470 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
lu 1680 the court licensed Thomas Eogers “to make sturgeon, jirovided he shall 
present the court a bowl of good sturgeon every Michaelmas court.” The business 
was quite extensively carried on along the Merrimac Eiver as late as 1733, and quite 
a large trade was established with England and the West Indies. They sold for 10 
or 12 shillings per keg, and one sale is recorded of “15 kegs of sturgeon for a small 
cask of rum and a cask of molasses.” 
The general court of Massachusetts, at Boston May 7, 1673, was petitioned by 
William Thomas for protection in putting up sturgeon. The petitioner stated: 
After sundry experiments and travels into forreigne countries upon great expense to liis estate 
hath through ye blessing of God upon his industry therein, attained nnto the act of boyling and 
pickling of sturgeon hy means 'whereof it is a commodity not only in this country hut in England 
and other parts for transportation and purposes of traffic for the procuring of goods more useful and 
needful to this country. (Massachusetts Maritime Manuscripts, ii, p. 3.) 
At the same session of the general court the following law was enacted: 
Forasmuch as sundry uuskilfull persons have of late yeares taken upon them to hoyle, pickle, 
& sell sturgeon for transportation, of which sundry keggs & other caske have prooved corrupt & 
wholly unserviceable, to the disappointment & damage of sundry merchants & others, as also to the 
debasement of that comodity, & reproach of the country, wch, if duely ordered, might be beueliciall 
to the inhabitants for transportation & otherwise, it is therefore ordered & enacted by the authority 
of this Court, and be it hereby ordered & enacted, that no person whatsoever shall henceforth hoyle, 
pickle, or packe up any sturgeon for sale in this jurisdiction but such as shall be licensed thereunto 
by the County Court where such persons inhabit, on poenalty of forfeiture thereof, one halfe to the 
informer, and the other halfe to the county. And to the end there may be no fraud or abuse in the said 
comodity, every such licensed person shall brand marke all caske wherein it is packed vvth the letters 
of his name; and that there he searchers apjJointed & sworne to view all sturgeon made heere, or 
imported, before it be sold or in kinde passed away, who shall sett their marke on such as they finde 
sound & sufficient in all respects, both as to the quallity of the sturgeon & gage of the caske; and 
that only such so marked as above shall be exported, on penalty of forfeiture of the whole value 
thereof; ffor whose care & labour the sturgeon hoyler or importer shall pay, for the veiwing & heading 
thereof, after three shillings fower pence per score for all kegs & firkins, from time to time. And if 
any shall counterfeit the sturgeon hoylers or packers marke, they or he shall forfeit five pounds to the 
country for every such defect. And it is referred to the respective County Courts to license able & 
fitt persons to boyle & pickle sturgeon for sale, as likewise tb appoint searchers to view & marke the 
same as aforesaid. (Eecords of Massachusetts, vol. iv, part ii, page 553.) 
PICKLED EELS. 
Notwitbstanding the abundance of eels in the United States, comparatively few 
are marketed except in a fresh condition, and even the demand in the fresh-fish 
markets is rather small in many localities, owing to their snake-like appearance. In 
New York City and a few other points some are pickled, and at various places they 
are smoked to a small extent. In Europe there are a number of valuable eel fisheries, 
the most celebrated of which is that of Oommachio, near Venice, where pickled eels 
are prepared in large quantities, as follows: 
The fresh eels are dressed and well cleansed with a brush ; they are placed in salt brine for 2 or 
3 hours, and on removal are dried thoroughly with a towel, cut in pieces of suitable length, immersed 
in Provence oil, and cooked in a frying pan. On the cooking being completed, the eels are removed 
from the oil and allowed to cool upon blotting paper, and to the oil in the pan are added some white 
peppercorns, whole mace, bay leaves and lemon, and a quantity of weakened vinegar, this mixture 
being cooked for 15 or 20 minutes. The pieces of eel are laid in glass jars or stone jugs, .and over 
them is poured the above mixture after it has cooled, the quantity of which must bo sufficient to 
cover all the pieces and h.alf an inch more. The jars .are then c.arefully sealed and put away in a 
cool place. 
