57© THE ARGONAUTS 



stone of eighteen or twenty pounds weight tied 

 with a cord to their great toe. Each of them 

 is also furnished with a sack, that has the mouth 

 distended by a hoop. They then descend, and, on 

 reaching the bottom, slip off the stone, which i? 

 drawn up, and fill their sack with shells. When 

 this is full they give a signal by pulling the rope, 

 and they are then drawn up by the men in the 

 boats. 



The depth of the water is twenty or thirty yards, 

 and the distance from shore four or five leagues. 

 When drawn up they rest eight or ten minutes, to 

 recover their breath, and then plunge in again j and 

 a succession of men continue this slavish employ- 

 ment for ten or twelve hours every day. The shells 

 are left in vast heaps to putrefy till the season is 

 over. The gains of the adventurers are often small, 

 as the success is very precarious. Great pearls are but 

 seldom found, and the generality of what are taken 

 are of the smaller kind, called Seed Pearls, which 

 are sold by the ounce to be converted into powder. 



The shells are found adhering to the coral banks. 

 Numbers of sharks lurk about the diving-places* 

 which often devour the poor adventurers*. 



THE ARGONAUTS. 



In this tribe the shell is univalve, spiral, involute, 

 and membranaceous, with only a single cell. 



• Penn. Gutl. ii, p, i, 



