SPONGES AND THE SPONGE INDUSTRY 331 



harpooner or hooker peers through a water telescope, 

 merely a bucket-like instrument with a glass bottom, 

 until he sees a marketable sponge, and then, using a 

 long harpoon or hook, tears the sponge from its 

 anchorage and raises it to the surface. The European 

 fishermen use various types of harpoons for the pur- 

 pose. The instrument of ancient times was a trident 

 with a relatively short handle, and differs from those 

 used to-day chiefly in the length of the handle. The 

 instrument now used by the Tunisian fishermen has 

 only two straight barbed points, whereas the one 

 used by the Greeks has four. In Florida and the 

 Bahamas the instruments used have curved prongs 

 and thus resemble hooks rather than harpoons. Hook- 

 ing is the only method of taking sponges permitted 

 by law in the Bahamas. 



In the Mediterranean large quantities of sponges 

 are taken by the less picturesque method of dredging 

 or trawling. The gangava of the Greeks, or gagova 

 or cana of the Italians, is a special dredge which 

 has been developed for this fishery. It is employed 

 only on smooth bottoms, for the frame and net are 

 likely to catch on rough rocks, but it can be used in 

 all seasons except during storms. 



Preparation of Sponges for Market 



Early methods of preparing the sponges for 

 market were rather crude. The live sponges were 

 allowed to lie on the deck of the boats until killed by 

 prolonged exposure to the air, after which they were 

 placed in inclosures built in shallow water until the 

 fleshy part of the sponges rotted. They were then 



