STUE&EON. 467 



There are many modes of capturing sturgeon recorded 

 by ancient and modern writers. Good sturgeon tackle, 

 according to j3Elian, should be of a kind like that em- 

 ployed by the giant in the epigram, 'bobbing for a whale/ 

 When these fish are taken in a river, it is only necessary 

 to shout along the banks to frighten them into shallow 

 water, where they become stranded; and whence, by 

 means of strong cords and a yoke of oxen, after a lively 

 rope-pull, they are drawn safely on shore. 



Pallas informs us that, on the Volga, they are taken 

 in decoys ; little skill is required for this manner of cap- 

 ture, as these creatures (whose system of solids generally 

 wants cohesion) have particularly soft brains, and are 

 easily induced to enter and swim up a canal into a net- 

 ted chamber, whence they are prevented from returning 

 by the sudden shutting of a lock behind, and thus placed 

 at once at the mercy of their captors. Some are taken 

 immediately out of the water, others are drawn up the 

 river by cords fastened round the head : great care is 

 required in thus harnessing the fish to avoid a blow from 

 the tail, which would knock a man down, and might 

 easily break his leg, or send him overboard. Gmelin 

 mentions that in the rivers of Astrachan a regularly es- 

 tablished flotilla sails yearly on the sturionic fishery, 

 with all the ' pomp and circumstance'' of an invading fleet. 

 Winter is the season chosen for these operations, when 

 the sturgeon lie concealed in the depths and hollows of 

 estuaries, hybemating sometimes alone, but more fre- 

 quently occupying a common dormitory, where they 

 suck in sufficient supplies of isinglass .from each other's 

 bodies, to keep sleek and in prime condition. The ex- 

 pedition, we are told, proceeds with the greatest caution, 

 for fear of alarming the objects of the intended attack, 

 and the penal consequences of infringing a nautical code 

 (at once both summary and severe in its provisions on 

 this head) secure absolute silence throughout the whole 



