48 SEA-FISH. 
and not too few, one to each foot of rod being 
a good average. The so-called “snake” pattern is 
unquestionably the best, for want at any rate of a 
better ; it is in the form,-not of a snake, but of the 
position adopted by caterpillars when moving over 
smooth surfaces, and 
half an inch is not too 
high for it. It cannot, 
: however, be insisted that 
SwakE RING. this ring is so infallible 
as was at first claimed 
for it. At the same time, if far from the ideal, 
it is the best on the market. The stouter the 
wire of which it is made, the less likelihood is 
there of the line catching round it, and the easier 
it will be found to shake the line in place should 
such a hitch occur. 
It is to the top ring, however, upon which fall 
the strain and friction, that the attention 
of practical anglers has been devoted, 
and some highly ingenious devices have been the 
result, pre-eminent among which stand Jones’s 
pulley-block, of which I have unfortunately no 
drawing, and Bickerdyke’s moving ring that 
adapts itself to any angle. Either of these con- 
trivances must in reason minimise the wear and 
tear; and I have given them, and many more, a 
trial with the best results. At the same time, I 
think it honest to confess that I have for some 
years past used an ordinary top ring, such as 
might be found on any modern pike-rod, without 
having once suffered accident, This may, however, 
have been luck; and the modern recruit to the 
rank of salt-water fishermen will doubtless feel a 
strong preference for the very latest contrivances. 
Top ring 
