Show GATHERING SPONGES AT TIM inn BAHAMAS the sponge 0 business is largely pur sued at the bahama islands the ez ex ports of this article amounts annually to about it is almost en the growth of the last twenty deais during that period the article has almost quadrupled in value and has been applied to a great variety of now new purposes especially in francea rance the sponge 0 is compressed in pow erful dresses presses and s sacked like cotton itis it ia then assorted and graded samples being fastened on each cacti package to show its f ibre it is fished batted baited or grappled up from the clear sandy bottom ottom at a depth of twenty forty or sixty feet and often far from the shore the water is so clear that the sponge is is visible on the bottom the sponge is the covering the habitation of the lower order of animal nature indeed organization can hardly ay bo be detected in the animal when first tal taken en front from the water the sponge 8 dack and at once becomes offen diveto the smell the first process is is to bury it in the sand where it re rc thaing for two or three weeks when too itic gelatinous matter seems to bo be ab sobbed and destroyed the boatmen ho obtain it are arc paid in shares by ta adners of tile the boats this tin s there wo becomes a precarious and semi galil bling mode of life and like wreck attractive to the C lored colored 0 ww l j |