The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1888-11-17
SPONGE FISHING.
Diving in Mediterranean Wat
erS for this Fibrous Material.
A ShreWd Austrian Professor
Grows Them Artiflcially.


months of December, January and Eel
ruary. The late autumnal storms have
by that time cleared the sponges of the
seaweeds and other plants which con-
cealed them. 1t is considered, calm
weather and transparent sea being in
dispensable, that not more than forty-
FIVE days can be counted upon each sea-
son. The men employed in the Tunis-
Ian sponge fishery are almost exclusively
Greeks or Sici.ians, and the former are
found the more skilful. There are sew
eral modes of collecting sponges. They
are plucked with the hand by help of
diving bell, they are harpooned, or they
are dragged up with an instrument
which resembles the sort of drag used
where there is hard bottom, and the
barpoon is the instrument mainly en-
ployed by sponge fishers.
The Arabs go out In parties of five,
SIX or seven persons in small boat.
One man holds the trident and watches
the bottom of the sea, striking where
he sees a sponge; but the Arabs are
rarely successful in a depth of more
than eight or ten metres. The method
OF the Sicilians is almost the same az
that of the Arabs, except that their
beats take only two men, one to row
and the other to strike. The Sici.ians
fish IN deeper water than the Arabs and
secure more sponges than they, and of
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 a population OF
about - 600, all the adult males being
engaged in the sponse-fshery. They
leave the island in May. and return in
September at the latest. The islanders
OF halimno exercise their profession of
sponge fishers off the shores of the isl
ands of the kingdom of Greece, of the
southern Sporadcs. 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 large and so we'll manned that they
drive the Arabs and Siciians com plcte-
ly out of the field. They take the
sponges back to Kalimno, where they
are sold, the council of the island coz
shutting q court which decides all
differences between fishermen, cap
tains. proprietors, merchants and |
retail purchasers. The Kalimniotes
usually fish at q depth of from ff-
teen to twenty feet; below this there
rra no sponyes which posses, any COM
mercial value. The divers have to be |
men of adult age and of great physical
strength; they can in no case remain
at the maximum depth of twenty feet
for more than two minutes. They
select the good from among the bad
sponSes by touch, tearing away those
which seem to be the best. and place
them in a rouch fastened round the
neck. Quite recently a new method has
beea adopted, the wearing of awatcr-
tight diving dress. made of metal and
provided with glass windows; in this
dress men ere able to remai1 at the bot.
tom of the sea for two or three hours
and collec: the sponges at their ease.
The Kalimniote fishermen are in the
habit of dividing tho spoagcs which
they sell into three classcs-those of
ice quality. those which are large in
size, aad those which are inferior in
quality. The island possesses 200
vessels engaged in this industry.
An industry in artificial spoaccs is in
progress of creation. NJ. Oscar Schmidt,
professor at tn, university OF Gratz. in
Syria. has irvcatcd a method by which
pieces OF livin; sponge are bro:;ca off
and plan ted il favorabl, spot. From
very small cuttings of this kind Pro-
lessor Schmidt has obtained large
sponges il the course of three years and
at very small expense. Oae of his OK !
periments gave the result that the culti-
vaiion of 1900 sponges had not cost
more than S45, including the interest