FISHES. 557 



communicated to the cord is sufficient to shut the gates behind ; they 

 are thus imprisoned by the dropping of the gate, which in falling 

 sounds a bell to wake the fisherman on the scaffold, should he be 

 asleep. The sturgeon fisheries of the Volga are most admirably 

 organised. Gmelin describes with some minuteness the sturgeon- 

 fishing during the winter, in the caverns and hollows of the river- 

 banks near Astrakhan, in the estuary of the Volga. A great number 

 of fishermen are assembled there with their boats. The flotilla 

 approaches the retreats to which the fishes have betaken themselves, 

 the nets are skilfully arranged all round them, and all at once the 

 whole mass of fishermen join in a great cry, at which the frightened 

 fishes rush from their concealment and throw themselves into the 

 nets spread for them. 



The size of the fish, the nourishing properties of its flesh, its 

 healthy and agreeable taste, and the immense quantity of eggs 

 produced, have a wonderful power in exciting the commerce and 

 industry of the inhabitants of these countries. 



In order to give some idea of the abundance of the eggs of the 

 sturgeon, it is stated that the weight of the roe in these fish will equal 

 nearly a third of the weight of the whole animal ; in other words, the 

 roe would weigh nearly 800 lbs. in a female whose weight was 2,800 lbs. 

 It is with these eggs that caviare is prepared ; and the article is more 

 or less relished according to the state of the eggs. The display of 

 caviare, as exhibited at the Universal Exposition of Paris during the 

 year 1867 will remain in the memory of those who visited it. 



