Within the last few decades the sponge industry of the Bahama Islands
has increased at such a rate that to-day it is the second in importance
on the island. Although the product is not of such excellent quality
as that from the Mediterranean, it sells well and is in demand both in
England and in America.
For sponge fishing little boats of ten tons burden are employed and
manned by from six to twelve men. The sponges that are washed upon the
rocks and reefs are taken with iron rakes fastened to long poles, or
are brought to the surface by divers and spread out on the deck of the
vessel. This kills their soft, slimy organisms, which are black as tar.
The sponges are then repeatedly beaten with sticks to remove this black
slime, and afterward well washed.
The sponges are then sorted and softened for several hours in lime
water, dried in the sun, and bleached. They are finally pressed by
machinery into 100 lb. balls and then packed for shipping.
A rich and very extensive "sponge field" was recently discovered near
Eleuthera, but as the water there has a considerable depth, five or six
fathoms, fishing is attended with difficulty. In fact, it is rendered
impossible wherever the "segler" or sailor fish are found, for the mud
which these tiny creatures stir up completely veils the sponges from the
eye of the fisherman.
In 1881 the export amounted to $150,000, of which three-fourths came to
America.--_Chem. Zeit_.
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