Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1889-06-20
FISHING FoR,AsdBEE.
where and How the Valuable Com.
modify is Obtained.

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 haff and Fris-
ches half, and from the lighthouse at
BrusterOt can be seen with the naked
eye the whole stretch Of coast on which
the precious petrificatiOn 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 beach. The amber can be and
Is to some extent obtained by mining,
but under the water the vein comes
much nearer to the surface, and is fire.
quently exposed entirely by the action
of the waves, so that fishing for the am
Der is easier than digging, and most of
1t is obtained in that way.
The amber fishermen are not Ger
mans, but a Samaite race of Kurish
origin, anci, Mt foes of the Cossack and
the Kuss. They are vigourous and
hardy race, and need to be to carry on
their business. They work in stormy
weather, when the waves have loOsened
masses of the amber from the ocean
bed and are rolling it about in the
surf mingled with great masser of sea-
weed. The fishermen, with long hook
forks and hand-nets, wade shoulder
deep into the water. The women
Estand 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 towards the shore as
much as possible. With the nets they
endeavor to gather in pieces of amber
that may be floating about in the wa
ter. 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
anyone 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 more
systematic fashion from the reefs some
three-quaters of mile off shore, where
the meeting of different currents has
caused it to be heaped up with i'm
mense quantities of seaweed and rub
bish. For ten months in the year lit
tie fleet of black boats is anchored over
these reefs, the largest and most valua-
BILE of which is six hundred feet long
by four hundred feet wide, and divers
sent down, one from each boat, are pok-
ing about amid the seaweed, discover
ing blocks of the amber and raising it
to the surface. Each diver remains un-
der the water for five hours at a stretch,
and the labor is said to be very trying.
blocks 80 large are discov-
cred that 1t takes two or even three men
to bring them to the surface. Such
masses as this bring fancy prices, from
$40 to $3.50 each, the ordinary amber
bringing only about $3.50 a pound. The
water during most of the fishing sea-
son is icy cold, and the divers have to
endure great hardships.
The amber obtained from the water,
Is nearly all transparent and glasslike.
The pale, straw-tinted pieces go to Con-
and North Africa to be
made int" mouthpieces. The bone
,olOred and veined slabs make jewelry
for the Italian peasants, and the sher-
ry-tinted specimens go for ornaments
for the African and South Pacific trade.
-Ne,V York Sun.