FOOD PRODUCTS OF THE SEA — FISHES. 307 



last method of drying in a furnace is only employed for 

 the lake smelt, the cod is dried in the sun in spring, 

 when the weather is still cold. The lampreys are alone 

 marinaded in quantities sufficient to be sent into com- 

 merce. There are smoked about a dozen million of small 

 herrings of Saroka, two species of mullet {Mugil salieiis 

 and M. auratus) taken on the southern coasts of the Black 

 Sea, and particularly about the Crimea, in millions, and 

 thte chemaia (Aspitis clupeoides. Pall.) which is in great 

 repute, and of which 1,500,000 to 2,500,000 are prepared. 

 They are preferred to red herrings, and appear on the 

 best tables from St. Petersburg to Astrakan and Odessa. 

 The reputation of this fish is indicated by its populai- 

 name, which is a corruption from the Persian cJiach- 

 mahi, signifying " royal fish." 



Bah/k. — A considerable quantity of sturgeon and of 

 the so-called white salmon (Coregonus leucichthys. Pall.) 

 is prepared in what is called "balyk," the Tartar word 

 for fish. This is only salted and dried, but so much care 

 and precaution is taken in the preparation, that the fish 

 acquires a special and exquisite flavour. As balyk is 

 only made in Russia, some details as to the processes 

 adopted may be interesting. Balyk is always prepared 

 in spring before the great heat commences, for later on, 

 it would be necessary to salt the fish more to prevent 

 its spoiling. At the fisheries on the northern part of the 

 Caspian Sea and those of the Sea of Azov, they only 

 employ for balyk the sturgeon (Acipenser GuMen- 

 stadtii^ and the belouga {A. huso), but on the Koura 

 in Transcaucasia they employ annually 300,000 sevrugas 

 {A. stellatus) to make an inferior quality of balyk called 

 " djirim." 



It is hard and necessarily salt ; but this is its chief 

 merit with the inhabitants of Kakhetie, the principal 

 market for it, as it incites thirst, which they quench 

 with the excellent wine of their country. 



The fattest fish are chosen, and they commence by 

 removing the head and tail, and then the entrails and 

 lateral parts of the body, leaving only the back, which 



V 9. 



