CHAPTER XXXIII 



TRADES OF THE ISLANDS 



AS might be expected, there are many curious 

 trades at the Channel Islands, trades found 

 nowhere else. A small army of boys make 

 a good living by diving for nickels when the steamers 

 come into Avalon Bay, and they have become very 

 expert. They also follow the glass-bottomed boats 

 and dive for shells. Fifty or more boatmen or gaffers 

 own a fleet of boats here which in perfect equipment 

 of expensive rods and tackle are unique. Then come 

 the men of the glass-bottomed boats following their 

 strange vocation. To be captain of a glass-bottomed 

 boat, like "Marine Jimmy" or Joe Adargo, is to have 

 a lucrative business. Here are several men who put 

 in their time in winter in collecting antiquities, open- 

 ing graves, and selling their finds to the big museums. 

 The abalone-hunter is armed with a long pole with a 

 chisel at the end, and there are boats with Japanese 

 crews which dive for the beautiful shells and pry 

 them off, as we have seen. The extraordinary business 

 in curios is shown by two large shops at Avalon ablaze 

 with radiant abalone shells, fishes, and all the wonders 

 of the sea. Here is a man who keeps a living fish 

 exhibition; another who goes down in armor in the 

 bay. At Cabrillo, a town on the west end, several 

 men hunt abalone pearls; and one polishes abalones to 

 order. At Avalon there is a shop where moonstones 



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