FISHES /-

AVISION OF FI
ISSUED BY AUTHORIRY NATIONAL

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| — or THE CONFERENCES

LF[eld in connection with

The GREAT ANTERNATIONAL
_PISHERUES FXHIBITION

FISHERIES

OF

THE BAHAMAS

BY

et

A. Jd. ADDERLEY
COMMISSIONER FOR THE BAHAMAS TO TH
FISHERIES EXHIBITION

OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

——o-030500-——
The following Handbooks upon subjects cognate to the

International Fisheries Exhibition are already published,
or in active preparation :—
NOW READY.
Demy 8vo., in Illustrated Wrapper 1s. each ; or bound in cloth 2s. each.

THE FISHERY LAWS. By FREDERICK POLLOCK, Barrister-at-
Law, M.A. (Oxon.), Hon. LL.D. Edin. ; Corpus Christi Professor of Juris-
prudence in the University of Oxford.

ZOOLOGY AND FOOD FISHES. By Gerorce B. Howkss,
Demonstrator of Biology, Normal School of Science, and Royal School of Mines,
South Kensington.

BRITISH MARINE AND FRESHWATER FISHES.
(Zilustrated.) By W. SAvILLE KENT, F.L.S., F.Z.S., Author of Official Guide-
books to the Brighton, Manchester, and Westminster Aquaria.

APPARATUS FOR FISHING. By E. W. H. Ho.ipswortn,
F.L.S.,. F.Z.S., Special Commissioner for Juries, International Fisheries
Exhibition ; Author of “Deep Sea Fisheries and Fishing Boats,” “British
Industries— Sea Fisheries,” &c.

THE BRITISH FISH TRADE. By His Excellency Srencrr
WALPOLE, Lieut.-Governor of the Isle of Man.

THE UNAPPRECIATED FISHER FOLK. By James G.
BERTRAM, Author of ‘‘ The Harvest of the Sea.”

THE SALMON FISHERIES. (Justrated.) By C. E. FRver.
Assistant Inspector of Salmon Fisheries, Home Office.

SEA MONSTERS UNMASKED. (J/lustrated.) By Henry Leg,
F.L.S

THE ANGLING CLUBS AND PRESERVATION SO-
CIETIES OF LONDON AND THE PROVINCES. ByJ.P. WHEELDON,
late Angling Editor of ‘‘ Bell’s Life.”

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. (J/lustrated.) By FRancis
Day, F.L.S., Commissioner for India to International Fisheries Exhibition.

A POPULAR HISTORY OF FISHERIES AND FISHER-
MEN OF ALL COUNTRIES, FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES, By
W. M. Avams, B.A., formerly Fellow of New College, Oxford; Azxthor' of

‘Zenobia: a Tragedy,’ and inventor of the Ccelometer.

FISH CULTURE. (/ilustrated.) By Francis Day, F.L.S., Com-
missioner for India to International Fisheries Exhibition.

SEA FABLES EXPLAINED. By Henry Leg, F.L.S. (///ustrated.)

“NGLING IN GPIAT BRITAIN. By Witztam Senior (‘“ Red

“ner aos
: their Place in Myth, Fable, Fairy-
By PHIL ROBINSON.

EA AND RIVER FISHING. By

IN THE PRESS.
ot IN A HARD-WORKING DIET.
4. (Cantab.)

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By A. J. ADDERLEY |

COMMISSIONER FOR THE BAHAMAS
TO THE INTERNATIONAL FISHERIES EXHIBITION

“ENTHSON ALY

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LONDON

WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED
13 CHARING CROSS, S.W.

1883

International Fisheries Fixhibition.
LONDON, 1883.

THE

FISHERIES OF THE BAHAMAS.

=

HER MAJESTY’S possessions, the Bahama Islands, extend
from the northern coast of St. Domingo to the eastern
coast of Florida, United States, a distance of nearly 600
miles. In all there are 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387
rocks. The area is 4,424 square miles.

The population by the census of 1881 was 44,000. Of
this number about 10,000 are whites, the remainder descen-
dants of emancipated Africans. The population per square
mile is about 10.

The principal islands are New Providence, on which is
the capital Nassau, Grand Bahama, Eleuthera, Andros,
Abaco, Long Island, San Salvador, Rum Cay, Inagua,
Crooked Island, and Berry Island. The formation of the
islands is of calcareous rocks, of coral and shell, hardened
into limestone, and much honeycombed. There are no
traces of primitive or volcanic rock. The shores generally
rise gradually to a hill range in the principal islands, per-
haps to a height of 250 ft. With the exception of the
island of Andros, no freshwater rivers exist. The supply
of water is from wells and from rain-water tanks,

The woods are the mahogany, lignum vite, iron, mastic,
ebony (green and black), braziletto, logwood, satin wood,
and many others. A wood called horseflesh is in great

[42] 1a

4

repute for ship’s timbers, being hard and practically ever-
lasting. In former times the wooden walls of old England
were partly formed by timbers cut from Andros. The
fruits are oranges, lemons, limes, pineapples, bananas, plan-
tains, melons, yams, potatoes, tomatoes, sugar cane, ginger,
cocoanut, and many others. There is a large export of pine-
apples, oranges, and tomatoes. Tobacco and cotton grow
readily, but labour and perseverance has so far been
wanting to develop these important products. The castor-
oil plant grows wild, and the cascarilla and canella alba
barks are exported to a considerable extent.

Animal life is restricted to the wild cat, raccoon, and
guano; whilst a dog that did not bark is said to have
existed among the aborigines.

Of birds, flamingoes, wild ducks, pigeons, are plentiful.
There are also parrots, geese, humming birds, cranes,
snipe, &c.

Of fish the varieties are innumerable. Some of them
by their local names are as follows : Grouper, Red Snapper,
Market-fish, Barracouta, Hound-fish, Porgy, Goggle eye,
Jack, Mutton-fish, Shark, Stingray, Mullet, Cray-fish,
Sword-fish, Bone-fish, Hog-fish, Turtle, Angel-fish, June or
Jew-fish, Dolphin, King-fish, Grunts, &c.

The fishing-boats, numbering 100, and employing 500
men, are usually of the sloop rig, with a leg-of-mutton sail,
and a well for keeping the fish alive. The sponging and
wrecking vessels, numbering 500, are of schooner rig, fine
models, and fast sailers. They are built by the islanders,
the timbers being of native hardwood (horse-flesh), the
planking of yellow pine, from North Carolina, and vary in
tonnage from 15 to 60 tons.

Fish are caught with fish-pots, hand-lines, and nets, the
nets being taken out some distance from the land, and

s)

hauled slowly in to the shore, when a great variety, many
of brilliant and variegated colours, is usually secured. It
forms an important article of food, but none are exported,
with the exception of turtle (Chelonia Mydas) and the
hawksbill (Chelonia imbricata), yielding the tortoiseshell
of commerce.

The bait used in line-fishing is usually the conch. The
fish are drummed up by striking two shells of the conch
together, and are ground-baited as in English rivers.
During the boisterous north-west winds, prevailing be-
tween November and February, they are difficult to catch,
and are brought alive in the wells of the boats, and thus
sold in the market-place.

The estimated value of fish used in home consumption
is £18,000 per annum, and of turtle exported, £600 per
annum.

King, queen, and common conch-shells are exported in
large quantities, being used for cameos, and in the latter is
found the beautiful pale pink pearl now becoming so valued.
The value of shells exported is 41,200 per annum, and of
pearls £ 3,000 per annum.

Ambergris is also found on these shores, and sea-cucum-
ber (trepang). The value of ambergris exported is 41,000
per annum.

Corals and small shells, which are very beautiful, are
largely collected, and find a ready sale among the American
visitors, and in England.

The value of the sponge exports for 1883 is estimated
at £60,000. In 1882 it was £59,033. The sponge trade
gives employment to several thousands of persons and
some hundreds of vessels, the sponges being divided into
coarse and fine. The principal varieties, in the order of

their value, are known as sheep-wool, white reef, abaco

6

velvet, dark reef, boat, hardhead, grass, yellow, and glove ;
and of some of these varieties there are several grades,
designated by numbers, all being used for mechanical,
surgical, and bathing purposes. Bahama and Florida
sponges are about equal in texture and value, but both
are inferior to those of the Mediterranean. The vessels
employed in sponging are small, with crews of from six
to twelve men. About six weeks’ provisions are taken on
board, and they then coast along the banks and reefs,
where the water is shallow and generally so clear that the
sponges are readily seen, and are brought to the surface by
hooked poles, or sometimes by diving. When first brought
up they are covered with a soft gelatinous substance as
black as tar, and full of organic life, the sponge as we
know being only the skeleton of the organism. The day’s
catch is spread out on the deck so as to kill the mass of
animal life, which in dying emits a most unpleasant smell.
Then the spongers go ashore and build a pen or “crawl”
of stakes close to the water’s edge, so that the action of
the tide may wash away the black covering, in which it is
aided by pounding the sponges with sticks. When this
operation is completed, the sponges are strung upon small
palmetto strips, three or four to a strip, which is called
“a bead,” when they are taken to Nassau to be sold in the
sponge-market under certain conditions and regulations,
nobody being allowed to sell his cargo otherwise than
through this sponge exchange. On the conclusion of the
sale the sponges are taken to the packing-yard, where they
are sorted, clipped, soaked in tubs of lime-water, and spread
out to dry in the sun. They are then pressed by machinery
into bales, containing 100 lbs., and in this state are shipped
to England or the United States, which of late years is
almost the largest customer for Bahama sponges. The

7

export has been gradually increasing, for whereas in 1874
it only represented £16,000, in 1881 it amounted to £31,000,
and the year before to £35,000. A new sponge-field was
discovered last year at the Island of Eleuthera, 60 miles
from Nassau, extending over an area of many miles, and
yielding the sheep-wool, the most valuable quality. Not-
withstanding this fact, there have been two drawbacks to
working this field, one being, though the sponges are of
a very large size, they are exceedingly tender in the inner
portions, and will not cut to advantage ; the other, that at
certain times of the year myriads of small fish, known as
“sailors,” arrive at the field and stir up the muddy bottom
to such an extent that not a single sponge can be
seen.

The sheep-wool sponge brings quite as high a price in
markets as the Turkish variety of same. The success
which is said to have been attained in the artificial propa-
gation of the sponge by Professor Oscar Schmidt, of the
University of Gratz, may lead to great development of this
industry in the Bahamas. To the late Sir John Lees,
father of the present popular Governor, the people owe a
debt of gratitude for the discovery of the sponge.

Salt is made in large quantities by solar evaporation,
and is much esteemed in America for packing purposes for
pork and beef.

In consequence of the number of islands, harbours are
easily made during heavy weather, and sad cases of dis-
tress are of rare occurrence.

Several friendly societies exist for mutual aid in time of
sickness. |

Mr. R. Davey, in his agreeable account of a visit paid to
the Bahamas in 1878, thus describes his first impression of

Nassau :-—

8

“‘ Nassau, the capital of New Providence, is considered a rival to
Nice as a sanitarium and winter resort. In many ways it is
indeed a superior residence, for the climate is milder and much
more equable. During my winter stay, the thermometer never
rose above 81° or descended below 70°. There was scarcely a
breath of wind, and rain fell abundantly in the night, but never in
the day-time.

