Page:Ludovico Guicciardini - Description of the Low Countries.djvu/20

 (having first made the little Isle of Bomlerwert,) joyne togither againe, and so joyntly taking the name of Merwe, they come to Dordrecht, where (having made the Ile of Iselmont) the Meuse resumeth his name, and with such a furie entereth the Sea, that it maintaineth his course & keepeth his water fresh a great space, not without great comoditie and profit to the country, for by that meanes it openeth the waie to divers fishes, especiallie to sturgeonq the which findinge in the Sea this sweete water, and being beyond measure desirous thereof, enter so farre there into, that in the ende conning into the shallowe waters, they become a pray to those that lie in waight for them. The like effect worke also the rivers, of Pau, Tibre, Rosne, Garonne, and every other River that entereth the Sea with a violent course. But the Seine, Hebre, and the Thamis, entering gentlie into the Sea, some lose both their course and their fresh water, and therefore worke no such effect as the Meuse and the other Rivers above mentioned do.

The Sturgeous of Meuse are so great, that some of them waigh foure hundred, and some foure hundred and twenty pound, & are twelve foote longe, of Antwerp measure which is as much as six brasses of Florence.

The time that the Sturgeon is in season, beginneth in Aprill, and endureth more than three monethes these sturgeons are sent into divers