470 PEOSE HALIEUTICS. 



and spinal marrow, all are available to the cook, and 

 most of them delectable food. The only parts not eaten 

 are the armour which encases, and the sinews which 

 support, the processes of the back ; and these last he 

 leaves to be made up into scourges for the encourage- 

 ment of the oxen employed in the fishery. 



Everybody has heard of the value put upon the stiu-- 

 geon by the ancients : — 



TO 8e y dp^po(Tir] p.ot eSo^ev 



elv rjv baiovrai jiaKapes Beoi dtiv lovres. 



The ' pretiosus helops,' since the moderns have learnt 

 to make caviare from the roes, has become more ' pre- 

 cious' than when only the merits of the flesh were 

 known. Yet of this, Cicero, quoting Nonius, remarks, 

 ' that it sits lighter on a diseased mind than moral phi- 

 losophy ;' and he accordingly recommends sending it to 

 friends in grief.* The roe of a sturgeon in season is of 

 vast extent, equalling two-thirds of the total weight of 

 the fish. The Emperor of aU the Russias used to mo- 

 nopolize the acipenser helops, a very small species, to 

 supply himself, and the crowned heads his aUies, with 

 the finest caviare known. Now that he has no allies, his 

 court is no doubt more liberally supplied than it was, 

 whilst we cannot procure it at any price. Of the flesh,- 

 Albertus reports, when it is fresh, you may take your 

 choice, and dine either on pork or veal, the flavour de- 

 pending on the part cut into ! veal from the back, and 

 pork from under the belly; the whole is admirably 

 suited for salting, being as good cured as fresh ; no- 

 thing can be conceived more exquisite than the fresh 

 roes and milts, eaten with apple and raisin sauce, well 



* Si quem tuonim affectum moerore videris, huic aoipenserem 

 potius quam aliquem Socraticiim libellum dabia. 



