Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1885-04-06


the waters announced that his leaden
shoes had disturbed the soft sand Of the
ocean door. The telegraph man held his
wire with hand as steady Is though its
sinews wereo steel. and several moments
Of breathless anxiety passed before .
jerking Of the rope announced message
from the under world. "A delicate pull.
succeeded b two stronger ones, was the
preconcerted signal, If our scout found
the field worth working So overheard
the other two divers we're tossed. one
climbing hand over hand down our an
Choir chain, the other shooting head fore
most to the bottom like lump Of lead.
For three long hours we waited under
D trOpic sun that sent its iercest rays
upon our blistering noses, consumed
with fears for the fate OF our late com
panions who, twenty fathoms below,
were treading on the coral-paved ave-
nues of a sunless city, which magma
ton peopled with mermaids and other
mysterious creatures. Sharks were con-
tinually prowling about in more or less
dangerous proximity. Occasionally the
the sun like polished ebony, while hun
dreds Of Spanish navigators spread their
t:ny sails, and wiry sea gars darted like
serpents around us.
At length the unseen operators telc-
graphed to be brought to the surface,
and, being speedily hauled up, appeared
but little exhausted BY their long sub
marine experience. Each had his basket
full Of shells. but whether they contained
two or twenty pearls. fortune or fall
ure, could not be determined till they
should be opened on land in the presence
of the boat owner. Al coming tempest,
which was afterward declared by that
ubiquitous individual, the oldest inhab-
liant, to be the fiercest that had dashed
the California gulf for years, sent us
shoreward with all possible speed, for
we had no desire to become fellow citi-
zenesses with the mermaidens aforesaid,
however rich in the coveted gems their
habitations might be.
Unlike our professional experts, the
Indian divers, who are uniformly most
successful, plunge naked into the waters,
without any apparatus whatever except
a stone slung around the waist. They
are apparently as much at home
in the sea as the finny tribes, and are
most astonishing swimmers. They can
propel themselves equally well with
one hand and one foot, or with both
feet, without hands, while they rap
idly knock the shells off the rocks and
coral reefs to which they so tenaciously
cling, and cram them into the sack of
woven maguey fibre suspended by a rope
around the neck. The short, stout stick,
which is the only thing the diver carries,
serves both for weapon and implement.
While tearing up the shells he continu-
ally runs to and fro on the ocean floor,
in order to render the water turbid by
stirring up the sapd, and thus elude the
vigilance Of his marine foes. If q shark
insists upon making meal Of him, the
willy Indian plays around him till the
terrible jaws, with their lance-like teeth
are about to close over him, when, grasp
ing the stick firmly in the middle, he
forces it upright into the sharks mouth,
and thus spikes him as effectually as our
General Taylor did the Mexican cannon
at Monterey. Sometimes, alas the op-
Grafton is not successfully performed, and
the brave fellow rises no more to the
surface, only a momentarv reddening of
the waters telling Of his horrible fate.
These divers generally remain sub
merged about two minutes at time, but
instances have occurred in which four
or FIVE minutes of submergence have
been endured without the use Of any ar
tiicial method of respiration: and
we are told that native diver from An
ianga actually remained naked under
water for six minutes.
The owner OF some pearl beds near
Mulcge sends out twenty surf boats
daily during the fishing season. Each
boat is manned by twenty one men, ten
of whom are divers, ten employed in
rowing or assisting the fishers, and a
chief, who acts both as pilot and cap
tain. Five divers 90 down at a time,
from each Of the twenty boats, thus
keeping the work going on while
half the fishers are recovering
from their exhaustion. Every
boat is furnished with five
large perforated stones, pyramidal
shaped, and rounded at top ond bottom.
These are attached TO separate ropes, and
each diver, when about to plunge, seixes
one of them with the toes Of his right
foot, while with the other foot he sus-
pends his network bag. With his right
hand he takes hold Of another rope and
with bis left be keeps the water out Of
his nostrils. fights his deep-sea enemies,
and fills bis rack with shells. On no &C.
count must his right hand let 20 Of the
rope, for By il only can be signal those
above to pull him UP when the unnatu-
raj element can no longer be endured. a
similar process is made use Of il the