The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-06-27
ALL ABOUT sPoNGEs.
How and Where They Grow and How
They Are Found and Sold.
Front the Anlericn1l AnnIust.

They Are Found and Sold.
From, the American analyst.
Sponges are found in only a few Iocali-
ties on the earth's surface. and the supply
does not nearly equal the demand. A very
few men have it in their power to corner
the sponge market, but they have never
done it yet, and can be depended on not to,
for the reason that they already have as
much of the world as they care to use.
There is no mercantile business known in
which sGles are so certain with so little
effort on the part of the dealer, where over
stocking and dull markets are so
rarely known or whore the profits
acquired are SO very generous.
In America there are only six
firms that are engaged exclusively in the
sponge trade. Five of these are in New
York, the sixth is located at Chicago. The
best sponges are found in the Grecian Ar
chipelago, in water as shallow in some
cases as forty feet, and ranging from that
to depths below any known soundings The
deeper the water the finer and more expen-
sive is the product found The Grecian
goods are known as silk sponges, and grade
in price from 50 to 500 pound, range
which is accounted for by the almost limit
less variety i'll texture, size and shape. To
just what kingdom a sponge belongs there
ton is the product of myriads of small
insects that gather the floating particles
found in the ocean and build the fungus
like growth, much as coral reefs are
built, attaching it to any substance
they find--a rock or the sunken timber of
a long-wrecked vessel The early stage of
this strange article-vegetable. mineral or
animal-closely resembles a mat of cob
webs, and only gains strength, size and
IT, IL "a m
Grecian government controls all the Med
iterranean sponge fields, and leases to the
firms engaged in the business such tracts of
water as are agreed on. The boundaries of
these fixed waters are fixed by floating
buoys, and no lease is made for more than
one year. The dealer hires his sailors and
divers, who man the clumsy little sailboats
and proceed to their employers grounds.
Here the captain in charge employs the
water glass, scanning the bottom of the
sea in search of sponges. When he finds a
promising bed he directs the divers. These
men are mainly natives, and work entirely
naked. Each boat is provided with num-
Der of stones, weighing about fifty pounds,
to each of which is attached a coil of fine
rope.
The diver takes up one of these stones,
poises himself on the gunwale of the boat,
inhales heavy draught of air, and plunges
head downward into the water, holding the
rock head of him at arms length. As he
reaches the bottom he drops the stone.
which is hauled up into the boat by the
rope. The diver gropes about until he can
find the sponges which he puts into a net
ting sack swung to his waist. Sometimes
he doesn't find any, and then, after creep
ing about till his lungs warn him it is time
to return to the surface, he springs upward
and, beating both hands and feet, struggles
into the air. The long holding of breath
soon leaves its mark in shattered health,
and no diver can follow the business
more than a few years. However,
he makes money while he is at it,
often earning from 500 to $500 week, an
amount which he finds difficulty in spend
ing on the barren hills and scattered viii
lagos of the Archipelago. For the lower
deeps divers in armor are employed, who
are not so plentiful as the wages offered
might warrant and who exact almost any
remuneration they want. One objection to
the pursuit of sponge diving is the frequent
visits of sharks. Nearly 100 men are lost
every year in Mediterranean waters, chiefly
by the voracious sharks, although a few
of the divers not in armor are occasionally
drowned. When enough sponges are
gathered to fill the boat the crew proceeds
to the shore, where the goods are spread
out for inspection by the officers of the
government, and the rate OF the lease is
fixed by the quantity Of sponges secured.
A field which yields nothing to the mer-
chant costs him nothing but his time in
searching it. After the government dues
are paid the sponges are assorted carefully
by experienced men, and are then strung
with a needle and Irvine and hung in the
sun on a row of low stakes to dry. Hy-
draulic pressure is then employed to pack
GOODS r.oadU fn. eb ba
bales resemble compressed cotton, except
ing that they are enveloped in coarse cloth.
The range in quality of these Mediterranean
sponges is very great. Now and then, in
very deep water, small, close-fbred sponge
is found, very light in color, and when dry
nearly the size of an orange. These COM
mand price as high as $50 pound. The
West India sponge is cheaper in price be-
cauze poorer in quality. The fishing there
is done by poles exclusively, the sponges
being found in water no more than forty
feet deep. They are known as sleeps WOOL
grass, velvet, reef and yellow sponges. The
st-mentioned Is the finest, and is quoted
at from 50 to SO pound, vel vet at about 81,
and grass sponges as low as 10 cents a
pound. The quantity imported into
America amounts to Isl, 100000 in value
annually. Key West, Fla. varies her cigar
making with a sponge-hshing industry,
from which nearly 100000 worth of
sponges are taken each year. The volume
of the business increases yearly,
as sponges are put to greater variety of
uses as time goes by, and this in spite of the
fact that the price has steadily increased
for the past ten years. Goods that could
be bought for 81 25 pound in 1879 Will
bring 81 Is to-day. A bad feature of the
business is that the American people de-
mand Iight-colored sponge, which in very
few cases is a natural color. To satisfy
this desire, strong acids are used to bleach
the goods, the effect being very injurious,
not only to the sponge, but to the human
skin upon which it is afterward used. In
Europe sponges are used in their natural
color, but the general public in America is
not vet educated up 90 the proper under