The other boys came running up to congratulate the young fisherman on
his invention, and as it was to be feared that the rest, alarmed by this
attack, might take their departure, we determined to abandon everything
for the fishery. Fritz threw his harpoon, and landed, by means of the
reel, some large salmon; Ernest took his rod, and caught trout; and I,
armed like Neptune with an iron trident, succeeded in striking, amongst
the stones, some enormous fish. The greatest difficulty was to land our
booty; Fritz had struck a sturgeon at least eight feet long, which
resisted our united efforts, till my wife brought the buffalo, which we
harnessed to the line, and made ourselves masters of this immense prize.
We had a great deal of labour in opening and cleaning all our fish: some
we dried and salted; some my wife boiled in oil, as they preserve the
tunny. The spawn of the sturgeon, a huge mass, weighing not less than
thirty pounds, I laid aside to prepare as _caviare_, a favourite dish in
Holland and Russia. I carefully cleansed the eggs from the skin and
fibres that were mixed with them, washed them thoroughly in sea-water,
slightly sprinkled them with salt, then put them in a gourd pierced with
small holes to let the water escape, and placed weights on them to press
them completely for twenty-four hours.
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