Pearl diving

“ In a few places where the beds lie in shallow inlets and sheltered bays they can be dredged, but almost universally the oysters are gathered by divers. During the greater part of the year, when storms [178] rage, diving is very dangerous if not quite impossible; but when the song of the sea is hushed to low crooning, and the gentle roll of the waves does no more than playfully slap the boats in passing, then in the seas where men dive for pearls they gather to the harvest of gems.
There are two ways of diving—naked, and with dress. ”

“ Our young heroes were permitted to keep all the pearls they found, and many were very valuable.{169}
But diving was not unattended with danger, for in the lagoon were not only sharks—huge and awful monsters—but great, ungainly, horrid alligators.
Somehow they never dared attack the boys or Antonio in the diver’s dress.
The savages used to dive together in parties of six to ten, and they were then unmolested by the tigers of the sea.
One day a young brave, probably to give himself éclat with the pretty, dark-skinned maidens who stood watching on the beach, took his spear and dived alone. ”

“ In some seas there are swift currents and as the dress-diver remains under water for some time, instead of returning at once like his naked brother, he must keep moving with it, and as he moves, the boat must move in unison and his tender must keep the lines free. Both diver and tender must be skilful and alert to do this. Nor is it always easy in deep-sea diving to find the oysters. They lie in scattered bunches, often hidden by sponges, coral or other sea growths, their gray or moss-grown exteriors scarcely to be distinguished from the surroundings ”

“ In the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Gulf of California, and the islands of the Pacific, where pearl-diving is a profession and a regular source of livelihood, the number of employees is fairly constant. But in the rivers and ponds of America, as well as of Europe and of Asia, where neither experience nor costly equipment is required for the industry, and pearls to the value of very many thousands of dollars are obtained by men, women, and even children, on pleasure bent, as well as in the widely fluctuating professional fisheries, the problem is far more difficult. ”

“ In naked diving, especially at the shoals of Ceylon and Venezuela, where the shells are small and abundant, it is simply a question of gathering as many as possible while the breath lasts and looking out for the dangerous fishes indigenous to tropical waters.
Sharks are common in many of the pearl-oyster seas, but experienced divers do not fear them greatly, as the fish, formidable as it may appear, and dangerous as it is when it can come upon one unawares, is easily frightened. Many expert swimmers of the Indian and Pacific oceans do not hesitate to attack them in their own element. ”

“ The total value of the pearl harvest each year is at least a million dollars, but most of the profit goes into the hands of the dealers. The divers work for wages, and many of them are heavily in debt. In spite of the dangers they incur, the divers love their work, because pearl diving always has in it the element of gambling. One may work a whole day and find only pearls of small value, and then perhaps bring up a fortune in an hour. The most beautiful pearl I ever saw was found in the waters at Bahrein some ten years ago, and was sold for ten thousand dollars. ”

“ The native descends naked, carrying only a girdle for the support of the basket in which he places the pearl oysters. In his submarine work the diver makes skilful use of his toes. To arm himself against the attacks of the sharks and other fishes which infest the Indian waters he carries spikes of ironwood; and the genuine Indian diver never descends without the incantations of shark-charmers, one of whom accompanies the boat while others remain on shore. As a rule the diver is a short-lived man.
The diving continues from sunrise to about noon, when a gun is fired. ”

“ When the deep-water boats reach the fishing grounds, half the crew is selected for diving. The diver uses a small braided mat basket as a receptacle for the shells and has a long line attached to him by which he can signal to the man in the boat who manages it. There is a man to each diver's line. Except for the short intervals at the surface necessary for air and rest, the divers remain in the water for hours. The oyster-beds vary in depth from six to eighteen feet in the shallows, to forty feet at the banks. ”

“ And there are dangers also in nude diving, even to those who have spent a lifetime about the water. Sharks and sting-rays and devil-fish there are in abundance, and many of them know the taste of diver’s flesh; on the other hand many a daring South Sea Islander could tell of a fierce combat more thrilling than even those pictured by Victor Hugo. One of the chief advantages of the diving-suit is that in case a shark comes along, the diver can bide his time until the fish is ready to leave, or he can frighten it away by ejecting air bubbles from the sleeve of his suit or by other demonstrations ”

“ There are a number of fishermen who have been maimed and mutilated by shark bites. A surprisingly large number of men who have become totally blind engage in diving, and they usually do fairly well where the oysters are abundant on the reefs. And one or two unfortunate divers are reported who continue the work even though handicapped by the loss both of a leg and of eyesight, this interfering less with their diving than with their movements on land.
The fishery in this region owes absolutely nothing to modern civilization in the method of securing the pearls from the depth of the sea ”

“ Each canoe was equipped with its paddles, an anchor at the end of thirty fathoms of line, a five-gallon kerosene-tin, a stout knife, and two coils of light rope—one attached to the diving-weight, the other to a large openwork basket of bamboo. The two members of the crew shared equally in the catch, though almost without exception one man did all the diving while his partner remained at the surface, raising and lowering the basket, cleaning the shell roughly, opening the oysters and inspecting them for pearls. ”

“ Three dives filled the basket, and when Marama pulled it from the water with its coral-encrusted load, I gave an imitation of the exultant native shout—a cry which brought a grin to my companion's face.
"We are learning," he said mockingly, "but it will be time to shout when we can fill the basket at one dive!"
That afternoon, when we joined the little fleet of canoes to paddle home, Maruia stood up, craning her neck for a look at our catch. "You have done well," she remarked, a smile wrinkling her brown face, "not badly for the first day's diving! I have seen grown men do worse. ”

