Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-11-22
FISHING FOR AMBER.
The Worlds supply Caught in the Waves
OF the Baltic Coast.

The Worlds supply Caught In the Waves
OF the Baltic Coast.
The bulk of the amber supply OF the
world comes now from the region
known as the Samland, on the East
Prussia coast of the Baltic, about half
way between Kurisches Half and
Frisches Half, and from the lighthouse
at Brusterot can be seen with the naked
eve III. whole stretch of coast on which
the precious petrifactiOn is now found.
and from which it has come for three
THOUSAND years. The belt Of ''blue
earth in which the detached frag-
ments Of amber are found lies from
twenty to thirty feet below the surface
of the reach. The amber can be, and
is to some extent, obtained by mining,
but under the water the vein comes
much nnarer to the surface. and is fire.
qucutl.' exposed entirely by the action
of the gaves, so that fishing for the
amber 3 easier than digging, and most
of it Is obtained in that way.
The amber fishermen are not Ger
mans, put Samaite race OF Kurish
origin, ancient foes OF the Cossack and
the R,.ss. They are a vigorous and
hardy race. and need to be to carry on
their business They work in stormy
weather, when the waves have lOOs-
ened masses of amber from the ocean
bed, and are rolling it about in the
surf mingled with great masses Of sea-
weed. The fishermen, with long hook
forks and handnets, wade shoulder
deep into the water. The women stand
along the shore as near as they can to
the waves. The men with their forks
poke up the masses of seaweed, and
drag them in toward the shore as much
as possible. With the nets they en-
deayor TO gather in pieces of amber
that may be floating about in the water.
As fast as the seaweed is got to the
shore it is passed to the women, who
pick from it the bits of amber that
cling to it, and put them into bags to
be sold to the dealers. Some dealers
stay about the beach while the fishing
is going on, hoping to catch up some
particularly valuable specimen before
any one else has chance at it.
After the storm is over there remains
the most profitable part of the harvest
TO be gathered. The amber that can
be got while the storm is raging is
mostly in small pieces. but large blocks
Of it disentangled by the waves are too
heavy to be washed within reach of
the fishermen. When the sea is smooth
enough for the bottom to be seen
through from five to fifteen feet of wa
ter the fishermen row out and look for
these blocks, recovering them by long
prOnged forks and nets.
The amber is also obtained in moro
systematic fashion from the reefs,
some three-quarters of mile off shore.
where the meeting of different cur
rents has caused it to be heaped up
with immense quantities of seaweed
and rubbish. For ten months in the
year a little fleet of black boats is
anchored over these reefs, the largest
and most valuable of which if 600 feet
long by 400 feet wide, and divers
sent down, one from every
boat. are poking about amid
the seaweed, discovering blocks
of the amber and raising it to the sur
face. Each diver remains under water
for five hours at stretch, and the
labor is said to be very trying. Some
times blocks so large are discovered
that it takes two or even three men to
bring them to the surface. Such
masses as this bring fancy prices, from
$75 to $3.50 each. the ordinary amber
bringing only about $3.50 pound.
The water, during most of the fishing
season, is icy cold, and the divers have
to endure great hardships.
The amber obtained from the water
is nearly all transparent and glass
like. The pale. straw-tinted pieces 60
to Constantinople and North Africa to
be made into mouth-pieces. The
bone-colored and veined slabs make
jewelry for the Italian peasants. and
the sherry-tinted specimens go for
the African and South Pacific trade
n Y. Sun.