“Tt is now decided by the leading medical authorities in
America, that in no part of the known world is there another
climate so beneficial to persons suffering from nervous diseases.
Rest of brain and muscle, body and mind, becomes almost
inevitable in the delicious balmy atmosphere of Nassau. You
insensibly give way to the prevailing dolce far niente of the place,
and there is absolutely no great excitement, social, political, or
artistic, to stimulate you. There is society, plenty of it, for the
hotels are often crowded to excess by persons of wealth and
fashion, but after eleven o’clock all have retired to rest, and the
whirl of balls and other like dissipation, is, although by no means
unknown in the fair ‘ Isle of June,’ as the natives love to call their
charming island, of a less exciting kind than in most other fashion-
able resorts.

‘“‘ Tt was early on a bright winter morning that our good steamer
San Facinto passed into the harbour of the capital of New Provi-
dence. As I leaned over the deck and looked down into the
waters upon which I was sailing, I could scarcely believe my
sight. It seemed impossible that water deep enough to bear our
vessel should be so marvellously clear. We appeared to be pass-
ing over a sheet of pale sea-green crystal. Nota pebble, bit of
sponge, shell, fish, crab, or coral, but was distinctly visible as if
only a few feet under the surface. It was like floating upon ether,
for the sparkle of the sunlight alone persuaded it was water. No,
there was something else, for as we neared the wharf, a score or
so of dusky forms splashed into the briny mirror, broke up its
rippleless surface, sent into the air a spray of diamonds, and then
dived far down into its pellucid depths in quest of coppers liberally
thrown them by the amused passengers. ‘ Please, boss, give us a
small dive, is the entreaty which greets you from a dozen little

9

black urchins, who, on the least encouragement, jerk off their
coats and shirts and plunge into the sea. Sometimes they catch
the coin before it touches the bottom ; at others, however, the diver
remains quite a time searching for it, looking, as seen from above,
with his wriggling legs and arms, for all the world like a huge
black spider.”

When, on October 17, 1492, Christopher Columbus
landed on the shores of “Guanahai,” and named the
present island of New Providence San Salvador, he was so
enchanted with its beauty that he wrote a letter to the
Spanish sovereigns, in which he expressed his delight and
enthusiasm. “The loveliness,” says he, “of this island is
like unto that of the Campana de Cordoba. The trees are
all covered with ever-verdant foliage, and perpetually laden
with either flowers or fruit. The plants in the ground are
full of blossoms. The breezes are like those of April in
Castille. The nightingales (mocking-birds?) sing more
sweetly than I can describe. It seems to me that I could
never quit so enchanting a spot, as if a thousand tongues
would fail to describe it, as if my hands, spell-bound,
would never be able to write concerning it.” Due allow-
ance being made for the nervous enthusiasm of an ex-
plorer inebriated with the treasure he has found, it must
still be confessed that his words, all-glowing as they are,
scarcely exaggerate the charms of the peaceful scenery
which so inflamed his poetic ardour, for the Bahamas are
islands like unto the one chosen by Shakespeare for the

scene of the ‘Tempest’ :—
“ Full of infinite delight.”
Surgeon-Major Bacot, in his interesting work ‘The

Bahamas,’ published in 1869 by Messrs. Longman and Co.,
gives a great deal of curious information concerning the

10

by no means unromantic history of the islands. He speaks
with horror of the cruelties inflicted upon the wretched
aborigines by the Spaniards, and of the enormous oppres-
sion which they endured, an oppression so excessive that
it met with the stern condemnation of the human and
illustrious Dominican Los Casas.

The transfer of the islands from Spain to England,
at the cost of many a bloody episode, forms a lengthy
and exciting period in colonial history, one, however, far
too pregnant with startling events to be dwelt upon in
these pages. The piratical history of the islands is also
of deep and picturesque interest, but, although it abounds
in romantic incidents, I must perforce pass it by and
merely allude to it by saying that the novelist and the
lover of exciting narratives will find in the pages of ‘ The
Memoirs of Peter Henry Bruce,’ of ‘Daniel McKinnen’s
Tour of the West Indies,’ and of ‘Montgomery Martin,’
enough material for more than one exciting story of old
colonial life.

The object, however, of this Pamphlet is not historical,
but essentially practical, and, moreover, devoted principally
to the fisheries and fishing industries of a colony, which
by reason of its superb climate and its proximity to the
United States, is of very great value to the Crown, and
the inhabitants of which are essentially loyal and earnest
in their endeavours to progress with the rest of the world
in intellectual and commercial prosperity.

The island of New Providence is about twenty miles
long by seven in breadth, and is the most important,
though by no means the biggest, of the Bahama group.
The history of the island since its discovery by Columbus,
down through the buccaneer period, is only interesting
to its inhabitants and government. I may observe that,

II

however unpleasant may be its memories of the old
pirate days, it is a remarkably respectable place, not
even a murder having thrown a shadow on its nearly
untarnished reputation during the past fifteen years. It
would be difficult to imagine a quieter spot. On Sundays
especially, is it quiet, when not only are the shops all
closed, but the majority of the house-shutters also, and the
tranquil air is laden with church music of the most ortho-
doxly sober description.

The first place you drive to on landing is tke hotel—the
“Royal Victoria.” This homelike and admirably organised
house can accommodate at least 300 persons. The rooms
are very clean and pleasant, and the board abundant and
varied. The charge per day is only $3 (12s.), everything
included, except, of course, wine and spirits. The “Royal
Victoria” stands in a beautiful tropical garden, and, as it
is a picturesque building, produces a most favourable effect,
especially upon those who have just landed from New
York, which, perhaps, they left only four days previous, in

the midst of a snow-storm.

“ The first impression,” continues Mr. Davey, “ produced upon
our arrival in Nassau, from Cuba, was rather singular, and con-
cerned the marked difference of the influence of the Spanish and
the Anglo-Saxon races upon the African. Cuba is a Spanish colony,
and unhappily (although the cursed institution is slowly dying
out) still a slave country, with a large coloured population ; New
Providence has a population of 15,000 free negroes to only 4,000
whites. Personal observation only can give any idea of the filthi-
ness of the dwellings of the lower classes of Cubans, and especially
of those belonging to the blacks. The coloured folks of Nassau are
cleanly and tidy to a great degree. Most of the Cuban towns are
more or less squalid. The city of Nassau is, if anything, too
prim, and its inhabitants are models of order in their dress and
habits. I saw at a glance that the coloured people here have

12

been disciplined and trained by a race which is certainly as superior
to the Spanish in all that concerns common-placedness and com-
mon sense, as it is inferior in its natural artistic instincts. I never
saw anything, no not even in the Bethnal Green district of
London, to surpass the interiors of the Cuban cottages in unutter-
able disorder and general abomination. But as you pass along the
roads at Nassau, and glance in at the windows of the negroes’ cot-
tages you will almost invariably perceive interiors worthy of the brush
of a Teniers or of a Sir David Wilkie, a floor on which you could eat
your dinner, neatly papered walls, with framed chromos symmetri-
cally arranged upon them, spotless curtains, shining brass lamps
and cooking utensils, and a bed covered with a counterpane as
white as drifted snow. If you peep in at meal times, vou will note
a clean cloth, covered with orderly-arranged plates and dishes. I
am speaking of the dwellings of negroes, of those self-same coloured
people, who in the same climate, only a day and a half’s journey
away in Cuba, under another race and civilization, dwell in a con-
dition too nasty to be described here.”

I cannot forbear here introducing an exceptionally vivid
description by Mr. Davey of the town of Nassau and of its
population, which I shall also supplement with this popular
writer's remarkable word-picture of the “sea garden,” which
has been so frequently quoted on account of its graphic
picturesqueness.

“As you drive,” I said, “through Grant’s Town, the negro
quarter, you see so much to gladden you that it must do more
real good to an invalid than many a cunningly-prepared draught.
Charmingly picturesque wooden huts, thatched with palmetto, and
as neat as you please, overshadowed by cocoa-nut trees, and
exquisite flowering creepers border either side of the road, and on
their thresholds are laughing groups of women and children of
every shade of black, mahogany, and ‘ yullah.’ Then, when the
shades of evening grow long and deep in the thickets of the banyan-
trees, coloured Pyramus courts coloured Thisbe over the wall
which separates their gardens, and the roads are literally swarming

T3

with little darkies, romping, laughing, and chasing each other
round and about, whilst neatly-dressed women, standing at their
doors, or leaning out of their open windows, watch the return of
their ‘men,’ as they boldly call their husbands. The air is still,
and laden with the penetrating perfume of the Cape jasmine, the
white blossoms of which gleam like stars amidst the dark foliage,
and of the crimson and pink oleander which flowers here to great
perfection. No pen can describe or give even a faint idea of the
delicious peacefulness of the scene, of the cheerful sounds of
greeting, of the merry clatter of the negroes, the tuning of banjoes,
and above all, of the beautiful sunset-lit clouds above, which shed
a rosy tint abroad, and mark in bold relief the tall stems of the
waving palms, and of the strange-named but useful trees, whose
bizarre foliage so attracts attention, and between whose gnarled
boughs you catch glimpses of the high-roofed houses of the city,
of the cathedral spire, and of a sea as blue as a turquoise, now
shivering in the gentlest of breezes.

“ The town of Nassau itself is not particularly interesting, inas-
much that, with the sole exception of the cathedral, it cannot
boast of a single monument of any artistic importance. The
houses are mostly built of stone faced with wood, and possessed of
high-slated roofs and wide verandahs, which surround each story
and afford cool shade during the sunny hours of the day. The
public buildings are clean and unpretentious, and_ evidently
modelled after those of some English village in which the sturdy
and inelegant Georgian architecture predominates. There are
few traces anywhere of the influence of the higher art, although
the cathedral itself is an exceedingly handsome Gothic building,
wherein the services of the Church of England are most admirably
conducted.

“The gardens are trim and pretty, but, notwithstanding their
profusion of tropical plants, lack the luxuriant charm which
makes the ill-kept garden of Havana so romantic and picturesque.
Very few of the private houses are of superior size, and even the
Governor’s palace is a modest-looking dwelling, situated on the
highest of the surrounding hills, and commanding a fine view of
the town and harbour.

14

“The chief monument of Nassau is not one built by hand, but
a silk cotton tree, planted some two hundred years ago by John
Miller, Esq., opposite where now stands the ‘ public buildings.’
It is a stupendous tree of Titanic proportions. The roots, unable
to find their way down through the rocky soil, swell up like great
buttresses, radiating round the trunk some fifteen yards, and rising
from the ground six and eight feet, making a part of the actual
bulk of the tree, and giving the huge plant the appearance of a
web-footed monster, standing in solemn reverie. Among these
gnarled and weird roots are ravines, in whose dark hollows a
legion of elves could dwell and hold their revels. High above
this root-works spreads a canopy of leaves of the most exquisite,
tender green. Singular to say, the gigantic plant flattens its
branches at the top, nearly squared off in correspondence with
the flatness its roots are obliged to assume owing to the paucity
of earth. Had Shakespeare seen this august tree, which travellers
from California declare to be even more imposing than any of the
Mammoth trees, he would have immortalized it in a few grand
lines. Or, perhaps, made it the background of some quaint fairy
scene, or the home of another Herne the Hunter, Oberon and
Titania, Ariel or Puck. There are several other fine silk-cotton-
trees on the island, and in Cuba this tree grows to perfection ;
but he tree I have first attempted to describe is universally
acknowledged to be the finest known. I was much surprised to
notice the rapidity with which this plant puts forth its leaves. On
my arrival, I saw one of the trees in the grounds of the hotel,
which seemed to be dead. The rest were in leaf, but this one
was quite barren. In three days it was lost to sight, hidden in
its own new foliage, put on in at most two nights. The silk-
cotton-tree is so called because it bears a pod full of flossy silk,
which is used for filling pillows instead of down, but they say the
fibre is too short to be woven.

