The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1888-08-16
SPONGE FISHING.
Diving in Mediterranean Wat
ers for this Fibrous Material.
A Shrewd Austrian Professor
Grows Them Artiflcially.

0tOWo lIlCfl f1tlulSi0hys
In tho Tunisian waters Of the coast Of
Africa the sponge fishery is carried on
most actively and protitably during tho
months of December, January and Feb
ruary. Tne late autumnal storms have
by that time cleared the sponges of the
soaweeds and other plants which con-
cealed them. It is considered, calm
weather and transparent sea being in
dispcnsable, that not more than forty.
five days can bo counted upon each sea-
son. The men employed in the Tunis-
ian sponge fishery are almost exclusively
Greeks or Sici'ians, and the former arc
found the more skilful. There are sew
eral modes Of collecting sponges. They
are plucked with the hand by help Of a
diving bell, they are harpooncd, or they
are dragged up with an instrument
which resembles the sort of drag used
where there is hard bottom, and the
harpoon is the instrument mainly en-
ployed by sponge fishers.
The Arabs 60 out In parties OF five,
six or seven persons in small boat
One man holds the trident aud watches
the bottom of the sea, striking where
ho sees sponge; but the Arabs are
rarely successful in a depth of more
than eight or ten metres. Tho method
of the Sicilians is almost tho same a,
that of the Arabs, except that their
boats take only two men, one to row
and the other to strike. The Sicilians
fish in deeper water than the Arabs and
secure moro sponges than they, and OF
q better quality. The Greeks who for
the most part come from Kalimno and
Syria are the chief employers OF the drag.
But the great majority of these also
hold to the trident which they use with
extraordinary cleverness.
The island of Kalimno, on the south
western coast of Asia Minor, between
Cos and Leros, contains population OF
about IL, coo, all tho adult males being
engaged in the sponge-fishery. They
leave the island in May, and return in
September at the latest. The islanders
of Kalimno exercise their profession of
sponge-f ,hers off the shores Of the ISL
ands of the kingdom of Greece, of the
southern sporades, and specially OF
Rhodes, Of Crete, OF the whole extent
of Syria, of the island of Ruad, and
finally of Tunis, where their vessels are
SO largo and so we'll manned that they
drive the Arabs and Sicilians complete
ly out Of the field. They take the
sponges back to Kalimno, where they
are sold, the council Of the island con-
stituting court which decides all
differences between fishermen, cap
taius. proprictors, merchants and
retail purchasers. Tho Kalimniotes
usually fish at a depth of from fif-
teen to twenty feet; below this there
are no sponyes which posses, any COM
mcrcial value. The divers have to be
men of adult age and of great physica
strength; they can in no case remair
at the maximum depth of twenty fee
for more than two minutes. They
select the good from among the bae
sponges by touch, tearing away thos'
which seem to bo the best, and plac'
them in a pouch fastened round tn
neck. Quite recently new method ha
bcea adopted, tho wearing OF water
tight diving dress, made of metal anc
provided with glass windows; in thi
dress men are able to remain at the bot
tom OF the sca for two or three hour
and collect the spoages at their ease.
The Kalimniotc fishermen arein thu
habit OF dividing tho sponges whicl
they sell into three classes-.thosc o
fine quality. those which are large il
size. and those which are inferior il
quality. The island possesses 20
vessels engaged in this industry.
An industry in artificial spongcs is i
progress OF creation. M. Oscar Schmidt
professor at tho university of Gratz, i
Syria, has invented method by whic
pieces of living sponge are broken o.
and planted in favorable spot. Fror
very small cuttings of this kind Pre-
lessor Schmidt has obtained larg
sponges i, the course of three years IN
at very small expense. One Of his C,
periments gave the result that the cult
walton OF 1900 sponges had not co:
more than $45, including tho interc:
for three years on the capital expended
The Austro- Hungarian government ha
been so much struck with the importanc
of these experiments that it has officiall
authorized the protection of this me-
industry on the coast of Dalmatia. =
TChambers journal.