The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1892-06-08
FISHING FOR PEARLS.
Strange Experiences of Diver iii that
Extraordinary Calling.

Around the northern and western
coasts of Australia the mother-of-pearl
shell has been found in great quanti-
ties, and it was on these coasts, which
are still unexplored, and inhabited
only by natives, that the writer gained
what knowledge he possesses of pearl
diving as it is followed to-day.
Formerly it was carried on in two
ways, by native divers and by dress
divers. A few years ago the aborigines
were easily induced to sign contract
binding them to their employer for the
diving season, and in remuneration for
their labor received the usual pay
food, tobacco, clothing from the neck
to the knees, and blanket. They
lived aboard a schooner on the fishing
grounds during the five summer
months. diving from small boats with
out the aid of sinker or other append
age, and in water from twenty to sixty
| feet deep. Each boat was in charge
! of white man, who sculled the boat
along and kept his "boys" up to the
mark. Excepting an hour for dinner.
they remained away from the schooner
from sunrise to sunset. A good native
diver, if shells were moderately plenti-
full, would get from sixty to one hun
dred pairs per day.
A curious feature among the native
divers is that toward the end of the
season their long, curly, jet-black hair
becomes a straw color, presumably
through the action of the salt water and
the sun, and forms a ludicrous contrast
bodies. Since bleaching the hair has
perhaps the above recipe may prove
useful to some of my readers,
Native divers are not in much re-
quest at this time, owing to the shells
being pretty well worked out in shall
low waters, and it has been found by
long practical experience that naked
native divers can not work with any
degree of success beyond a depth of
ten fathoms, For this reason it will be
readily understood that, as the greater
part of the shells now found have to be
searched for at depth of water ex-
ceeding ten fathoms, they can be OBJ
tanned only by means of the well-known
diving dress.
During three years spent on the
coast of Western Australia l never
knew an instance where an aborigine
had been broken in to work in a div
ing-dress, their objection to it arising
from some superstition. The greatest
depth at which pearl-shells were found
in paying quantities when l left, in
1888, was eighteen fathoms, and the
main portion of the diving is now done
by white men and few Mongolians.
Dress-diving is by far the most ap-
proved method. as the diver can re-
main under water an hour or two if
he chooses, can dive much deeper than
the natives, and is able to work all
the year round. The style of boat
universally used for this work is the
lugger. which is good sea-boat and
easy to handle. 1t ranges in size from
ten to twenty tons, is filled with air
pumps, and carries crew of six men
and diver.
The crews are almost entirely
Malays, who are brought down from
Singapore by the regular steamer
AuStralind, owned by c. Bethel of
London, which runs up and down the
coast and supplies the pearlers with
provisions, etc, and by which the
shells are shipped for the London
market. l should mention here that
pearl-fshing means not only fishing
for pearls, but also for the shells in
which they are found, the latter being
really the "bread and butter" of the
diver, and worth from f100 to 9150
per ton. In ton of shells there is al
ways quantity of seed-pearls, pro-
baby hundred or more; but good
pearls are not to be reckoned on as
certainties, as one man may open ten
tons and not find stone worth SO,
while another man may take a small
fortune out of days gathering. The
average weight of a pair of shells is
two pounds.-H p. Whatmarsh, IN the
Century,.