196 Cruise of the "Alert" 



In 1879 the population of the shelling stations amounted to 

 720, while that of the settlement at Thursday Island was only 

 80. In 1880 the shelling population amounted to 815, show- 

 ing an increase of nearly a hundred on that of the previous year. 

 As far as I could ascertain, any change that has taken place 

 during the last two years has been indicative of the increasing 

 prosperity of the pearl shell industry. Indeed I was informed by 

 a resident gentleman connected with the fisheries, that the share- 

 holders in one of the stations had that year received a dividend 

 of seventy per cent, on the capital invested. I made the acquaint- 

 ance of several of the managers (or "bosses" as they are commonly 

 called) of the pearl shell establishments, and through their civility 

 had opportunities of visiting many stations within a range of 

 twenty-five miles from our anchorage at Thursday Island. They 

 are all constructed more or less on the same general model; 

 consisting usually of one whitewashed house, — the residence of the 

 white manager, — a store-house, and a couple of sheds for the 

 stowage of boat appliances and pearl shell, and a few large grass 

 built huts in which the labourers employed at the depot are 

 housed. These men, who are spoken of under the comprehensive 

 term of "Kanakas," are for the most part Malays: the remainder 

 being a motley collection of Manila men, Fijians, natives of New 

 Hebrides, and brown-skinned Polynesians from various Pacific 

 Islands. There is usually but one white man to each station, 

 viz., the manager. The shelling boats — called "apparatus boats" 

 — are entirely under the control of Kanakas. They are each of 

 between five and eight tons burden, are rigged with standing lug- 

 sails, and are provided with the most approved air pump diving 

 apparatus. The crew of one of these boats usually consists of five 

 men, one of whom is the diver ; another steers, and the remaining 

 three look after the air pump and signal rope. The time selected 

 for diving operations is usually when there is a " weather tide " ; 

 the vessel is then hove-to under easy canvas, so that she may drift 

 slowly to windward, while the diver, following her movements, 



