PEARL SHELLS. 245 
in their turn. “ They will often,’ continues our 
author, ‘‘ make from forty to fifty plunges in one 
day, and at each plunge bring up about a hundred 
oysters. Some rub their bodies over with oil, 
and stuff their ears and noses to prevent the water 
from entering, while others use no precautions 
whatever. Although the usual time of remaining 
under water does not much exceed two minutes, 
yet there are instances known of divers who could 
remain four or five minutes, which was the case 
with a Caffre boy the last year I visited the 
fishery. The longest ever known was that of a 
diver who came from Anjango in 1797, and who 
absolutely remained under water full six minutes.” 
The last named period seems almost incredible, 
but there is no reason to doubt Captain Percival’s 
evidence. The chief horror and danger awaiting the 
diver are concentrated in the ground-shark. This 
animal isa common and fearful inhabitant of all the 
seas in these latitudes; and its terrors are so con- 
tinually before the eyes of the divers, that they 
seek a vague safety in supernatural means. Betore 
they begin diving, the priests or conjurors, who 
are known in the Malabar language by the name 
of Pillal Karras, or binders of sharks, are always 
consulted, and whatever the conjuror says to them 
is received with the most implicit confidence. 
The divers are paid differently, according to 
their private agreement with the boat-owners, either 
in money, or with a proportion of the oysters 
caught, which they take the chance of opening 
on their own account; the latter is the method 
most commonly adopted. The agreements with 
the people who hire out the boats are conducted 
much in the same manner. They contract either 
