The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-11-18

NATIVE MORO a TO I FOR PEARLS.
comes to pass. Neither experts nor lay
men nor even the Moros themselves are
familiar with the extent of the pearl
shell banks along the hundred or more
small islands of the southern portion of
the Philippines. That they are scattered
over a large territory is testified to by
the natives, who sell small quantities of
shell and many pearls to Borneo and
Chinese traders. That some banks are
very extensive has been well determined
by the rich Chinese merchant Captain
Tiana of Jole, who has for eight years
held the exclusive concession from the
sultan to fish for pearls by means Of div
ing suits in the Sulu archipelago.
The sovereignty of the islands was os-
tensibly SPANS; the real sovereign was
the sultan. To make pearl fishing posi-
Bile for foreigners or Spanish subjects it
would have required a double concession
and boats armed with Calling guns.
Spain would not give foreigners who had
the daring to fish concessions because,
dog in the manger'' as she was, she
feared to lose a good thing she could not
herself develop. She dared not work
them herself or give concessions to Span
ish subjects, as that would have prorok-
ed a war with the sultan, who claimed
the exclusive right to farm out the ex-
panse of ocean where the rare nacre
shells lay.
Any clear morning at NAHUM, the sui
tan's capital, when the breezes just ripple
the open expanses of blue waters and the
distant islands Of green rise above the
sea in mirage, one may see a gaudy feet
of a hundred small boats put out, one by
one or in groups, from the little land
locked harbor. The square sails OF red
and brown and yellow create bizarre com
binations of color with the serene blue
sky and water and the vivid greens of the
volcanic ISLE behind They carry hum
dreds Of Moro pearl fishers to the shall
low coral reefs FIVE miles away.
What a motley crowd they are, in their
garb of Haunting hue. thin legged, broad
shouldered, with ugly knives in their
sashes! Some are padding with strong
strokes in their desire to be first on the
grounds; others, careless of the future,
prone upon, the narrow deck or comfort
ably lounging with backs against the
bamboo structure Of the o~utriggers, puff
ing palm wrapper cigarettes or with
filed with the betel nut, let the
seductive zephyrs blow them onward TO
a short day of labor.
Later in the day a line of boats two
miles long and several hundred in num-
ber--for they have been augmented by
arrivals from Tapul and Lugus islands
are anchored over the fishing ground.
The men stand nude upon the gunwales
the boats, ready for the dive, perhaps
with a corded basket at the wrist and a
short, heavy knife, with which to fight
and fishes or pry some ciinging
shell from its hiding place. One feels a
deep sense of disappointment at finding
they jump feet first into the limpid
water, Instead Of going down with grace
full headiong plu~ges.
There be goes. The bubbles obscure
him for a moment, and then you see him,
not feet FIRST now, but head downward,
toward the bottom, with bold
full arm strokes. His body, strangely
.foreshortened through the veil of water,
slowly fades from view, and you watch
his temperance. One minute has
gone; it seems Eve. Two minutes are
past, and your heart throbs in YOUR
breast with excitement as mental pic
monsters in those briny depths
IRE ccniured up. You peer into{the wa
ter ~anxiousIy, expecting to see a bloody,
ifeless corpse come bobbing Imply to
he surface, to sink again forever.
Two minutes and 80 seconds, and the
Watching Moros grin at your evident agi-
.ation, pointing with extended fingers at
In object rising slowly through the wa
sers. It is the man, not coming up like a
,annon bah, as you thought he would.
put swimming hard, as il it were a diff
.uit task to get to fresh air once more.
rha boatmen reach beneath the water |
md grasp him, pulling him into the boat
~ main strength.