Leaders. 108 



walk on the water ; and equally mad should he do, or re- 

 frain from doing, either in its appropriate place if the 

 need of action was urgent. 



No other angling appliance is more difficult to judge 

 from inspection than gut while in the hank. When the 

 hank is opened and each strand is drawn through the 

 finger and separately examined, it is easier but still 

 difficult accurately to determine its quality. 



No expert pretends to judge the quality of gut in the 

 bundle except with the aid of a strong light. The eye 

 must be in constant training, and as keen to detect the 

 slightest variations of appearance as that of a dyer. 

 The angler, therefore, from the nature of the case, can- 

 not be much better than a fair judge. For example, 

 the fly end of a leader sooner or later becomes fuzzy 

 with use. This occurs much sooner in some leaders than 

 in others, while it measures the useful life in all. Of 

 two hanks of gut, the product of one may outwear the 

 other twenty-five per cent, in this respect, yet the two 

 may resemble each other so closely that only a trained 

 eye would be likely to detect this difference in value. 



Printed directions alone are, therefore, quite inade- 

 quate to make the amateur a first-class judge of gut. 

 Still, they may furnish a good working foundation for 

 the leaven of experience. 



The features to be sought are a good color, a hard, 

 wiry texture, roundness, even diameter from end to end, 

 and length. From these are to be inferred the strength 

 and wearing quality of the gut, which are what we wish 

 to estimate. 



We now face the strongest attainable light, and hold 

 the bundle of gut to be judged in front of us so that one 

 end projects towards the light and the other towards us, 



