Everybody seemed pleased with that plan, and it was carried out, Dr. Harold making one of his mother's little audience.
"Haven't you a map of Florida, Harold?" she asked.
"Oh, yes, mother, I have," he replied; "also some pictures that will be helpful." He hastened to his stateroom and brought them out.
"Ah, these will be quite a help," she said. "Come, children, let us look at the map first."
Then, as they gathered round the table on which she had laid the map, "There, on the east coast, near the southern end of the State, you see Miami, and starting from a point near it a chain of keys, or islands, begins which extends in the shape of a horn away down into the Gulf of Mexico, the Dry Tortugas being the westernmost. Sponges are found in the waters surrounding most of these keys, also between them and the mainland as far as Cape Sable. This is called 'the key grounds.' Some few of the people living on the larger islands and spongers from Key West are the only persons who engage in that work there. In the Gulf of Mexico, on the west coast, are the 'bay grounds,' which yield the most. They extend from John's Pass, a few miles north of the entrance to Tampa Bay, to St. Mark's Lighthouse."
"How far is that, grandma?" asked Ned.
"How far, Harold?" she asked.
"About two hundred miles, mother," he replied.
"There are some few sponges found between Tampa Bay and Cape Sable, but not enough to make it worth while to take special trips to that point," she continued.
"Now, who can tell me whether it is to the vegetable or animal kingdom sponge belongs?"