HOW SPONGES ARE PROCURED 



but we all know what the first breath of unimpeded air 

 is after we have been confined in a close atmosphere ; 

 multiply the pleasure of that by a hundred. But use is 

 everything ; in a few moments our diver will be off to 

 the bottom again. 



Dredging for sponges is probably a less-known branch 

 of the trade ; it forms the winter industry of the Greek 

 fishermen of Asia Minor and North Africa, winter, 

 because then the equinoctial and autumn storms have 

 had plenty of time to tear up the seaweed which would 

 otherwise fill up the dredge, or hamper the movement of 

 the gear. 



The dredge is worked from a large sailing-boat, in most 

 cases the tow-line being fastened to the bowsprit. Gen- 

 erally speaking it is only used in water that is too deep 

 for the divers ; but, in the island of Syme one of the 

 chief centres of the sponge industry and on parts of the 

 Syrian coast where the sponges sometimes lie close in to 

 shore, it is shot from a large rowing-boat and hauled in 

 from the beach. This dredge is a formidable-looking 

 arrangement ; imagine an Immense packing-case three 

 feet high, and about eighteen feet square ; bigger round, 

 that is to say, than a room of average size ; open at 

 the top, and having a large net-bag hanging from the 

 bottom. The meshes of this net are four inches square, 

 and are made of camelVhair cord as thick as a man's 

 finger. 



This unwieldy apparatus is thrown overboard on a good 

 sponge-ground and towed gently along as if it were a 

 trawl, the boat drifting wherever she likes. Like a trawl, 



259 



