The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-12-28
BOY DIVERS OF POLYNESIA.

A way out in the South Pacific
ocean, where white men rarely are
seen, there lies a little coral atoll
known as Hikueru Atoll 1t is differ
ent from most coral atolls of which
you read in your geography, for it is
a solid ring of coral, and the lagoon
inside of it can be entered only by
dragging boats over the beach.
This lagoon is one of the valuable
pearl shell lagoons and is sought ev-
cry year by the dwellers on Tahiti and
other islands of the South Seas to fish
for pearl.
The French government, which owns
the atoll, has forbidden the use of
diving suits, because it is feared that
this method would prove too destruc-
tive to the pearl shells; so the diving
is done in the ancient South Sea way,
by men and boys and women who go
down with no artificial help.
When the time comes for the pearl
fishing they set out from their islands,
some of them 400 miles away from the
atoll. Most of the natives bring their
families and household effects with
them. Many bring even their houses
This is not so difficult an undertaking
as it may appear at first sight, for the
houses are made from light cocoanut
palms and pandanus leaves. They are
built up in sections, so they are easy
to take apart and transport.
Most of the diving is done in water
from so to 20 feet deep. The sea is so
clear in the atoll that the diver can
study the bottom perfectly with a wa
terglass and locate the best clumps OF
shell before he dives.
When he is ready to go down, he
int hn tor he -fI re
the boat, and, holding to the gunwale
with one hand, he looks downward
through the waterglas. The moment
he sights a good lot of shells, he be-
gins to breathe deeply, sucking the
air in until his chest is inflated as far
as it can be, and then exhaling it slow
ly through the mouth so that 1t makes
whistling sound. Having thus
cleaned out his lungs, he takes a long
breath, filling his chest with perfectly
pure air, and then he let's go of the
gunwale instantly and sinks below the
surface feet foremost.
After he has thus sunk about ten
feet, he turns quickly and swims to-
ward the bottom head first, cleaving
the water as gracefully and swiftly as
a fish would.
On touching bottom he hauls himself
along by Selling clumps of coral I'M
I'll ne reaches the smells. Tnen ne
breaks them off the reef with his right
hand, which is protected by white cot
ton cloth. Quickly he puts the shells
into little net of cocoanut fibre which
he carries over his shoulder. Then he
stands erect and Immediately he shoots
toward the surface as If he were pull
ed by a rope. So swiftly does he as
scend that he frequently seems to leap
out of the water when he reaches the
surface.
OF course the boys and girls of these
South Sea Islands can swim and dive
almost as well as if they were water
jewellers. One of them made an exhl-
bition dive for the officers of the Unit
ed st Aes Fish Commission steamship
Albatross last year. He remained I'M
der water two minutes and forty sec
onds and reached bottom at depth of
102 feet under the boats keel. The wa
ter was so transparent that the behold
ers could see him clearly. They de-
clare that after he had touched bot
tom at this enormous depth he clamly
picked over the pieces of coral and
shell at the bottom to select one to
bring up, exactly as a man might Gull
flowers when working at his ease in a
garden. This young diver was ready
after he came up.
The Albatross men were told that one
diver had made a record by reaching
the bottom in a place where soundings
showed the ocean to be 1873 feet deep.