112 METHOD PURSUED BY CmGALESE DIVERS. 



ears with cotton steeped in oil, and compressed their nos- 

 trils with a piece of tortoise-shell." 



The pearl fishery of the Bahrem Islands (in the Persian 

 Gulf) produces a nriost abundant supply of these ocean gems, 

 the produce of a two months' season realizing nearly five 

 hundred thousand dollars of our money. Persians are chief- 

 ly engaged in this pursuit, and the divers belong to that 

 nation. 



The method pursued by the Cingalese divers is very sim- 

 ple. They proceed in boats to the place of operation at 

 the season, which lasts about two months, commencing in 

 February and ending in April. Each boat contains about 

 twenty men, half of whom are divers, while the others row 

 the boats and assist their companions in reaching the sur- 

 face of the water after diving. Five of the divers descend 

 at the time, and w^hen they come up, the other five take 

 their turn; the fatigue and exhaustion of the body is very 

 great in continuing under water, and a minute — in some 

 cases a minute and a half, or nearly two minutes — is about 

 the utmost time these men can sustain their breath. Many 

 divers suffer severely from overtaxing their powers of endur- 

 ance, and bloodshot eyes and spitting of blood are common 

 to them. It is to be hoped that the modern improvements 

 in diving-bells and suitable apparatus for divers will be 

 much more generally adopted than they have been in a few 

 places, that life may be rendered more secure, and other dis- 

 tressing consequences be obviated. 



To facilitate the descent of the diver into the water, a 

 stone weighing about twenty pounds is suspended over the 

 side of the boat, with a loop attached to it, in which he in- 

 serts his foot; a bag of network is attached to his toes; his 

 right hand grasps the rope, and after inhaling a full breath, 

 he presses his nostrils with his left hand. He now raises 

 his body as high as possible above the water to give force 

 to his descent, and liberating the stone from its fastenings, 



