346 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



care that your hair be round and clear, and free from galls 

 cr scabs or frets, for a well-chosen, even, clear, round hair, 

 of a kind of glass colour, will prove as strong as three uneven 

 scabby hairs, that are ill chosen, and full of galls or uneven- 

 ness. You shall seldom find a black hair but it is round, 

 but many white are flat and uneven ; therefore, if you get a 

 lock of right, round, clear, glass-colour hair, make much of it. 



And for making your line, observe this rule : first let your 

 hair be clean washed ere you go about to twist it ; and then 

 choose not only the clearest hair for it, but hairs that be of 

 an equal bigness, for such do usually stretch all together, and 

 break all together, which hairs of an unequal bigness never 

 do, but break singly, and so deceive the angler that trusts 

 to them. 



When you have twisted your links, lay them in water for 

 a quarter of an hour at least, and then twist them over again, 

 before you tie them into a line ; for those that do not so 

 shall usually find their line to have a hair or two shrink, and 

 be shorter than the rest at the first fishing with it, which is 

 so much of the strength of the line lost for want of first 

 watering it and then re-twisting it ; and this is most visible 

 in a seven-hair line, one of those which hath always a black 

 hair in the middle. 



And for dyeing of your hairs, do it thus : take a pint of 

 strong ale, half a pound of soot, and a little quantity of the 

 juice of walnut-tree leaves, and an equal quantity of alum ; 

 put these together in a pot, pan, or pipkin, and boil them 

 half an hour ; and having so done, let it cool ; and being 

 cold, put your hair into it, and there let it lie ; it will tui 

 your hair to be a kind of water or glass colour, or greenish 

 and the longer you let it lie, the deeper it will be. Yoi 



