THE SPONGE FISHERY. 837 



the proceeds the cost of the outfit and one third of the remainder, two-thirds being divided among 

 the captain and crew. Formerly the owner of the vessel or the captain sold the sponges, which 

 for convenience' sake were strung in fathom lengths, by weight. Now, however, the law and usage 

 require that sponges shall be strung' in lengths called strands, each size and grade by itself. The 

 owners are also obliged to select a person to act as agent for the sale, which is conducted in about 

 the same manner as at Key West, the bids being made in writing. The agent's fee is taken from 

 the joint proceeds of the cargo. Bidders take care in estimating, to deduct enough to cover the 

 loss or waste in clipping. Nassau is the headquarters of the Bahama sponge industry, which is 

 one of the most important enterprises of those islands. During the arrival of cargoes from the 

 sponging-grounds and the sales of sponges, everything is excitement. Sponges are graded at 

 Nassau as sheepswool, velvet, glove, reef, hardhead, yellow, and grass. Of late years many of 

 the Bahama spouging-vessels have carried on their operations in waters adjacent to the coast of 

 Cuba, for which they are obliged to pay a license fee to the Spanish authorities. 



(<J)THE MEDITERRANEAN SPONGE FISHERY. 

 8. THE METHODS OF THE FISHERY. 



The method of conducting the Mediterranean sponge fishery differs greatly from that prac- 

 ticed in America, the sponges being mostly obtained from deeper water and by diving. Professor 

 Hyatt describes the fishery briefly as follows : 



" The diver goes either in diving armor or naked. The naked diver is carried down by a 

 broad flat stone of marble of about 25 pounds weight, which he holds at arm's length in front of 

 him, and which he uses to guide his flight, to protect his head when ho first strikes, and to keep 

 him down when he walks on the bottom. Fifteen to twenty fathoms is the average depth ; but 

 for depths beyond this up to 40 fathoms which is reached in the Mediterranean, more preparation 

 is necessary. The man standing naked in the boat, with the greatest earnestness practices infla- 

 ting his chest to the utmost for about ten minutes, and when the blood is thoroughly oxygenated 

 by this means, seizes the stone and plunges headlong into the sea. The tremendous pressure of 

 the water, at the depth of even 15 fathoms, is such as to cause bleeding at the nose and mouth when 

 divers first begin the season; and only the most expert attempt greater depths. Two minutes is 

 the usual duration of the dive, and three and a half the utmost extent of endurance. The skin of 

 the shoulders is, in habitual divers, burnt off by the action of the sun and salt water; and the hair 

 is of a greenish or greenish-brown during the height of the summer, returning to the natural black 

 only in the winter time after diving has ceased to be profitable." Each diver has a net bag hang- 

 ing down in front, and held in place by a cord extending around the neck. Into this he puts the 

 sponges' as he pulls them from the bottom, and when it is full or before, in case he has remained 

 too long upon the bottom, he jerks the rope and is quickly pulled to the surface. A dredge con- 

 sisting of a rectangular iron frame with a net bag behind it, something like the naturalist's dredge, 

 is also used for procuring the deeper water Mediterranean sponges. In shallow water Mediterra- 

 nean sponges are sometimes taken with a hooked pole as in- Florida, but all the sponges growing 

 in such localities are of a coarse and inferior character. "The Mediterranean sponges are prepared 

 with greater care than ours, being beaten or trodden out after the killing, and not allowed to take 

 care of themselves at all." 



