieces of both are placed side by side it 

 is difficult to tell which is which. Its grain is 

 closer and straighter than that of lancewood, 

 however, and it has none of the pins or knots 

 that characterize lancewood and make that 

 wood so unsatisfactory to work. Dagama is 



