Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-09-22

for a brief sixty or ninety seconds at
a time into the sunlit green waters that
cover the pearl banks, for their treasure.
Instead a diver puts on a very modern
rubber suit, with glass-fronted helmet,
suitably weighted with lead, and de-
sends to the bottom, where he gathers
the pe~arl-bearing bivalves at his leisure.
He is supplied with air for breathing
purposes through a rubber tube by COM
panlons in a boat above. and it is their
task also to pull up the loaded wire
basket as fast as he fills it..
MANY LOST THEIR LIVES.
During the first year or two after the
Introduction of this apparatus divers
We're lost at the rate of one a month by
drowning, owing in nearly every in
stance to a break in the air tubing; but
such accidents no longer occur. partly
because defective English tubing has
been discarded in favor of a superior
quality manufactured in America and
imported by Spain, from where it was
sent to the islands An accessory to the
diving suit has also been added in the
shape of a small sheet-iron reservoir of
compressed air, which can instantly be
made to supply the man with five min
utes' breathing material in case of a
breakdown of the machine. It's connec-
ton with the divers helmet is effected
by the simple turning of q cock. Owing
10 the pressure of water in the depths
and the weights necessary to overcome
Duoyancy, The novice dressed in this ar
NOR has as much difficulty in maintains
ing the perpendicular on the bottom as
a child that stands alone for the frs.
time.
In conducting the fishery the divers
are located in camps at favorable places
along the shore. Each camp is supplied
with a diving suit and an air machine.
which iC "nIIntn1 ", q 1nox, l., ,-D 1i1yo
boat. This boat is daily rowed from
camp to the place of operation. Arrived
there, one man is diver, one tends his
signal rope, one hoists and empties his
basket of shells, two turn the cranks
Of the air pump, and two are at the BARS
to keep the boat well over him and care
fully follow his wandering course upon
the bottom in search Of shells. Thus 1t
requires several persons to operate each
living outfit, young boys being fire.
quently employed as attendants.
A LONG, WEARY SEARCH.
The diver, having all the time he wants
for his work, can select at his leisure
the oysters for hts basket. Though dim
and greenish, the light is sufficient at q
depth of a dozen fathoms or more for
seeing what he is about. The b~ivalves
which are the true pearl oysters, though
resembling not at all the edible variety.
80 iouAo aiNayH SHSS upWdIu dllu
usually in groups. 1t is the work of q
moment to cut them away from the
racks by severing the byssus by which
each is fastened. 1t is all a gamble.
Sometimes a days work will not yield
a single pearl of size, while again a
score OF shells may contain thousands
worth. The oysters, having been taken
ashore, are opened under official inspec-
ton. the final process with ZACH one be-
ing to squeeze the meat in the fist, lest,
perchance, it hold a gem in it's tissue.
The pearls are separated and graded,
according to size and hrilliancy, the
great majority being little, imperfect,
ana OF not much value. One the size Of
a bluebird's egg is a great prize, and If
with flaw is worth 81 900 perhaps. All
gems of this description go to the sultan.
Now and then a little fish will get
caught in a pearl OYSTER and be itself
transformed into a pearl, e~nshrouded in
a beautiful envelope of nacre.
Ihere is never a chance of theft. for
the divers for the sultan has special
guards to go along with every scoop
findings.