OLD-FASHIONED ANGLING 23 



for an ordinary rod ; the best sort was made as 

 follows : — A white deal or fir board, thick, free from 

 knots, and seven to eight feet long, was to be pro- 

 cured, and a dexterous joiner was to divide this 

 with his saw into several breadths ; then with a 

 plane to shoot them round, smooth, and rush-grown 

 or taper. One of these would form the bottom of 

 the rod, seven or eight feet long in the piece. To 

 this was fastened a hazel six or seven feet lonsf, 

 proportioned to the fir ; this also rush-grown, and 

 it might consist of two or three pieces, to the top 

 of which a piece of yew was to be fixed about two 

 feet long — round, smooth, and taper ; and, finally, 

 a piece of round whalebone, five or six inches long. 

 Some rings or eyes were to be placed on the rod in 

 such a manner that when you laid your eye to one, 

 you could see through all the rest. A wheel or 

 winch must be fixed on, about a foot from the end 

 of the rod, and, as a finish, a feather dipped in 

 aqita fortis was passed over it, so as to make it a 

 pure cinnamon colour. " This," the author adds, 

 " will be a curious rod if artificially worked ! " 



The subject of fly-making, and how and when to 

 use flies, is treated most exhaustively — no less than 

 twenty-four pages being devoted to the subject. 

 The materials named for fly-dressing are very good 

 indeed, and very much the same as used now ; but 