‘ Nassau and its neighbourhood is really not unlike an open-
air museum of botanical and marine curiosities. As you drive or
walk through the woods and lanes your attention is constantly
attracted to some tree or shrub peculiar for its curious shape,
leaves and flowers. If you ask its name you will be told that it is

15

either the gum-arabic-tree, the guava, the banyan, or the ipicac,
or the pimento, or the spice, the cinnamon, the pepper, the caper,
the castor-oil, or in short any one of half the plants which stock
our drug or grocery shops. One day I noticed an onion-like
looking plant, with somewhat curious leaves, and asked its name.
It turned out to be my old acquaintance ‘ squills,’ of syrup fame.
“The crowning glory of Nassau is her unrivalled bay, with its
enchantingly crystal clear water. Many a pleasant day have I
passed sailing round the pretty shores of this pleasant island.
We usually had for ‘captain’ a certain remarkable darkie, by
name ‘Captain’ Sampson Stump, one of those sable worthies
you read about, full of devilry, and withal shrewd and witty, and
a capital sailor. ‘The Cap’en is reputed wealthy, for he is a great
favourite with the visitors, and on Sundays he is considered by the
inhabitants of Grant Town the greatest ‘ dissentin’ minister’ in
the island. Amongst the natural wonders the Cap’en took us to
see was the ‘sea garden.’ I wish Victor Hugo could behold it, for
then he could paint in his vivid language a pendant to his sea
monster, the devil-fish of the ‘ Toilers of the Sea’; but this time
he would show us the beautiful instead of the hideous—the para-
dise of the sea, and not its hell. They give you a box with a
glass bottom to it to look through, which you put over the side
of the boat and dip beneath the surface of the waves. Lo! you
behold the garden of the sea-nymphs, the home of Aphrodite.
Beneath you, seen through the pale, pellucid waters of this vast
aquarium, is a lovely garden, full of every imaginable delicate-
tinted sea-flora. Some are pale pink, others are of light yellow,
and some brown as leaves in autumn, surrounding the vivid purple
and scarlet sea anemones, which cling to the summits of beds of
pearly coral. Here purple sea-fans wave gently to and fro. Here
are groves of wonderful sponges, and here beds of marine flowers
of all kinds and shapes. Fish as brilliant as humming-birds—red,
blue, and metallic green and orange—peep in and out knowingly
of the branches of this strange submarine vegetation, which is
crossed and re-crossed in all directions by pathways of the soft
and silver gravel. Nothing more fascinating, more fairylike, can
be well imagined. We expect at any moment to see Venus or

16

one of her nymphs rise to the surface from this abode of cool
delights ; but more frequently the clear aquamarine-coloured
waters part and close, bubbling over the dusky form of a sturdy
negro diver in search of pink conch-shells or stag’s-horn corals
for some dc/e from England or the States, whose pretty exclama-
tions of surprise and delight, ‘Oh, see!’ and ‘Oh, my!’ sound
cheerily enough on the summer air.
“ Involuntarily the world-renowned description of the bottom of
the sea was brought to my mind :—
“Methought I saw. .

Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl,

Inestimable stones, unvalu’d jewels,

All scatter’d in the bottom of the sea.

Some lay in dead men’s skulls ; and, in those holes

Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept

(As ’twere in scorn of eyes) reflecting gems,

That woo’d the slimy bottom of the deep,

And mock’d the dead bones that lay scatter’d by.”
Clarence’s Dream, Richard III,

A very extraordinary fact about the vegetation in
the Bahamas is, that it grows with its roots almost
entirely exposed. The island is of coral formation, and
only very lightly coated with earth, but such is the
abundance of the dews and the fertilizing quality of the
atmosphere, that it suffices for a plant to have but one or
two feelers caught in the pores of the coraline rock, as it is
called, for it to grow and flourish. I have seen big trees
with all their roots, save one, above ground. Some trees
I have noticed growing on the garden wall, horseback
fashion, with one half of their roots on one side and the
rest on the other. I am assured that there is so much
decayed animal matter in the coraline that it is one of the
richest of soils ; and the cause of the fertility of the island
is doubtless the heavy dews which fall immediately after

sunset. A number of “air-plants”” grow in the woods, and of

7

course derive their nourishment entirely from the abundant
dews. These curious plants are, for the most part, a species
of wild pine, and although found suspended to the branches
of trees, and apparently existing without any other nourish-
ment than air, they are really fed, as I have said, by the
heavy moistures of the night. One of the most remarkable
of them is the green snake, which looks exactly like a long
serpent made of coloured india-rubber. It lays on the
branches of the trees, but requires no earth, and subsists on
dew. The common life-plant of the tropics grows every-
where, and, together with the air-plants, affords much
curiosity to visitors from Europe and America. If you
take one of its thick, waxy, oak leaf-shaped leaves and
hang it on a nail, it will live for months and shoot forth
new leaves without needing either water or earth.

The maladies of all others which Nassau benefits most
are those of the lungs and nervous system, and this I am
assured is now the opinion of the leading medical men in
New York. For the advantage of such of my readers who
might perhaps wish to visit this charming resort, I quote
the following valuable remarks from the New York
‘Medical Record,’ February, 1877 :—

“The drinking water of Nassau is of two kinds—that from
reservoirs, being stored rain-water collected from the roofs of
houses ; and that from wells. ‘The former only is generally used
by the well-to-do white population, exclusively so at the hotel,
and is an unusually good potable water.

* * * * * * *

“The surface drainage of the city is excellent. Water soon dis-
appears, either through the gutters cut in the stone—which, by the
way, are very good—at the roadside, or by percolation. It would
hardly be possible to find a stagnant pool of any kind. The

[42] c

18

streets are very neat, and as both the narrow side-walks and the
carriage-ways are cut on the native rock, and are equally hard and
clean, it is more customary to walk on the latter than the former.
All the roads throughout the island are of the same character,
constructed by the government, and kept in repair by convict
labour. ‘There is no dust.

“The mean temperature during the winter months is somewhat
higher than at other health resorts, as is shown by the following

comparisons :

Place. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. | March.| April.
Nassau; N-Pat ©. 2s | -76"°8 | 7376 |73°6 | 7307 | 75 eo
Savannah, Ga.) = 5. « | i§6°6 | 51°5 | 52°2 | 54750] Cord aya,
Jacksonville, Fla. . . | 64°1 | 54°2 | 56°4 | 561 | 64°2 | 67°8
St. Augustine, Fla. . . | 64°1 | 57°2 | 57°0 | 59°9 | 63°3 | 68°8
Pilatka, Fla. 7 4. 4) t2 |\{6n°S| S670 | 57°27) 5873 10Ot ae yee
San Diego, Cal. ©.) 4. | §6°9.151¢7 || 51°90) 53°3 | 5Os07 Ronee

“ But the average mean temperature of a month may be quite
deceptive. It is the diurnal and from day to day fluctuations
which are of the greatest importance and have the most influence
upon the health of invalids. In this particular Nassau has an
advantage over any locality on the Atlantic side of the continent.

“No other place we know of so well fulfils the requirements of
a winter sanitarium in this respect as Nassau.

* * * * * * *

“The Royal Victoria Hotel is perhaps superior to any in the
south in its hygienic appointments, and is equalled by few any-
where. Its table is supplied with excellent food, well prepared.

“To briefly recapitulate : From November to April, Nassau has
a warm and remarkably equable climate.

“Tt has a moderate degree of humidity.

“Its surface is well covered with vegetation.

“Its drainage, chiefly by subsidence into the rock, is good.

19

“Tts stored drinking water is ample in supply, and healthful.
“Tt is quite free from malarious and other endemic diseases.”

% * * * * * *

The fisherman’s calling is ever an anxious and an arduous
one, and in the Bahamas, the maritime population is
subjected to great physical exertion, and prolonged absence
from home. I am given to understand, the vessels in which
they ship are poorly fitted and overmanned ; if this is the
case, legislation should remedy the evil. Life-preserving
apparatus should be made an absolute necessity in an
outfit, and heavy penalty incurred through any default.

The marine products of the Bahamas are undoubtedly
susceptible of very important expansion, and I make the
following practical suggestions to that end :—

On the subject of the Sponge Fisheries, I have fortified
my opinion by the important Paper herewith attached,
maitten. by Mr. Savile Kent, F.L.S., F.Z.S., an autho-
rity on this special subject. I am of opinion that a
close season for sponges would not be practical or
beneficial, the most favourable, if not exclusive season
for their collection being the summer months, which is
likewise the time during which they usually reproduce
their species.

On the other hand, a very great advantage would be
derived from the periodical isolation and protection of
suitable areas upon the sponge grounds, to enable them to
recover from the effects of over-fishing ; or to form as it
were a nursery from whence the sponge germs would be
freely distributed throughout the surrounding districts.

I suggest experiments with the object of introducing into
your waters the fine concave, or cup-like form of sponge
(Spongia officinalis) of the East, provided it is not already

C2

20

there, as suspected by Mr. Kent in his Paper. The pro-
hibition of the dredger in shallow waters should be
continued.

I am of opinion that vessels of from 40 to 50 tons
burden, with diving apparatus for men, to enable the
careful collecting of the sponges, are best for this class of
fisheries. By using the diving dresses, fishermen would
only disturb those sponges which are matured, and the
present primitive mode of hooking, so injurious to health,
would cease. The expense of the dresses would be soon
defrayed by the more expeditious collecting, the saving of
labour, and also by the more presentable and merchantable
state of the article when brought to market, in addition by
searching in the same depth of water, as in the Mediter-
ranean, instead of in the shallow waters as is the custom,
finer qualities of sponges would undoubtedly be found.

I would also advise a close season for the Queen and
Pink Conch; but I fear it is not practicable. I am under
the impression that this fish is not so plentiful as it used to
be, and that its protection is desirable. I think these two
varieties of mollusks may be made a source of considerable
revenue. The shells are, I believe, found only in the
Bahamas, and a limit being placed on their export, as has
been found necessary to do with corals in Japan, would
lead to a considerable increase in their value. Combina-
tion among the exporters would have the same result.
They are used to an immense and increasing extent in
Italy; and in the case of the pink shell, sold in this
country at a shilling a-piece, I am quite sure from the
offers I have had for those in the Exhibition, that twenty
times that amount would be readily paid, if the price
were firmly maintained, as the profit when converted into
cameos and other odjets d'art is enormous.

20

I shall refer again to this matter in another part of my
Paper.

On the subject of fish-curing, I think that if the goggle-
eyes were cured by the same process, and with equal care
as the herring in this country, and the jack, as the mackerel
in Newfoundland, a market would be found not only in
Europe, but also in the Catholic parts of Southern America.

Such a harvest of the sea should not go ungarnered, and
the Red Snapper and Grouper should be exported in tins.
There is already a demand for these two fishes in America.
The United States alone, after its own consumption,
exports of fish in tins six hundred thousand pounds
(£600,000) in value annually.

