The most considerable fisheries of the Euxine, as far as the Russian dominions extend, are to be found at the mouths of the great rivers, the Dnieper, the Dniester, and the Danube, and in the Straits of Yenikale or Kaffa. This is natural enough, for they are the great gates before which assemble the great fish whose mode of life requires fi-esh as weU as salt water. In the Straits the two waters exchange their wanderers, and the fish are therefore as crowded in them as passengers on a narrow isthmus between two countries.
At all these points fisheries have been established. Some wealthy Greek or Great Russian will hire a tract of the coast ; buUd on the strand a great reed hut ; purchase fishingboats, nets, and every thing necessary ; invite a party of Russians, Greeks, Tartars, Poles, or whatever people come to hand in the neighbourhood, to join liim in the speculation ; and establish himself for the summer, with his chance companions, on the sea-shore. The " khosan,^^ that is, the man who has advanced the capital, is of course the chief, and has the largest share of the profit, but he has a cashier or book-keeper associated with him, who controls his proceedings, and represents the interests of the rest of the company.
The fish caught is either carried fresh to the markets of the neighbourhood, or salted and sold to dealers, who come from the interior of Russia, and from Poland, Himgary, WaUachia, and the Ukraine.
These huts are large and spacious, although only built of reeds, and stand so close to the sea as to be but just beyond the reach of its waves. In spring the establishment looks somewhat bare and desolate ; but by degrees it assumes a more habitable appearance. The crew, consisting' of about twenty men, have their beds in the huts, where they rest from their work, and smoke, and play at draughts with muscle shells and pebbles, joking and laughing the whole time, and teUing the everlasting stories of which a Russian, whether cutting wood in the northern forests, hunting ermines iu Siberia, sitting by the nightly fire in the steppe, or resting from the toils of the fisherman on the shores of the Black Sea, is never weary. In the background of the huts V stand the fisliing-boats, the great salting tubs, and a kind of mill for grinding the salt. Before all things, however, they take care to have fin image of a saint hanging up over the inside of the door, and before the saint burns a little lamp, that day and night illuminates their little hut, even as their faith in the pictm-e may be supposed to cheer their minds.
They would tliink themselves ruined, if, while they were at sea, this Star of their hopes became extinguished. A day on which such an accident took place would be entirely lost to the fishery, for they would undertake nothing. At each side of the door stands a vessel of water, and outside there is a hearth where an old man is always employed in cooking, and other domestic operations. Should the season prove productive, and the fish throng into the nets, a visible increase takes place in the property of the fishermen. They get sheep to furnish a roti for Sundays, fowls to lay them eggs, and dogs to watch their treasures. The sea is, however, in most cases, their only larder, out of which comes every thing that is to fill the pot. Romid the outside of the huts hang the nets, fishing-lines, and other implements ; and close to the edge of the surf is erected, in a sloping direction over the sea, a higli mast, to which a sort of basket is attached. In this one of the party is always seated to look out for fish, and give notice of their approach. It is a delightful seat, and while thus hovering like a bird over the surface of the sea, and gazing down into the green crystal depths, a man might almost forget the race to wliich he belonged, and shoot down like a sea-bird on the fish sporting beneath.
The experienced eye of the fisherman contemplating the wide waters from this point would see many things perfectly, that to my ignorant landsman's sight were perfectly invisible. They not only distinguish the approaching shoal of fish from an immense distance^ but are able to tell with the greatest nicety what kind of fish it consists of. Before they can see the animals themselves, they can recognize them from the shade and motion of the surface of the water produced by their play. Even their ears are not idle, for by certain sounds that rustle along the sea, they can announce a change that may have taken place in the weather at a great distance. These baskets are, indeed, the only places where a Russian leams to understand the weather, and these fishermen are the only people in the country' who do not answer every question witli, " God in heaven knows."