Fed. 1, 1865.1 



THE TECHNOLOGIST. 



THE OTTOMAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



321 



The aggregate sum divided between the 607 boats was 10,130,000 

 piastres, which was obtained in the following localities : — 



Fishing Spots. 



Boats. 



Piastres. 



Bengazi 



65 



. 1,440,000 



Mandruha . 



107 



. 2,110,000 



Syria . 



20 



430,000 



Caramania . . . 



110 



. 1,500,000 



Cyprus 



20 



500,000 



Crete . 



45 



800,000 



Turkish Islands . 



140 



. 1,950,000 



Greece 



100 



. 1,400,000 



The number of boats employed in the sponge trade that called at 

 Rhodes or fished in the neighbourhood of the island during the five 

 years ending 1863 was as follows : — 



Vessels. Tonnage, 



1859 ... 89 .... 222 



1860 

 1861 

 1862 

 1863 



67 

 100 



69 

 103 



400 

 620 

 380 



795 



The crews employed in these have ranged from 439 men in 1860, to 

 750 in 1863 ; on the average there are about seven hands to a boat. 



[In the first volume of the Technologist, p. 17, we gave a detailed 

 account of the extent and character of the sponge fishery in the Turkish 

 seas, with statistics brought down to the year 1858 ; the present article 

 brings the information to a more recent date. In vol. iii., p. 168, some 

 particulars were given of the returns of the fishery for 1861. The 

 following figures supplement the information given in vol. i., p. 20, on 

 the imports of all kinds of sponge into the United Kingdom : — 



1859 



1860 



1861 . . . 



1862 

 1863 



A French savant, M. Artus, has been experimenting on the bleaching 

 of sponges. Some good sponges were well washed by M. Artus, in river 

 water, and whilst still wet were placed in a bath of six parts water and 

 one part commercial hydrochloric acid, and were allowed to remain until 

 all the carbonic acid gas was discharged. They were then washed again, 

 and afterwards strung together and immersed in hydrochloric acid 

 diluted with 6 per cent, of hyposulphite of soda dissolved in water. 

 The vessel was then closed, and left for forty-eight hours, when the 

 sponges were taken out, washed, and dried. M. Artus tried another ex- 

 periment, in which the quantity of hyposulphite of soda was doubled. 

 In a third experiment the sponges were, on removal from the bath, 



Quantity. 



Value. 



204,772 lbs. . 



. £26,240 



272,588 



48,095 



697,829 



. 137,489 



544,882 



. 100,204 



474,748 



„~ l- : 



77,907 



