90 SEALE. 



are required to take out a license, for which the charges are 300 pesos 

 a year for a first-class license, or a three months' license may be secured 

 for one-fourth of this amount. These are obtained from the provincial 

 treasurer at Jolo, Zamboanga, or Davao. The divers are usually natives 

 or Japanese. Each boat is equipped with one complete diving outfit, 

 consisting of armor, pump, tubes, weights, etc. The diver receives a wage 

 of from 20 to 80 pesos per month, in addition to a percentage of the shell, 

 but the terms upon which both men and divers are hired vary with 

 almost every pearler. 



The treasurer of Davao reports that nine first-class licenses have been 

 talven out at that place since January, 1908, chiefly by local firms, and for 

 the purpose of working the newly opened Davao pearl bed. 



It costs about 55 pesos a month, aside from wages, to navigate a pearling 

 boat. The diving armor used is nearly all of a modern type, and of 

 English manufacture. The air pumps used are worked by liand, two 

 men being stationed constantly at the pump when diving is in progress. 

 The diver has from 18 to 20.4 kilos (40 to 50 pounds) of weight attached 

 to him in order to reach the bottom. Divers usually remain under water 

 until they fill the net basket which they carry, this requiring from ten 

 minutes to an hour. The diver of a boat on which I was a guest for 

 some time, usually made about three descents in one hour; this was on 

 the Davao bank in a depth of 20 fathoms and where the nian experienced 

 great difiiculty in working because of strong currents. The length of 

 time during which an armored diver can remain under water is very 

 indefinite, depending on the depth of water, strength of current, strength 

 of the diver, and other factors. In calm water, but a few feet in depth 

 and of an even temperature, a man should be able to remain for almost an 

 indefinite period. The naked diver scarcely ever stays down for more 

 than one minute. Fishing is carried on at all seasons of the year. 



THE PHILIPPINE PEARLING BANKS. 



Practically the entire region from Sibutu Passage to Basilan Straits 

 and around the southern shore of Mindanao Island is a continuous 

 potential pearling bank. However, the greater number of the known 

 localities have so constantly been fished that they have had small chance 

 to recover, and, as a result, much of the pearlers' time is lost in pros- 

 pecting for new beds in various parts of this wide area; but the groimd 

 never seems to become completely exhausted, for we found pearling boats 

 operating successfully directly in front of the town of Jolo, within half 

 a mile of the beach. Fishing for shell had doubtless been carried on at 

 this point for over a hundred years. 



Occasionally, a pearler will locate a bank on which the oysters are 



