1835. 



PEARL FISHING STEERING. 



555 



been ransacked, and the furniture of the hull torn to pieces. 

 They afterwards allowed the pilot to take the vessel to Otaheite, 

 where she was sold by auction for the benefit of those who had 

 insured her. 



Obtaining the pearl oyster-shell is well known to be a difficult 

 and dangerous employment : though the divers at the Paamu- 

 to Islands seldom go down deeper than four or five fathoms, 

 they remain at the bottom from one to three minutes, some- 

 times bringing ten shells at one time to the surface ; and 

 during four or five hours they continue this extreme labour. 

 After a long dive, blood gushes from the ears and nose ; and 

 the poor diver is quite blind during ten or twenty minutes. He 

 may then be seen squatting on the reef, his head between his 

 knees, and his hands spread over his face — a pitiable object : 

 yet for the small monthly pay of ten or twelve yards of 

 calico, or coarse linen, do those hard-working natives endure 

 such straining exertions ! 



At some of the islands, a good hatchet or axe will purchase 

 as many shells as would fill a small canoe. 



In making their voyages from one island to another, the 

 natives steer by the stars, by the direction of the wind, and 

 the flight of birds ; but their ideas of distance are extremely 

 vague. Those who have seen a compass used in a boat esteem 

 it highly. Middleton, who had made many voyages among 

 the Low Islands, in whale-boats manned solely by natives, 

 said that they always expressed astonishment at his predicting 

 the time at which they would arrive at their destination. Some- 

 times they asked if he could see the land in the compass ; more 

 than once they exclaimed, " Ah, you white men ! you know 

 every thing ! What simpletons we are, notwithstanding all 

 our canoes The canoe occupies so much time and labour in 

 constructing, and is so essential to their every purpose, that a 

 fine one is to the natives of any of these islands what a three- 

 decker is to us. 



The queen's letter being finished, and sent to me by her 

 messenger, I will give the translation made for me on the spot 

 by Mr. Pritchard. 



