368 THE OCEAN. 



press the mind with the value and importance of that 

 object which can of itself create this scene."* 



The actual fishery begins in February and con- 

 tinues during six weeks, or at most two months. 

 The boats, being prepared, each carrying twei ^e or 

 fourteen hands and ten divers, leave the shore at 

 the signal-gun of the government officer, and arrive 

 at the bank before daylight. At sunrise diving com- 

 mences, and the divers, divided into two parties, 

 descend alternately, the one set breathing while the 

 other is below. To expedite his descent, each man 

 has a conical piece of granite, through a hole in 

 which a rope is passed; he grasps the rope with 

 the toes of his right foot, which he uses with nearly 

 the same pliancy as the fingers of his hands, and 

 taking in his left a net like an angler's landing-net, 

 seizes another rope in his right hand, and closes his 

 nostrils with his left thumb and finger. The weight 

 of the stone causes him to descend rapidly, and he 

 loses no time, but hastily fills his net with the oys- 

 ters he finds around. When he can retain his breath 

 no longer, he jerks the second rope, and is instantly 

 hauled to the surface by his fellows, leaving the 

 stone to be pulled up afterwards. Generally, from 

 a minute and a half to two minutes, is as long as 

 a diver can remain under water; but Captain Per- 

 cival records a case in which a man " absolutely re- 

 mained under water full six minutes." The effects 

 of so long a submersion as even ordinarily takes 

 place, are severe, and manifest themselves by gush- 

 inga of water from the ears, mouth, and nose, and 

 sometimes by discharges of blood. Yet they are 



* Percival's Ceylon, p. 59. 