Among waste products I suggest the skins and bones
of fishes being utilized for the manufacture of glue and
isinglass in the colony itself. On this subject, Professor G.
Browne Goode says in his Paper on the fisheries industries
of the United States :

“The utilization of secondary products of certain fisheries by
adding in an appreciable degree to the profits of each person
engaged, has proved an important impetus. Mr. Earll has de-
monstrated that the secondary products in the cod fisheries
amount to more than 14} per cent. of the value of the fish as taken
from the water, raising the receipts of several important ports by
about one hundred thousand dollars (100,000) each.”

Dried Green Turtle and other preparations of Turtle from
Jamaica which I introduced to the notice of a number of
experienced gentlemen at a special luncheon which I gave
for the purpose, were pronounced so excellent that it was
even asserted that these preparations were far better and
richer flavoured than any to be procured in England, made
from fish brought alive to this country. As the same
Turtle is to be obtained in the neighbouring waters, there

PAP«

is no reason why its preparation in various ways should not
be added to the other industries of the Bahamas.

The Béche de mer from these islands is, I am given to
understand, well prepared, and of the kind most esteemed
by the Chinese. I think arrangements might be made
with American railway companies for a through rate of
freight to San Francisco, with a view to leaving a fair
margin of profit to the shippers. The Chinese there would
make a market, and perhaps among Europeans it might
become popular, for many in travelling in the East have
learned to esteem it.

During the course of the Exhibition, the Nassau shell-
work ornaments might have been sold in immense quan-
tities. They are superior in workmanship and beauty of
design to anything made elsewhere, and a depét at the
West End of London would certainly pay well. Her
Royal Highness the Princess of Wales did the colony a
distinguished honour by accepting a shell basket, sent on
by the Government, and personally expressed to me in
kindly words her great admiration of it.

Tortoise-shell ornaments will sell readily, but if they
cannot be produced at a lower price than those sent on,
say about one-third, the sale must be limited to the colony.
No doubt this can be remedied by using better tools, The
establishment of a local school of art would greatly facili-
tate this, and moreover introduce the art of inlaying the
shell with silver and gold, as is so satisfactorily done at
Naples.

The great success which has attended the creation of
Art Schools in France, Italy, Bavaria, and Saxony, has
been such as to deserve the attention of all thinking people.
It is certain that the South Kensington Museum and
School of Art has been of vast benefit to England, and

ak

indirectly also, by contributing to the improvement of
artistic taste in America and the Colonies. But the time
has come when local schools of art especially created for
the immediate development of their natural products,
ought to be established not only in England itself, but in
the principal cities of our dependencies. Hitherto Rome
and Naples have almost entirely monopolised the trade in
certain artistic products, the raw material for which is
obtained only from the Bahamas.

It is true that years may elapse before they can pro-
duce at Nassau cameos and ornaments equal to the
magnificent works of art which have proved so attractive,
especially to ladies in the Italian Court at the Fisheries ;
but surely, if there were a well directed school of art, even
on a small scale, in the capital, in the course of a little
time improvements would be manifested in the designs
and in the execution of the articles of personal adornment
which enter into the commerce of the colony.

The art of carving cameos, inlaying with metals and
tortoise-shell, so as to make articles of elegant furniture—
the fabrication of what are called marine jewels and
mosaics—and even the manufacture, with the beautiful
coloured natural woods, of that exquisite kind of wood
mosaic, called in France “marqueterie,” are arts by no
means difficult to acquire when once proper models, and
above all skilful teachers and directors, are procured.

It would be well that attention be drawn to the pro-
priety of the establishment, at first on a small scale, of an
art school and museum, where under the tuition of one or
two competent persons, English and Italian—the best
artists for the purpose—a number of intelligent persons, be
taught all that is necessary to enable them, in a short time,
to produce workmanship worthy of competing with much

24

of that which finds such ready sale when imported to
America from Italy.

Even among the wealthy winter residents there would
soon be found a good market for these objects, and I do
not fear to predict that in a few years they would enter
largely into the exports of an increasing commerce.

It would be necessary at first, perhaps, to expend a little
capital, but in a year or so this will be easily repaid. A
director and two competent teachers is all the staff needed
at first, and be it observed that the best school of art for
working men at Munich, began on no more extensive scale.
In a short time the school, I am sure, will become self-
supporting, and not only a benefit, but a subject of intelli-
gent pride to the islanders, a means perhaps of developing
artistic genius of a high order, and also of procuring a
respectable and intellectual livelihood to many persons who
otherwise might be useless, for the artistic temperament is
one which, if not properly utilized, is very apt to rapidly
degenerate. I believe I am right in saying that many who
have visited Nassau have been much struck by the evident
presence of this temperament among the coloured popu-
lation, and there are many now in New Providence able to
speak with authority on this point.

The pink pearls from the Strombus Gigas have attracted
much attention and admiration, and so prominent an exhi-
bition of them has already resulted in increased demand
and enhanced prices.

Many of my fellow colonists will recollect the imprison-
ment of a Frenchman, Mortimer by name, for selling what
were called imitation pearls. He had discovered the
secret of the origin of the pearl, and by a clever contriv-
ance aiding the Strombus in developing its treasure. I do
not know the grounds on which he was imprisoned, but

25

why not experiment with the object of largely increasing
the quantity ?

With success the price of the pearl would fall, but the
quantity would bring much more important financial
results, and thus an export would be created, limited to
Bahamas waters, more beautiful than coral, requiring no
polishing, and in colour putting in the shade the most
expensive and valuable of the Oriental corals.

I cannot forbear being of opinion that the fisheries ought
to undergo thorough scientific investigation, and that it
would be well to appoint a Commissioner of Fisheries of
approved scientific and practical knowledge of marine pro-
ducts, &c., and as to results, I can do no better than refer
again to Professor G. Browne Goode’s excellent Paper,

page 45. He says :—

“On the gth of February, 1871, Congress passed a joint reso-
lution which authorised the appointment of a Commissioner of
Fish and Fisheries. The duties of the Commissioner were thus
defined : ‘To prosecute investigations on the subject (of the dimi-
nution of valuable fishes) with the view of ascertaining whether any
and what diminution in the number of the food-fishes of the coast
and the lakes of the United States has taken place; and, if so, to
what causes the same is due ; and also whether any and what pro-
tection, prohibitory or precautionary measures should be adopted
in the premises, and report upon the same to Congress.’

“The resolution establishing the office of Commissioner of
Fisheries required that the person to be appointed should be a
civil officer of the Government, of proved scientific and practical
acquaintance with the fishes of the coast, to serve without addi-
tional salary. The choice was thus practically limited to a single
man, for whom in fact the office had been created. Professor
Spencer F. Baird was appointed and entered at once upon his
duties. Being himself an eminent man of science, for forty years
in the front rank of biological investigation, the author of several

26

hundred scientific memoirs, no one could realise more thoroughly
the importance of a scientific foundation for the proposed work.

“Pure and applied science have laboured together always in
the service of the Fish Commission, their representatives working
side by side in the same laboratories ; indeed much of the best work,
both in the investigation of the fisheries and in the artificial culture
of fishes, has been performed by men eminent as zoologists.

“The work of the Commission is naturally divided into three
sections :—

“1. The systematic investigation of the waters of the United
States and the biological and physical problems which they
present. The scientific studies of the Commission are Dased upon
a liberal and philosophical interpretation of the law. In making
his original plans the Commissioner insisted that to study only the
food-fishes would be of little importance, and that useful conclu-
sions must needs rest upon a broad foundation of investigations
purely scientific in character. The life history of species of
economic value should be understood from beginning to end, but
no less requisite is it to know the histories of the animals and
plants upon which they feed or upon which their food is nourished ;
the histories of their enemies and friends, and the friends and foes
of their enemies and friends, as well as the currents, tempera-
tures, and other physical phenomena of the waters in relation to
migration, reproduction and growth. A necessary accompaniment
to this division is the amassing of material for research to be stored
in the National and other museums for future use.

“2, The investigation of the methods of fisheries, past and
present, and the statistics of production and commerce of fishery
products. Man being one of the chief destroyers of fish, his in-
fluence upon their abundance must be studied. Fishery methods
and apparatus must be examined and compared with other lands,
that the use of those which threaten the destruction of useful fishes
may be discouraged, and that those which are inefficient may be
replaced by others more serviceable. Statistics of industry and
trade must be secured for the use of Congress in making treaties
or imposing tariffs, to show to producers the best markets, and to
consumers where and with what their needs may be supplied.

=

‘3, The introduction and multiplication of useful food-fishes
throughout the country, especially in waters under the jurisdiction
of the general government, or those common to several states,
none of which might feel willing to make expenditures for the
benefit of the others. This work, which was not contemplated
when the Commission was established, was first undertaken at the
instance of the American Fish Cultural Association, whose repre-
sentatives induced Congress to make a special appropriation for
the purpose. This appropriation has since been renewed every
year on an increasingly bountiful scale, and the propagation of
fish is at present by far the most extensive branch of the work of
the Commission, both in respect to number of men employed and
quantity of money expended.”

In arranging the corals collected by Mr. Saunders, the
similarity of most of them to those of the Mediterranean
attracted my attention, and it occurred to me that the red
and pink corals, if searched for, might possibly be dis-
covered. I have mentioned the matter since to several
eminent men, competent to form a judgment, and all
favour it. I will here only quote what Professor Giinther,
of the Natural History Museum at South Kensington,
said to me :—“ You are quite right; I think you will find
the red corals in the Bahamas. My experience is that
whenever a marine product is found in the Mediterranean,
it is invariably followed by a similar find in the Japanese
and Bahamas waters.” Coral has lately been found in
Japan, and I say search for it in the Bahamas.

“Where the coral worms in countless nations
Build rocks up from the seas’ foundations.”

I strongly recommend that your fishermen should be
encouraged to search. The dredger used is most simple
in construction, and easily made.

28

As a minimum result to the search for corals, science
might benefit as thus described :—

“A most remarkable series of contributions have been received
from the fishermen of Cape Ann. When the Fish Commission
had their head-quarters in Gloucester, in 1878, a general interest
in the zoological work sprang up among the crews of the fishing
vessels, and since that time they have been vying with each other
in efforts to find new animals. Their activity has been stimulated
by the publication of lists of their donations in the local papers ;
and the number of separate lots of specimens received, at the
present time, exceeds eight hundred. Many of these lots are
large, consisting of collecting tanks, full of alcoholic specimens.
At least thirty fishing vessels were carrying collecting tanks on
every trip, until it became necessary to recall them because no
more specimens were required, and many of the fishermen, with
characteristic superstition, had the idea that it ensured good luck
to have a tank on board, and would not go to sea without one.
The number of specimens acquired in this manner is at least fifty
or sixty thousand, most of them belonging to species hitherto
unattainable.

‘“‘ Fach halibut vessel sets, once or twice daily, lines from ten to
fourteen miles in length, with hooks upon them fifteen feet apart,
in water 1,200 to 1,800 feet in depth, and the quantity of living
forms brought up in this manner, and which had never hitherto
been saved, is very astonishing. Over thirty species of fishes have
thus been added to the forms of North America, and Professor
VERRILL informs me that the number of new and extra limital
forms thus placed upon the list of invertebrates cannot be less
than fifty.”

Steam communication with New York and Florida is
most important for the development of the trade. I do
not think I should do wrong to designate it the most
important subject in my Paper.

