The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1903-03-07
BOY DIVERS OF POLYNESIA.
Without the Use of Suits, These Div
ers Reach Enormous Depths.
(Philadelphia Ledge

! (RnllaQelpnla LeuSeTJ
Away out in the South Pacific ocean,
where white men rarely are seen, there
lilies a little coral atoll known as Hi
kueru Aton. 1t is different 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 every
year by the dwellers on Tahiti and 9TH
er islands of the South seas to fish for
pearl.
The French government, which owns
the atoll has forbidden the use OF div
ing suits, because it is feared that this
method would prove too destructive 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 even bring 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 sixty to seventy feet deep. Inc
sea is so clear in the atoll that the
diver can study the bottom perfectly
with water glass and locate the best
ClDn1DS nj shell before he dives.
When he is ready to go down he
slips into the water over the side of the
boat, and, holding to the gunwale with
one hand he looks downward through
the water glass. The moment he
sights a good lot of shells he begins to
breathe deeply, sucking the air in until
his chest is inflated as far as it can be,
and then exhaling it slowly through
the mouth, so that it makes a whis-
ting sound. Having thus cleaned out
his lungs, he takes a long breath. filling
his chest with perfectly pure air, and
then he lets go of the gunwale instant
ly and sinks below the surface, feet
foremost.
After he has thus sunk about ten
feet he turns quickly and swims toward
the bottom, head first, cleaving the
water as gracefully and swiftly as
fish would. On touching bottom he
hauls himself along by Selling clumps
of coral until he reaches the shells.
Then he breaks them off the reef with
his right hand, which is protected by
white cotton cloth. Quickly he puts
the shells into little net of cocoanut
fibre, which he carries over his Shout
ders. Then he stands erect, and i'm
mediately he shoots toward the sur
face as if he were pulled by a rope.
So swiftly does he ascend that he fire.
quently 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 we'll as if they were water
jewellers. One of them made an ex-
hibition dive for the officers of the
United States fish commission steam
ship Albatross last year. He remained
under water two minutes and forty
seconds, and reached bottom at a
depth of 102 feet under the boats keel
The water was so transparent that the
beholders could see him clearly. They
declare that after he had touched bot
tom at this enormous depth he calmly
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
garden. This young diver was ready
to go down again only a few minutes
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.