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 Ibs. 
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. 
