ON THE EDIBLE FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 119 



pentine form on a board ; after they are partly dry they are hung up 

 on strings in a shady place. 



" This valuable and extensive article of commerce is the isinglass of 

 our shops, and is sold there for about 101. a hundred weight. There is 

 also isinglass made from the swimming-bladder of the cat fish, and 

 of some others ; but as this is very inferior to that from the sturgeon, 

 it brings scarcely 21. a hundred weight. 



" The sturgeon is found in immense quantities in the United States 

 and North America, from Virginia up to the highest habitable northern 

 latitudes, where they ascend the rivers from three hundred to five hun- 

 dred miles up. The Potomac, Delaware, Hudson, and principally the 

 Kennebec, as well as many other rivers, contain such a quantity of 

 sturgeons that from these rivers alone, without counting those farther 

 north of -Maine, according to my calculations, the annual export 

 of pickled sturgeon, caviare and isinglass, would be worth nearly 

 100,000?. Pickled sturgeon and caviare is a favourite food of the 

 descendants of Spain and Portugal in South America, as well as of the 

 inhabitants of the West India Islands, .principally during Lent ; and 

 isinglass would be an article of home consumption, as well as for ship- 

 ment to the European market. 



" But the sturgeon is not a very favourite dish in our country, it 

 brings scarcely 2|d. a pound in the market, and the roe and swimming- 

 bladder are always thrown away — our fishermen, therefore, are not 

 much encouraged in catching these fishes, though, according to careful 

 observation, from 30,000 to 40,000 sturgeons could be annually taken 

 in the rivers of the United States. 



" The sturgeon was lv'ghly appreciated by the ancient Romans and 

 Greeks. It was the principal dish at all great dinner parties, and Cicero 

 reproved epicures on account of spending so much money for this fish. 

 Pliny says that this fish was served at the most sumptuous tables, and 

 always carried by servants, crowned with garlands of flowers, and 

 accompanied by a band of musicians. Even at this time one pound 

 of fresh sturgeon costs about 16s. in Rome, where the fish is very 

 rare." 