“ No pearls? Never mind—you will find them surely. Beginners always have the luck!"
From that day onward the fishing occupied less than a third of our time, and the balance was put in on the lagoon. We learned fast, as boys do, and gradually worked our way into deeper water till we were diving with the rest. Within a few weeks we were bringing in as much shell as the Paumotans, and my uncle was enthusiastic over our success! He could dive with any native, and once or twice, when he had leisure, he sent Marama out alone to fish and accompanied me to the diving-grounds. ”

“ When the fishing ground is reached a staging, built of the oars, is rigged to project from the boat over the water, and to the edge of this the diving-stones are hung, weighing from fifty to sixty pounds. The diver stands in a stirrup upon this, or if this is wanting upon the stone itself, holding the cord attached to it between his toes, with his left foot he holds the net for the reception of the pearl-oysters. Then, pressing his nostrils firmly with his left hand, and with his right grasping the signal cord, he is let rapidly down to the bottom. ”

“ The longest time that a natural diver has been known to remain beneath the surface is about two minutes. Some pearl and sponge divers rub their bodies with oil, and put wool, saturated with oil, in their ears. Others hold in their mouth a piece of sponge soaked in oil, which they renew every time they descend. It is doubtful, however, whether these expedients are beneficial. The men who dive in this primitive fashion take with them a flat stone with a hole in the centre; to this is attached a rope, which is secured to the diving boat and serves to guide them to particular spots below. ”

“ At the moment of diving he fills his lungs with air and grasps the cord, and as he does so the stone is thrown from the side of the boat by his assistant. The weight of the stone carries him down; he gathers as many oysters as he can while the air in his lungs holds out, and then he shakes the cord as a signal to be drawn up. Sharks abound in the regions where the pearl is found, and not infrequently they seize the poor diver as he rises to the surface. ”

“ The shell constitutes the principal object of the fishery; the pearls themselves are of incidental importance, but are always looked for and anxiously expected.
The season extends from May to November, with a rest during the remaining five months of the year. The fishery is open to natives and to foreigners alike. While the leading fishermen employ diving-suits, which were introduced here about 1890, nude diving is yet practised to a considerable extent, the men descending in eight or ten, and some even in twelve fathoms of water. ”

“ These white men own the sloops and schooners devoted to the pearl fishery, and they go out with these craft, taking along a lot of black men as divers. The diving is done in the same way as in pearl fisheries all over the world, so that there is no necessity of describing it. ”

“ Instantly he would begin to sink gently downwards, and only quick action could save this diver who had miscalculated his time. However, as it was not infrequent for divers to go down and never come up at all, one may conclude that, where the time to be allowed is comprised in so few seconds, even the most experienced make fatal errors. [251]
The difficulties in securing labor at length resulted in experiments with the scaphander or diving dress, and gradually its adoption by 204most of the pearling fleet. ”

“ The divers use stones on which they descend feet foremost. Although this is less spectacular than the method of diving practised by the natives of the South Sea islands, it enables the fisherman to reach the bottom more speedily and with far less effort. The diving-stones range in weight from thirty to fifty pounds each, depending largely on the depth of water and the weight of the fisherman. ”

“ Naked divers stay below fifty to eighty seconds on an average, though some can remain under water longer. Each man makes forty to fifty descents a day and brings up fifteen to thirty oysters each time. As a rule the maximum depth in these waters is about forty-two feet though fishing at twelve and thirteen fathoms is reported. The divers work from sunrise to noon, which allowing for shifts gives each man four hours diving for a day's work. A gun is fired as a signal for the day's fishing to cease and the fleet starts at once for shore. ”

“ This was the first instance in which diving apparatus was successfully introduced on any part of the Asiatic coast from the Red Sea to Malacca Strait. So great was the profit that nearly every one on the lower coast of Burma with sufficient capital or credit hastened to obtain a boat and diving equipment. The success of some of these early ventures was remarkable, single pearls worth $3000, $5000, and even $10,000 each being secured. The reefs in the shoal waters were rapidly depleted, to the great disadvantage of the nude Selangs, who can do little in deep water. ”

“ In some localities where divers were employed the women were preferred, not because they could [185] do better work always, but one could depend on them more safely. This was true of the divers in Torres Straits between Queensland and New Guinea.
Before dress-diving was introduced these naked natives would dive into ten or twelve fathoms and bring up an oyster under each arm. The shells were large, weighing three to six pounds together and sometimes ten, but they contained few pearls and those were generally small. ”

“ Then we'll need twenty-five or thirty pairs of diving-goggles, with the glass set in wood or horn. Some of the men will have their own, but they're always losing them, and once his goggles are lost, a diver is no more use. I'll leave you the glass and the diamond to cut it with; Marama will find you men who understand this work. I have a store at Faatemu; you can take the keys and advance a certain amount of goods to the canoe-builders, but don't let them get too far ahead of you! Old Taura, the chief, is as good a native as I know, and he'll see that you enjoy your stay on the island. ”

“ And now, while a corps of native divers were at work every day in the lagoon, gathering shells, Antonio and our young heroes often going down in the diving-bells, and heaping up piles of these; while scores of natives were busy also diving for, and extracting or digging out great sponges from coral caves and cavities, Leona began to ask herself the question, What can I do for these poor people?{162}
She went among them almost daily when the weather was fine, and it is nearly always fine here. ”

“ The divers are mostly old men, vigorous and healthy in appearance, thus dispelling the general notion that deep-sea diving weakens the body and shortens life. We were told of one diver, employed during the year 1856, in the pearl fishery, who was so stout and fat, that in addition to the ordinary diver's stone, he had to make fast a considerable weight to his body, in order to sink himself in the water. ”