The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-04-04

hundred feet Of water, fool around on
| the bottom until you think he's dead,
and then bob up serenely, having gath
cred all the sponges for two or three
yards around.
THE waters are full of sharks, but
! nobody seems 10 mind them. If one
happens to be swimming along right
beside the boat the men wait until he
passes before they dive, That's all.
hen there are children on board they
are everlastngly falling overheard, but
nobody pays any attention to that.
Even the babies can swim like fish.
When the live sponge is brought up
and thrown on deck it looks more like
lot of uncommonly nasty liver than
like anything else and it smells to heav-
en-. Right there's where sponging
ceases to be attractive The spongers
drink tremendous quantities of gin, to
keep them from being chilled by being
Iso much in the water; but nobody
seems to get drunk.
AS soon as good number Of
sponges have been collected, the boat
puts in to the nearest land, and the
sponges, which are dry and dead by
this time, are put in kraals. That is,
they are put where salt water can reach
them, but are picketed so that they
can't be washed away After a day or
two of that, they are washed by hand
and laid out in the sun to bleach. Part
OF the men stay and watch them, while
the Others go off after more. When q
full load is ready the boats put back to
Nassau Thapa tho a11or1cpc ARC cprtoI
according to quality and put in piles
OH the floor of the exchange. The deal
ers walk around, examine the lots, and
write the prices they are willing to pay
on slips of paper, which are handed to
the clerk. He reads out the name Of
the highest bidder on each lot. There
is no bargaining, no talking, no second
chance. 1t is perhaps the most quiet
and serene market in the world.
Each dealer carries his purchases off
to his own sponge yard, place en-
closed in stone walls and partly covered
by a shed. There hosts of colored peo-
pie, men, women and children, clip the
sponges, cut away the roots wash out
or cut out the Jumps of hard sand, &c.
There is 81 great art in sponge clipping.
The aim must be to cut out all objec-
tionable matter with as little injury to
the shape and size and texture Of the
sponge as possible. Often the cuts are
invisibly sewed together, so that no
ragged hole will show. The bits of
sponge clipped off are used for packing
purposes or for fertilizer,
1.-THE sponges would in their normal
state take up too much room in chip
ping, so they are pressed into bales and
he degree to which they are capable of
may be understood from
he fact that the natives boast they can
pack a bushel Of sponges into cigar |
,ox The sleeps wool sponge, which is
he finest variety sells, in Nassau, for |
lbout $1.15 pound, while the cheapest |
luality brings about twenty-five cents
| pound. The owner of the boat takes
lalf the profit Of the load, and the
rev divides the other half, so the
mems earnings very, but they seldom
xceed forty cents day.
Modern doctors are inclined to frown
pon the sponge. They say 1t Is a re-
uge for microbes, big and little, and
hat the lack of care, in regard to bath
is responsible for all sorts of
readful happenings
1T is simply astounding that decent
eople can use sponges as they do"
aid a New York doctor. "A sponge
hould always be carefully washed, IN
cry hot water, after being used, and
very few days 1t should be washed IN
n antiseptic. New York Sun.