ACEPHALA. 249 



The boats of the fishers generally carry a captain, 

 a pilot, and twenty men, ten of whom are expe- 

 rienced divers. The ten divers are divided into two 

 companies of five each, and these companies plunge 

 and relieve each other by turns. 



" That they may descend through the water with 

 greater rapidity to the bank round which the 

 oysters are clustered, the divers place their feet on 

 a stone attached to the end of a rope, the other end 

 of which is made fast to the boat. They carry with 

 them another rope, the extremity of which is held by 

 two men in the boat, whilst to the lower part, that 

 descends with the diver, there is fastened a net or 

 basket. Besides these, every diver is furnished with 

 a strong knife to detach the oysters, or serve as a 

 defensive weapon in case he should be attacked by a 

 Shark. As soon as they touch ground they gather 

 the oysters with all possible speed, and having filled 

 their net or basket, they quit their hold of the rope 

 with the stone, pull that which is held by the sailors 

 in the boat, and rapidly ascend to the surface of the 

 sea. 



" The marvellous stories that are told, of the 

 length of time that these divers can remain under 

 water have no foundation in truth. All the evi- 

 dence that can be depended upon establishes the 

 fact, that the most skilful cannot exceed and rarely 

 endure the submersion of a minute. 



"Alternately plunging and reposing, the divers 

 continue their occupation until about ten o'clock in 

 the forenoon, when the sea breeze begins to blow, 



M 5 



