Figuier tells us that all naturalists are now satisfied of the animal nature of sponges, although they once were thought to represent the lowest and most obscure grade of [pg 78]animal existence, and that so close to the confines of the vegetable world that it was considered difficult to some species to determine whether they were on the one side or the other. “Several of them, however,” says Mr. Gosse, “if viewed with a lens under water while in a living state, display vigorous currents constantly pouring forth from certain orifices, and we necessarily infer that the water thus ejected must be constantly taken in through some other channel. On tearing the mass open, we see that the whole substance is perforated in all directions by irregular canals leading into each other, of which some are slender, and communicate with the surface by minute but numerous pores, and others are wide, and open by ample orifices; through the former the water is admitted, through the latter it is ejected.”
SPONGE FISHING OFF THE COAST OF GREECE.
At the present time sponge fishing takes place principally in the Grecian Archipelago and the Syrian coasts. The Greeks and Syrians sell the product of their fishing to the western nations, and the trade has been immensely extended in recent times. Fishing usually commences towards the beginning of June on the coast of Syria, and finishes at the end of October. But the months of July and August are peculiarly favourable to the sponge harvest, if we may use the term. Latakia furnishes about ten boats to the fishery, Batoum twenty, Tripoli twenty-five to thirty, Kalki fifty, Simi about 170 to 180, and Kalminos more than 200. The boat’s crew consists of four or five men, who scatter themselves along the coast for two or three miles, in search of sponges under the cliffs and ledges of rock. Sponges of inferior quality are gathered in shallow waters. The finer kinds are found only at a depth of from twenty to thirty fathoms. The first are fished for with three-toothed harpoons, by the aid of which they are torn from their native rock, but not without deteriorating them more or less. The finer kinds of sponges, on the other hand, are collected by divers; aided by a knife, they are carefully detached. Thus the price of a sponge brought up by diving is much more considerable than that of a harpooned sponge. Among divers, those of Kalminos and of Psara are particularly renowned. They will descend to the depth of twenty-five fathoms, remain down a shorter time than the Syrian divers, and yet bring up a more abundant harvest. The fishing of the Archipelago furnishes few fine sponges to commerce, but a great quantity of very common ones. The Syrian fisheries furnish many of the finer kinds, which find a ready market in France; they are of medium size. On the other hand, those which are furnished from the Barbary coast are of great dimensions, of a very fine tissue, and much sought for in England. Sponge fishing is carried on at various other stations in the Mediterranean, but without any intelligent direction, and in consequence it is effected without any conservative foresight. At the same time, however, the trade in this product goes on yearly increasing; but it is only a question of time when the trade shall cease, the demand which every year clears the submarine fields of these sponges causing such destruction that their reproduction will soon cease to be adequate.
The finer varieties of toilet sponge produce a high price, often as much as forty shillings the pound weight for very choice specimens, a price which few commercial products obtain, and which prohibits their use, in short, to all but the wealthy. It is, therefore, very desirable that attempts should be made to carry out the submarine enterprise of M. Lamiral. With the assistance of the Acclimatisation Society of Paris, some experiments have already been made in this direction.
SPONGE, GROWING.
On the Bahama banks and in the Gulf of Mexico the sponges grow in water of small depth. The fishermen—Spanish, American, and English—sink a long mast or perch into the water moored near the boat, down which they drop upon the sponges; by this means they are easily gathered.
The fine, soft Syrian sponge is distinguished by its lightness, its fine flaxen colour, its form, which is that of a cup, its surface convex, voluted, pierced by innumerable small orifices, the concave part of which presents canals of much greater diameter, which are prolonged to the exterior surface in such a manner that the summit is nearly always pierced throughout in many places. This sponge is sometimes blanched by the aid of caustic alkalies; but this preparation not only helps to destroy its texture, but also changes its colour. This sponge is specially employed for the toilet, and its price is high. Specimens which are round-shaped, large, and soft, sometimes produce very large prices. There are many other varieties known to the commercial world.