New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1905-09-06
IHEPENRHYNDI DIVERS
FEATs OF THESE RECKLESS PACIFIC
OCEAN ISLANDERS.
They Are About the Most Daring of
All Underwriters Workers = ParaIy-
sis, Sharks and sting Ray Are
Among the Dangers They Brave.


Three native divers famous for their
deep water feats came out in pearl
gave fine exhibition, says a writer
In the London Graphic. The bed over
which we halted was about ninety feet
under the surface. Our three divers
stripped to 'pareo' apiece, and then,
squatting down on the gunwale of the
boat, with their hands hanging over
their knees, appeared to mediate.
They were taking their wind,'' the
white steersman informed me-
After about five minutes of perfect
stiffness they suddenly got up and
dived off the thwart. The rest Of us
fdgeted up and down the tiny deck,
talked, speculated and passed away
the time for what seemed an extraor-
dinarily long period. No one, unfor-
tunately, had brought watch, but the
| traders and schooner captains all agree
in saying that the Penrhyn diver can
stay under water for full three min
utes. At last, one after another, the
dark heads popped up again, and the
divers, each carrying shell or two,
swan back to the boat, got on board
and presented their catch to me with
the ease, grace and high bred courtesy
that are the birthright Of all Pacific is
landers
! AS a general rule, the divers carry
| baskets and fill them before coming
up. Each man opens his own catch at
o-lce and hunts through the shells for
pearls Usually he does not find any.
Now and then he gets small gray
pearl or a decent white one OR a big,
Irregular "baroque" pearl Of the new
art" variety, and once in a month Of
Sundays he Is rewarded by large,
cleaning gem worth several hundred
pounds, for which he will probably
get EGO or EDO.
Diving dresses are sometimes used
in Penrhyn, but in such an irregular
and risky manner that they are really
more dangerous than the ordinary
method The suit Is nothing but a
helmet and jumper. No boots are
worn, no clothing whatever on the
legs, and there are no weights to pre-
serve the Divers balance. It some
times happens, though wonderfully
seldom, that the diver trips, falls and
turns upside down, the heavy helmet
keeping him head downward until the
air all rushes out under the jumper,
and he is miserably suffocated. The
air pump above is often carelessly
worked, in any case, and there Is no
recognized system Of signals except
the jerks that mean Pull up
They're the most reckless devils on
the face of the EARTH" said a local
trader. "Once let a man strike good
bed Of shell, and he won't leave it.
He'll stick down there all day, grab
bling away in twenty fathoms or more
till he feels paralysis coming on
"Paralysis?'
''Yes-they get 1t, lots Of 'em. If
you was to go down in twenty faith
oms-they can do five and twenty, but
l anything over is touch and go-and
e stay 'alf the day, you'd come up owl,
e ing like anything and not able to move
e That's the way it catches them, and
4 then they must get some one to come
< and rub them with sea water all night
V long, and maybe they dies, and maybe
= they're all right by morning. So ther
|, down they goes again, just the same
o as ever. Sometimes q man'll be pulled
d up dead at the end Of the day. How
t does that happen? Well, I allow its
l. because he's been working at bis
t depth all day and feels all right, an(
: then, do you see, he'll find something
h a bit extra below Of him, in hole
b like, and down he'll go after it, an(
y the extra fathom or two does the trick
2, Sharks? Well, I've seen you pop
l. ping at them from the deck Of tn
l. Duchess, so you know as well as l d.
d how many there are. Didn't it then
le even when the fin was up? That
II because you 'aven't creased your bu
IL let, l suppose. You want to, it tn
g water isn't to turn it aside. But abou
e. the divers? Oh, they don't min
sharks, none Of them, when they've &c
the dress on. Sharks is easy scared
You've only got to pull up your jump
Is ers bit, and the air bubbles out an
D. frightens them to fits. If you meet
big sting ray it'll run its spine int
a. you and spoil the dress, SOS the waite
a. comes in, and maybe it'll stick tn
lg diver too. And the big devilfish
d. nasty He'll hold you down on rocl
ee but you can use your knife on hin
or The kara mauaa is the worst Th
20 divers don't like him. He's not q
10 big as a shark, but he's downright
Is wicked, and he's a mouth on. him q
big as 'alf his body. If an onoo come
le along ell bite an arm or leg off tn
~ man anyway and eat i'm outright it e
le big enough to do it. Swordfsh? Wei
NJ they don't often come into the lagoon
" it's the fishing canoes outside they
81 go for Yes, they'll run canoe and
~ man through at a blow easy enoug
but they don't often do it.
"About the diving? Well, think tt
W naked diving is very near as safe as II
" machine. taking all things. Worst Of
V; is, if kara mauaa or an onoo come
along, the diver can't wait his tin
y till it goes No, he doesn't stab it
not inside the lagoon-because there