NATURE STUDY IN SCHOOLS. 119 



boats for the spongers, as the men who engage in this business are called. 



They engage as many men as they need, generally two to each boat, a 

 man to stay aboard the vessel and take care of her, and a boy to " lend a 

 hand" wherever needed. For the first week the men are away sponging, so 

 let us follow them and see how they do it. 



One man manages the boat and skulls her as nearly over a sponge bank 

 as possible, while the man in the bow watches intently through his glass 

 ( mentioned above ) until he sees the variety of sponge he wishes to se- 

 cure, then giving the signal to stop, he raises his sponge-hook ( on a rod 30 

 or 40 ft. long ) and letting it slip through his hand he allows the prongs 

 to rest on the bottom ahead of the sponge, then all that is needed is a quick jerk 

 when the sponge is dislodged from its home and becomes the prey of the man 

 who drops it unheedingly into the bottom of the boat and continues his task. 



When we pause to think of the muscular exertion and the quick eye 

 needed to perform this task, we may well wonder at the , ability of man to 

 perform it. Even the man who is managing the boat has no easy time, for 

 he must keep the boat steady, with the wind paying her head off and the 

 tide threatening to swing her round, and all with one oar. 



When, at the end of the week the vessels return with their load, the 

 sponges are put into a sponge- crawl ( a closed in place, made of net work, 

 and in the middle of a swift current ) and left there while the boats go off 

 for another week. 



When they return, the sponges left in the crawl have, by the action of 

 the water, had their flesh washed off, they are then put on palm leaves in 

 the sun to dry while the spongers place their second batch in the crawl, and, 

 again go after more. When they return, the now dry sponges are strung on^ 

 strings, made of palm-leaf fibre, and then are ready to be sold. 



When the second and third batch are treated in the same manner, the 

 sponges are taken to the sponge market and put into the ship's bin ( each ship 

 having her own bin ) and after a little while are auctioned off. When bought, 

 they are sent all over the world, and who knows but what we may have one 

 treated by the very men that I have told about. 



