THE STURGEON. 
159 
though it is so harmless anil ill provided for war, the body 
is formidable enough to appearance. It is long, pentago- 
nal, and covered with live rows of large bony knobs, one 
low on the back, and two on each side, and a number of 
fins to give it greater expedition. Of this fish there are 
three species, the common sturgeon, the caviar sturgeon , 
and the buso, or isinglass fish. The largest sturgeon we 
have heard of caught in Great Britain, was a fish taken in 
• he Eske, where they are most frequently found, which 
weighed four hundred and sixty pounds. An enormous 
size to those who have only seen our fresh-water fishes! 
As the sturgeon is an harmless fish, and no way voraci- 
ous, it is never caught by a bait in the ordinary manner of 
fishing, but always in nets. From the quality of flounder- 
ing at the bottom it has received its name ; which comes 
from the German verb stocrcn, signifying to wallow in the 
mud. That it lives upon no large animals is obvious to all 
those who cut it open, where nothing is found in its stomach 
but a kind of slimy substance, which has induced some to 
think it lives only upon water and air. 
The usual time for the sturgeon to come up rivers to de- 
posit its spawn, is about the beginning of summer, when 
the fishermen of all great rivers make a regular prepara- 
tion for its reception. At Pillau particularly the shores 
are formed into districts, and allotted to companies of fisher- 
men, some of which are rented for about three hundred 
pounds a year. The nets in which the sturgeon is caught, 
are made of small cord, and placed across the mouth of the 
nver ; but in such a manner that, whether the tide ebbs or 
flows, the pouch of the net goes with the stream. The 
sturgeon thus caught, while in the water, is one of the 
strongest fishes that swims, and often breaks the net to 
pieces that encloses it; but the instant it is raised with its 
head above water, all its activity ceases ; it is then a lifeless, 
spiritless lump, and suffers itself to be tamely dragged on 
shore. 
The flesh of this animal pickled is very well known at all 
the tahles of Europe ; and is even more prized in England 
than in any of the countries where it is usually caught.” The 
fishermen have two different methods of preparin'/- it. The 
one is by cutting it in long pieces lengthwise, and having 
salted them, by hanging them up in the sun to dry: the fish 
thus prepared is sold in all the countries of the Levant, and 
supplies the want of better provision. The other method, 
w hieh is usually practised in Holland, and along the shores 
°f the Baltic, is to cut the sturgeon crosswise into short 
pieces, and put it into small barrels, with a pickle made ol 
