BRITISH GUARDS IN PARIS S SEARCH FOR CONTRABAND

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVII, Issue 21531, 19 December 1939, Page 8

BRITISH GUARDS IN PARIS S SEARCH FOR CONTRABAND

glare on the surface of the water) to spot the sponge growth. When he sees something that looks like a hunk of tar or piece of liver he lowers a long hooked pole and brings it up. Pools Called “Kraals” In recent years a few Bahamian sponges have come from “planted beds" —that is, areas where bits of living sponge have been attached to stone sinkers and dropped to the bottom, there to grow to maturity. As high as 5000 sponges have been "planted” by individual spongers, but the task of patrolling the beds is an onerous one. Sponge growth is slow. A wool sponge may require from five to six years to reach a marketable size (about 7in in diameter). After “harvesting" the sponges are ta' en ashore to be cleaned and dried. To slough off the tenacious dark outer flesh the sponges are exposed in the air for 24 to 48 hours, after which they must soak in stagnant little pools called “kraals” or “crawls,” where their flesh decomposes, leaving only the skeleton. Then they are squeezed and again placed in the air to dry. Most of this shoreland, because the stench from decaying sponge flesh is one of the world’s vilest odours. Government-appointed guards, in small watch towers, keep an eye on the kraals as a precaution against poachers. Business and Holiday When a sponge boat has enough sponges to fill it, and perhaps the dinghies on deck as well, it is time tj sail for Nassau. This is a combination of business trip and holiday, and entire families are brought along, from the old grandmother, with her clay pipe, to suckling babies, and sometimes a goat and pig, too. The deck may be nearly awash, and billowing sails may threaten to carry away the creaking masts as the heavilyladen sailboat ploughs through the blue seas; but those aboard are a happy, laughing lot. They cook th- - simple meal of grits and conch stew on deck, and lighten the journey with native songs and jibes shouted at passing boats. Sometimes it is many days before the stubby white lighthouse that marks the entrance to Nassau Harbour is sighted. But spongers are skilled seamen, often navigating over wide stretches of open water with only the stars and certain shoals and islets to guide them. When their broad-beamed boats are tied up in a bobbing row along the Nassau waterfront the sponges are unloaded in sacks to be auctioned at the low-roofed Sponge Exchange. Unlike tobacco auctions, there is no shouting. The seller selects a broker, who receives written blds from buvers. If the highest bid is satisfactory to the seller the deal is closed for cash. For Shipment Sponges then go in rumbling, twowheeled carts to the packing houses,

where they are stored, cleaned, clipped graded, and finally compressed into burlap-wrapped bales for shipment to New York and London. Sponges that show traces of blight or other defects are sold for fertiliser. Clippings from good sponges, once also used for fertiliser, are now baled and marketed to firms making insulating materials for refrigerators and sound or moistureproof walls.