430 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1913. 



If he finds the abalones plentiful, work is continued in depths of from 

 20 to 65 feet, in four-hour shifts. The man on the boat with the 

 signal rope in hand follows the course of the diver by the constant 

 stream of air bubbles rising to the surface. When the kelp is thick 

 one man has a knife on a long pole with which he cuts the seaweed 

 and keeps the air tube clear. 



The diver finds it an easy task to detach the abalone from the rock 

 if he pushes the shucking chisel under the expanded foot before the 

 animal is alarmed. If, however, the diver hesitates and the abalone 

 contracts its muscular foot a powerful pressure is exerted. One or 

 two cases have been reported of the drowning of Chinese fishermen 

 who have had their hands caught by the abalone and thus held until 

 OA^ercome by the rising tide. The diver secures a net full of abalones, 

 gives the signal, and the mollusks are hoisted aboard and stowed 

 below. The net, filled with about 50 green and corrugated abalones 

 may be hauled up every six or seven minutes. During his shift 

 below the diver gathers from 30 to 40 basketfuls, each containing 100 

 pounds of meat and shell, or altogether IMo 2 tons. 



At Santa Catalina Island, and later at San Clemente Island, in 

 company with a Japanese diver, I donned a diving dress for sub- 

 marine exploration. On one occasion the assistant failed to tighten 

 the waist belt which is designed to keep the air in the upper part of 

 the diving dress. The men at the pump worked with especial as- 

 siduity, and as I dropped off the ladder the inflated rubber trousers 

 turned my feet uppermost. Head down I went through 65 feet of 

 water, and then, not in a position for quiet reflection, remained some 

 moments before the Japanese assistants concluded that my signals 

 were not being made just for the fun of it. After being pulled to 

 the surface, reversed and relieved of inferior inflation, a successful 

 descent was made. The submarine journey is a wonderful experience. 

 The bottom of the sea seems made of grains of gold and silver, shim- 

 mering in the penetrating sunlight. Upon the face of a precipice, 

 large specimens of the green and corrugated abalones rest. The shell 

 of each is covered with a luxuriant gi'owth of algae, hydroids, and 

 tentacled tube worms, which mask the creature from its enemies. All 

 about are large fish which swim close and peer through the glass win- 

 dow of the helmet. An enormous sting-ray indifferently floats by. 

 One has a fellow feeling with these unfrighted denizens of the deep 

 in the fascination of observing their behavior under natural con- 

 ditions. 



In gathering abalones sometimes a crew is composed of six divers, 

 who work without suits up to a depth of 20 feet, and some of them 

 remain under water for as long as two minutes. These expert swim- 

 mers protect their eyes with glasses and wear cotton in their ears. 

 They pry off the abalones with a shucking chisel, often filling their 



