'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME II' [‎267v] (539/706)

522
SAFID RCD
It is crossed by a ferry a little west of the village of Rashtabad on the
road from Rasht to Lahljan. The river here is at least 100 yards wide.
The left bank is abrupt, but the right is low and in the dry season covered
with fragments of rocks and trees, marking the course of the wide and
rapid torrent which the river becomes in the spring. Fraser considers
the ferry is a very dangerous one.
There is an extensive sturgeon fishery carried on at the mouth of the
river for the manufacture of caviare. The men employed are chiefly
Russians. The permanent settlement consists of about thirty hufs and
half a dozen store houses thatched with reeds, but during the months of
February, March, and April, which is the season for taking the sturgeon,
a reinforcement of some 300 men arrive from Astrakhan to assist at the
fishing. In the beginning of February they catch about 100 and towards
the end of the month from 600 to 800 per day. In March the number
increases from 800 to 2,000 and during April they take between 3,500 and
3,800 a day. The larger number, however, is only caught for about
fifteen days, previous to the rising of the river, when the ships depart with
the produce. After the month of May little or no roe is found in the fish.
The mode of catching the sturgeon is as follows. Across the river a
long line is extended, to which at intervals of about a foot and a half are
attached other lines, 2 feet in length, each having a strong and slightly
barbed hook at its extremity. The weights of these sink the rope below
the surface of the water, but a number of cork or wooden floats support
it, so that the hooks just touch the ground when the lines to which they are
fixed are kept stretched. The sturgeon generally swim near the bottom.
When passing through the lines he is pricked by a hook upon which he mak s
a plunge, and is caught by two or three of those nearest to him. A couple
of fishermen are s< ationed in a boat at the end of the line, and on seeing
the disturbance haul in the line and secure the fish with a gaff. The lines
are placed across the river from its mouth to within half a mile of the sea,
and also in the sea across the mouth of the river. The fish are taken as
they ascend the stream to deposit their spawn.
The method of curing is as follows : The fish being split, the roe and
the substance which forms the isinglass are taken out; the latter is pre
pared by being simply hung up to dry in the sun. The roe is immersed
in strong brine for two hours, then strained through a coarse sieve, and
finally submitted to a strong pressure in small bags of malting to get rid
of the water. It is then stowed aw T ay in casks for exportation under
name of caviare. These casks contain 40 puds each (1,444| lbs.), and
the annual number amounts to 300 or 350. About 250 puds of isinglass
are produced.
It is said that in a tolerably good year the number of fish taken amounts
to about 125,000, which in their salted state sell at Astrakhan for from 3
to 4 and 5 hr tins per pud (about Id. a lb.)
There are three species of sturgeon besides some other fish, from which
the roe is taken, to make caviare, but all the different kind's are mixed
up in the same vat.
The salt consumed here is brought in large blocks from the Turkoman
coast .—[Fraser ; Holmes ; Pushchin.)