The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-12-01
THEPENRHYNDIVERS
fEATS OF THESE RECKLESS PACIFIC
OCEAN ISLANDERS.

They Are About the Most Daring Of
All Underwater Workers ParaHy-
sis, Sharks and Sting Ray Are
Among the Dangers They Brave.
deep water feats came out in a pearl
ing sloop with us one afternoon and
gave fine exhibition, says writer
in the London Graphic. The bed over
which we halted was about ninety feet
under the surface Our three divers
stripped to a ''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
fidgeted up and down the tiny deck,
talked, specialized 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 a 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
once and hunts through the shells for
pearls. Usually he does not find any
Now and then he gets a small gray
pearl or a decent white one or a big.
irregular "baroque" pearl Of the new
art variety, and once in month of
Sundays he is rewarded by a 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
helmet and jumper. No boots are
worn, no clothing whatever on the
legs, and there are no weights to pre-
serve the divers balance. 1t 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
trader "Once let 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 it, lots Of 'em. If
you was to go down in twenty faith
oms-they can do five and twenty, but
anything over is touch and go-and
stay 'alf the day, you'd come up owl
ing like anything and not able to move.
That's the way it catches them, and
then they must get some one to come
and rub them with sea water all night
long, and maybe they dies, and maybe
they're all right by morning. So then
down they goes again, just the same
as ever. Sometimes a man'll be pulled
up dead at the end Of the day. How
does that happen? Well l allow it's
because he's been working at a big
depth all day and feels all right, and
then, do you see, he'll find something
a bit extra below Of him, in boiler
like, and down he'll go after 1T, and
the extra fathom or two does the trick.
Sharks? Well, I've seen you pop
ping at them from the deck OF the
Duchess, so you know as well as l do
how many there are. Didn't it them
even when the fin was up? That's
because YOU 'aven't creased your bull
let, suppose. You want to. if the
water isn't to turn it aside. But about
the divers? Oh, they don't mind
sharks, none OF them, when they've got
the dress on. Sharks is easy scared.
You've only got to pull up your jump
ers a bit, and the air bubbles out and
frightens them to fits. If you meet
big sting ray it'll run it's spine into
you and spoil the dress, SOS the water
comes in, and maybe it'll stick the
diver too And the big devilfish is
nasty. He'll hold you down on rock,
but you can use your knife on him.
The kara mauaa is the worst. The
divers don't like him. He's not as
big as a shark, but he's downright
wicked, and he's a mouth on him as
big as 'alf his body. If an onoo comes
along ELL bite an arm or leg off the
man anyway and eat i'm outright If 'e's
big enough to do it. Swordfish? Well,
they don't often come into the lagoon;
it's the fishing canoes outside they'll
90 for. Yes, they'll run canoe and