98 OBSERVATIONS 



wire force it to the end, ramming it close, 

 this will effectually keep out the water; put 

 a small piece of cotton wool upon the pitch, 

 sufficient when forced close into the quill, 

 to form a space of a quarter of an inch, and 

 upon the cotton add another piece of pitch 

 of the same size as the first, which will 

 secure the cotton, and make the float easily 

 discerned in the water; take a piece of sal- 

 low, hazle, or other soft wood, about the 

 same size as the circumference of the quill, 

 and about two inches long, fit it neatly 

 about three-quarters of an inch into the quill 

 and fasten it with a cement made of powder- 

 ed bee's wax rosin and chalk, melted over 

 the fire in a ladle, dip the plug in when it is 

 sufficiently melted and incorporated and put 

 it immediately into the quill, taper the lower 

 end of the plug, and with the help of a fine 

 straight awl put into it a piece of doubled 

 brafs wire the loop end formed into a round 

 eye, and the other twisted, which will pafs 

 into the plug like a screw, holding the wire 

 fast with a pair of small pliers, and turning 



