Chap. XI.] 



PEARL-DIVERS. 



377 



the examination of the banks. 1 The persons engaged 

 in this calling are chiefly Tamils and Moors, who are 

 trained for the service by diving for chanks. The pieces 

 of apparatus employed to assist the diver in his opera- 

 tions are exceedingly simple in their character: they 

 consist merely of a stone, about thirty pounds' weight, 

 (to accelerate the rapidity of his descent,) which is sus- 

 pended over the side of the boat, with a loop attached 

 to it for receiving the foot ; and of a net-work basket, 

 which he takes down to the bottom and fills with the 

 oysters as he collects them. Massoudi, one of the 

 earliest Arabian geographers, describing, in the ninth 

 century, the habits of the pearl-divers in the Persian 

 Grulf, says that, before descending, each filled his ears 

 with cotton steeped in oil, and compressed his nostrils 

 by a piece of tortoise-shell. 2 This practice continues 

 there to the present day 3 ; but the diver of Ceylon 

 rejects all such expedients ; he inserts his foot in the 

 "sinking stone" and inhales a full breath ; presses his 

 nostrils with his left hand ; raises his body as high 



1 Detailed accounts of the pearl 

 fishery of Ceylon and the conduct 

 of the divers, will be found in 

 Perctval's Ceylon, ch. iii. ; and in 

 Cordiner's Ceylon, vol. ii. ch. xvi. 

 There is also a valuable paper on 

 the same subject by Mr. Le Beck, 

 in the Asiatic Besearches, vol. v. p. 

 993 ; but by far the most able and 

 intelligent description is contained 

 in the Account of the Pearl 

 Fisheries of Ceylon, by James 

 Steuart, Esq., Inspector of the 

 Pearl Banks, 4to. Colombo, 1843. 



2 Massoudi says that the Persian 

 divers, as they could not breathe 

 through their nostrils, cleft the root 

 of the ear for that purpose: " Us 



se fendaient la racine de Voreille 

 pour respirer ; en effet, ils ne 

 peuvent se servir pour cet objet des 

 narines, vu qu'ils se les bouchent 

 avec des morceaux d'ecailles de 

 tortue marine ou bien avec des 

 morceaux de corne ayant la forme 

 d'un fer de lance. En meme temps 

 ils • se mettent dans l'oreille du 

 coton trempe dans de l'huile." — 

 Moroudj-al-Dzeheb, Sfc, Eeinatjd, 

 Memoire sur VInde, p. 228. 



3 Colonel Wilson says they com- 

 press the nose with horn, and close 

 the ears with beeswax. See Memo- 

 randum on the Pearl Fisheries in 

 Persian Gulf. — Journ. Geogr. Soc. 

 1833, vol. iii. p. 283. 



