HOW SPONGES ARE PROCURED 



two hundred fathoms for its habitation, and we have 

 seen, in the case of the pearl-divers, that thirteen fathoms 

 is a depth that taxes an undressed diver's powers to 

 almost their full extent. Some of the Sicilians and 

 Greeks will venture to fifteen, but the brief time which 

 they are able to remain under water at that depth is of 

 little use for such hard and lengthy work, and the effort 

 seems almost to rob them of the power to wrench the 

 larger sponges free from their natural moorings. There- 

 fore, the boat-owners have of late years been glad to 

 engage professional divers of another sort from England 

 and France, or from among their own people, who, when 

 " dressed," can remain down a very considerable length of 

 time. Such men boast that they could stay for ever in 

 five-fathom water, and any one of them who knows his 

 business can do sponge- work in fifteen fathoms for at 

 least an hour, and can remain in from twenty to fifty 

 fathoms for longer than an undressed diver could stay in 

 ten ; all the same, even an exceptionally strong British 

 diver would refuse to work for any length of time in more 

 than twenty-eight. Hence the need for dredging, or 

 other mechanical means, when the sponge-ground is 

 covered with more than fifty fathoms of water. 



Let us watch the undressed divers first. Their way of 

 going to work differs in some respects from that of the 

 pearl-fishers. When the depth has been taken, and the 

 position of the sponges ascertained by means of a spy- 

 glass, a rope, equivalent to the depth, is made fast by 

 one end to the boat ; to the other end is tied a large 

 white stone, triangular or oblong, which has a hole drilled 



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