82 THE SEA. 



in the sale of small fancy articles, which they say that they cut out with the blades of 

 their pocket-knives from the rocks which they bring 1 up from the bottom of the sea. Very 

 soon I heard the loud throbbing of machinery, snorting 1 and puffing like so many marine 

 monsters; it was the wheezy noise of the air-pumps which supply the bells when buried 

 under water 



"I then noticed a small boat managed by a sailor rowing it, which glided under the 

 mouth of the bell, and from this hollow I saw emerge a pair of large loose boots, reaching 

 above the knees, which, being followed by another pair of large boots, convinced me that 

 two men were jumping down into the skiff. The boat itself, in fact, at once got clear 

 of the dome, under which it had been half hidden, and I saw it come back to the vessel 

 with two workmen on board, wet up to the waist and covered with mud. They had just 

 finished making their half-day under the water, and appeared to be fatigued. Their swarthy 

 complexions were tinged on the cheeks and forehead with a bright sanguine hue. The 

 position of the bell was not at all altered ; it was as if they wished to give it an opportunity 

 to dry itself and breathe a little fresh air. It was then dinner hour for the men employed 

 at the works. I had just been a spectator of the process of raising the bell to the 

 surface ; I now had to see it let down again to the bottom of the sea. 



le The same little boat which brought the two workmen to the great floating house 

 took them back again, after an hour's rest, to the vicinity of the diving-bell, which, 

 hung just over the water, looked very much like an immense iron box open at the bottom, 

 The procedure in making ready for the descent has really something rather imposing about 

 it, and to an excited imagination might very well suggest the preparations for the 

 execution of a sentence of death. Nothing is wanting for the purpose; the scaffold, the 

 secret cell, and the gulf of the menacing waves are all there. The divers, thank goodness ! 

 do not in the least anticipate such a fate, but, on the contrary, seem proud to walk 

 safely over the bottom of the sea, where so many others have found their grave. Be this as 

 it may, the boat soon places itself underneath the bell, raised as it is three or four feet 

 above the surface. The two workmen climb one after the other up into the inside, helped 

 by an iron ring hung to the arched roof, which can easily be laid hold of by the hands. 

 They take their places on two wooden benches fixed at a certain height in the hollow of 

 the bell. Sometimes four, or even six, workmen have to find seats in this curious vehicle. 

 When all this is done the boat goes away, and in another moment the voice of the 

 foreman gives the order, ' Lower away/ .... 



" In places where the water is troubled by sand, the diver often passes through a kind 

 of twilight or submarine fog, which compels him to light his lamp. More often, on the 

 contrary, the light is sufficiently strong to enable him to read a newspaper in small type. 

 A story is told even of a lady who wrote a letter in the diving-bell, and dated it thus : 

 '16th June, 18 , at the bottom of the sea/ Her courage obtained for her among the 

 divers the sobriquet of the Diving Belle. 



"I also wished to make my mind easy as to the lot of the poor workmen whom 

 I had seen descending in the bell. The foreman assured me that they enjoyed every 

 comfort in it. Have they not seats to rest themselves on, a wooden ledge on which 

 to place their feet, an assortment of tools and necessary utensils suspended on a cord 



