MYTILID;E. PEARL FISHERIES. 61 



the pearls purchased by Tavernier for £110,000), the 

 Algerine coast, the Sooloo Islands, and, in the western 

 world, the Bay of Panama and the coast of Columbia, 

 which had formerly some very valuable pearl fisheries, 

 for Seville alone is said to have imported thence upwards 

 of 697 lb. in the year 1587. The hardships and suf- 

 ferings endured by the divers are very great. After 

 a long dive, we are told that the natives of the Paamuto 

 Islands may be seen squatting on the reefs with blood 

 gushing from the ears and nose, and become quite blind, 

 for ten or twenty minutes. 



At the Bahrein fisheries, the trade is in the hands 

 of the merchants, who bear hard on the divers; and 

 even those who make the greatest exertions in diving 

 can scarcely obtain a sufficiency of food.* In Ceylon, 

 the fourth part of the pearls brought up is the diver's 

 share. In each boat are ten divers, each with an assist- 

 ant. Before the divers descend a number of quaint 

 ceremonies are gone through with incantations, both in 

 the boats and on the shore. So superstitious are these 

 men, that not one of their number, Christian or idolater, 

 would continue their employment without the counte- 

 nance of the sorcerer, and in 1857 Government was 

 compelled to pay these impostors. The chief shark- 

 charmer was a Roman Catholic.t The same authority 

 further states that the utmost depth in which a diver can 

 remain safely is about seventy feet. They can remain 

 under water from fifty to sixty seconds, and the diving 

 is carried on from five to six hours daily ; and each of 

 the ten divers can in the course of the day bring up from 

 1000 to 4000 pearl shells. A single oyster contains some- 



* M'Cullocli'a Commercial Dictionary. 

 f 'Voyage of the Novara,' vol. i. p. 332. 



