i ol4 SPONGES 
to become a kind of lens so that objects as large as sponges are plainly visible 
in twenty-five or thirty feet of water. 
The vessels are supplied with provisions by the crew themselves. When 
ready, she sails tosome well known sponge bank often fifty or sixty miles dis~ 
tant from Nassau. 
Arriving on the bank, the vessel is anchored in as sheltered a portion as 
possible, the boats are put out, each manned by two men. One man skulls 
the boat, inso doing he stands upright and uses a single oar which acts as a 
propeller. When once on ground favorable for sponges, the speed is slackened 
while the boat is made to head intothe tide. The other man now takes his 
place in the bow, water glass in hand, the boat is held in position by the 
man with the oar, while his companion, stilt keeping his glass on the water 
with one hand, raises his sponge hook with the other, drops the iron-tipped 
end in the water, hooks the sponge and draws it to the surface, then transfers 
it to the boat. 
As related above, this operation appears simple, but is really quite diffh- 
cult in actual practice. Both men must be experts in their business, in fact, 
it is no light task to keep a boat in absolutely one position without varying a 
single inch against a swift tide, and often in a cross sea. Yet a skilled oars- 
man will do this with his single oar, often keeping the boat accurately over one 
spot for several minutes at a time. 
Second, he who hooks the sponge has even a more difficult task. He 
must have an educated eye to begin with, in order to recognize a commercial 
sponge among hundreds of others which grow scattered over the bottom. One 
