ON EAPID STREAMS. 89 



constantly trying your patience, use never more 

 than four flies, and remember, that you will kill 

 as many trout with three as with four flies. 



The most serviceable kind of line is made of 

 hair and silk spun together ; I think the colour 

 of very little importance ; every line before being 

 used should be first put to a severe trial, in all its 

 length, by pulling hard upon different parts suc- 

 cessively with the hands; and in order to have suf- 

 ficient strength, it is better to have the line stouter 

 in quality than such as are ordinarily recom- 

 mended for fly-fishing. Some lines are tapered, 

 these I prefer, because the bulky part (which 

 is seldom required) fills up the reel and makes it 

 equivalent to a multiplier; the tapered line is 

 more easy to throw, and can be commanded with 

 the greatest precision of direction in casting ; and 

 in case of a hitch and a pull for breakage upon 

 the line, we save the greater portion, being the 

 stronger ; but I by no means imply, in speaking 

 of preference for tapered lines, those little whim- 

 sical things ordinarily kept in shops, which, for 

 example, in a line of thirty yards, begin a gradual 

 tapering from the first to the last inch, the first 

 of which is not one-half so stout as it should be ; 

 and from the length of its tapering, we lose its 

 advantages, because, generally speaking, we have 

 not more than six, eight, or ten yards out, and in 

 this distance the tapering is so gradual and so 

 slight, as to be inappreciable. The most useful 

 line is made, say thirty yards, the first ten not 

 to taper at all, of a large size throughout, nearly 



