THE STURGEON. 



285 



its head above water, all its activity ceases ; 

 it is then a lifeless, spiritless lump, arid 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 

 fisherman'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 mis- 

 chief with the hinder part of the body ; others, 

 by a noose, fasten the head and the tail to- 

 gether ; and thus without immediately des- 

 patching it, bring it to the market, if there be 

 one near, or keep it till their number is com- 

 pleted 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 better 

 provisions. The other method, which is usually 

 practised in Holland, and along the shores 

 of the Baltic, is to cut the sturgeon cross- 

 wise, 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 quanti- 

 ties came from the North, until we gave en- 

 couragement 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 imported from the North of 

 Europe. 



A very great trade is also carried on with 

 the roe of the sturgeon, preserved in a parti- 

 cular manner, and called Caviare : 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 ap- 

 petite 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, how- 

 ever, a considerable merchandise among the 

 Turks, Greeks, and Venetians. Caviare some- 

 what resembles soft soap in consistence ; but 

 it is of a brown, uniform colour, and is eaten 

 as cheese with bread. The manner of making 

 it is this : they take the spawn from the body 

 of the sturgeon for it is to be observed, the i 

 sturgeon differs from other cartilaginous fish, 

 in that it has spawn like a cod, and not eggs 

 like a ray. They take the spawn, I say, and 

 freeing it from the small membranes that con- 

 nect it together, they wash it with vinegar, 



and afterwards spread it to dry upon a table; 

 they then put them into a vessel with salt, 

 breaking the spawn with their hands, and not 

 with a pestle ; this done, they put it into a 

 canvass bag, letting the liquor drain from it; 

 lastly, they put it into a tub, with holes in the 

 bottom, so that, if there be any moisture still 

 remaining, it may run out; then it is pressed 

 down, and covered up close for use. 



But the Huso or Isinglass fish furnishes a 

 still more valuable commodity. This fish is 

 caught in great quantities in the Danube, from 

 the month of October to January : it is seldom 

 under fifty pounds weight, and often above 

 four hundred : its flesh is soft, glutinous, and 

 flabby ; but it is sometimes salted, which 

 makes it better tasted, and then it turns red 

 like salmon. It is for the commodity it fur- 

 nishes that it is chiefly taken. Isinglass is of 

 a whitish substance, inclining to a yellow, 

 done up into rolls, and so exported for use. It 

 is very well known as serviceable, not only in 

 medicine, but many arts. The varnisher, the 

 wine-merchant, and even the clothier, know 

 its uses ; and very great sums are yearly ex- 

 pended upon this single article of commerce. 

 The mariner of making it is this : they take 

 the skin, the entrails, the fins, and the tail of 

 this fish, and cut them into small pieces ; these 

 are left to macerate in a sufficient quantity of 

 warm water, and they are all boiled shortly after 

 with a slow fire, until they are dissolved and 

 reduced to a jelly ; this jelly is spread upon 

 instruments made for the purpose, so, that 

 drying, it assumes the form of parchment, and, 

 when quite dry, it is then rolled into the form 

 which we see in the shops. 1 



This valuable commodity is principally fur- 

 nished from Russia, where they prepare great 

 quantities surprisingly cheap. Mr Jackson, 

 an ingenious countryman of our own, found 

 out an obvious method of making a glue at 

 home that answered all the purposes of isin- 

 glass ; but what with the trouble of making 

 it, and perhaps the arts put in practice to un- 

 dersell him, he was, as I am told, obliged to 

 discontinue the improvement of his discovery. 

 Indeed, it is a vain attempt to manufacture 

 among ourselves those things which may be 

 more naturally and cheaply supplied else- 

 where. We have many trades that are un- 

 naturally, if I may so express it, employed 

 among us ; who furnish more laboriously those 

 necessaries with which other countries could 

 easily and cheaply supply us. It would be 

 wiser to take what they can thus produce ; and 

 to turn our artizans to the increase and manu- 



1 Isinglass is prepared from various other fishes, but 

 principally from the White Dolphin, or Belluga of North 

 America. This well-known substance is made from the 

 sound, or air-bladder. 



