i88 The Commercial Products of the Sea. 



end of the year, the prices declined nearly one-fourth. The 

 crop of 1 86 1 was abundant ; the proportion of fine sponges 

 was larger, and of a better quality than in former years. 

 The divers say that the same quantity are not now found 

 as ten years ago, so it must be inferred that they do not 

 grow as fast as they are fished. The amount sent to each 

 country was in the following proportion, out of 36 parts : 

 Great Britain, 13; France, 15 J; Austria, 5 J ; and Con- 

 stantinople, 2 ; total, 36. In 1867 30 cwt, valued at 700, 

 were exported from Turkey. 



The total value of the sponges obtained on the coasts 

 of Syria is .20,000 to .25,000, which seems to be about 

 the average of past years. The production, however, 

 appears to be falling off through excessive fishing. Some 

 250 to 300 boats are at present employed in this industry, 

 manned by 1200 to 1500 men. The centres of production 

 are Tripoli and Batronn on the coast of Mount Lebanon, 

 in the neighbourhood of which the best qualities are found. 

 The fishing-boats, from 1 8 to 30 feet long, are each manned 

 by a crew of four or five men, one of whom is especially 

 engaged for the purpose of directing, while the rest are 

 divers. The diver, naked of course, with an open net 

 round his waist for holding the sponges, seizes with both 

 hands an oblong white stone, to which is attached a 

 rope, and plunges overboard. On arriving at the bottom, 

 the stone is deposited at his feet, and the man, keeping 

 hold of the rope with one hand, grasps and tears off with 

 the other the sponges within reach, which he deposits in 

 his net. He then, by a series of jerks to the rope, gives 

 the signal to those above, and is drawn up. No knife, 

 spear, or instrument of any kind is used. The depth to 

 which the diver descends varies from 5 to 30 fathoms, 

 each equal to an ordinary man's height. 



