News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-07-29
AT THE PEARL FISHERIES.
A WONDERFUL INDUSTRY IN WON
DERFUI, WATERS.
Searching for the Gems at Queens
land-Primitiye Methods of the
| Divers-The Trading Fleet.

Il
the strangest for the finding of the beau
tlful and ever mysterious gem which the
natives believe are cloud born, and which,
unlike all other gems, require no aid of
art to bring out their beauty. Innumer-
| able Islands crowd the dangerous straits.
thousand reefs and shoals scattered
among them, and the shores of New
Guinea and Australia breaking the green
lsh waters with a gray of rock and the
brown of ragged bush. The islands,
desolate as the desert and arid as an
alkali plain, repel all attempts at agricul-
ture. The scanty grass is poisonous to
cattle, neither shrub nor tree is found,
and attempts to cultivate grain and vege-
tables have not met with any success.
The inhabitants are few, but they are
almost wholly dependent upon the pro-
visions which they secure from abroad,
and know no other occupation than the
fisheries. Port Kennedy is the only
town, town with a population Of per-
haps 200 people, and having Post
Office two inns, a customs station, a
Court House and Jail. The harbor is
formed by four islands, Goode, Ham
mond, Friday and Thursday Islands, al
most entirely landlocking it. Here the
tidal currents are rapid, the eddies fuct-
uating, the reefs and shoals many and
dangerous. But here the pearl-shell YES
sells lie, a feet of nearly 200, having
| 1, 500 employees, and floating 1000 boats
Some of the larger vessels have a burden
of fifteen to eighteen tons, but most of
the feet is composed of small craft vary
ing from three to eight tons.
The islanders, who have fshed for
years and years, are fishing still in their
own good old way, paying no care to the
overfshing of the white men. They know
pearl oyster as the farmer does potato
or an apple, and, knowing it so well, they
are peculiarly adept at finding bivalves
that contain pearls, choosing such by
some fancied rule of thumb founded on
the grounds of age, form, aud color.
Men, women and children all dive like
sea fowl, and the women are the most
expert. Three or four women are we'll
known in the trade, and are noted not
only for having plunged again and again
into twenty. five fathoms of water, but as
well for having done this in the very
teeth of the sharks, and for having re-
mained under water as long as three
whole minutes. The native knows no
industry save pearl fishing and it is al
most as natural for a child to dive as it is
for young duck or penguin. They enter
upon the service of fishing about as soon
as they enter their teens, and unless
something happens they continue to dive
until they are old and infrm. But some
thing is apt to happen, and that some
thing may be a red-mouthed shark,
paralysis, hemmorrhage, or some other
accident of physical failure. The shark
is always at home in these seas, and his
number is legion. 1t is no rare thing for
bold diver to come up minus foot or
an arm, and many go down never to come
up again at all. Too many plunges in
day bring on hemmorrhage or congestion,
and especially is this the case early in the
fishing season, which for the natives is
period of four months, beginning in No
Yember. Too long continued occupation
causes paralysis, and headache; deafness
and failure of sight occur very com
monty.
The diving is very primitive. Some
traders have introduced the diving-bells,
but the natives decline to work in them,
alleging that they cause early paralysis
and certain deafness. The common
practice is to go out on the water with a
light wooden pipe, ten inches square and
two feet long, glazed at one end. With
this tube ready prospecting is done,
s the glass end, which is put under water,
!, serving the purpose of suppressing the
T surface ripple. When oysters are discov-
e cred the diver belts himself with seven
or eight pounds of ballast, and, having
=. bandaged his mouth and protected his
- ewes and ears with oiled cotton, nc at
- taches weight to his feet and goes de
= liberately and boldly down with rope
T. ! Hae 7Nlu he ghfl draws
% three or four full and rapid breaths, and
has the lungs full of air as he drops to
: The bottom from six to 100 feet below.
y Each dive occupies from sixty to ninety
: seconds, and occasionally a diver has re-
: NAMED under for two or three minutes,
: assisting himself to the surface by means
Of the rope.
a The divers hardly ever bring up more
. than one oyster, though they are always
on the lookout for a loose or "shed'
! pearl, which, if found, they quickly
4 conceal by swallowing.
! While the natives are eking out their
a precarious living in the old fashioned
a way the boats from the trading feet are
r engaged in more systematic and mod
D ern method of fishing. Each we'll ll-equipped
a vessel is supplied with the necessary
y apparatus and professional divers. The
apparatus is the best and most complete
that can be procured, and the divers who
use it are under three years contract at q
wage of from So to So day and an in
terest in the catch. Each diver has -four
q tenders, whose pay is from $40 to $40 a
! month, and who are generally natives OF
Chinese.
= = The method of fishing is for several
= vessels to go out together and fish on the
. same ground for fortnight. Reaching
:. place where the water is forty or fifty
! feet deep, the diver enters his boat,
dresses, and jumps overheard. Upon
- reaching the bottom he leisurely walks
+ along until he comes to bed of shells,
. where he proceeds to fill the sack that he
: carries. As soon as he has a sackful ht
Q signals, and the sack is lifted up, emp
u tied. and sent down again. The diver
e remains under water for hours, sometimes
g from 8 o'clock in the morning until il
u the afternoon. The shells, as they lie il
9 bed. are wide open, and if touched in the
Q wrong way the divers hand is apt to b.
caught and held fast as in wise.
While the native islander can fish only
for a limited season, the divers using ap
n paratus can fish all the year round ,excep
: in verv rough weather and during thu
severe monsoons The average catcl
for each vessel is about one ton a month
o for, unlike the fisheries of Ceylon anC
n the Persian Gulf, there is little difficult.
IN removing the shell, which lies loos
on the ground and can be picked u
y readily. These fisheries produce the tru
pearl oyster, for the shell of which ther
IS great demand, both in America an'
"a Europe 1t is especially priced for tn
choice inlaid cabinet work that come
from artistic hands, but is used princi
N pallv for knife handles, buttons, an,
1t ornamental work.
l. Each day when the boats run in to tn
N stations the men open the oysters, tax
Or out the pearls, if there are any, an
lie throw the fish overheard. The shell:
7e accurately counted, are cleaned an
packed in eases of about 300 pound
- each. The fishermen think more of oil
/ tanning shell than pearls, while the island
t ers care nothing for shell, and solel
D. seek the pearls. The best pearls al
found when the oyster is four years ole
is and the shell at that age is also at its bes
De The pearl of an oyster of this age is e
pt ceedingly transparent and pure, viii
IN that of the young oyster is of yellow
v. ish color, and that of the older of
ID pinkish hue. Sometimes it is found
lg all colors, such as white, silver, brow
Mt steel, gray, blue, and even a perfect j
Ks black. Several specimens have be-
KY found as large as hazel nut, and sor