ORDER UNIMUSCULOSA. 75 



lias reached the hottom. The length of time during 

 which the divers remain under water, is rarely much 

 more than a minute and a half; yet, in this short period, 

 in a ground richly clothed with oysters, an expert man 

 will often put as m.any as one hundred and fifty into his 

 basket. There are two divers attached to each stone, 

 so that they go down alternately. The men, after diving, 

 generally find a small quantity of blood issue from their 

 nose and ears, which they consider as a favourable 

 symptom, and perform the operation with greater com- 

 fort after the bleeding has commenced. They seem to 

 enjoy the labour as a pleasant pastime, and never mur- 

 mur or complain, unless when the banks contain a 

 scarcity of oysters, though their labours are continued 

 for six hours. 



When the day is sufnciently advanced, the head pilot 

 makes a signal, and the fleet set sail for the shore. All 

 descriptions of people hasten to the M'ater's edge to wel- 

 come their return, and the crowd, stir, and noise, are 

 then immense. Every boat comes to its own station, 

 and the oysters are carried into certain paved enclosures 

 on the sea-shore, where they are allowed to remain in 

 heaps (of course, well guarded) for ten days, that time 

 being necessary to render them putrid. When the 

 oysters are sufficiently decayed, they are thrown into a 

 large vessel, filled with salt water, and left there for 

 twelve hours to soften their putrid substance. The oys- 

 ters are then taken up, one by one, the shells broken 

 from one another, and washed in the water. Those 

 shells, which have pearls adhering to them, are thrown 

 on one side, and afterwards handed to clippers, whose 

 business it is to disengage the pearls from the shells, 

 with pincers. 



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