New Providence, as a sanitarium and winter resort for
the Americans, has a magnificent future. As I write, I

29

picture in my mind’s eye a winter—Longbranch, with its
comfortable hotels, its rows of pretty cottages along the
bay, its excellent drives, and its handsome club house, or
casino, in short Nassau, with all the attractions which
would induce the wealthy and the invalid to seek its
pleasant shelter from the inclement winds of the North.

The reasons for the present only partial success are
evident. A large subsidy has been paid for years to com-
panies running ships totally unsuited to the requirements,
and the depth of water in the harbour. There has been
no regularity in the service. The port has been made an
intermediate or secondary one; rates of freight have been
excessive, with the object of reducing the volume of im-
ports and exports, and allowing the shortest possible time
at Nassau.

Invalids and others, from causes already detailed, have
been landed in open boats in rough seas outside the har-
bour, and submitted to all kinds of risk and annoyance.

A cable to Florida is most desirable.

It is well known that many distinguished persons, poli-
tical and financial, although recommended to do so by
their medical advisers, have refused to visit Nassau, on
account of the distance, which the non-existence of a cable
has placed them at, from the great centres of social and
intellectual life.

Finally, I would observe that if my suggestions were
carried out on a considerable scale, the population, with
increased prosperity, would soon become much larger, and
perhaps the islands, under the newly advocated system of
State-directed emigration, might attract to its shores
some of the best and most intelligent of those persons
who are forced by unkind circumstances and over popula-
tion to leave their homes in this country.

A. J. ADDERLEY.

30

|i oa ol Bs ca

UPON THE

SPONGES OF THE BAHAMA ISLANDS.

BY W. SAVILLE KENT, iS) 7 Zs:

Visitors to the International Fisheries Exhibition cannot
fail, on entering the Western Corridor, to be struck with
the brilliant assemblage of the ocean’s treasures that repre-
sent the fishing industries of the Bahama Islands. The
highly artistic manner in which the specimens are grouped,
together with the diversity and completeness of the collec-
tion exhibited, reflect the highest possible credit upon
those to whom the public is indebted for the unique treat
afforded by an inspection of this small but important
section. Gorgonias, or flexible corals, of every hue—
some forming erect fan-shaped expansions, and others
gracefully drooping willowy growths—are commingled in
admirable harmony with the more remarkable sponges,
madrepores, or stony corals, and sea-shells—having a com-
mercial value—that are indigenous to the coasts of this
ocean paradise. In an adjoining case will be found in-
teresting illustrations of economic uses to which certain of
this raw material may be converted by the aid of art.
Especially worthy of note in this connection are the superb
cameos cut from the various species of helmet or conch

ie!

shells—one of these, the Strombus gigas, being further
famous for yielding the rare and very valuable pale-pink
pearl. Artificial flowers, manufactured out of various of
the smaller marine shells, constitute, as in Madeira, an
important article of export, and are represented by some
exquisite specimens in the adjacent show cases. The
edible turtle (Chelone mzdas) and the tortoiseshell-produc-
ing variety (Caretta imbricata) have to be included among
the marine products of the Bahamas, as likewise the sea-
cucumber or trepang, locally known as “ Béche de Mer.”
This animal, which, in life, has an elongate worm-like
contour, with an anteriorly developed crown of retractile
plumose tentacles, belongs to the natural order of the
LEichinodermata—including the star-fishes, sea-urchins, and
crinoids, or sea-lilies. In tropical regions, where it is
especially abundant, the sea-cucumber (genus Holothuria)
is extensively used as an article of food—chiefly as a basis
for soup—and constitutes an important fishery. The
mode of preparing them for the market is as follows: The
viscera of the animals are first removed, and they are then
boiled for from ten to twenty minutes; they are next
thoroughly soaked in fresh water, and then spread out on
frames in the curing-houses. In these houses they are
smoked and dried by means of fires lit in trenches under-
neath the frames during a period of four days, and by
which time they are ready for market. A large barrel of
sea-cucumbers, or “Béches de Mer,” thus prepared, and
presenting—in the raw condition—a by no means inviting
aspect, is included among the more interesting exhibits of
the Bahama series.

By far the most important marine product of the Bahama
Islands is, however, that of sponges, and it is to an account

of this organic group in general, and of the varieties having

32

a commercial value indigenous to the Bahama Islands in
particular, that this little pamphlet is devoted. The
sponges of the world number many thousand species,
which are distributed with equal abundance throughout the
arctic, temperate, and tropical seas. Some inhabit the
shallow water close in shore, and are left exposed to the
influence of the atmosphere with every fall of the tide ;
others are exclusively confined to the abyssal depths of the
ocean, while a small but interesting minority are denizens
of our inland lakes and rivers. Out of the sum-total of
known sponges, less than a dozen species, with their many
local varieties, all inhabitants of the sub-tropical seas, fall
under the category of economic species, and are made the
subject of an important fishery. Asa matter of fact, the
economic value of the sponges of commerce depends
entirely upon the nature and arrangement of the materials
that compose their skeleton, it being only such lifeless
inorganic elements that are present in the article known as
sponge when brought to the market. A sponge in its
living state—freshly torn from its habitat at the bottom of
the sea—bears but little, if any, resemblance to our familiar
“companion of the bath” or adjunct of the toilet table.
The entire substance of the fine fibrous amber-coloured
tissue of which it is, in its commercial form, composed, is,
in such living condition, completely hidden within a glairy
gelatinous matrix, having somewhat the consistence and
aspect of a weak glue, with somewhat denser external
pellicle. This glue-like substance represents the organic
or animal element of the sponge body, its relationship to
the enclosed sponge fibre being essentially identical with
that which subsists between our own living tissues and the
inanimate bony skeletons that is contained within them.

By the process of maceration and washing, the gelatinous

33

flesh is entirely got rid of, and the sponge, in its well-
known commercial form, is the residuum.

It is with reference to the composition of the inorganic
framework left after the soft gelatinous tissues have been
removed that the sponges, as an entire group, are classified
by zoologists. All those in which the supporting frame-
work or skeleton is, as in the case of the bath sponge, of a
more or less flexible horn-like consistence, are relegated to
the order known as the horny sponges, or Ceratospongia.
In a second group, needle-shaped or variously modified
elements known as Sficula, having a glass-like or silicious
composition, are either added to or entirely replace the
horny framework, and is consequently distinguished by the
name of the silicious series or Sz/iczspongie. In a third
group, that of the Calcispongi@, a spicula skeleton is like-
wise developed, but, as indicated by its title, is of a cal-
careous nature, the component spicules being composed of
carbonate of lime. A fourth or relatively small group
remains, in which a spicular, horny, or other skeletal
framework is entirely absent, the entire sponge body con-
sisting of the easily destructible gelatinous flesh, already
referred to as constituting the living element in the
ordinary sponge. For this least specialized group the title
of slime sponges or M/yxospongie has been proposed. The
diversity of external shape presented by the adult sponge-
stocks belonging to the several groups or orders above
enumerated are found to be almost infinite, the same
species, indeed, in a large number of instances, varying
indefinitely in this respect. Among the multifarious series
that exist, reference may nevertheless be made to some
half-a-dozen typical growth, forms which constitute, as it
were, a groundwork upon which all the other modifications
are built up. Thus, in a very large series of sponges, the

[42] D

34

typical growth-form takes the shape of a simple encrusting
mass, that may be perfectly flat or raised at intervals into
more or less prominent hillocks. These prominences may
be yet further produced and so subdivided as to. give rise
to a branching tree-like structure. These several modifica-
tions are well illustrated in the common fresh-water sponge,
Spongilla fluviatilis, that may be obtained abundantly
from the river Thames, growing upon the sides of the
locks and submerged tree-roots, almost everywhere above
the reach of the tidal waters. A more or less solid globular
form, varying in the direction of having the centre so
hollowed as to constitute a thick walled cup, or further
flattened out in the shape of a somewhat saucer-like ex-
pansion, represent the more common modifications of the
familiar toilet sponge, Spongza officinalis. A simple sac-
shaped or tubular contour is highly characteristic of the
little white calcareous sponges (Grantia) and its allies,
complex forms with variously branched free or anastomos-
ing tubules, as met with in the genera Ascandra and
Leucosolenia, representing the more specialized modifica-
tions of this type. Elongate tubular or so-called “ fistular ”
forms are also abundantly met with among both the horny
and silicious sponge groups, the genus Luffaria being an
example of the former, and the so-called Venus flower-
basket sponge, Lwplectella aspergillam, of the silicious
series. This last-named type, which is a native of the
Japanese seas, demands somewhat more extensive notice,
since it undoubtedly represents, from an artistic point of
view, one of the most exquisitely beautiful productions of
Nature’s handiwork, and is on this account of marketable
value as a household ornament. The first specimen of this
sponge brought over to this country from the Philippine
Islands, some thirty years ago, was sold for no less a sum

5)
than £40, and is now on view in the British Museum. At
the present day fine examples may be obtained for but
little more than as many pence as the original ‘type cost
pounds. The Euxplectella, as sold in the market, being
then divested of the buff-coloured gelatinous flesh or
sarcodé, with which it was originally covered, has the form
of an elongate, slightly-bent tube, of about one foot in
height, which gradually widens towards its free or upper-
most extremity. The walls of this tube are composed of
silicious spicules and fibres, interwoven and amalgamated
with one another in such a fashion as to resemble very
delicate basket work, wrought out of clear spun glass. A
certain number of the larger fibres are disposed longi-
tudinally, and others at right angles, leaving square inter-
stices, the areas of which are further circumscribed and
rounded off by the interpolation of smaller spicules.
Raised crests of fine anastomosing spicules are developed
in an irregularly spiral pattern, upon the outside through-
out the length of the tube, the top of which, in perfect
examples, is further covered in with a perforated lid of the
same silicious network. The base of attachment of this
fairy-like structure is finally embraced by a delicate sheaf
of long needle-like spicules, which serve to keep the
organism securely anchored in the yielding mud at the
bottom of the seas which it inhabits. It not unfrequently.
happens that several examples of a species of crab are
found within the tubular cavity of the Auplectella, present-
ing to the uninitiated a problem for solution, akin to that
which puzzled a certain crowned head, respecting the apple
found inside the dumpling ; the crab certainly could not,
in its adult state, effect its entrance through the relatively
minute interstices of the sponge wall, and the only logical
interpretation of the phenomenon is that it passed through

v2

36

in its very young or larval condition, and finding its
quarters comfortable, dallied so long as to have outgrown
the dimensions of the portals whereby it entered. It was
originally represented by the Chinese dealers that the crab
was the fabricator of its extemporised silicious cage, and a
greater value being set upon those sponges which con-
tained a crustaceous occupant, they resorted to the practice
of skilfully removing the base of the sponge, introducing
a crab, and fastening it up again in such a manner that the
rupture made could not be detected.

