Iowa capitol reporter. [volume] (Iowa City, Iowa) 1841-1855, 1854-08-02


selves in the atetn to witness the operation
Each diver had brought with him stick ao0uS
q foot in length. made Of a very hard WOOD.
which grows in Lower California, called made
ra dc ferro," tiron WOODY and which 10 sharp
ened TO point at both ends This stick Ia
used by the divers for the double purpose oil
looscning the oysters from amongst the sand
and rocks, aud for fighting the dreadful "ti
buron," tshark,) the pearl divers deadly foS.
When armed with his stick, one OF the 'bnsoS'
mounted on the gunwale Of the boat drew him
self up to his full height, and g.ylne short
dive as graceful as dolphin's leap. he struck
the water With his head and shot down almost
psspendlcularly. hen With frog; like mo.
lion of hin lim6s he forced hle xAx through !.
- ttanopassnt element unttt ~ seacAe1 a.
ssss es ssas's &c sss 1ss s'sSsa sss't
till 'tAs Fsbssns. viii sl<lt 0luca shlninr
skins. ffom which the water va strsaipins
seemed like string Of rcrpoises pursuing eaci,
other in froic and play.
The water where our divers were fishing was
nearly three fathoms, or eighteen feet ia depth:
so clear, however that its shell paved bed wss
plainly seen. With their sticks the divers loos:
ened the earth around the oy ster, or pried them
OIL the rock, and in a few moments each re-
turned with an armful which he threw into
the boat, aud then. after resting minute
would make another dive, and thus the pro
them brought marine plants, others beutifull
shells aud one old fellow captured small
shark, which all alive aud houndering he
threw into the boat, very MUCH to the annoy-
ance OF us landsmen. Around ns was merry
scene. 4 hundred naked Indians, leapinr
dashing and playing 10 the water. Laughing
at each other halengirg & for a lofty or grace.
fu! dive. or breaking occasionally into one Of
their wild, musical songs. the whole thing
seemed to be 10 them pleasure and a sport
Excited by :heir continued yelling. sp'asfing,
singing and diving. We almost felt tempted to
hy leap ourselves; bht after discussing tho
matter came 10 the reasonable conclusion that.
although we nigh, doubtless reach the bot
tom without much difficulty. our safe ascen,
was highly problematicai, SO We pradcntly
remained in the boat. y r @
Divers often 60 10 the bottom for shells il
much deeper water than that where ours were
fishing. in some places it being necessary to 20
los by the dive, they say. carries them six fses
below The surface. and each succceedng stroke
three feet further at the bottom, their usual
time for remaining uelow being from one to
three minutes.
When :he two hours which Is the daily al
lotted time for diving, had expired. We sot sail
again aud the whole fleet star ed for the shore.
the six divers in our boat having gathered
nesrty three hundred oysters. and the other
crews having met with about the same success,
We had the honor Of conveying in our boat the
"Gobernador' or Governor OF the whole party
Of ''busos" at San Lorenzo, and whose au.
thority over them was rs fully acknowledged
and as powerfully exercised "a that Of the Au
tocrat Of Russia over his subjects. He was an
old man Of nearly sixty years. Fifty OF which
had been spent in diving. apd ha laughed +.
the idea. when l suggested to him that the DC
life He told me, however, Of a lumber Of in
stances in which divers. In severe encounter.
with sharks. had teen killed aud manned, =.
The ,busos' o the Calf Of California are Iud,
ans from the Yaqu river. in the State Of So.
nora They are a careless. lazy race who de
vots the six months Of the year. while ths
fishing sea on lasts. to their peculiar occnpa
tion. and spend tho remainder OF their time IN
fighting for the party who will pay them best
OF in gambling and drinking anxiorsly antici
pating the return of the diving season.
On our arrival At San Lorenzo, the oysters
from each boat were brought on shore. and
thrown in pile upon the beach. Then, un
der the superintendence Of different "arma
dorer." the shells were thrown from each pile.
tone upon one eide aud one upon the other, an
equal division thus being made. The "arma
dor" was then at berty to choose which pile
he would take for his, and the other was sub
divided into as many pilcs ~ here were di
vcrs in the boat from which tho oysters were
taken, and assigned by DOT among the crsw
Thsy then proceeded to open tn, oysters. sea
ting themselves in circle around the owners
pile, which wao, opened first and the pearls
being extracted were immeaiutey given 10
4 him. In consideration OF this lions share
the "armador" furnished the divers dnr.uf.
the fishing season with boats for fishing anil
with food; clothing in tha. tropical climate
beingso Insignificant All item that no proyt.
sion is made for II.
The shells opened with great rapidity
aud the oyster when taken out, is pulled be
iweel the thumb and .arednger Of The opera
tor. 30 that If IL contains pearl. which IL al
ways found In ihe body of the oyster it III
: Immediately detected Hundreds of oysters
are sometimes opened without u pearl. Of the
, value ola dime being found The owner
, while his pile IS being opened, stands by with
both eyes wide open, carefelly watching the
operators. who have a peculiarly when un.
watched, OF quickly tossing an oyster in which,
they feel large sized pearl. into their mouths
aud swallowing IL When Inc owners oysters
! are all opened, each diver. commences on his
I own, and the pearls found in them are Usually
i sold TO the ''armador" on the spot rhe val.
: ue Of pearl depends on three ualit,es, IL,
/ size, form and color The egg and bar shaped
r are considered preferable. and these. wken
= large sized aud of milky coior, are most val
: liable. Some pearls are Of an inky blackness.
. possessing a high polish. The small and il
i regularly shaped pearls are uspaliy thrown,tu
: gelher, and are sold at from tM to twenty dol
lars an ounce, for beads.
i Some ofthe shells have growing on the
!. side an excrescence which is called ''fal,t
q pearl" and which altogether outwardly VERY
9 much resembling pearl, is hollow. I he inner
!. shell. known under tbs name Of "motbe,
!. pearl, Is made into shirt butons,G d. other arti
!, eies. Pearls which were formerly considered
"a very valuable As ornaments, have much depre
n cisted in price within the present century
q ard most Of them are now sent to Russia =
l. Still, however, the business is a very profia
i Bile one, conducted even in the manner il
% which it is. some years ago an English gen
n tleman named Hardy, endeavored 10 gather
pearls near Loreto. in the Gulf Of California
BY tho use Of diving bell From some cause
however. the experiment failed aud he absn
= dSns3 the enart after . few weeks unsuccess
= ful labor. i is singular. that some more sci
;. entitic method for gathering lie shells than
= driving. has not been introduce a into the rich
d ~ paved Gulf Of California.
= When the oysters are ali opened. tho divers
= take their first meal in the day, which consi sts
70 Of nothing more than boiled corn with a SIN al
y quantity of dried beef aud salt thrown in "a
D give i. favor. They say it is easier to dive
:. upon an empty stomach, and therefore fast till
D. nearly three o'clock in the afternoon, afte,
. which they drink mescal and play none un
!, til late at night
:, l. was the last DAY of the fishing season
= and before We left the beach the little brush
~ houses, which formed the residences Of the d
vers, were fired. and general jubilee wal
= held. We set sail toward dark, and after res
70 :, ling another night of old camping ground
- reached La Psz the next morning. In les,
u than mouth after our visit to San Loren 20
y the >ame divers who there had treated us will
such apparent friendlipess. were ,busily en-
- gagged in shooting arrows At US, manu- uiacturec
10 from the same "madera de 6efro" with which
they dug the pearl shells from their rocky bad