82 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



throws the fish into a corner, where a large heap is soon piled up. Dur- 

 ing this time, other women are splitting and cutting the fish with no less 

 skill, and stringing them on threads made of the fiber of the bark of 

 the linden-tree, which they pass through the eyes of the fish by means 

 of a large needle. The skill and rapidity of these women are truly ad- 

 mirable. Enormous piles of fish which encumbered the floor disappear 

 in a few hours, and pass to another building to be salted. A skillful 

 woman can dress as many as 2,000 Lucioperca during a siugle day. 



The building in which the scaly fish are salted has a long shape, 

 usually several doors, and contains tubs and wooden boxes of different 

 sizes. A box 3 " arsheens " (7 feet ) deep 4 " arsheens " (9 feet 6 inches) 

 broad, and 8 "arsheens" (18 feet 8 inches) long, can hold 100,000 Alosa 

 or 45,000 Abramis or 30,000 Lucioperca or 2,000 "pouds" (72,000 pounds) 

 of sturgeon of different kiuds. The tubs have generally a diameter of 

 4J "arsheens," (10 feet 6 inches,) and a depth of 31 "arsheens," (8 feet 2 

 inches,) and can hold 45,000 Alosa or 20,000 Abramis. The numberof tubs 

 and boxes varies according to the locality. Thus, the "vataga" (fishing- 

 establishment) of Petropovlovsk, fifty "versts" (about twenty-seven 

 miles) above Astrachan, on the banks of the Volga, has four large cel- 

 lars, each holding from 30 to 40 large boxes, destined chiefly for salting 

 the various kinds of Alosa. 



The so-called " cold cellars" are particularly grand; here blocks of ice 

 are piled up behind a wooden lattice, leaving a space of 1^ " sagenes " 

 (10 feet G inches) free along the walls of the cellar. Entering a salting- 

 cellar through the large door, one sees first the rooms where salt is pul- 

 verized by machines ; then the cellar itself, in which there is a long 

 floored corridor, running between high and strong wooden pillars. To 

 the right and left of this " corridor," the boxes are ranged side by side. 

 The roof, which rests on numerous pillars, has sky-lights which give 

 sufficient light for the whole cellar. In the roof, there is also a large 

 opening, from which an inclined plane, made of planks, leads into the 

 cellar. On this inclined plane, the " belougas" and large sturgeons are 

 easily let down into the cellar. Several ventilators keep the air con- 

 stantly pure. 



8. — PREPARING THE FISH AND ITS SEVERAL PARTS. 



Salting. — After having been dressed, the fish are, under the super- 

 intendence of, the Salter, placed in layers in the boxes above mentioned 

 in such a manner that the heads and tails alternate. The Salter then 

 throws, with a shovel, the necessary quantity of salt on every layer of 

 fish; the quantity of salt varying according to the kind of fish, and ac- 

 cording to the season. In the Astrachan " vatagas," (fishing-establish- 

 ments,) it is customary to take from 27 to 30 "pouds" (972 to 1,080 

 pounds) of salt in the spring, and from 18 to 20 "pouds" (048 to 720 

 pounds) in the autumn to every 1,000 Lucioperca; from 7 to 9 " pouds " 

 (252 to 324 pounds) in the spring, and from 4 to " pouds " (144 to 21 G 