Among the notable species belonging to the same group
of silicious sponges have to be included the curious glass-
rope sponge (Hyalonema), originally brought from the
Chinese sea, but since obtained from the deeper parts of
the Atlantic. The body of the sponge, as in many other
forms, is cup-shaped, but supported on a long stalk, con-
sisting of a twisted wisp-like bundle of long silicious
spicules that spread out basally in a brush-like manner,
and serve like a root, to anchor the sponge in the soft
slimy ooze that forms its habitat.. A parasitic coral
(Palythoa) usually encrusts the elongate stalk of this
sponge, and these stalks, consisting of tiny glass-like
spicules invested by the coral, were at first alone dis-
covered and supposed to represent a complete organism,
the sponge body afterwards obtained being treated by
some authorities as a parasite. This error in the interpre-
tation of Hyalonema received additional support from the
circumstance that the Japanese divers, from whom the
first examples were obtained, supplied specimens which
they asserted to represent their natural growth, with the
top end inserted into stones previously bored by the
Pholas, and with the expanding brush-like end projecting
outwards. Closely allied to the glass-rope sponge are the

oy

two genera, Holtenia and Pheronema, whose bodies are
somewhat similarly cup-shaped, but have the rope-like
bundle of spicules, that in Hyalonema form a simple stalk,
distributed singly or in small fascicles throughout the
entire external surface. In Pheronema Gray in particular,
obtained by the writer in the year 1871, in connection
with the dredging expedition of the yacht “ Norma,” from
a depth of 600 to 800 fathoms, off the coast of Portugal,
these filaments, the so-called anchoring spicules, are so
thickly developed from the sponge body, and are of such
extraordinary length, that the organism presents the ap-
pearance of a light blonde wig. Several specimens of this
type, known to the local fishermen by the title of the.
Portuguese birds’-nest sponge, have been presented by
the writer to, and are now on view in, the new Natural
History Museum. A curious and hitherto undiscovered
form belonging to the same group, the hat sponge (A sko-
nema Setubalense, §.K.), obtained by the writer from the
same locality, is composed chiefly of long thread-like
silicious spicula, felted together in such a manner as in
both shape and dimensions to closely resemble a very
shabby grey flannel boating hat.

All of the several silicious sponges just described, in-
cluding the Ezplectella, or “Venus’s Flower Basket,” the
glass-rope, birds’-nest, and hat sponges share, in common,
the circumstance that the silicious spicules of which their
skeletons are composed belong, more or less extensively,
to what is Known as the hex-radiate type, that is, are
composed of six rays, and are hence as a family group
distinguished by the technical title of the Heractinellide.
It is an interesting fact that the fossil sponges of the chalk
formations, familiarly known as Ventriculites, exhibit similar

structural composition, and were in like manner inhabitants

28

for the most part of the still, abyssal depths of the ocean.
The colours of the flesh elements or so-called sarcode of
living sponges is subject to great variation even among
individuals of the same species. Thus in the ordinary
sponge of commerce (Euspongia officinalis) it runs through
various shades of brown, from yellowish grey to black, the
dominant hue in one variety being rusty red. In the birds’-
nest sponge (Pheronema Grayz), when brought up fresh from
a depth of 600 to 800 fathoms, the flesh was observed by
the writer to be bright orange, and this tint with shades
varying from the palest lemon yellow to brilliant scarlet is
characteristic of many sponges. The skeletonless Slime-
sponge (Halisarca Dujardinit) more usually resembles in
its natural habitat a little dab or dabs of red-currant jelly
scattered upon the surface of the rocks or seaweeds, though
at other times this carmine tint is replaced by the equally
brilliant hues of sky-blue or purple. Various shades of
sreen are common to many sponge forms; a dark tint of
this colour being highly characteristic of the common
fresh-water sponge (Spongilla fluviatilis), though in this
instance it has been recently determined that the colouring
agency is due to the presence of a minute parasitic vege-
table. The calcareous sponges (Calcispongie), including
Grantia and its allies, agree for the most part with one
another, and differ from the other sponge tribes, in that
their colour, when living, is almost pure white. This is
owing to the extreme tenuity and transparency of their
flesh and the refraction of the rays of light By the thickly
interlacing calcareous spicules of which their skeletons are
composed.

Notwithstanding the very wide differences that subsist
in their external shape, in the colour, and in the composi-

tion and arrangement of the elements that form their

oP

skeleton, it will be found that throughout the numerous
orders, families and species of sponges, an_ essentially
similar structural plan is associated with their living
elements or so-called flesh. The familiar fresh-water
sponge (Spongilla fluviatilis), already referred to as abound-
ing in the upper reaches of the Thames, may be selected
as a suitable type for illustrating the more important of
these structural points. On withdrawing a living mass of
this sponge from the water, it will be found that a very
large portion of the vital elements, will drain away in the
form of a transparent slime or mucous. If, in place of
leaving it to drain, we immediately detach a fragment or
place the whole mass in a glass of water, the following
points and phenomena may be observed. A delicate semi-
transparent, film-like structure, having much the aspect of
a closely-woven cobweb, will be seen standing out from
the more solid central substance of the sponge; this
structure at one or more points is developed outwards in
the form of a conical or cylindrical tube, and is the ex-
current aperture or so-called “flue or osculum,” out of
which, on attentive examination, minute particles of refuse
food matter may be seen issuing after the manner of smoke
from a chimney-top. A yet closer inspection, with the aid
of a pocket-lens or low-power of the microscope, will reveal
the fact that an almost indefinite number of very minute
circular openings or perforations pierce the substance of
the delicate superficial film on every side, and that at these
small apertures currents of water carrying the minute
organic particles upon which the sponge animals feed, are
more or less constantly flowing in; these are the incurrent
apertures or so-called “pores.” To arrive at a correct
comprehension of the internal structure of the sponge, and
of the motive force of the incurrent and excurrent streams

40

just described, it is requisite to use a yet higher magnifying
power of the compound microscope, and choosing a small
transparent example to focus right down into the inner
substance of the living sponge. This inner substance is
then found to be excavated in every direction into sub-
spherical chambers, the walls of which are closely lined
with minute ovate bodies or cells. Each of these cells
bears at its free extremity a long whip-like appendage or
“flagellum,” the base of which is surrounded by a very
delicate funnel-shaped extension of the cell substance,
known as the collar. Minute canals place these flagellated
chambers in communication with the incurrent apertures or

5)

“pores” of the sponge system, while others leading from
the same chambers, freely anastomosing with one another,
and thus gradually enlarging their dimensions, finally de-
bouch upon the relatively large excurrent apertures or
“oscula.” It is the incessant vibratile or lashing action in
one direction of the whip-like appendages, or flagella of the
cells lining the internal chambers of the sponge, that pro-
duce the inflowing and outflowing currents first observed.
These flagellated cells absorb and assimilate the food
particles brought into the sponge system by the currents
they collectively create, and constitute the essential living
elements of all sponge structures.

It is interesting to find that among the lowest micro-
scopic forms of animal life, known as the Flagellate Infu-
soria, organisms exist, having an equivalent structural value
only of simple cells that possess, in a like manner, a whip-
like flagellum and basal cellar, and are in all other respects
structurally identical with these animal elements of the
sponge body. Some of these flagellate infusoria or
“Collared Monads,” as they are more commonly desig-

nated, are solitary, while others form social colonies, which

AI

may be aggregated on a simple or branching stem, or
immersed within a mucilaginous matrix. Excepting that
the social monads belonging to the last-named category
project directly upon the external surface of this common
mucilaginous matrix, instead. of indirectly upon chambers
with canal communications excavated in its substance, they
are to all intents and purposes a kind of sponge, most
nearly allied to that group possessing no spicular elements
already referred to under the title of the slime sponges or
Myxospongie. In addition to the flagellated cells that
line the excavated chambers, other cell elements, devoid of
collars or flagella, and having an irregular shape, which
they are, moreover, continually changing, will be found
dispersed among the mucilaginous matrix of the sponge
body. In the fresh-water type, under discussion, these
irregular-shaped so-called amoebiform cells, are somewhat
thinly scattered throughout this matrix, but in many other
types, notably the Calcareous Sponges, they are so crowded
together, especially on the external surface, as to closely
resemble a veritable cellular tissue, and have been con-
sequently likened to the integumentary layer or epiderm
of the higher animals. The flagellated cells with their
hyaline collars that line the internal chambers of the
sponge, have in a like manner been compared to the
endoderm or lining tissue of the alimentary track of such
animals, The motile reproductive bodies liberated from
adult sponges, and that ultimately settling down, grow
into a sponge-stock like the parent, have likewise been
described as possessing similar external and internal cellular
membranes. It may, on the other hand, be demonstrated
that the non-flagellate amcebiform elements in the sponge
body are merely metamorphosed phases of the flagellated

cells, differing in no way from the various metamorphic

A2

conditions assumed by the simple collared monads, at
separate growth periods, and also that the reproductive
bodies or so-called ciliated larve of the adult sponge-stock,
are but ovate aggregates of similar flagellated units.*
Viewed from this standpoint, a sponge body may be re-
garded as a colony stock of unicellular animalcules, or
collared monads, including individuals in every stage of
development, which throw off and live immersed within a
common mucilaginous matrix, and within which matrix is
built up, by a process akin to that of crystallization, the —
spicular or other skeleton characteristic of the specific form
to which it belongs. In whichever way interpreted, either
as a tissue forming metazoon allied to the corals and all
higher invertebrate animals, or as a colonial protozoon,
or social aggregate of many thousands of the simplest
unicellular animals, the main structural points already
described, remain undisturbed, and may be appreciated by
the examination of any ordinary sponge, as prepared for
domestic use. Taking the finer Turkey cup-sponge by
way of example, all the minute perforations that traverse
the external surface, represent the areas or so-called
“pores,” through which, during life, the food-laden currents
of water were drawn into the interior substance of the
sponge ; the wider orifices upon the interior surface of the
cup, on the other hand, represent the larger channels or
“oscula,” by which the same water, having all previously-
contained nutritive particles extracted and laden in ex-
change with foecal matters is finally discharged. In the
coarser variety, distinguished by the title of the bath or

* An illustrated account of these collared monads so nearly related
to the Sponge, is included in the work, “A Manual of the Infusoria,”
3 vols., by W. Saville Kent, F.L.S., F.Z.S., published in the years
1881-82.

43

honeycomb sponge, the excurrent orifices or oscula are
developed upon the convex upper surface, the incurrent
apertures or pores being distributed throughout all the
intermediate areas and lower surface of the organism.

A description of the special sponge species, including
those indigenous to the Bahama Islands, which possess a
high commercial value, with an account of their mode of
collection and preparation, may now be proceeded with.
To this it is proposed to add a few suggestions in the
direction of yet further improving and developing this
important fishery. All of the commercial sponges belong
to the Keratose or horny-fibred sponge order, their value
for economic purposes depending upon the fineness, close-
ness, and elastic qualities of the component fibres of their
skeleton. Previous to their discovery upon the American
sea-board, and notably in the vicinity of Florida and the
Bahama Islands, all the sponges utilised for domestic
purposes were obtained from the eastern extremity of the
Mediterranean Sea, and from whence, indeed,’up to the
present day, all the finest qualities are still derived. Not-
withstanding their tendency to vary almost indefinitely
in form and texture as a consequence of their external
surroundings, three distinct specific or sub-specific Mediter-
ranean forms are usually recognised, both by the trade and
scientific spongologists, and around which all the other
varieties may be conveniently grouped. These three
Mediterranean types, as will be presently seen, correspond
structurally in a remarkable manner with a similar series
that are indigenous to the seas of the Bahamas. The
names of these Mediterranean types in the order of their
value are, I, the true Turkey cup-sponge (Sfongia or
Euspongia officinalis, Linn.) - 2, the bath, horse, or honey-
comb sponge (Spougia equina, Schm.); and 3, the hard or

Zimocca sponge (Spongia agaricina, Schm.).

