84 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



stcllatus,) taken in the spring, remain for six mouths in the boxes, till 

 the salting and hardening process is complete. Afterward they are 

 taken out, dried superficially, and packed in casks. 



Those kinds of sturgeon which are caught from spring till the mid- 

 dle of July are transported, during September and October, on wagons 

 to the Saratov fair; while the fish of this kiud caught between the 8th 

 of July and the 15th of August are shipped the following spring to 

 Nijui-Novgorod on large boats, which are towed by steamers. 



The sturgeon caught in the district of Emba, the northeastern basin 

 of the sea, are salted on board of large fishing-boats called " koujovaya." 



The fish, having been dressed, are usually laid in brine for two days, 

 and then they are placed in layers at the bottom of the boat, each layer 

 being covered with salt. 



The fishermen return from their fishing-expeditions on the sea to As- 

 trachan at the end of June, and keep the fish they have caught in ware- 

 houses till a transport starts for Nijui-Novgorod. 



The sturgeons caught from the 15th of August till the first frost are 

 preserved in the wells (boxes in the hold of the vessel filled with fresh 

 water and used for keeping fish) in order to be shipped at a later time. 



Manufacture of caviar. — Two sorts of caviar are manufactured, fresh 

 or grained caviar, and hard or pressed caviar. In both cases, the 

 roe of the several kinds of sturgeon is spread out on a net with narrow 

 meshes forming a sieve, and stretched over a wooden frame ; then the 

 grains are passed through the meshes by slightly pressing the whole 

 mass till nothing remains on the sieve but the cellular tissue, the fat, 

 and the muscle. The grains, which are black or brown, fall through the 

 sieve into a wooden receptacle placed underneath. For manufacturing 

 grained caviar, the roe is sprinkled with very clean and fine salt, and 

 the whole mass is stirred with a wooden fork having eight or ten prongs. 

 The quantity of salt required varies, according to the season, from 5 

 to If pounds ; in August they take from 3 to 5 pounds of salt to 1 

 "poud" (36 pounds) of roe, and from 2£ to If in winter. The less the 

 fresh caviar is salted the more it is esteemed. The roe mixed with the 

 salt presents at first a doughy appearance when it is stirred ; but when 

 every grain has been impregnated with salt, the whole mass swells, and 

 in stirring it a slight noise is perceptible like that of stirring small 

 grains of glass. This noise is the sign that the caviar is ready. Then 

 it is packed in casks made of lindenwood, which does not impart any 

 bad flavor to it, while this is not the case with casks made of other 

 wood. 



For manufacturing pressed caviar, a tub half filled with brine is placed 

 under the sieve ; the brine being stronger or weaker, according to the 

 temperature and the season. To impregnate the grains evenly with 

 brine, the whole mass is stirred with a wooden fork, always turning it 

 from the same side ; then the grains are taken out with line sieves, and 

 after the whole briue has been drained, 3 "pouds'' (108 pounds) of 



