_- -SPONGES. --.. - 141 
- Our Bahama experience has secured for the sponge a con- 
spicuous and pleasant place in our memory. It is no longer 
what it has been. It has become glorified and hallowed. We 
look at it with new eyes, and handle it with a feeling of re- 
spect akin to reverence, for it reflects something of that divine 
and creative wisdom that caused it to grow, in part at least for 
man’s benefit, upon the white limestone floor over which the 
clear, warm waters of the ocean surrounding the coral islands 
ceaselessly roll. Perhaps a more thorough and extensive explor- 
ation of the beds of the ocean world may bring to light new and 
valuable additions to the sponge-producing waters. In the sea 
dredging off the coast of Massachusetts some specimens of Spongi- 
dz have been obtained. 
The Bahama sponges differ very much in quality, and conse- 
quently in value. Some are quite small and fine—others large 
and coarse. . Some have a texture so firm that the hardest wring- 
ing and pulling does not tear them. Others, having the: same 
general appearance, are easily picked to pieces with the thumb 
and finger. The difference in softness is also very marked. The 
novice needs to be on his guard, and to exercise much caution 
in making purchases, for he is not only in great danger of buying 
a poor and perhaps worthless article, but of imposition in the 
matter of price. It is never pleasant to feel that we have been 
imposed upon, but itis mortifying for one boasting of Caucassian 
blood to be cheated by an ignorant and unlettered negro. 
Sponges are daily offered for sale in the court of the Royal 
Victoria Hotel. They are strung together, a dozen or more upon 
a string, and most visitors purchase asupply for home use. hey 
are much cheaper than those sold at retail in the States, and © 
when dried and pressed occupy but little room. In the waters 
surrounding the islands of Abaco, Exuma and Andros the 
sponges are found in the greatest abundance, and the Abaco 
