Feb. 1, 1886.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



543 



a guarantee to their respective Governments, engag- 

 ing to pay them a fixed wage. Each diver has 

 £2 a month, and an allowance of £13 upon each 

 ton of shells which ho brings up. The shells run 

 2,400 to a ton " 



HOW THE FISHERY IS WOKKEI). 



■ Mr. Streeter then showed me some shells which 

 had recently arrived, about ten inches in length 

 by eight in width. "You will see," he said, "by 

 these perforations in the back how many enemies the 

 pearl oyster has," pointing to the back of the shell, 

 which was much honeycombed. " If they succeed in 

 boring clean to the flesh it is all up with the 

 oyster. The theory of the pearl is that some 

 foreign substance, a bit of grit or shell, finds its 

 way within the harness, and the oyster, to avoid 

 the irritating friction, begins the process of pearl 

 manufacture by the peculiar secretion. The pearl 

 is generally found in tlie beard. I need not tell 

 you that the shells are highly valuable articles of 

 commerce. When the opener has passed his hand 

 in to feel for the pearl he throws it to the cleaner 

 who does his work, the shells are packed up in 

 hogsheads, and when they arrive in London tliey 

 are sold by auction in Mincing-lane to go to the 

 manufacturer, for the shell has taken the place 

 of ivory. The pearling season lasts from March 

 to the middle of December, for in the summer 

 months the hurricanes render their fishing im- 

 possible. The plan of operations is something in 

 this wise : the fleet is distributed over the fishing 

 grounds, and one or two of tliem see to the 

 supply of fresh water and stores. The mother 

 ship generally lies at anchor in the bay, and 

 the small boats leave her every morning ' to go 

 to their various gi'ounds close by. At night they 

 return with their cargoes. The ' decked boats go 

 further afield, and bring the results of their labor at 

 longer intervals. At certain times the mail steamer 

 whicli calls at Freemantle ships the cargo which comes 

 home, the pearls themselves being sent through regis- 

 tered letters, and passing through post." 



THE MVEr. .\Nri HIS DRESS. 



" A year or two ago the divers suffered great hard- 

 ships, always going in naked, when they could not 

 stop beneath the water toi- a longer period than a 

 miiuile and a half. The apparatus we use is made 

 by Mr. Heineke, and of these we have about -twenty, 

 eaeli costing £130. The dress is not like that we 

 see used on our own shores, comprising only a 

 he.idgear and a breastplate, the legs being free, but 

 the natives like it very much, tor they are able to 

 stay under for longer, aliout two or tjiree hours. I 

 have never lost any men thiough sharks ; they don't 

 seem to like niggers ; but the divers, by a trick 

 which they have learned, when they see a shark 

 ai)]>rijaching, squeeze out some air, which throws out 

 a most vivid stream of air bubbles, effectually 

 frightening the beast away." Each diver has a 

 tender, that is tlie man who directs the rope, and 

 four pumpeis, so that the working gangs are divided 

 into ijuintets. 



In one of Mr. Streeter's rooms hang a dozen im- 

 posing rolls, each of them worked by a string. Pull- 

 ing the one marked Australia and Houth Pacific, the 

 whole of that immense area was placed before my 

 eyes by his son. Upon these trackless oceans, stud- 

 ded with a million isles, many of them laid down 

 upon the chart without nuich pretence to accuracy — 

 for the reefs and the sounds and the channels are 

 always shifting — among these tropical wastes Mr. 

 Streeter's brave little fleet has found its way, and 

 the King of Pearls, although he has never "visited 

 foreign parts, is able to follow the various routes 

 which they have adopted, and these are marked by 



tortuous lines on the map. Somerset I was informed 

 was played out. Somerset lies to the north of 

 Carpentaria, and sure enough there was the mark on 

 the map. 



THE LATEST NEWS PR03I PEARLING GROUNDS. 



"We are working," says Mr. Harry Streeter in 

 his last letter from the fisheries, which was 

 read to me, " with small open boats and two 

 four-ton ketches, which are perfect in any 

 weather, only coming every second day to 

 give up their shells. The only flaw in our arrange- 

 ments is that the open boats are too small 

 for the work; in case bad weather sets in they 

 get too leeward, and have to be out in a heavy 

 sea and take their chance of swamping, while the 

 ketches, being decked in, ride like ducks. Many 

 a time after a hard day's work, and all hands 

 thoroughly tired out, we liave had to get up anchor 

 and make sail after some poor beggar going out to 

 sea, and not able to reach the ship. If a boat 

 sinks the pump goes down with her, and there is a 

 dress lost. One of the boats has sunk twice, but 

 luckily close to the ship, and we have sent a diver 

 down and got everything np without damage. At 

 present we ai'e under the lee of an island, and as 

 the wind blows from south to south-west every 

 night we lie as snug as possible ; but when the 

 first came down we were Ijnng in the middle of the 

 gulf — blowing a gale of wind every night, and dipping 

 bows and stern ports under, though she had forty- 

 five fathoms of chain out, and the anchorage was 

 only eight fathoms. I would n't go pearlmg with 

 (Queensland niggers on any consideration. You 

 have got to ride for a couple of months uncountry 

 to catch your men, and after you have got them 

 they must be watched night and day to prevent them 

 ' putting.' Then every one on board literally pigs it 

 out during the time they arc on the grounds, having 

 to sleep and eat on deck, no matter what weather. 

 Fancy fifty niggers, six white men, and .50,000,000 

 cockroaches all chumming together,- and all 

 living on damper and tea. That 's what it 

 really amounts to. The men, who receive a 

 handsome percentage, work like demons if we say 

 nothing to them, letting them go out when they 

 like and return when they like, and I assure you 

 they are out at daybreak and not in till seven 

 o'clock at night. Your experience of Torres Straits 

 will tell you that if tjiey go down there for three 

 hours a day they think they have done weU. Good 

 eyesight and confidence are all tliat are wanted for 

 apparatus-diving. All there is to do under the 

 present system is to count the shells on arrival. 

 This takes from an hour to an hour and a half each 

 morning. Chips, myself, and the mate open them. 

 This takes from two to four hours, de- 

 pending on the number of the shell, and then 

 they are washed and put in the sun to dry for 

 twenty-four hours. The shell is broken into two 

 pieces, the inside edges clipped, and then packed 

 away in hogsheads. Though the shells run 

 so small here, we have close on twelve tons 

 in nine weeks, and if they had run the 

 average of West Australian shells— 1,200 to 

 l.-'JOO to tlie ton — we should have close on twenty 

 tons on board, as to make our present amount we 

 have over 2.';,000 shells on board." 



THE JIYSTERIOUS PACKAGE AND THE FADED 

 IHNUSCRIPT. 



Most of US have read Mr. Haggard's vivid ac- 

 count of the search for and discovery of King 

 Solomon'.s mines, in which three adventurous spirits 

 guided by a faded map done in human blooil on 

 a fragment of linen 300 years old set Joi'th to 

 discover the vast treasure which King Solomon 



