ORDER I. PEARL FISHERY. 239 
ment causes the banks to be explored, and then lets them to the highest 
bidder, very wisely allowing only a part of them to be fished every year. 
The fishing begins in February, and ceases by the beginning of April. 
The boats employed for this purpose assemble in the bay, set off at night 
at the firme of a signal gun, and reach the banks after sunrise, where fish- 
ing goes on till noon, when the sea-breeze, which arises about that time, 
warns them to return to the bay. As soon as they appear within sight, 
another gun is fired to inform the anxious owners of their return. Each 
boat carries twenty men and a chief; ten of them row and_ hoist up the 
divers, who are let down by fives — and thus alternately diving and resting, 
keep their strength to the end of their day’s work. The diver, when he is 
about to plunge, seizes with the toes of his right foot a rope, to which a 
stone is attached, to accelerate the descent, while the other foot grasps a 
bag of network. With his right hand he seizes another rope, closes his 
nostrils with the left, and in this manner rapidly reaches the bottom. He 
then hangs the net round his neck, and, with much dexterity and all possi- 
ble despatch, collects as many oysters as he can while he is able to remain 
under water, which is usually about two minutes. He then resumes his former 
position, makes a signal to those above by pulling the rope in his right hand, 
and is immediately by this means hauled up into the boat, leaving the stone 
to be pulled up afterwards by the rope attached to it. Accustomed from 
infaney to their work, these divers do not fear descending repeatedly to 
depths of fifty or sixty feet. They plunge more than fifty times in a morn- 
ing, and collect each time about a hundred shells. Sometimes, however, 
the exertion is so great, that, upon being brought into the boat, they dis- 
charge blood from their mouth, ears, and nostrils. 
“While the fishing goes on, a number of conjurers and priests are assem- 
bled on the coast, busily employed in protecting the divers by their incan- 
tations against the voracity of the sharks. These are the great terror of 
the divers, but they have such confidence in the skill or power of their con- 
jurers, that they neelect every other means of defence. 
“The divers are paid in money, or receive a part of the oyster-shells in 
payment. Often, indeed, they try to add to their gains by swallowing here 
or there a pearl, but the sly merchant knows how to find the stolen property. 
“'The oysters, when safely landed, are piled up on mats, in places fenced 
round for the purpose. As soon as the animals are dead, the pearls can 
easily be sought for and extracted from the gaping shells. After the | 
harvest has been gathered, the largest, thickest, and finest shells, which 
furnish mother-of-pearl, are sorted, and the remaining heap is left to pollute 
the air. Some poor Indians, however, often remain for weeks on the spot, 
stirring the putrid mass in the hopes of gleaning some forgotten pearls from 
