PEARL DIVERS AND SHARK CHARMERS. Ill 



the " shark-charmer," a wise-acre who pretends to have the 

 power of " preserving his dupes from the angry jaws of the 

 great sea-scourge, and makes a good living by it, the office 

 being handed down from father to son as hereditary. The 

 divers have such confidence in their powers, or spells, that 

 they will not descend to the bottom of the deep without 

 knowing that one of the enchanters is present in the expe- 

 dition. Two of the '* charmers " are constantly employed, 

 one going out regularly in the head pilot's boat, while the 

 other performs certain ceremonies on shore, such as consult- 

 ing the auguries, which, if auspicious, ensure the divers in 

 their perilous submarine occupations by closing the mouths 

 of the sharks at the word of command. The " charmer " is 

 shut up in a room where nobody can see him, from the 

 period of the sailing of the boats until their return. He has 

 before him a brass basin filled with water, containing one 

 male and one female fish made of silver. If any accident 

 should happen from a shark at sea, it is believed that one of 

 these fishes is seen to bite the other. The divers also say 

 that if the conjuror is disatisfied, he has the power of mak- 

 ing the sharks attack them, on which account he is sure of 

 receiving liberal presents daily. 



The Gulf of Manaar, where the pearls are found (and 

 which separates Ceylon from the continent of India on the 

 north-west), abounds in sharks ; and, however the divers 

 may consider their lives " charmed," the risks are lessened 

 by the sea-monsters being alarmed at the unusual number of 

 boats, the noise of the crews, and the constant descending 

 of the baskets for the shells. It is not improbable that the 

 dark skins of the divers are also some protection. It seems 

 that the pearl-divers in the Persian Gulf in former times 

 were so conscious of this advantage of color, that they were 

 accustomed to blacken their limbs in order to baffle their 

 powerful enemy. This is related by one of the earliest of 

 Arabian geographers, who adds, " that the divers filled their 



