CARTILAGINOUS FISHES. 



641 



in the ordinary manner of fishing, but always 

 in nets. From the description given above 

 of its mouth, it is not to be supposed that the 

 sturgeon would swallow any hook capable of 

 holding so large a bulk and so strong a swim- 

 In fact, it never attempts to seize any 



mer. 



of the finny tribe, but lives by rooting at the 

 bottom of the sea, where it makes insects and 

 sea-plants its whole subsistence. From this 

 quality of floundering at the bottom it has re- 

 ceived its name; which comes from the Ger- 

 man \erbfloeren, signifying to wallow in the 

 mud. That it lives upon no large animals is 

 obvious to all those who cut it open, where 

 nothing is found in its stomach but a kind of 

 slimy substance, which has induced some to 

 think it lives only upon water and air. 

 From hence there is a German proverb, which 

 is applied to a man extremely temperate, 

 when they say, he is as moderate as a stur- 

 geon. 



As the sturgeon is so temperate in its ap- 

 petites, so is it also equally timid in its nature. 

 There would be scarcely any method of ta- 

 king it, did not its natural desire of propaga- 

 tion induce it to incur so great a variety of 

 dangers. The smallest fish is alone sufficient 

 to terrify a shoal of sturgeons; for, being un- 

 furnished with any weapon of defence, they 

 are obliged to trust to their swiftness and 

 their caution for security. Like all animals 

 that do not make war upon others, sturgeons 

 live in society among themselves; rather for 

 the purposes of pleasure than from any power 

 of mutual protection. Gesner even asserts, 

 that they are delighted with sounds of various 

 kinds; and that he has seen them shoal to- 

 gether, at the notes of a trumpet. 



The usual time, as was said before, for the 

 sturgeon to come up rivers to deposit its spawn, 

 is about the beginning of summer, when the 

 fishermen of all great rivers make a regular 

 preparation for its reception. At Pillau, par- 

 ticularly, the shores are formed into districts, 

 and allotted to companies of fishermen, some 

 of which are rented for about three hundred 

 pounds a year. The nets in which the stur- 

 geon is caught, are made of small cord, and 

 placed across the mouth of the river; but in 

 such a manner that, whether the tide ebbs or 

 flows, the pouch of the net goes with the 

 stream. The sturgeon thus caught, while in 



|j the water, is one of the strongest fishes that 

 swims, and often breaks the net to pieces that 

 ! encloses it; but the instant it is raised with 

 ' its head above water, all its activity ceases; 

 it is then a lifeless, spiritless lump, and suffers 

 itself to be tamely dragged on shore. It has 

 been found prudent, however, to draw it to 

 shore gently ; for if excited by any unneces- 

 sary violence, it has been found to break the 

 fishermen's legs with a blow of its tail. The 

 most experienced fishers, therefore, when 

 they have drawn it to the brink, keep the 

 head still elevated, which prevents its doing 

 any mischief with the hinder part of the body : 

 others, by a noose, fasten the head and the 

 tail together; and thus, without immediately 

 despatching it, bring it to the market, if there 

 be one near, or keep it till their number is 

 completed for exportation. 



The flesh of this animal, pickled, is very 

 well known at all the tables of Europe ; and 

 is even more prized in England than in any 

 of the countries where it is usually caught. 

 The fishermen have two different methods of 

 preparing it. The one is by cutting it in long 

 pieces lengthwise, and, having -salted them, 

 by hanging them up in the sun to dry: the 

 fish thus prepared is sold in all the countries 

 of the Levant, and supplies the want of bet- 

 ter provision. The other method, which is 

 usually practised in Holland, and along the 

 shores of the Baltic, is to cut the sturgeon 

 crosswise, into short pieces, and put it in small 

 barrels, with a pickle made of salt and sau- 

 mure. This is the sturgeon which is sold in 

 England ; and of which great quantities came 

 from the North, until we gave encouragement 

 to the importation of it from North America. 

 From thence we are very well supplied ; but 

 it is said, not with such good fish as those im- 

 ported from (he North of Europe. 



A very great trade is also carried on with 

 the roe of the sturgeon, preserved in a par- 

 ticular manner, and called Caviar: it is made 

 from the roe of all kinds of sturgeon, but par- 

 ticularly the second. This is much more in 

 request in other countries of Europe than 

 with us. To all these high-relished meats, 

 the appetite must be formed by degrees ; and 

 though formerly even in England it was very 

 much in request at the politest tables, it is at 

 present sunk entirely into disuse. It is still, 



