THE STURGEON. 177 



or what becomes of the young after leaving the 

 eggs, are mysteries. I never saw a small stur- 

 geon, but have no doubt most of the young 

 fish descend to the sea, although it is equally 

 certain numbers remain entirely in the fresh- 

 water. Madame Sturgeon's family is by no 

 means a small one: a bushel of eggs is not 

 an unusual quantity for a female fish to yield ; 

 a great many thousands, although I do not 

 know how many eggs a bushel contains. The 

 Indians dry these eggs in the sun and devour 

 them with oil, as we eat currants and cream. 

 It would surely pay to prepare cauiare on the 

 Russian plan, even to send it to the English 

 market. A rough kind of isinglass was at one 

 time prepared by the Fraser river Indians and 

 traded by the Hudson's Bay Company, but even 

 that branch of industry has ceased to flourish 

 since the ' Golden Age.' Indians are exceed- 

 ingly fond of sturgeon-flesh, and usually demand 

 a high price for it. 



Few fish have a wider geographical range than 

 sturgeon. On our own coasts, we find them 

 frequenting the mouths of rivers and muddy 

 estuaries. When caught in the Thames, within 

 the jurisdiction of the lord mayor of London, 

 it is considered a royal fish ; implying, that the 



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