44

The first or most highly valued of these forms, known
commercially as the finest Levant or Turkish cup-sponge,
is distinguished by its usually cup-shaped contour and the
exceedingly fine elastic and densely interwoven character
of its component fibres. Its finest growths are obtained
from the Levant and off the coasts of Syria and Tripoli.
Poorer qualities of this type are gathered further westward
and up the eastern shores of the Adriatic. The bath or
honeycomb sponge (S. eguzza) has a more extensive range
throughout the Levant, along the north coast of Africa as
far as Gibraltar; it is to be recognised by its more sub-
spheroidal form, the absence of distinctly radiating pri-
mary fibres, and the irregular honeycomb-like excavations
of its entire substance. The third form, the Zimocca or
Hard Sponge (S. agaricina) varies usually from a flattened
saucer shaped to an elevated, irregular nodular outline with
large oscular openings distributed at even distances upon
its upper surface. The fibre is closely interwoven, much
resembling that of the cup-shaped Levant variety ; but its
texture is much less elastic and is relatively hard and
unyielding to the touch; it is confined almost exclusively
to the eastern extremity of the Mediterranean, and occurs
also in a coarser form in the northern portions of the Red
Sea.

Turning now to the American series as typified by the
commercial sponges of the best quality obtained from the
Bahama Islands, it is found that they likewise may be
grouped around three specific or sub-specific forms that
correspond very closely with the three leading Mediterra-
nean types above described. It has at the same time,
however, to be observed that none of these, as so far
obtained, are considered by experts to be equal in quality
to their Mediterranean congeners. Mr. Alpheus Hyatt, the

45

American Spongologist, in his ‘Revision of the North
American Porifere,’ published in the Memoirs of the Boston
Society of Natural History for the year 1876, writes thus: ©
“The coarsest varieties of the European sponges are finer,
firmer, and more elastic than the finest of the corresponding
American sub-species. This is directly traceable to the
larger amount of foreign matter included in their primary
fibres, the looser mess of the fibres as a whole, which are
also comparatively coarser, and to the larger and more
numerous cloacal channels of the American sponges.” A
type corresponding precisely with the fine cup-shaped
toilet sponge of the Levant is not met with in the Bahama
waters, its place being most nearly occupied by a form
having the popular title of the reef or glove sponge, and
technically known as Spongia officinalis, var, tubulifera. Its
contour is more usually dome-shaped, though often very
irregular, and it may be fistular or even dendritic. The
skeleton consists of very fine closely interwoven fibres.
One or more cloacal oscules open upon the top of the
sponge, while the remaining general surface is perforated
by numerous very regularly distributed minute porous
apertures. In old specimens the fibre becomes very brittle
and unfit for domestic use. It habits are eminently grega-
rious, and the localities it more usually affects are a hard
bottom or reef in a depth of five or six feet below the
surface of the water. The largest examples recorded
yielded a measurement of eight inches in height and
about twenty in circumference. A. sponge that agrees very
closely, both in form and structure, with the Mediterranean
bath or honeycomb sponge is typified by the Bahaman
variety known as the Sheep’s-wool sponge (Spongia equina,
var. gossypina). This is by far the most valuable and
important sponge variety of the Bahama series, its market

46

value being nearly, if not quite, equal to that of the Turkish
form. Like the ordinary honeycomb type, it usually ex-
hibits a sub-spheroidal form of growth, its inner substance
being honeycombed in every direction by sinuous intercom-
municating channels, and the large excurrent apertures, or
oscula, being distributed with comparative regularity
throughout its superficies. A characteristic external
feature, which readily distinguishes this sponge from its
Mediterranean homotype, is supplied by the peculiar tuft-
like manner in which the fibres of the external surface of
the skeleton are produced in the interspaces between the
oscula, and which latter structures are consequently found
occupying more or less deep depressions. It is this tufted
development of the superficial skeleton that imparts to the
sponge that fleecy aspect from whence it derives its popular
title. The habitat of the Sheep’s-wool sponge is depths
varying from three to as much as sixteen feet and deeper,
its precise limits not having yet been ascertained. The
largest and finest-fibred examples are obtained at the
greatest depth, these not unfrequently measuring as much
as twenty or thirty inches in diameter, with a height of
eight or nine inches. It is a peculiarity, however, of these
extraordinary large specimens that the centre portions of
their tissue become tender and disintegrated, leaving an
outer ring-shaped area of the sponge alone intact. Several
remarkably fine samples of such huge ring-shaped Sheep’s-
wool sponges are now on view in the Bahama section of
the Exhibition.

The third type, coinciding most nearly with the Zimocca
variety of the Mediterranean sponges, is represented in the
Bahama Seas series by what are known as the Hard-head
or yellow sponges (Sfongia agaricina, var. corlosia dura and

punctata). In some respects they nearly resemble the

47

-Sheep’s-wool variety, but the texture is denser and yields
only to a considerable pressure of the fingers, and they are,
consequently, of much less commercial value. This variety
is not found in the shallower water, being usually collected
from a depth of over sixteen feet. _Its habit of growth is more
isolated than that of the Sheep’s-wool. A height of six, with
a diameter of from sixteen to twenty inches, represents the
largest examples of this type that have been so far observed.
Numerous coarser sponges, not suitable for toilet use, but
at the same time of marketable value for outdoor purposes,
are obtained in large quantities from the Bahama waters.
Among these are included the so-called Velvet, Abacco-
velvet, or Boat-sponge (S. equina, var. meandriniformis),
differing from the Sheep’s-wool in the absence of the fleece-
like tufts upon its outer surface, these being replaced by pro-
truding softened cushions of fibre which somewhat resemble
the convoluted ridges of the well-known “Brain coral”
(Meandrina). Another variety of the coarse-fibred series
is the Grass-sponge (S. eguzna, var. cerebriformis) ; it in
many respects resembles certain varieties of the Reef-sponge
(S. agaricina), but may be distinguished from such varieties
by the character of the general surface. This is broken up
on the sides by parallel longitudinal ridges of irregular
length, each of which are ornamented by longitudinal lines
of tufts. These ridges are continued upon the upper surface,
and give to this region a distinctly radiate pattern. The
larger orifices or oscula are disposed in rows in the channels
between the longitudinal ridges. A second form—which is
likewise included among the so-called Grass or Glove
sponges—has been figured and described by Mr. A. Hyatt
under the title of Spongia graminea. While somewhat
resembling the Glove-sponge (S. officinalis, var. tubulifera)
previously described, its texture is much coarser, and its

48

interior substance is exceedingly open owing to the large
size and central location of the efferent canals. Its general
form is that of a truncated cone, fluted on the side with
_ deep furrows, the truncated apical region being either flat
or infundibuliform. The large excurrent apertures debouch
upon the truncated surface, while the small apertures are
situated on the sides in the interspaces between the ridges.
It is a social form growing on reefs either on a smooth
surface or attached to corals or to other sponges. The
normal dimensions are a height of seven or eight inches
with a breadth of five inches. Glove sponges of this size
grow commonly at a depth of three feet only beneath the
surface of the water, but examples of considerably larger
dimensions occur in deeper waters.

Some consideration may now be given to those special
conditions that are indispensable to the growth of commer-
cial sponges generally ; to those that are favourable to the
Bahama region in particular; and to those that would
seem in connection with the last-named area to give
promise, under intelligent control, of a yet more profitable
development of the Bahama sponge fisheries. The con-
ditions of depth and temperature may be cited as of the
first importance in connection with geographical distribu-
tion of sponges suited for domestic use. Relatively shallow
waters, varying in depth from three or four feet to thirty
fathoms, represent their bathymetrical range, while a tropical
or sub-tropical climate, that in winter does not yield a
lower zxrial temperature than from 63° to 70° Fahr. on a
marine isochryme of from 55° to 60° is absolutely essential
for the growth of the prime qualities. These conditions,
coincident with the circumstance of their both being in the
vicinity of, or embracing extensive archipelagoes, places the

two areas of the Mediterranean and Bahama _ sponge-

49

grounds upon an almost equal footing. It is at the same
time, as previously intimated, a generally acknowledged fact,
that, compared specifically with one another, the sponges
of the Bahama waters are more or less inferior in quality
and value to those obtained from the Mediterranean, while
the finest type of all, the Levant toilet or Turkish cup-
sponge (Sfongia officinalis), has not, so far, been found on
the western shore of the Atlantic. The question has been
raised by Mr. Adderley, who has the material welfare of
the Bahama Islands so much at heart, “ Whether it would
not be possible to import and acclimatise this finest quality
of the Turkish sponge in the Bahama seas?” Should
this suggested scheme be found capable of practical reali-
sation, it is needless to remark that the value of the
Bahama fisheries would be enormously augmented. Before,
however, incurring the considerable expense that would be
necessarily involved in transporting living sponges in
proper condition and in sufficient quantity for acclimatisa-
tion purposes from the Mediterranean, it would be well
to ascertain whether sponges more nearly resembling the
finest Turkish form do not already exist in the deeper
areas of the Bahama seas. It is a well-known fact that the
finest quality of Mediterranean sponges are obtained from
so great a depth as from ten to thirty fathoms, and are
carefully collected at such a depth by trained divers, with
or without the aid of diving apparatus, or by means of
drags. In the American waters up to the present time,
diving operations have not been resorted to, the sponges
being fished up from a depth not exceeding five fathoms
with the aid of hooks and spears attached to a long pole.
It may be predicted with almost an approach to certainty,
that as good and probably better sponges than any that
have yet been gathered, are to be obtained from the depths
[42] E

50

corresponding with those that they inhabit in the Mediter-
ranean, and diving or dredging operations on a small but
intelligent scale might be advantageously instituted to
ascertain to what extent the opinion here expressed may
prove correct. ;

In the event of sponges of the desired quality not being
forthcoming from the American seas, it is recommended
that steps be taken to transport thither living examples of
the best Levant varieties, and where, being once established,
they would no doubt rapidly propagate. That commercial
sponges can be artificially cultivated has been proved by
experiments made both in the Mediterranean and American
waters, the method pursued in each instance being closely
identical. The idea that sponges might be propagated by
means of cuttings, ze, large examples cut up into nume-
rous fragments and artificially affixed to a new supporting
basis, first originated with Professor Oscar Schmidt, and
was practically carried out in the Adriatic Sea by Mr.
Gregor Buccich, a telegraph supervisor, in the island of
Lesina, in Dalmatia, between the years 1867 and 1872.
The operations carried out were conducted by Mr. Buccich
with the direct support of the Government and a number
of the more prominent merchants of Trieste, a suitable
station having been selected in the Bay of Socolizza, at
the north-eastern point of the above-named island. The
sponges selected were, in their living condition, cut care-
fully and rapidly into fragments, having the average
dimensions of 26 square millimetres, immediately fastened
to the objects upon which it was intended they should
srow, and then let down to a depth of 5-6 metres. Wooden
boxes previously well tarred, to prevent the attacks of the
Teredo, with their sides left almost entirely open, and with
holes drilled in the top and bottom, into which the sponges

io

were fastened by pegs made of bamboo, were found, as a
propagating apparatus, to yield the most favourable re-
sults. The chief drawbacks experienced by Mr. Buccich,
and which were regarded by himself and those associated
with him in making these experiments as sufficiently for-
midable as to oblige their abandonment, arose, firstly, from
the hostile attitude continually displayed by the population
of the neighbourhood, who manifested a deep-rooted pre-
judice against what they looked upon as an undesirable
innovation, and not content with constantly disturbing the
growing crops with their fishing-nets, on many occasions
went so far as to steal the sponges. It was in the second
instance found that the sponges planted as cuttings grew
so slowly, that as long a period as seven years elapsed
before they arrived at a marketable size. As a general
result, it was concluded that sponge cultivation, as a
financial enterprise, could not be recommended to the
attention of private individuals having only a small amount
of capital at command; but that, if undertaken by the
State, or by capitalists who could afford to wait the time
indicated, planting new crops each year, and having the
ground efficiently guarded, so as in the end to reap a
continuous harvest, it might prove highly remunerative.

