242 The Commercial Products of the Sea. 



of its internal parts, still contains a little isinglass, which is 

 scraped off with a knife and kneaded ; after being damped 

 with water, it is made into small tablets about the size of a 

 five-shilling piece. The sheets of isinglass of the Silurus 

 giants are placed like leaves in a book, and are dried upon 

 small cords; it is made up into bags of 152 Ibs. Carp 

 isinglass (Cyprinus carpio) is made into parcels of 30 ; and, 

 lastly, a good fish-glue is made at Astrakhan from the 

 scales of the fish. 



Vesiga is the name given to the dorsal cord or tendons 

 of the vertebral column of the larger species of sturgeons, 

 prepared in a certain manner, and much esteemed for the 

 table. The quantity prepared reaches the value of 20,000 

 annually. It is first carefully washed and pressed to ex- 

 tract the soft matter which it contains, then dried and 

 put up in packets the entire length, and folded in the 

 middle. It is used chopped up in the preparation of small 

 fish-cakes, much esteemed in Russia. The Russian poud 

 of about 36 Ibs. is worth 2 ios. to 3 3-r. 



The mode of preparation in Russia is as follows : 

 The sound is taken from the fish while sweet and fresh, 

 slit open, washed from the slimy sordes, divested of every 

 thin membrane which envelops the sound, and then ex- 

 posed to stiffen in the air. When the sounds of the cod or 

 ling are prepared, the only difference is that they are slit 

 open, washed in lime-water in order to absorb their oily 

 particles, and then in clean water, when they are laid 

 upon nets to dry. In the present Russian factories of the 

 Caspian and Volga, the fresh sounds are first slit open, well 

 washed to separate the blood and impurities, then spread 

 out and exposed to the air to dry, with the inner silvery- 

 white membrane turned upwards. This, which is nearly 

 pure gelatine, is carefully stripped off, laid in damp cloths 



