PEARL FISHING AND ' BEACHCOMBERS: 249 



grasp. But his most objectionable practice is that of vomiting 

 a quantity of inky fluid when disturbed, which renders the 

 surrounding water intensely dark, so that the diver who 

 chances to encounter him under some overhanging shelf or 

 coral cave, may become bewildered in the gloom, and lose his 

 way to the surface, or strike against the rocks. Fortunately, 

 in the lagoons these offensive creatures are very small and 

 incapable of much mischief ; but in the deep sea outside the 

 coral-reefs they grow to enormous size, and in exposed fish- 

 eries like that of Panama, they are a source of great dread 

 to the Americans and Europeans, who invariably dive in 

 armour. 



From what I have seen, heard, and read, I have come to the 

 conclusion that the pearl-fishing of the South Pacific is more 

 free from accident than any other occupation connected with 

 the sea. Of course it can only be successfully practised by 

 persons of experience ; the divers must be amphibious born 

 to it ; the directors and overseers men acquainted with their 

 language, habits, and wants. 



The question must have occurred to many readers : How 

 are the pearl-oysters propagated in the coral lagoons ? 



Two islands of apparently precisely the same character, as 

 far as natural formation, outflow and influx of the tide, depth 

 of water, etc., are concerned, may be found within a few miles 

 of one another (as is frequently the case), yet the lagoon of the 

 one swarms with pearl-oysters, while in that of the other not 

 one has ever been found. It will be said, ' Why not trans- 

 plant them as breeders do oysters ?' This has been tried, not 

 only in our time, but generations ago, without any success, by 

 the aborigines, to Avhom pearl-shell has always been most 

 valuable, not only for ornament, but because, for very many 

 most necessary purposes, it supplies to them the use of metals 



