BULLETIN OF tHE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 23 
Owing to the clearness of the water they are able to do this, but rarely 
beyond the depth of 35 feet, as that is about the limit that can be 
reached by the naked eye; and, besides, the weight of the poles of this 
length (which weigh about 30 pounds, with an iron four-prong hook 
on the end) is as much as a man can handle. The deeper the fishing 
the greater is the skill required, and it is a rare thing to find a fisher- 
man so active and muscular as to handle successfully a 40-foot pole. 
The sponges when first caught resemble heads of decayed cabbage. 
When taken from the water they are thrown on the deck of the vessel 
and left long enough for the animal matter or sarcode which they con- 
tain to decompose. They are next placed in pens or a crawls” on the 
beach, where the ebb and flow of the tide- water washes out the dead 
matter. After several days they are thoroughly cleaned by the fisher- 
men by beating and scraping, and are then placed on strings and allowed 
to remain on the shore away from the water, where they are more or 
less bleached by the action of the sun and dew. They are then ready 
for market, when the vessels take their catch on board and proceed to 
town to sell them. 
The sponges are graded in the markets by the different buyers as 
their judgment and wants require, in order to make a value. The buy- 
ers make sealed bids for the sponges, which are not sold by the pound 
but by the lot, and this to the uninitiated is “buying a cat in the bag.” 
If the catch is a fair one, each man will receive as his share from $60 
to $125, while the vessel gets one-third of the total net earnings. After 
the buyers procure their lots they assort the sponges in different sizes 
and grades, after removing therefrom bits of rock, shell, or any other 
foreign substance that may be present. This is done by beating the 
root of the sponges with mallets on a wooden block. The only impuri- 
ties of sand and other substances are in the root or base of the sponge, 
as sand is as foreign to the body of a natural living sponge as it would 
be in the flesh of a fish or animal. Sponges are packed in bales of from 
25 to 60 pounds in weight. 
A pure sponge is free from all rock, sand, or any material used as 
loading or bleaching. Some few years ago sponges were much lower 
in price, when the Florida sheepswool was not appreciated as it is now* 
Prices have continued to advance slowly, and owing to the extreme cold 
of last winter all the sponges inside the depth of 20 feet were killed, 
thus making the stock scarcer. This caused another advance, but there 
is a limit in prices, which is now attained, as the Cuban and Bahama 
sponges are used as a substitute for many purposes by reason of their 
lower price. 
The present wholesale price is high enough to stimulate the adulter- 
ation of the goods, for which purpose several substances are used, such 
as glycerine, sand, lime, marble dust, and litharge. The glycerine and 
sand are not in the least injurious and add the least weight, while the 
lime bleaches and adds a greater weight than the sand. Marble dust 
