RIVER FISH AND FISHING. 317. 
or drum on which to wind the line, instead of a small cen- 
tral spindle. By the use of this large drum even a salmon 
line may be taken in as rapidly as can be desired, and the 
line lies much more evenly and free from any kind of 
hitch, with the great advantage that it will give off the 
line readily to the end. 
The foot-length, or the extreme portion of the line, 
is composed of finer materials than the reel-line, in order 
to escape the eye of the fish. It is generally made of 
pieces of gut, knotted together, and altogether comprising 
a length of from three to eight feet. Sometimes it is of 
single gut throughout, but generally of two or three thick- 
nesses of twisted gut at the end next the line, then of two, 
and finally of one piece of gut. This material is the pro- 
duce of the silkworm, and is the unspun substance intend- 
ed for silk, but made into gut instead by the art of man. 
The silkworm, just before spinning, is broken in two by 
the hand of the gut-maker, who, by drawing the pieces 
apart, obtains gut of any firmness, according to the length 
to which he pulls it. Considerable knack is required to 
make it uniformly round and free from weak places, which 
should be searched for carefully in selecting gut for the 
single lengths. Horse-hair is sometimes used for this 
purpose, and in some instances gimp, consisting of silk 
protected by wire. All these various sorts will be treated 
of under the respective kinds of fishing in which they are 
employed. . 
“Hooks are pieces of bent steel wire, barbed at the 
point, and of various sizes and forms. They are made 
according. to the respective patterns which are fancied by 
