Caviar, a species of food chiefly imported from Russia : it is made of the hard roes of the sturgeon, formed into small cakes, about an inch thick, and three or four inches in breadth; but sometimes the whole is loosely packed up in small kegs. It is prepared by taking all the nerves or strings out of the spawn, washing it in white wine or vinegar, spreading it on a table, then salting and pressing it in a fine bag; after which it is put into a vessel perforated at the bottom, to allow the moisture to run out, if any should remain.

From the latest accounts published by Professor Pallas, in his Travels into the Southern Provinces of the Russian Empire, in the years 1793 and 1794 (an English translation of which, by the editor of this Encyclopaedia, is now in the press), it appeals that caviar is made of the following three species of fish, caught in the river Volga and the Caspian sea : 1. Belugas, or the great sturgeon, of which there are taken annually 103, 500; each fish being worth, upon an average, two tables and a half, or from six to seven shillings sterling: the roe, or caviar, of 1000 sturgeons weighs 4000 Russian pounds, so that this number yields 414, 000 pounds, and the value of each pood, or forty pounds, is generally computed at three rubles and a half; 2. The little sturgeon, of which there are taken every year 302, 000, yielding 724, 800 pounds of the roe; and 3. The Sevrugas, or Acipenser stellatus, L. the annual produce of which is not less than 1, 345, 000, caught in the different fisheries; and from which 3, 228, 000 pounds of caviar are obtained : or from the whole number of 1.750, 500 fish, 4, 36(5, 800 pounds of caviar. - See also Isinglass.

Pallas observes, that it would be difficult to find in the whole world, a fishery more productive to the natives, and advantageous to government, except that on the banks of Newfoundland. During the long Lent of the Greek Church, and the weekly fast-days, which together are at least four months in the year, this fishery affords the principal food to the whole European part of Russia, and its populous capitals. - No caviar was exported in British vessels till the year 1781, and only 1040 pounds (Russian weight) of that commodity were sent to England in 1782; but the increase of this trade was so rapid, that in the following year, 46, 01O lbs.; in 1784, 64, 480 lbs.; in 1785 ' and 1780, above 40, 000lbs.; in 1787, nearly 64, 000lbs.; in 1788, 160, 000lbs.) and in 1789, not less than 450, 160 lbs.; but in I790, only 1000 lbs. ; and in 1792, 151, 240lbs. were shipped in English vessels. - The exportation to Italy has also amounted to upwards of 400, 000 lbs. during the last-mentioned years, exclusive of about 120, 000lbs. to other countries, and a still larger quantity through the ports of the Black Sea, and that of Azov.

We have purposely enlarged upon this subject, because we conceive that prolific fish, the sturgeon, or at least some of its species, might be advantageously bred, and propagated in British waters. But an undertaking of such incalculable national importance would claim the vigorous aid of government; and we doubt not that, in more peaceable times, this desirable object will not be considered as visionary or impracticable. At present, the annual value of the sturgeons caught in the waters of Astrakhan, and the Caspian sea, amounts to 1, 700, 405 Russian rubles; a great part of which is paid in British money, for the articles of isinglass and caviar. These fish proceed in shoals to the mouth, and a considerable way up the current of rivers, without the least apparent diminution of their numbers. As the Persians eat no sturgeon, the fisheries of the Sal-lian are rented by Russians, who, during the spawning season, take 15, 000 large fish in one day with the hook, at the weirs formed across the water: nay, it is remarkable, that if the fishermen be accidentally prevented from working but for a single day, the fish accumulate in such numbers at the weir, as to fill the whole channel, go that the uppermost appear with their backs above water, in a river not less than twenty-eight English feet deep, and sixty fathoms wide. But those injudicious fishermen, after having collected the roes for caviar, and the air-bladders for isinglass, throw the body of the fish into the sea as useless. - See Manure.

With regard to the physical qualities of caviar, we shall only remark, that it is a nourishing food, and more easily digested than pickled salmon ; it somewhat resembles in taste, and nutritive property, the essence of anchovies; though few persons, on first, trial relish its flavour.