94 
The Pearl Fishery. 
the divers scrupulous committing themselves to the deep, 
or indeed deter them from hshing at all. The conjurers reap 
here a rich harvest r for, besides being paid by the govern- 
ment, they get money and presents of all sorts from the black 
merchants and those successful in fishing up the oysters. , 
The address of these fellows in redeeming their credit, when 
any untoward accident happens to falsify their predictions, 
deserves to be noticed. Since the island came into our pos- 
session, a diver at the fishery one year lost his leg, upon 
which the head conjurer was called to account for the disaster. 
Ilis answer gives the most striking picture of the knowledge 
and capacity of the people he had to deal with. He gravely 
told them, “ that an old witch, Avho owed him a grudge, 
had just come from Colang on the Malabar coast, and eflected 
a counter-conjuration, which for the time rendered his spells 
fruitless ; that this had come to his knowledge too late" to pre- 
vent the accident which had happened, but that he would now 
shew his own superiority over his antagonist by enchanting the 
sharks and binding up their mouths, so that no more accidents 
should happen during the season.” Fortunately for the con- 
jurer the event answered his prediction, and no further damage 
Avas sustained from the sharks during the fishery of that year. 
Whether this was owing to the prayers and charms of the con- 
jurer, I leave my European readers to decide ; but certainly 
it was firmly believed to be the case by the Indian divers, 
and he was afterwards held by them in the highest esteem and 
veneration. His merits however in this transaction midit be 
O 
disputed, for there are many seasons in which no such accidents 
occur at all. 44ie appearance of a single shark is indeed 
sufficient to spread dismay among the whole body of divers ; 