The results obtained by experiments conducted at Key
West on the Florida Coast in connection with the finest
American sheep’s-wool sponge (.Spongia equina, var. gossy-
pina) were even more encouraging than those recorded
from the Mediterranean. Separate cuttings having an
original height of 2} inches, planted in a depth of 2% feet
of water, grew within six months to over twice these
dimensions. It was observed, furthermore, that the first
four months out of the six were occupied in their recovery
from the mutilation they sustained in the cutting process,

E 2

52

and more especially in connection with the skin-like ex-
ternal surface, the remaining two months only representing
the period of their growth. A somewhat similar difficulty
was encountered in promoting the interference with the
crop by the local fishermen, hitherto permitted to fish
everywhere without restriction; but the most sanguine
prospects of success were reported by the firm, Messrs.
McKesson and Robbins, who undertook the experiments,
provided that the grant could be secured of a good tidal
area of sufficient depth and dimensions and with efficient
protection.

The evidence just recorded, showing the practicability of
sponge culture under artificial conditions, suffices likewise
to demonstrate that the acclimatisation of the finest Levant
variety in the Bahama waters would be a relatively easy
task. The chief difficulty to be overcome would be the
safe transport of living specimens across the Atlantic. To
ensure success in this direction it would be requisite in the
first place to collect at some port in the Mediterranean a
selected cargo of living sponges of suitable size and in the
healthiest possible condition. If the director in charge ot
the Naples Zoological Station (Dr. Antoine Dohrn) could
be prevailed upon to lend assistance in this matter, and to
place certain of the tanks in the Naples Aquarium at the
disposal of the Bahama authorities, the prospects of success
of the experiment would be greatly augmented. The
specimens selected for transport should be of small size, one
or two inches in height and diameter only, and should be
attached to their natural basis of support, such as small
stones or shells, thus avoiding the great risk of their
decaying away, which is invariably associated with ex-
amples that have been torn or cut. Tanks suitable for
their transit to the Bahama seas would be the next subject

53

for consideration; these should be fitted with a small
pumping apparatus that might be connected with the
ordinary steam machinery, or might be driven indepen-
dently by electricity ; the end in either case to be accom-
plished, being the constant circulation and aération of the
water, which would be absolutely necessary to preserve the
sponges in a healthy condition throughout the journey. It
might, in addition, be found requisite during certain por-
tions of the voyage to maintain the water, artificially, at or
about the temperature of 70° Fahr., by means of steam-
pipes connected with the engine boilers, conducted to the
neighbourhood of the tanks.

' On arriving at their destination, the sponges should be
planted out in some one or more of the many sheltered
lagoons that abound in the Bahama Islands in depths
ranging from three to ten or twelve feet. Under such
conditions they could at all times be readily inspected, and
their state of health and growth be periodically registered.
It would, of course, be necessary to take measures to effec-
tually protect the selected sponge grounds from robbery
or interference with by the local or other fishermen. These
sponges, once established and effectively protected, would
soon develop and liberate germs in such numbers as to
secure the naturalization of the species throughout the
adjacent waters. An important point has, however, yet to
be decided before it can be predicated with certainty, that
sponges equal in quality to the finest Levant variety can
be successfully cultivated in the Bahama seas. This point
is, whether the special conditions that obtain in these
waters would favour the growth and reproduction of the
imported Mediterranean sponges in their primitive /ixe-
jibred condition, or, whether under the new surroundings to
which they ,would be subjected they would manifest a

54

tendency to deteriorate into a coarse-fibred type? This
latter possibility is suggested, and has to be taken iuto
account in connection with the fact, that no sponges of the
finest quality such as the Levant toilet sponge, have been
so far obtained from seas productive of reef corals. In the
area of the Red Sea, and in that of the east coast om
Australia, remarkable in either case for their extensive
coral reefs, sponges are relatively coarse and inferior in
quality compared with those derived from the reefless
Mediterranean. The same rule holds good, likewise, with
respect to the existing indigenous sponge-fauna of the coral-
producing Bahama and Florida seas. The solution of this
important question could be arrived at only by the in-
telligent examination, at more or less frequent intervals, of
selected individuals under cultivation throughout a period
of some years’ duration, special attention being directed to
any alterations in the character of the fibre, as revealed
with the aid of the microscope, developed upon the original
framework of the sponges brought from the Mediterranean.
Until a practical decision has been arrived at in this
direction it would be scarcely desirable to expend a large
amount of capital in the importation of living Mediter-
ranean grown examples.

Apart from the proposed acclimatisation of European
sponges in the Bahama seas, much, doubtless, could be
accomplished towards the improvement and further de-
velopment of the existing fisheries. That sponges of a yet
finer quality than those, so far obtained from this locality
are possibly to be gathered with the aid of the dredge
from the deeper waters has been already suggested on a
previous page. The question has recently arisen as to
whether or not the existing sponge beds, if continually.

fished, as at present, are not likely in process of time to

a0
become exhausted, and whether to guard against such an
untoward eventuality it would not be desirable to institute
a periodical close time for their protection, such period to
be made coincident with their reproductive season. It is
not anticipated by the writer, that so long as the sponge
fisheries in the Bahama Islands are conducted upon the
present primitive method, the sponges being individually
transfixed with a hook or spear, that there is any likelihood
of the beds being injuriously depleted ; for by the method
now pursued, it is only the larger sponges that are of a
mercantile value that are fished up, the young individuals
being overlooked or left to grow to a marketable size.
Before attaining to this condition, sponges freely evolve
their reproductive gemmules, so that the constant restock-
ing of the beds is effectually provided for. If, on the other
hand, the present mode of fishing should be superseded by
the use of the dredge without restriction, and to such an
extent that the entire area of the ground would be syste-
matically swept clean of all sponges, great and small, the
complete exhaustion of the sponge beds weuld doubtless
be only a question of time. To provide against such an
emergency, the following precautionary measures might be
adopted :—The dredging operations should be restricted to
a certain distance from the coast line, leaving a wide in-
shore margin, in which the sponges could freely propagate.
Dredging operations should not be permitted over the
same sponge beds for a number of years in succession, but
portions of the entire area in turn should be allowed a
more or less extensive resting time, during which interval
a new crop of sponges might establish itself or grow to
maturity. Certain favourable areas might be separated off
permanently as stock beds or nurseries, either naturally
productive of, or artificially planted with the best kinds of

56

sponge, and from whence germs or embryos would be
constantly liberated and distributed throughout the adjacent
waters.

In the writer’s opinion, the precious coral of commerce
(Corallium rubrum), and probably also the pearl oyster
(Meleagrina margaritifera), if not already existing, though
yet undiscovered, in the adjacent waters, might be artifi-
cially introduced and successfully cultivated in the Bahama
Islands under conditions closely analogous to those here
suggested with reference to Mediterranean sponges.

The subject is, at the least, well worthy the attention of
those interested in the further development of the fishing
industries of the Bahama seas.

LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, STAMFORD STREET
AND CHARING CROSS.

INDEX.

BAHAMAS, the, area of, and number of the islands, &c., 3
59 described by Christopher Columbus, 9

55 extracts from the account of a visit to the islands by Richard Davey
in 1878, 7, 9, I1, 16

2 important results likely to arise from a scientific investigation of the
fisheries, 25, 27

a literature relating to the colony, 9, 10

a5 names of the principal varieties of fish caught in the waters, 4

56 population and formation of the islands, 3

- probability of other and more valuable kinds of coral being found
than are at present obtained, 27

5 steam communication with New York and Florida most important
for the development of the trade of the colony, 28

i5 varieties of woods, fruit, animals, &c., produced in the colony, 3, 4

Béiche-de-mer, general description of the, and mode of preparation for the
market, 31
+ importance of increased means for export of the, 22
Boats, number employed in the fisheries, 4

CoRAL, largely collected and readily sold, 5
»» probability of more valuable kinds existing in the Bahamas than are
at present obtained, 27
Exports, estimated value of turtle, 5 5
33 great value of sponges exported in 1882-1883, 5, 7
AG value of shells and pearls exported, 5

FIsH, estimated value per annum of the home consumption, and of turtle ex-
ported, 5
5, mames of some of the most important, and mode of fishing usually
adopted, 4, 5
Fish-curing, suggestions on, 21
Fisheries, important results likely to arise by the appointment of a Commissioner
to investigate the fisheries of the islands, 25, 27

56 suggested improvements in the mode of collecting sponges, 19, 20
a the sponge trade, 5, 7
Fishermen, importance of encouraging fishermen to preserve zoological speci-
mens, 28

AD number employed on the fishing boats, 4

53 THE FISHERIES OF THE BAHAMAS.

Fishing boats, number and description of the, 4

S »s hecessity of improvements in the, 19

LITERATURE relating to the history of the islands, 9, 10

NassAU, shell-work and other ornaments made at, 22

general description of the town and its attractions, 8, 16

reasons why the success of the town as a health resort has only been
partial, 28, 29
36 suitability of the town as a winter sanitarium, 17, 18

New Providence, general description of, 8, 16

»

99

ORNAMENTS, shell and other kinds made at Nassau, 22

PEARLS, beauty of the pink pearls found in the Bahamas waters, 24, 25
Population of the Bahamas in 1881, 3

REPORT upon the sponges of the Bahama Islands, by W. Saville-Kent, F.L.S.,
Be ZeSs. 303,50

SALT, largely manufactured in the islands, 7

Sea-cumber or trepang. See Béche-de-mer.

Shells, desirability of a close season for certain valuable kinds, 20
», large quantities obtained and the value of the exports, 5

Sponges, a close season undesirable for the fisheries, 19

53 conditions indispensable to the growth of commercial sponge, 48

55 importance and value of the sponge trade, 5, 7

5 importance of adopting diving operations, 49, 50

oe mode of collecting and preparing, 5, 6

5 multitude of species and general description of their form and texture,
32, 56

x names of the principal varieties, in the order of their value, 5, 6

- precautionary measures against exhaustion, 54, 56

a propagation of sponges artificially, 50, 54

- report by W. Saville-Kent, F.L.S., F.Z.S., upon the sponges of the
Bahama Islands, 30, 56

5 suggested improvements in the mode of fishing, 19, 20

TEMPERATURE, high rate of the mean, during the winter months, 18
Turtle (dried) for export suggested as an addition to fish industries, 21, 22

VEGETATION, extraordinary facts concerning, 16, 17
Vessels, necessity for improvements in the fishing boats, 19
»» number and description of the boats employed in the fisheries, 4

Waste products, suggestions on the utilization of, 21

ZOOLOGY, value of encouraging fishermen to preserve specimens calculated to
advance the science of, 28

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