FISHES AND FISHING. 53 



then placed in barrels, and trodden down by a man 

 wearing leather stockings. The casks are well se- 

 cured against leakage, and this cavear sells for two 

 roubles the pud. A pud then was 40lbs. Eussian, 36lbs. 

 English. A rouble was then 4*. 6c?. English, and a 

 copec one half-penny ; now, the value is very different. 



No part of these fish is lost except the lower part 

 of the abdomen and bowels, which are thrown away. 

 The fat off the milt from the male fish is scraped thence 

 with knives into a pail, it is then boiled and cleaned. 

 This fat, when fresh, is very good tasted, and may be 

 used instead of butter or oil. In Astrachan it is sold 

 from forty to fifty copecs per pail, then \s. Sd. to 

 2s. Id. ; but how much the pail contained is not 

 stated. 



In the Caspian-sea fisheries, the beljuga stone, 

 which (Dr. Pallas says) has always remained proble- 

 matical, is often found in the larger species of this 

 fish, and commonly sold at the price of a few roubles ; 

 according to the fishermen's accounts, this stone, 

 when found, is in a sac of the rectum. They are 

 also found in the largest sorts of sturgeons; they 

 weigh (he says) occasionally from one to three ounces, 

 and may with difficulty be scraped with a knife: they 

 are amongst other Russian domestic medicines, but he 

 says it does not merit to be so placed. It is said to 

 be the petrified roe of the fish. 



