The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1910-12-30


fourteenth century that these divers
could stay under water for two hours
Times seem to have changed a great
deal since then. A lot of divers die
each season from loss of blood,
brought on by diving too deep or re-
naming under water too long. /
have seen a man come up from ten
fathom dive, bleeding at the nose as
| if he had been struck with a club
After the pearls have been picked
out of the shells, they are sorted by
| a head man by passing them through
a set of brass sleeves. There are
three sets of different sized holes in
the sieve The pearls that will not
go through the largest holes in the
brass sleeves are called "Ras;" the
residue Of the second sieve are called
''Batin," and the smallest ones, the
contents of the last sieve, are called
"DZel." Black pearls of sinister lus-
ire are often found in the Bahrein
waters, and many times the tiny,
steel-colored seed pearls" are brot
up. The waters of the Gulf about
Bahrein now present a scene of great
animation. The fleets of pearl boats
are everywhere visible, AMI at Mena-
meh, the principal port of Bahrein.
are now anchored more than thou
| sand of these craft. And night on
| the barbaric. tumutuous beach at
Bahrein is an experience not easily
| forgotten. A long row Of mud-wal-
| led. straw foffed coffee shops stretch
the length OF Menameh's waterfront.
and from sunset till gray dawn the
revels OF the pearl boat crews run
their riotous, noisy course.
The great, snapeful Abysinnians.
perfect prototypes Of our own south
ern Sambos, appear in their flaming
colors, play on rude stringed instru-
ments. beat their tom-toms and fro
lie about for all the world like
crowd of negro merry-makers in the
| United States. There are theatres.
too where dusky Arab maidens, all
| bracelets, spangles and tattoo work,
wriggle through the sinous dances
| of the sensuous East. And all about
sit the cross-legged crowd OF Hindus.
| Jews and ParseeS who have come to
buy the pearls. They sip coffee, pull
softly at their bubbling water pipes,
and glance once in while at the
dark-skinned dancing girls but their
minds are not on the dance and their
words are all of pearls. These buy
ers come from London, from Ceylon
and Bombay each season; often they
advance money to the Arabs who
wish TO build pearl boat or hire a
crew. Many of the big. black divers
are held as slaves by the Arab pearl
merchants. Slavery is illegal in the
Gulf. but it is said few of the Ably
sinnians would accept freedom if it
were offered them. The value Of
good, strong African is about seven
hundred dollars. Slave running on
big scale is now seldom met with,
though | am informed that only a
year or two ago the American mis-
sionaries at Bahrein rescued a boat
load of black boys who had been
struggled up the Gulf from Africa,
for sale to the Arabs. One Sheik
met showed ME magnificent speci-
men of black manhood whom he had
held In bondage for years. II gave
him a horse, gun and wife; now he's
happy and would not desert me if he
had the chance said the Sheik In
watching the familiar negro antics
performed by these African pearl
divers. who never heard of their lost
brethren in America. | have often
thought what a sensation it would
create if a party of these blacks of
Bahrein might be suddenly set down
in the midst of negro gathering in
Missouri or Alabama. Exactly alike
in face AMI physique, but with no
common language and no previous
knowledge of each other, it would be
at least interesting to observe the
process of social coalition. And
what a possibility for the discovery
of long lost relatives, even if many
generations removed.
Bahrein, which means the Two
Seas,''is also the name of the lar
gest island in the group. Just who
owns these valuable pearling grounds
is not plain. The Islands are ruled
by an Arab Sheik; this latter has a
treaty with the British, allowing to
them a consul at Bahrein. In re-
turn for protection from pirates and
other enemies the Sheik has also
promised the British that he will not
grant lands nor pearling privileges
to any other foreigners, without the
consent of Britain. For long time
| Persia claimed the Islands. OF late
years, however, Turkey has asserted
| her ownership On the grounds that
they lie so near the shores of her Ar
abian provinces. The American mis-
sionaries, some twenty in number.
who live and labor among the Mos