108 GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 



who have no acquaintance with the arts and 

 sciences, should on this occasion, shew as much 

 genius and invention as the most enlightened 

 nations. The huso enters the rivers to spawn 

 earlier than the sturgeon, generally about mid- 

 winter, when they are still covered with ice. At 

 this time the natives' construct dikes across the 

 rivers in certain parts, formed with piles, leaving 

 no interval that the huso can pass through ; in 

 the centre of the dike is an angle opening to the 

 current, which consequently is an entering angle 

 to the fish ascending the stream ; at the summit 

 of this angle is an opening, which leads into a 

 kind of chamber formed with cord, or osier hur- 

 dles, according to the season of the year. Above 

 the opening is a kind of scaffold, and a little 

 cabin, where the fishermen can retire and warm 

 themselves or repose, when they are not wanted 

 abroad. No sooner is the huso entered into the 

 chamber, which is known by the motion of the 

 water, than the fishermen on the scaffold let fall 

 a door, which prevents its return to seaward, they 

 then by means of ropes and pullies lift the mov- 

 able bottom of the chamber, and easily secure 

 the fish. 



Gmelin has related, in a very lively way, the 

 solemn fishing which takes place at the be- 

 ginning of winter, in the neighbourhood of 

 Astracan, when these fish have retired into 

 vast caves under the seashore, which form their 



