The Bloomfield times. [volume] (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1867-187?, 1874-04-14
The Pearl Fishery.

HNHE month of February commences the
Il season for pearl-fshing which ends
with the month of May but the fast days
come so often in the Hindoo calendar, really
exceeding in number the working days,
that the business is in fact not carried on in
earnest more than month. Each fish
ing-boat carries a crew of twenty men,
master and pilot. They start at ten o'clock
in the evening; and, borne along by the
night breeze, reach the banks before dawn.
About midday they return to port, at the
hour when the sea-breeze changes its di-
rection and blows toward the land. At
the appearance of daylight the divers COM
mence their labors, being divided into two
parties which alternately dive and rest.
In diving, the one about to descend be-
meath the water grasps with the toes of his
right foot rope which has attached to it
at one extremity large pyramid-shaped
stone, the use of which is to render the de-
scent easier, and to keep the pearl-fsher
at the bottom. 1t is moore6, as one might
say, to the boat by the rope which also
enables the diver to hold communication
with his comrades above him. He dives
either standing or crouching, but never
head foremost, as has been supposed.
With his left foot he holds his net, with
his right hand the stone-weighted cord F.;
with his left hand he pinches his nostrils
his ears are stopped up with cotton soaked.
Whan n arriuac OF fha hot I,o
picks off all the oysters within his reach,
fills the net or bag which hangs about his
neck, and at a certain signal is drawn up
again by his companions. The greatest
depth at which diver can work does not
exceed eight or nine fathoms, and he can
not remain under water longer than half
minute. Those wonderful tales which
represent certain divers as remaining a
minute, or even several minutes, under an
enormous mass of water, whose pressure is
more than twice as much as that of the.
atmosphere, are merely the result of the
imagination, since there does not exist,
and never has existed, any man capable of
so extraordinary feat. When the weather
will permit slillful diver will make as
many as fifteen or twenty descents in a
morning, separated by intervals of rest Of
from ten to fifteen minutes. If circum-
stances are unfavorable he will not dive
more than four or five times.
This exercise, repeated thirty days each
year, soon tells upon the health of the un-
fortunate people who pursue it, and diver
seldom grows old. Many of them contract
at an early age frightful disease which
soon makes the exercise of their danger
GUS profession impossible. The sight
grows weaks, the eyes become liberated,
and the whole body is covered with sores.
Others are sometimes stricken with apo
plexy on leaving the water, or die of suffo-
cation at the bottom of the sea.
There is yet another peril to which the
diver is exposed, more dreaded, perhaps,
than any other the shark is the terror of
the pearl-fshers, and if the word is given,
true or false, that one of these gigantic
and terrible fish is in their midst, it is suf-
fcient to disperse even an entire flotilla,
and drive every boat into port without so
much as an attempt to ascertain the truth
of the alarm.
From these few crude details some idea
of the trials and dangers to which the
pearl-fisher is exposed may be gained.
With so much peril to both life and limb
are those pure gems secured which are
| destined to be woven amid the glossy and
luxuriant tresses of young beauty, or to
render the snowy whiteness of her fair
neck yet more noticeable. Little does she