MYTILTD^, 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 divePs 
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 Homan Catholic.f 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’s Commercial Dictionary. 
t ‘ Yoyage of the Novara,’ vol. i. p. 332. 
