MIGRATIONS. 109 



winter quarters. A great number of fishermen 

 assemble, over whom are placed a director 

 and inspectors, who possess considerable au- 

 thority and influence ; every kind of fishing is 

 prohibited, in the places known to be the haunt 

 of the husos ; a numerous flotilla of boats are in 

 readiness ; every thing is prepared as it were 

 for an important military operation ; all approach 

 in concert and with regular manoeuvres the 

 asylum in which the fish are concealed, the 

 slightest noise is severely interdicted, so that 

 the most profound silence every where prevails. 

 In an instant, at a given signal, a universal 

 shout rends the heavens, which echo multiplies 

 on every side. The astonished husos, in the 

 greatest alarm, rush from their hiding places, 

 and are taken in nets of every kind, prepared 

 to intercept them. 



The huso fishery is of great importance, prin- 

 cipally on account of the caviar prepared from 

 the roe of these fishes, and the isinglass that is 

 made from their air-vessel. The former is much 

 in demand amongst many nations, as the Rus- 

 sians, Turks, &c.; the Greeks particularly make 

 it almost their sole food during their long fasts, 

 and the latter is almost universally an article of 

 commerce. The common sturgeon furnishes the 

 same articles, as do other fishes also. 



The next kind of fishes that migrate for the 

 purpose of spawning, which I shall notice, is 



