DRESSING A SIMPLE HACKLE. 83 



arming your gut you are forming the body of 

 your fly. You must make that body of the 

 requisite length and thickness, and of the proper 

 tapering shape by a few laps more or less of the 

 gut. Tie on your hackle and wings, as shown at 

 Figs. 7. and 2. Wind on your hackle two or three 

 laps down the body of the fly. Fasten, and clip 

 off the point of the hackle. Bring your silk back 

 through the fibres of the hackle to behind the 

 wings, which divide in the usual way, and finish 

 at the head delicately. 



I now give you a simple hackle to make, which 

 I think very easily done, 

 though others do not. 

 The great difficulty con- 

 sists in winding; the hackle 

 feather, so that its fibres '" m ' m l 

 may project below and 

 above the hook with great regularity, tapering off 

 according to their length towards the bend of the 



dissolved. Let the whole simmer for ^ten minutes. Then 

 add a quarter of an ounce of white pomatum, and allow 

 the whole, constantly stirring it, to simmer for a quarter of 

 an hour longer. Now pour the liquid into a basin of clean, 

 cold water, when the liquid will instantly assume a thick 

 consistency. In this state, and while it is yet warm, work 

 it by pulling it through the fingers until it be cold. This 

 last operation is necessary to make the wax tough, and 

 give it the bright silvery hue which it has when made to 

 perfection. 



G 2 



