190 
1HE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 
.„ uncertainty and the lottery pcfs- 
1 ^_^ sibilities that are here presented 
< i^ to professional fakirs and ama- 
^ *-" 
2 W 
S O 
K < 
'^^^Rl ■•aSf^lKt. 
teur speculators. To illustrate 
the uncertainties of pearl fak- 
ing: I knew of a Tamil laborer 
who risked his savings of 150 
rupees on a blemished pearl, 
which he forthwith proceeded to 
peel. The removal of each suc- 
cessive layer left the pearl wath 
a larger visible defect, and when 
the futility of further peelinp^ 
was impressed on the speculator 
he had on his hands a pearl that 
with difficulty was disposed of 
at 25 rupees. 
A little later this same man, 
still possessed of the speculative 
fever, had an opportunity to buy 
for 75 or 100 rupees a pearl with 
a large discoloration, which pos- 
sibly involved only the super- 
ficial layers. Not wishing to 
run the risk alone, he induced 
two others to enter the pool with 
him. The pearl, subjected to the 
skillful treatment of a fakir, was 
soon rid of its defect and ulti- 
mately sold for 900 rupees. 
Notwithstanding the compara- 
tive safety of the diver's voca- 
tion, from a very remote period 
up to a recent date the ignorant 
and superstitious Indian divers 
insisted on the presence at each 
fishery of shark-charmers, whose 
function it was, for substantial 
considerations, to keep the sharks 
away from the individual divers, 
and who had the power to make 
sharks bite divers who did not 
exhibit a proper respect for the 
conjurers' powers. These im- 
postors appear to have reached 
the height of their influence in 
the 13th century, when there 
was probably one on each div- 
ing boat and when their share 
amounted to fully five per cent 
of the aggregate take of oysters. 
Under the Portuguese it was 
deemed expedient to permit 12 
of these fakirs to ply their trade, 
with diminished privileges and 
V„ 
