Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-10-31
PEARL FISHING.
HAMMER OF CONDUCTING THE IN.
DUSTRY IN MEX. lCAN WATERS.
How the Pearls are Formed-Chi-
nese Kusf- Upon Pearl Oysters-An-
cient Fisheries-Value of Gems


time if we only have patience to wait"
Betsy and / have attained the acme of our
ambition, for at last we have been permit
ted to go pearl-fshing In Mexico no
amount of Mother EYES curiosity can ex-
cuse q lady for the smallest breach of con-
ventional rules but the wife of our host
finally consented Though with many
doubts and misgivings) to preserve the pro-
prieties by acting as chaperone to the ven
taresome ADtericdnas who insisted on join
ing pearl-hunting expedition.
The boat was seven-ton affair, manned"
by the ladies aforesaid. four oarsmen, three
divers, the cook and telegraph-rope man.
Our divers were handsome, mahogany hued
young fellows but who became objects of
terror when once inside their grotesque ar
NOR, with its bullying eyes-the more I'M
canny when seen through twenty fathoms
of water, down among the denizens of the
deep. No wonder that sharks avoid them.
and black man-eaters" flee in dismay
before those CLASSY optics Imagine stout
six-footer, carrying 200 pounds of his own
weight, covered with forty pounds of armor
on his chest, twenty on his back, with plates
of iron inclosing his arms and legs; a mas
sive helmet, with its great, gaping lanterns
for eyes shoes of lead on his feet, at least
40 pounds of steel clothes on him, and you
can readily understand why any species of
fish should desire a more digestible meal.
GOING DOWN INTO THE DEEP.
AT the spot to be searched anchor was
cast, and one of the divers scrambled over
the edge of the boat, down into the water
He was. sent out as scout to reconnoiter
and report whether the locality was rich
enough to pay for working. Through the
clear, greenish crystal we could watch his
downward course, till a sudden darkening
of the waters announced that his leaden
shoes had disturbed the soft sand of the
ocean floor. The telegraph man in the
boat held his wire with hand as steady as
though its sinews were of steel-and after
few moments of breathless anxiety, the
jerking OF the rope announced that a mes
sage had come from the depths. The pre-
concerted signal-a delicate pull, succeeded
by two stronger ones-announced that the
field was good and more workers wanted.
SO overheard the other two divers were
tossed-one climbing, hand over hand,
down our anchor chain; the other shooting
head foremost to the bottom, like lump
of lead. Then, for three long hours we
waited, while tropic sun beat down upon
our blistering noses, consumed with fears
for the fate OF our late companions in that
SUNLESS CITY TWENTY FATHoMs BELOW,
Whose coral-paved avenues imagination
peopled with mermaids and other mys-
ferrous creatures. Sharks are continually
providing about in more or less dangerous
proximity, occasionally a man eater APP
peared in sight-his huge black back glis-
tening in the sun-while hundred of
Spanish navigator" spread their tiny sails
and wiry sea gars darted like serpents
about us.
At length the unseen operators tele-
graphed TO be brought to the surface and
being speedily hauled up, appeared but
little exhausted by their long submarine
experience. Each had his basketful of
shells but whether they contained two or
twenty pearls, fortune or a failure, could
only be determined when they should be
opened on land in presence of the boat
owner. A coming tempest-which that
ubiquitous individual, the Oldest Inhabit-
ant, afterwards declared to be the strongest
which had dashed the California gulf for
years-sent US shoreward with all possible
speed for, however rich in coveted gems
the habitations of the mermaidens might
be, we had no desire to become their fel-
low citizens.
THE INDIAN PEARL DIVERS.
Unlike our professional experts, the In
dian divers who are uniformly most sue
cessfuD plunge naked into the water
without any apparatus whatever except q
stone slung around the waist. They are
wonderful swimmers, apparently as much
at home in the deep as the finny tribes
They can propel themselves under water
equally well with one hand and one foot,
or with both feet without hands, while
they rapidly knock the shells off the rocks
and coral reefs to which they so tenaciously
cling, and cram them into the sack of
woven maguey-tiber suspended by rope
around the neck. The short, stout stick,
which is the only thing they carry, serves
both for weapon and implement While
tearing up the shells, he continually runs
from side to side in the loose sand of the
ocean floor, to render the water turbid and
thus elude the vigilance OF his marine foes
If a shark insists upon making q meal of
him, the willy Indian plays around him
till the huge fish tiops over on his side to
bring his lance-like teeth into better action,
when-iust as the terrible jaws are about
to close over him-he forces the stick,
grasped firmly in the middle, upright into
the sharks mouth, and thus spikes
him, as effectually as our General Taylor
did the Mexican cannon at Monterey.
Sometimes-alas the operation is not
successfully performed, and the brave fell
low rises 10 more from the underworld-a
momentary reddening of the waters telling
only of his horrible fate.
THE FATIGUE FRqM DIVING
Is very great, and the men employed in the
pearl fisheries frequently discharge both
water and blood from ears and nostrils on
being drawn into the boat. But this does
not hinder them from making forty or fifty
plunges in the course of q day. Each diver
generally remains under water about two
minutes at q time, but instances have oc-
CURED in which four or five minutes have
been endured without any modern breath
ing apparatus; and we are told that native
Indian from Anjanga actually remained
submerged for six minutes
The owner of some pearl-oyster beds
near Mulege sends out daily during the
fishing season twenty surf boats, each
manned by twenty-one men. OF these,
one is chief boatman, who acts both as
pilot and captain, and ten are employed in
rowing or assisting the divers. The other
ten men dive down alternately, five at q
time, thus keeping work going while half
the divers are recovering from the conse-
quent fatigue. Each boat is furnished
with five large, perforated stones, pyra-
midal shaped, and rounded at top and bot
tom These are fixed to five different
ropes, and each diver, when about to
plunge, seizes one of them with the toes of
his right foot, while with the other he sus-
ponds his network bag. Then he takes
hold of another rope with his right hand,
and with his left he keeps the water out of
his nostrils,
FIGHTS HIS DREP-sEA ENExIEs,
And fills his sack with shells. On no ac-
count must he let go of the rope in hisright
hand, for by it only can he signal those
above to pull him up, when he can no
longer endure the unnatural element. A
similar process is made use of in the pearl
fisheries of Ceylon, and it is said that by it
the divers become so dextrous in the use
of their feet that they employ them for the
most common purposes, exactly like their
hands-that they can thread needles with
their toes and pick up the smallest straws
or pebbles. These California Indians, who