294 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
which could be lowered on to the bridge at will by means of a hinge; 
they carry the ordinary sail; the anchors are of wood, for iron is 
rarely used by the Malays ; their cables are made of ratan fibre ; the 
crew'of each bark consists of about thirty-seven, each shore-boat 
having a crew of six men. At the moment of our visit they were 
all occupied in fishing operations, some of them being anchored very 
near to us. Seven or eight of their number, nearly naked, were 
diving for trepang; the padrone alone was unoccupied. An ardent 
sun darted its rays upon their heads without appearing to mcommode 
them, an exposure which no European could hold up under. It was 
near mid-day, and the moment, as our Malay captain assured us, most 
favourable for the fishing. In fact, we saw that each diver returned 
to the surface with at least one animal, and sometimes two, in his 
hands. Jt appears that the higher the sun is above the horizon, the 
more easily is the creature distinguished at the bottom. The divers 
were so rapid in their movements, that they scarcely touched the 
boat, into which they threw the animals, before they dived again. 
When the boat was filled with them, it proceeded to the shore, and 
its place was supplied by an empty one. followed ome of these, to 
witness the process of curing which they adopted. 
“The Holothurta of Raffles Bay is from five to six inches long, 
and about two im diameter; it is a gross fleshy mass, somewhat 
cylindrical in form, but no- external organ is visible. The mollusc 
glues itself to the rocks at the bottom of the sea, and, as it can only 
move very slowly, the Malay divers seize it readily. The greatest 
merit of a fisherman is to have a practised eye, to distinguish the 
animal at the bottom, and to dive directly to the spot where it lies. 
To preserve them, the fishermen throw them, while still living, into a 
cauldron of boiling sea water, where they are stirred about by means 
of a long pole, which is supported upon another pote fixed in the 
earth, but having a forked end, which acts as a lever. In this process 
the trepang gives up all the water it contams, and is withdrawn at the 
end of two minutes. A man armed with a large knife now extracts 
the entrails, and it is thrown into a second cauldron, having only a 
small quantity of water, seasoned with mimosa bark. The object of 
this second operation is to smoke the animal, m order to preserve it 
the better, for the bark is consumed im the process. The trepang is 
now placed upon hurdles and dried in the sun. When sufficiently 
dried, it is stowed away in the hold of the proa. 
“Tt was about two e’clock in the afternoon when the divers ceased 
their labours and came ashore. My tent was soon surrounded. I 
recognised the captain of the proa among those who had previously 
