S86 INTRODUCTION TO CONCHOLOGY. 



The fatigue attendant ou the act of diving is very great^ 

 and the men employed in the Pearl-fishery not unfreqiiently 

 discharge blood from their ears and nostrils, on being 

 drawn into the boat. But this does not prevent them 

 from making forty or fifty plunges during the course of 

 the day : for persons accustomed to the water from their 

 infancy acquire a sort of amphibious nature^ and appear to 

 retain the same self-possession^ in this deceitful element,, 

 as on land. Many other nations are equally remarkable 

 for this peculiarity ; and according to the accounts of 

 several voyagers^ the inhabitants of the South-Sea islands 

 are such expert divers^ that when a nail, or any piece of 

 iron, is thrown overboard, they will instantly plunge into 

 the sea, and never fail to recover it, notwithstanding the 

 quick descent of the metal. 



Each of the pearl-divers generally remains under water 

 about two minutes at a time, though instances have oc- 

 curred in which four, or even five minutes, have been de- 

 voted to this dangerous employment; and a diver from 

 Anjanga, in the year 1797, continued during the space of 

 six minutes. 



Such is the general method of obtaining pearls; and 

 such are the dangers connected with this adventurous 



