The usual time for the Sturgeon to come up rivers to deposit its spawn, is about the beginning of summer, when the fishermen of all great rivers make a regular preparation for its reception. At Pillau particularly, the shores are formed into districts, and allotted to companies of fishermen, some of which are rented for about three hundred pounds a year. The nets in which the sturgeon are caught, are made of small cord, and placed across the mouth of the river; 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. It has been found prudent, however, to draw it to shore gently; for, if excited by any unnecessary violence, it has been found to break the fishermen's legs with a blow of its tail.-The most experienced fishers, therefore, when they have drawn it to the brink, keep the head still eler vated, which prevents its doing any mischief with the hinder part of the body: others by a nooze, fasten the head and the tail together; and thus, without immediately dispatching it, bring it to the market, if there be one near, or keep it till their number is completed for exportation.

The flesh of this animal pickled, is very well known at all the tables 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 preparing 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 that part of the Mediterranean called the Levant, and supplies the want of better provision. The other method, which is usually practised in Holland, and along the shores of the Baltic, is to cut the Sturgeon crosswise into short pieces, and put it into small barrels, with a certain pickle, made of salt and faumure. This is the Sturgeon which is mostly sold in England.

A very great trade is also carried on with the roe of the Sturgeon, preserved in a particular manner, and called Caviar: it is made from the roe of all kinds of Sturgeon, but particularly the second. This is much more in request in other countries of Europe than with us. To all these high relished meats, the appetite must be formed by degrees; and though formerly, even in England, it was very much in request at the tables of the great, it is at present sunk entirely into disuse. It is still, however, a considerable merchandize among the Turks, Greeks and Venetians. Caviar somewhat resembles soft soap in consistence; but it is of a brown, uniform

colour, and is eaten as cheese with bread. The nanner of making it is this: they take the spawn from the body of the Sturgeon; for it is to be observed, that the Sturgeon differs from other cartilaginous fish, in that it has spawn like a cod, and not eggs like a ray. They take the spawn, and freeing it from the small membranes that connect it together, they wash it with vinegar, and afterwards spread it to dry upon a table; they then put it into a vessel with salt, breaking the spawn with their hands, and not with a pestle; this done, they put it into a canvas bag, letting the liquor drain from it; lastly, they put it in a tub, with holes in the bottom, so that, if there be any moisture still remaining, it may run out then it is pressed down, and covered up close for use.

The fecundity of the Sturgeon is exceedingly great-Catesby says that the females frequently contain a bushel of spawn; and Lewenhock found in the roe of one of them, one hundred and fifty million of eggs!

But the Huso or Isinglass fish furnishes a still more valuable commodity. This fish is caught in great quantities in the Danube, from the months of October to January: it is seldom under fifty pounds weight, and often above four hundred; its flesh is soft, glutinous and flabby; but it is sometimes salted, which makes it better tasted, and then it turns red like salmon. It is for the commodity it furnishes, that it is chief;

ly taken. Isinglass is of a whitish substance, inclining to yellow, done up into rolls, and so exported for use. It is very well known as serviceable not only in medicine, but many arts. The varnisher, the wine merchant, and even the clothier know its uses: and very great sums are yearly expended upon this single article of

commerce.

The manner of making it is this: they take the skin, the entrails, the fins, and the tail of this fish, and cut them into small pieces; these are left to steep in a sufficient quantity of warm water, and they are all boiled shortly after with a slow fire, until they are dissolved and reduced to a jelly; this jelly is spread upon instruments made for the purpose, so that, drying, it assumes the form of parchment, and, when quite dry, is then rolled into the form which we see in shops.

This valuable commodity is principally furnished from Russia, where they prepare great quantities surprisingly cheap.

THE COMMON COD.

THE Cod is a well known fish, inhabiting only the depths of the ocean, and seldom visiting the fresh waters. It is always found in large shoals, and feeds on the smaller fish and other marine animals. The flesh is white, firm, and good eating.

These fish are found only in the seas of the northern parts of the world; and the great rendezvous for them are the sand banks of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and New England. These shallows are their favourite situations; for here they are able to obtain great quantities of worms, a food that is peculiarly grateful to them. Another cause of their attachment to these places, is their vicinity to the polar seas, where they return to spawn. There they deposit their roes in full security, and afterwards repair, as soon as the first more southern seas are open, to the banks for subsistence.-Few are taken north of Iceland, and the shoals never reach so far south as the straits of Gibraltar.

Prior to the discovery of Newfoundland, the principal fisheries for Cod were in the seas off Iceland, and off the western islands of Scotland. To the former of these the English resorted nearly five hundred years ago. In the reign of James I. they had no fewer than one hundred and fifty vessels employed in the Iceland fishery.